Ass-tronomy lesson

I've always stayed away from potty humor. I honestly do not think that it's funny. The males in our house are usually very polite and never make rude jokes (out-loud at least). Until today. I have been teaching Ben the order of the planets. He's very interested in all things astronomical and has decided that he will "be an astronaut and go on missions" someday. Anyhow, he was doing such a good job learning. I was having him recite the planets for Colin and it took a turn for the worse around the seventh planet. Here's how it went down:

Me: "Ben, tell Daddy the order of the planets."
Ben: "Mercury, Venus, Erf (Earth), Mars..."
Me: "What's the big one Ben?"
Ben: "Oh! Jupiter. Ummm..."
Me: "The one with rings."
Ben: "Saturn!"
Me: "What's next?"
Ben: Stares blankly
Me: "Urrrr...."
Colin: "Your Butt!"
Ben: "He he, your butt!!! Uranus!"
Me: "Good job Colin."

We didn't get to Neptune.

Ben ate dinner in an unusually good mood because of his new joke, occasionally yelling "your butt!" It was soooo classy. I couldn't be more proud. The worst part was, I found myself hiding snickers from Ben. I never laugh at this kind of thing but this time, I just couldn't help myself.

Gemma's special words

Here are a few silly and cute things that Gemma says:

Gummy- Monkey
Mommy
Daddy
Bee- Ben
Dapee- Diaper
Booby- Poopy
Wubby- Water
Cuppy- Cup
EAT!
Dees! Dees!- Cheeks! Cheeks! (said while pinching my cheeks)
Uppy- Up
Dow- Down
Bookie- Book
Buckie- Binkie
Walkie- Walk
Caw- Chalk
Weeeee!- Slide or swing
Ba, Ba- Splash, splash
Beh Bee- Baby
Tseees- Cheese

Egg-free recipes

As some of you know, our dear girl is allergic to eggs. It has been interesting trying to feed her and we've pretty much banned foods with eggs in them around the house. My biggest challenge has been baking without the leavening properties of egg. I thought I would post some recipes on my blog so that I can use them and also, in case you ever want to bake for us, you can have some safe recipes. :)



Eggless Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour ( I’ve been trying to use more whole wheat flour so I use 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup regular)
1 cup sugar, plus 2 tsp. more
4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
3 Tbs. melted butter
1 cup fresh blueberries
Raw sugar crystals for the top

Heat oven to 350. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Combine flour, sugar and baking powder in a medium-size bowl. Stir in milk by hand and melted butter. Fold in blueberries. Fill each cup 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops of muffins with raw sugar. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.


Carrot Cake Loaf

Ingredients
9 large carrots, shredded
2 cups flour
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup raisins; chopped (either golden or dark raisins)
2 large bananas; mashed
1 cup apple sauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Optional: 1 cup of chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour two loaf pans OR line the pans with "release" aluminum foil
Mix all ingredients thoroughly until well combined.
Bake about 1 hour or until top browns.
If you want to glaze your loaves, just mix 2 cups of powdered sugar with 1-2 TB of milk or cream.
You can make a thinner glaze by adding more liquid.
Pour this over the cooled loaves and spread evenly.