Other happenings

I just realized that I've neglected to share one VERY exciting event - our daughter is now potty trained!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd been working on this for a couple months now, and she'd do OK for a day or so and then just lose interest. We'd tried talking about it, losing privileges, etc. but she just wasn't having any of it. Well, about two weeks ago I decided to try the bribery route and bought a big pack of juicy fruit gum. Couldn't hurt, right? Well, as much as she wanted that gum, she still didn't want anything to do with the toilet. But then last Thursday - completely out of the blue - she announced she had to go potty. And she did (and yes, she asked for gum when she was done :). And she's had only one accident since (and that was in the bathroom, as she had just waited a bit too long). So here's my little ham with her sparkley Little Pony undies. I'm sooo excited to be removing diapers from the shopping list, especially since everything else has gone up in price - need to stretch those bucks!!

The pic of our son? Well, that's just because he was jealous after I took pics of his sister, and he wanted to show off the cool book on road signs we got from the library. He's really getting into the non-fiction stuff (and I've been eyeing up books on China for when Daddy goes on his marathon business trip).

I was also thinking that it's been a long time since I've shared a recipe. I had some seriously ripe bananas to deal with on Monday, and decided I didn't want to make my standard banana bread. I pulled a promising one off of allrecipes, and tweaked it to come up with this. I baked it in a bundt pan, but there's definitely more of a "bread" feel to it. The kids like it, so I guess it's a keeper :)

Banana Snack Cake

1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 small, ripe banana, mashed
1 c flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars, then add applesauce, eggs, vanilla, and bananas and beat until well blended. Add remaining ingredients (except for chocolate chips) and beat for 1-2 minutes. Stir in chips, then pour batter into greased pan and bake at 375 for approx 40 minutes.

I guess that pretty much brings you up to date on life around here. Still plugging away. And can you believe that Easter is this weekend?! Still need to pick up a few small items for the kiddos. As we've been talking about the story of Easter, our son is still a bit confused about the whole death and resurrection concept, but does seem to understand that Jesus had to die for our sins. Difficult ideas for a little mind to comprehend!