Gymnastics

    Ady and I started a Mommy and Me gymnastics class last week. She loved it. We get to go play and tumble for 45 minutes every Thursday morning. There were lots of little ones with their mommies and Ady did really well. She loved the Balance beam and the Obstacle course the best. I liked the stretching and just being with Ady.

    The boys are also taking gymnastics. Tayden on Mondays after school and Kyler on Wednesday evenings. They are both enjoying it as well. Each of them are the only boy in their class. Oh well. I don't see gymnastics as being only for girls. I haven't been able to watch either of their classes yet. The parents can only watch on two specified Observation days. Kyler took a gymnastic class last spring and did really well, so I am sure he is doing well in this class too. I wasnt as sure about Tayden liking it, but he really wanted to do it. He loves his gymnastics shirt we got for him. He wants to wear it all the time :) I will have to take some pictures of the boys too and add them later.

The Flying Squirrel

Dave perfecting his skills at a Labor Day

get together with my family

Chocolate Crumble

    Last night I was in the mood for something chocolaty and I had an idea. It turned out wonderful!! I call it chocolate crumble. Here is the recipe:

    Chocolate filling:

                1 package (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

                1/4 cup stick butter

                1/2 cup whipping cream (I used soy milk)

    Heat Chocolate chips and butter in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted evenly. Remove from heat and add milk or cream. Mix thoroughly. Let it cool while you prepare the crust.

    Crumb crust:

                2 cups flour ( I use whole wheat flour)

                2 cups oats

                1 1/3 cup brown sugar

                1/2 tsp. baking powder

                1 cup butter

    Combine flour, oats, brown sugar and baking soda. Mix thouroughly. Chop butter into small pieces. Mix with dry ingredients until thouroughly combined. Pour half of th mixture into an ungreased 13X9 pan and pat down. Spread chocolate filling over the top, then cover with remaining crumb mixture. Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

    Allow to cool for about 20 minutes if you want to serve it warm with ice cream or whipped cream. It will be really crumbly. Or you can cool it for several hours and eat is as bars. It stays together well once it is cooled.

Tamales!

We made tamales solo for the first time. About a month ago my friend Vicki taught us how to make them. They were so delicious that I decided to make them to take to a family get together tomorrow.

Up until now, I have been completely intimidated by shopping for, touching, and preparing meat. But having seen it done once by the master cook herself, Vicki, I decided I could give it a go. So on Thursday I actually felt confident shopping for the meat and I brought it home feeling proud of myself. Usually Dave buys and prepares all the meat we eat at our house (except hamburger or processed meats of course)

So Yesterday I was ready to cook it all by myself. I wanted to do it without any help. I touched raw chicken!! It wasn't chicken breasts either, it was a whole chicken! I also touched raw pork roast. I opened the package and I was thrown for a loop when I realized that this roast had a bone in it! I decided that I could do it and I cut the meat away from the bone just as I had seen Dave do before.

After it was all cooked and ready to be shredded, I realized that Vicki must have spared me some of the chicken carcase joys when we did it the last time. I didn't remember seeing the vertebrae and all the cartilage before. I think she must have done all that last time. What a good friend :)

Well tamales are a 2 day process so this morning we did the wrapping and they are still cooking. Here are some of the pictures of the process.

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