Angela and Tim

Angela and Tim when we went out for lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Lorenzen last weekend...

Playing Rock Band

The weekend of the 26th of April, we were down in Tucson visiting Kendra (Angela's sister) and her family. Kendra has...Rockband! So the whole family got in the act and we had a GREAT time...

D.C. Cherry Blossoms

Here we are in with the beautiful cherry blossoms behind us...

DC Phone Chat

This is Athena chatting with her Aunt Amy outside the Natural History Museum on the mall in D.C.

Embracing the Milk Allergy

Athena is now more than 4 1/2 years old and it seems that she will never grow out of this milk allergy. It hasn't been that hard to accommodate her allergy, but I either have to find a substitute for milk products, go without certain food items, or make her a separate meal. So often she is denied food that the rest of us are eating because it is made with milk.

Kendra and I have continued the tradition of making candy Easter eggs every year. We all love them, but they are made with sweetened condensed milk, so Athena has always been denied the opportunity to enjoy one of these sugary confections. This year I finally had a mental breakthrough and decided to find a recipe for sweetened condensed SOY milk. Thank goodness for the internet, I found quite a few recipes and decided to give one a whirl. The next challenge was finding powdered soy milk, and after being on hold for several minutes with various stores in Tucson I finally found some at Sunflower market.

The soy eggs turned out pretty well, and in a semi-blind taste test were found to be slightly different from the eggs made with regular sweetened condensed milk, and perhaps a little better. All the eggs turned out a little different than usual because we used Athena's soy margarine, rather than Blue Bonnet. But they were all pretty tasty.

Tonight I made beef stroganof with all sorts of substitute products so Athena could eat it. I substituted ground chicken for the ground beef (less fattening), fresh mushrooms for canned (just what I had on hand), soy cream of mushroom soup (not condensed, but it was still okay), and soy sour cream. It turned out pretty good, considering all the substitutes. Athena however would not eat it. She doesn't like mushrooms, and was not willing to look past them. At least I should get good parenting karma for trying to make a meal that she could eat.

Family Pictures

I have finally been inspired to post something new!! We took family pictures today for our adoption letter, and I like how a few of them turned out. I thought I would post my favorites.

Nothing New

I often log into my own blog and find myself disappointed that there is noting new to look at. I say to myself "Duh, you are the only one who updates this." I really have to figure out how to give Tim publishing rights to our blog so he can start adding a little content.

Today is February 12th, and I cannot believe that February is almost half over. Tomorrow night we have to finish the Valentine cards for Athena's class, and of course I didn't just pick up a box of cheep cards that Athena can just write her name on and be done with it...I have to come up with some grandiose foamy craft project. Sometimes I wonder why I make life so hard on myself. Why didn't I just buy 20 little boxes of conversation hearts? Kids love those things (or at least I love them). No little kid is going to oooh and ahhh over these foamy Valentines. I could have spent $1.00 for a box of cards, and 15 minutes with Athena as she wrote her name 20 times, but instead I spent an undisclosed amount of money (omitted so Tim never realizes how much I actually spent) and a few hours trying to figure out how to make these things in such a way that Athena can actually help make them, besides just writing her name on the bottom of the card.

I tell myself, "Next year. Next year I will just take the easy way out. Next year I am going to remember how crazy this was. Next year Tim is in charge of Valentines Day."