February Birthdays Catch-up: Andy

Andy is a great four-year-old.  He always asks questions and wants to be doing something.  He doesn't like doing nothing.  His biggest question is "But what can you and I do?!"  It's been very helpful for me to do more of a pre-school for him.  I am still very reluctant to put our kids in pre-K.  All day, every day just seems like too much to me.  Because Andy is ready and wanting more, I'm getting the push I need to have more planned for him.  And it's fun to spend more time that way with Andy.  He is a great little boy.

One thing we absolutely love about Andy is his love of socks.  Never before have I seen anyone who loves socks so much.  Really.  If I don't remember to tell him to change his socks, Andy can go days in a row with the same pair.  Last year Grandma and Grandpa got him a Bert and Ernie Treasure Hunt book.  The treasure happened to be socks.  That could not have been more perfect.  My favorite, though, was when Benny and Andy were playing transformers and Benny was a transformer truck and Andy was a transformer sock.  I don't know what his super power was, but he sure looked like a great sock!

Andy, the transformer sock.

Picture taken 5 September 2011

I'm so behind on this birthday and the above was written two or three months ago.  Andy's birthday this year was quite different from last year.  It was really nice to be at home.  And we scored in the birthday present category this year.  We got Andy his favorite book and movie this year and a "bike with pedals" (a regular bike with no training wheels - he had been using a balance bike).  He absolutely loved it all.  He got the biggest smile on his face with each present.

Another thing I love about Andy is his love of "party hats."  I'm not sure where that started, but he thinks every kind of party needs a party hat.  For our ward Christmas party last year he colored a small triangle on a piece of paper, cut it out, and taped it to his hair.  We had people asking us all night what he had on his head.  He couldn't have been happier.  So for his birthday, I made party hats for everyone to decorate.  Andy and Lilia wore their party hats just about all day.  It was great!

 

The day before his birthday with his party hat and ready to go.  He liked this outfit so much he wanted to wear it for his birthday outfit.  I did have him change his socks, which he had worn to church like that. He couldn't find matching socks, so he just picked another "church" sock.

Lilia ready for the party!

Like I said, they wore their party hats all day - even for running errands.

When I went to Utah for my Grandmother's 90th birthday (25 February), all the kids asked if everyone at the party wore hats.  When I told them no, they all wondered why.

A bike with pedals!!

The "autobot sign."

And trying on the superhero suit from Grandma and Grandpa for the first time.  We had winners all around this year.

This is his "really-excited-trying-not-to-smile" smile.

And this was taken a week-and-a-half after his birthday running errands.  He still wears it going places!

It will be a sad day when Thunder Man's* suit bites the dust.

*Other aliases include Lighting Man and Weather Man.

Recent Recipes

We have tried a few new dishes in the last two months that were fantastic.

In no particular order:

Mediterranean Chickpea Stew
We made a few modifications based on what we had in the house.  And, as with all these recipes, we usually double or more the recipe.
We used yellow, orange, and red bell peppers instead of green.
We were running low on couscous, so we substituted quinoa.
We used diced tomatoes instead of whole ones.
This is the first time we have tried capers.  They are pretty tasty.  Kinda like the love child of a pickle and an olive.
Oh, and be warned: you will probably eat way more of it than you plan.  We sure did.


Soy-Free Mac and Cheese
Different than the box stuff, but very good.

We were out of corn starch, so we substituted oat flour.  (Benny uses all our corn starch to make Oobleck)
Nutritional yeast is interesting stuff.  It smells kinda funky, but can be substituted for cheese in many recipes.  I made hazelnut pesto yesterday and used the nutritional yeast instead of parmesan-very yummy.


Red Potato and Asparagus Salad
Quick, tasty, and we have used it as a main dish.  And the kids love it.


Acorn Squash with Cranberry Apple Quinoa
We used coconut oil instead of butter but didn't brush anything on the squash.  Also didn't bake the squash with the mixture together at the end.
We didn't have any red quinoa, so we used all white.
It is a little on the sweet side until you eat the quinoa mix with the squash.  Next time we will probably use water in place of the apple juice/cider.


Engine 2 Diet Vegetarian Lasagna
Good heavens, that was a good dinner.
And the two missionaries who came for dinner both had second helpings.  Always a good sign.
The recipe does make a lot so we did a 9x13 for dinner plus an 8x8 that we're keeping in the freezer.