It's a Pony Train

Addie spent a lot of time setting up this "Pony Parade." You'll notice that the Momma and Belle are leading the Parade. Apparently the Ponies needed a human to lead them along. Some of the Littlest Pet Shops were honored to be part of the parade.

Hey There Shakey Shakey

The Wiggles have made a come back at our house. Last night after dinner I was asking Lily if she knew some Wiggles songs. I realized that since Adam got his ipod, we really haven't listened to the Wiggles at all. So I dug out the CD and started it up for Lily.

She was a dancing machine! She shook when the songs told her to shake, she swung her hips when they told her to swing, she wiggled, she giggled, she had a great time. After every song, she asked if she could listen to one more. I may have created a monster!

The checklist of things to bring back and forth may have just gotten longer with this new obsession.

Teddy - check

White Circle Blanket - check

Wiggles CD - check

Hat, mittens, neckwarmer - check

The Princess and the Mean Bad Witch

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, (The land was so far away you had to cross a bridge that makes mortal men shudder) lived a princess and a mean bad witch.

The princess was very beautiful and kind. She helped the servants in the kitchen and got the eggs every morning from the chicken coop. Whenever she saw the Mean Bad Witch, the princess would run away.

The Mean Bad Witch was also beautiful. However, she chased the pricess around the castle. What the princess didn't realize was that all the Mean Bad Witch wanted was to play with the princess.

One day, the Princess accidentally woke the Sleeping Dragon. The Princess was so scared, she didn't know what to do. But the Mean Bad Witch wasn't scared. She swooped in and saved the Princess from the dragon. From that day forward, the Princess and the Mean Bad Witch were friends.

**For those of you who can't tell, we spent Saturday morning at the Children's Museum in Duluth playing in the castle exhibit.

Dairy Free Rice Pudding

It's been a long time since I've posted a recipe. Tonight seemed like a night for comfort food. I needed (ok, wanted) something rich and creamy, but I'm trying to take off a few pounds I put on over the holidays. I adapted this Weight Watchers recipe to be dairy free. The original recipe called for skim milk, mashed banana and no cardamon. The points value was 2 per 1/3 cup serving. It came to 105 calories per serving. I would guess this version is slightly less.

1 Cup soy milk (or almond milk would be yummy)
1 Cup cooked rice
pinch salt
pinch ground cardamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Bring soy milk, rice, cardamon, and salt to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Reduce heat to a simmer and stir occasionally until the milk is reduced and creamy. (about 15 minutes) Take mixture off the heat and stir in the vanilla, almond extract and cinnamon. Let cool to room temperature and serve.

I took this off the stove and threw it into the refrigerator while I put the girls to bed. When I came back downstairs the pudding was cold, but it was still really good. I think this will make a really good treat for the girls tomorrow. :)

It's a Win Win

Lily insisted upon dipping her green beans into Tofutti Sour Spreme "Sour Cream". She barely touched the baked potato or the steak, but she loved the green beans.

The Score: Momma=2, 2 Year Old=0
The Explanation: Lily has decided that she won't take her allergy medicine anymore. It tastes yucky. Or something along those lines. I'm not entirely sure as to what her rationale is since it normally just results in me getting allergy medicine spit out in my face and all along the kitchen floor. I might let this fight drop, except I have noticed a huge difference in how easily Lily goes to sleep at night when she has her medicine. It really makes me wonder how stuffed up & miserable she has been at night without the medicine.

So I decided a little bribery was in order. If Lily would take 1 tsp. of allergy medicine, then she would get 1 spoonful of Lily-safe ice cream (homemade sorbet right now). The first time we tried it, Lily was really excited. She took the medicine like a pro. And immediately spit it back out in my face. Not even the prospect of ice cream would help this one. I didn't have a lot of hope, but I mixed 1 tsp. of medicine with 2 spoons of ice cream in a bowl. I gave Lily her "Ice Cream" and watched in amazement as she did everything but lick the bowl clean. It worked again last night. She even asked for more medicine! Which is slightly scary to me...

I feel as though I have won another badge on my Mommy belt.

Pajama Day

Christmas Break is over. Addie got all bundled up this morning and headed off to school on the bus. It was a little difficult getting her dressed this morning as she really would have liked to just wear her pajama's all day. Or a dress, but no pants Momma, and no snowpants. Ha, not on your life kiddo, it's 40 below out there!!

It feels like we've been gone a long time, instead of just 4 days from work and 2 weeks from school for Addie. I have lots of photos to share with you; snowshoeing, pierogie making, etc. However, since the camera is being a bit cranky lately the photos are on both Adam's work camera and my camera so it might take some time to get them all downloaded into one folder.

Happy New Year!