Easter Feast Finds

Just want to add a note about our Easter meal because I really enjoyed some new recipes and techniques.

A cute old lady at Cosco was mulling over their honey ham, so I went with her recommendation.  To cook it, I used my crockpot.  Maybe that's totally "duh" to everybody else, but it only just occurred to me.  The recipe is simple: 1 1/2 cups brown sugar and ham.  Cook.  See?  Pretty easy.  The ham was SO moist, it was cooked to perfection.  In the future I'll probably experiment with some other flavors to add because as it was just, well, ham-tasting.  But, my oven was free for several other items that needed to cook simultaneously, so I definitely recommend the slow-cooker for that reason alone.

I didn't want to bother coordinating rolls around church, so I made muffins - a yummy, springy, lemon poppy seed recipe.  Mmmmmm.  5 stars from this house.

For dessert, I couldn't decide between about a million choices (dessert is like that, ya know) but finally settled on just two:

Almond Custard Fondue with fruit for dipping into it (although cake, brownies, etc. pieces would have gone even better!), and











Overnight Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread from Better Homes and Gardens.  Both of these recipes are definitely make-agains too.

It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times...

We had a very nice Easter yesterday... overall.  For the first time ever we prepared and ate our dinner just us Stevensons, which was kind of fun to create the whole meal ourselves. (read = myself)  The Corvallisians did all get together for FHE and dessert, which was also super.  That was the good.

My kids have not been having the best of times, though. You know that age when your baby has learned to walk and chooses to do it as their primary mode of transportation... but they're not terribly good at it yet?... and they end up with all sorts of battle wounds?  Yeah, that's Hollyn.  A couple nights ago she lost her balance and landed her cheek bone on the corner of a dresser drawer.  The following morning she bumped or fell again and connected the first bruise to a new black eye.  Later that day Asher fell off a chair outside (fort-building) and got a nice large bruised goose-egg on his head.  The following morning (yesterday) Hollyn threw up and later as we arrived at church Brian noticed her eye-lids were swollen.  She was taken home and given antihistamine, but not before getting a nice puffy face, ears, and neck.  (I don't know for sure what caused the allergic reaction, but she was given her first ever egg (small piece of hard-boiled) in the a.m.)  And to top off the day, Asher got an allergic reaction at my sister's house during FHE which got pretty bad.  As I went to get him more benedryl this morning, he agreed, "yeah, because my face isn't all the way back down yet."

So, we got through the weekend a little worse for the wear.  C'est La Vie, oui?  At least no one died. :-)

April Off to a Busy Start

You will probably find this a little long - it's basically just showing Hollyn walking, babbling/squawking, and getting into things.  I love this girl!  At 11-1/2 months now she has developed quite a character.  She HATES diaper and clothes changes.  In one clip you see her with the sleeves only of her pjs on.  That's because I was breaking up the torture into separate sessions for both of our sakes.  Hollyn does love being part of the action however.  She thoroughly enjoys her brothers or others playing and acting silly with her.  She loves chewing on remote controls and has a particular favorite which she carries around at any opportunity.

********* I wrote the above earlier in the week ************
So, yeah, we're doing pretty good.  In Brennan's class at school the students have the opportunity to be "guest readers" after practicing and reading for the teacher. Brennan was SUPER excited about that and practiced his chosen book Venus over and over the first night, then took the book to school the next day.  Later that day I got an email from his teacher telling me was an "EXCELLENT" guest reader and how sweet it was with him sitting in the teacher's chair with everyone's eyes on him.  I like when he gets really excited about things.  Similarly, he (and Asher) have just started taking swimming lessons.  They're in the same level one class with a bunch of 3-year-olds.  I found out that I can have Brennan tested out and into level 2 if he can show confidence putting his face in the water.  Anyway, even though the class isn't everything he hoped it would be (full of songs and such) he has been so attentive during the classes!  I've pretty much never seen him paying attention in a class/lesson type setting, but if he's interested enough he can do it!  Speaking of which, Brennan has been being seen by a pediatric therapy professional and is being treated for Sensory Defensiveness.  It's super interesting.  The treatment involves brushing his skin with a special "surgical" brush, followed by joint compression.  I'm hoping to eventually scan the article I was given and post it on the other blog, but in the meantime, I just found this website, and it includes some interesting articles.  I know some of my sisters, (ex: Kelly :-) enjoy reading this kind of stuff just out of curiosity and for the enjoyment and learning and thinking.
Is It SPD or ADHD?
Sensory Defensiveness

I was doing a little shopping today and realized everything I purchased was for either a birthday or holiday.  I have 2 of the former and 1 of the latter within 11 days of each other this month.  Sheesh.  That's about as bad as December which includes my birthday, anniversary, Christmas, and then New Years within 26 days.  I spent the rest of my day looking up birthday cake ideas, healthy treats for class ideas, and now on to figuring out an Easter meal.

And lastly, Hollyn loves my tablet, so I found a game for her the other day.