Picture Post!

Ok, it is about time that I shared some picture of the kids.  :)  These are some pics I took this last weekend while we were visiting my in-laws.  ENJOY!

Couldn't get them to walk in a straight line...sigh...lol!

 Wish the sun wouldn't have done this. This would have been such a cute pic!

LOVE this one!

Hope you enjoyed the pics.  I sure loved taking them.  I am hoping that this weekend that I can get some more of Dragonfly.  She just turned 3 months!  EEK!  :)

<3 Alison

Update time!

I think it is about time to update everyone on the goings on of our house.  :)

Butterfly is in kindy and loves it!  She is in the VERY top of her class with reading.  Her teacher is starting her on an advanced reader program.  I stopped in to chat with the teacher and come to find out that Butterfly is reading at a 3rd grade level!  OH MY!  She is also doing really well with math.  This week is homecoming so she has "spirit days" a school.  Yesterday was PJ day (she was THRILLED to go to school in PJ's) and today is Sport/Jersey day...Only thing we had that fit her was a Vikings Favre t-shirt...and if you know me you know that I am a PACKER fan!  GO PACKERS!  But oh well, she will still have a good day.

Bee started pre-school and is LOVING it.  She runs into school every day she goes.  She won't stop talking about it either.  She loves getting to hang out with her best friend Cal.  :)  I love it that she is making friends so easily...although, I didn't ever have a doubt that she would.  She is a social butterfly.  Much to social to figure out how to write her name correctly...lol.  :)

Bubby is doing GREAT!  He is starting to make 2 and 3 word sentances.  His new favorite words are Sorry and Why.  YAY!  lol!  He is as boy as boys come...loves to play with his Lego's, cars, and trains.  He LOVES Caillou (and of course..I do NOT!) and the movie Cars.

Dragonfly is doing ok.  I had been nursing her and had to eliminate dairy, soy and gluten from my diet.  With those limitations my supply declined rapidly.  This week we started to supplement with alumentium and well, that isn't going well.  I am currently waiting on a call back from the doctor to get the prescription for Neocate so that our insurance will cover it.  Her poor belly is NOT tolerating the alumentium well at all.

Hubby is home for about 2 1/2 weeks and then will be gone for almost a month.  He will first be in Detroit and then will be in China for about 3 weeks.  We are going to miss him a TON!

I am planning to go to a Hearts at Home conference for Mom's!  I am SO excited!  My in-laws and parents have volunteered to watch all four kiddos for us so that I can go and Dan can sleep since he will JUST be getting back from China...can we say jet-lag???

Well, that is us.  I am hoping to get some crafting in soon.  I have some quilts to get done and some dresses to get started.

Hope you all are doing well!
<3 Alison

An Apple Crisp for ME!

I was so excited to find a dessert recipe that I could actually eat!  I haven't had much in the line of sweets since I went dairy, soy, and gluten free almost 2 months ago.  So when I thought about a dessert that I would like to have I thought of apple crisp.  I found this recipe on the internet and am SO excited about it!  It tastes REALLY good and I can eat it!

So here is the recipe!

Gluten Free Apple Crisp

FILLING

1. 3-4 Braeburn (or similar) apples, peeled, sliced into 1/4″ thick slices
2. 2 teaspoons cinnamon
3. 2-3 Tablespoons lemon juice (I didn't use this)
4. 3 Tablespoons to 1/4 c. white sugar or turbinado sugar (to taste)
5. 2 Tablespoons to 1/4 c. brown sugar (to taste)
6. 2 Tablespoons (more or less) GF Flour mix – depending on juiciness of the apples

CRISP TOPPING

1. 6 Tablespoons butter, slightly softened (I used Earth's Balance: Soy, Dairy and Gluten Free margarine)
2. 1/3 c. GF quick oats, roughly ground almonds & walnuts, or quinoa flakes (I used GF quick oats)
3. 1/4 c. GF Flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF flour)
4. 2-3 Tablespoons white sugar (to taste)
5. 1-2 Tablespoons brown sugar (to taste)
6. optional: ground cinnamon (1 tsp) and freshly ground nutmeg (1 tsp)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375*F.
2. Peel and slice apples into thin slices (1/4″).
3. Put into a medium bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix.
4. Add sugars, flour and cinnamon.
5. Mix together very well.
6. Pour into medium (for thin) or small (for deep) baking dish.
7. Put softened butter into the same bowl where you mixed the apples.
8. Add oats (or other option), flour and sugars and “squish” together well until crumbly.
9. Pour and crumble over apples in baking dish evenly.
10. Bake for 23-30 minutes.

Cool slightly before serving (5-10 minutes).
Serve over all natural GF vanilla ice cream.

I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did!  Hope there is still some left for dessert after dinner.  :)

<3 Alison

Ooops!

I went away!  The last month has been CRAZY!  Butterfly started kindy, Hubby went on a business trip (and is consequently gone this week too), I was prepping for a garage sale and much, much more.  I got so busy I forgot to update here!  So sorry!

Well, we are starting to get into the groove of things.  We get Butterfly off to the bus by 7:15 each morning and then Monday's and Wednesday's we take Bee to pre-school for a couple of hours.  Then Bubby and Dragonfly and I do our errands.  We go to the bank, post office, and the grocery store.  Now that the weather has cooled off we are hoping to be able to go apple picking and put up some apples for the winter. So excited about that! :D

Hubby and I are once again involved in our church and it feels so good to be involved!  We are teaching middle school Sunday school on Sunday mornings.  We just started but it is so nice.  I am SUPER excited about the study we are going to be doing with them.

I have also become a Sparks leader at our church's AWANA program.  I have my own little group of Sparkies who play together, sing songs, learn Bible verses and have a good time.  I hope that this year will be a great year for my kiddos.  Butterfly and Bee are both involved in the AWANA program and Bubby and Dragonfly are going to head to the nursery during that time when Hubby is away (like this week).

I am hoping to get some crafting in this week while Hubby is away.  With any luck I will be able to blog about them too!

Hope you all have a great week!
<3 Alison