Thank You, Melissa

A wonderful friend of mine just did a post on her blog about car seats that was really an eye-opener to me. You can read it here. Several people have asked me questions about my decision to purchase Britax seats recently. I am very glad I was able to buy them and I love them. However, if you can only afford the basic seats I think it's more important that you use whatever seat you've got correctly or in a way that maximizes their effectiveness and doesn't just satisfy the minimum requirements of the law.

I'm switching the Rabbit back to rear-facing. Those crash-test videos are pretty convincing. And Fish is definitely going into a 5-point harness.

I've definitely changed my tune when it comes to car seats.

Want to See Two Very Happy Boys?

To celebrate spring, the Badger took Bean to the store yesterday and bought him a brand-new bike, along with a new helmet and biking gloves. You should have seen the way Bean was glowing when they got home! It was a very exciting moment to watch Bean climb on his new bike and ride off.

But that was only the beginning of the excitement. The Badger also bought Fish a new helmet, which tickled him no end. Bean's old bike was then bequeathed upon Fish. We tried to put training wheels on it but they didn't work. So, with a little help from his dad and older brother, Fish had his first bike-riding lesson. He caught on extremely quickly and within a few minutes we witnessed his first solo ride followed by a graceful crash into the neighbor's lawn and the cutest victory dance I have ever seen in my life from the happiest Fish in the whole world.

This is the first time the kids have ridden bikes since we lived in Idaho in the summer of 2006. That summer Bean was 5 and I had bought the blue bike you see above at a garage sale. Shortly after he learned to ride it we moved to Oregon. The entire time we were there the bikes stayed buried in the garage because we lived on a pretty steep hill. Then last year after we moved here we kept talking about digging the bikes out and fixing them up but it never happened. One of the main reasons is that our street is far less than ideal for kids to bike around on. This year we feel like they're old enough to do it with supervision. They're also old enough to go on long bike rides with us. We're looking forward to a lot of wonderful family time on bikes this summer!

Well, Sure, Bean!

Bean just proposed a new family rule that sounds very exciting. Brandishing his foam dart gun, he suggested "How about every time someone coughs we have to shoot a light bulb out?"

Doesn't that sound like fun? Boy, think of the good times we'll have around here, especially when someone has a cold.

I think maybe we'd better lay off the western movies for awhile....

Snow Angel

I've been meaning all winter to get a picture of Roo in her "Angel Dress." Yesterday I realized that it was probably the last time she was ever going to wear it so I tried to pose her out front with the snowy yard in the background. She was very uncooperative, so this is the best picture I got. We loved this dress though, so this is an important part of the family archives.

When we would put it on her she would run around the house saying "I'm an Angel!" Those were good moments. One day she told us she was an "Octopus Angel." That was the best moment!

Snow Ice Cream

The kids heard about snow ice cream from reading the "Little House" books, so this afternoon I caught Fish carrying a large hunk of snow into the house. "I want to make snow ice cream!" he told me.

"Absolutely NOT!" was on the tip of my tongue when childhood memories of eating snow ice cream suddenly flooded into my mind. Somehow I found myself saying, "Sure! Let me help you!" After all, it doesn't snow very often here, so it's not like they're going to beg for this every day. Whatever pollutants are in the snow probably won't hurt them if they only eat it a couple times a year.

I checked to make sure the snow was reasonably clean, then we put it into bowls. I sprinkled brown sugar on it and then we added milk and glycerin-based vanilla extract.

They loved it, of course. I used to love it too, when I was a kid. But my rush of nostalgia didn't sweep me along far enough to actually eat any of this rare delicacy. I let them savor every morsel. Now I need to go upstairs and clean up the aftermath. I hope they add this to their store of warm fuzzy childhood memories.

Bring It On!

As of yesterday, we were in a pretty advanced state of spring around here:

This morning the world looks a little different.

I say, "Bring it on!" We still have firewood and I'm not done with cozy evenings cuddled up by the fire. I can totally handle another few days of winter.

P.S. The Rabbit has learned to climb onto the window ledge. She's pretty pleased, as you can see.

Tall Cheese

Applesauce Muffins

Per Allison's request, here is the recipe that Roo was helping me mix up when I posted those pictures the other day.

Applesauce Muffins

Mix thoroughly:

1 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C white flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

In another bowl, mix thoroughly:

2 eggs
3/4 C brown sugar
1 1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1/2 stick (4 T) melted butter
1/2 C pecans
1/2 C dried cranberries

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until moistened. Batter will be lumpy, do not overmix or muffins will be tough. Scoop into 12 muffin cups and bake 14 to 16 minutes at 400.

Not That We Needed Any More Hooded Towels Around Here....

...But I couldn't resist these from Land's End Overstock clearance.

Aunt Crocodile, they're starting to take after you....

Kitchen Help