What we did in February - Part the first - 3 out of 4 Stenbergs visit

Happy last few weeks of summer!

While I wait for the school pictures to come in to force me to update pics on the blog, I thought I'd update the blog.  We've actually been pretty busy this year.  It may take several posts.  The school pics will take longer than usual to post as Iain was sick for photo day, and will have to wait for make-ups in late September to get his taken.  So, those won't come until October.

February had visitors!

Eva, Andy, and Björn came to visit (Tor was back at school) and do a driving tour down the west coast.  This was the 1st time Andy and Björn have been here since Iain was an infant.  We went hiking in the Redwoods and toured Alcatraz.

Peek-a- boo!

 Family in a tree

 Boyz

 A lovely shot of E and me

to go with this one of mom from 1992

Photo bomb!

We really didn't take almost any pictures at Alcatraz, mostly just on the boat.

(This one makes up for all those perky pics of Björn in the redwoods!)

 I look reeeeeealllly smart listening to my headphones on the tour.

And, finally, kids playing Talisman.  (I hate how our cameras always make people on the edge of the field go WIDE.  We should either get nicer cameras, or try harder to not have anyone at the edges.)

I've lost!!!!

That's it!!! I've lost!!!

I'm officially the shortest human in the house ;-).  OK, admittedly, I found (much to my dismay) that I am no longer 5'1.25", I'm now 5'0.25" (oh, the horrors of aging!)....but nonetheless, the level tells us that the kids are both taller now.

Ria's bubble

 (please ignore how cranky Iain and I look!)

 Iain's bubble

GF *sigh*

First attempt at a GF recipe for Thin Mints (its Girl Scout cookie season here in the US) results in my new knowledge that peppermint oil is apparently 4x stronger than peppermint extract.  Oops.  I think I should have checked about substitutions before I made them.

Too overwhelming for me, but the family likes them, so I guess I shouldn't complain ;-).

Beautiful girl with cats

Shoes

OK, so pick out the shoes that belong to Mona.  (Versus the ones that belong to Iain and Ria.)  My little puppies have big paws.

yoinks, they grow!

So, this is how it goes....

Oooh, I've taken soooo many pictures for a blog post, I wanna do a blog post tonight.  (William starts up the playstashun and quests up a storm, the cats hold us down maliciously not allowing us to go pee.)  And, I start looking through the photos.  Oh, look at that, Iain's little mustache was barely there! (Though he points out that its not technically a mustache, its dark thick normal hair, the pediatrician cleared this up..... the real facial hair, thick and wirey, doesn't come for a few more years.)  Oh, look!  Iain has caught up on height a lot in the last few months!  Oh, look!  Doesn't she look awesome in that dress!  Oh, look.....it's 10:45 already, but I was planning to do a blog post!

You really don't know how MANY nights go like this....not really tons, but one every month or 2.  You never see the posts, they don't acutally happen.  But look!  this one does!

Iain looking VERY teen, but he's only 12!  He doesn't always look quite so....mature!

Monkey Elsa, Ria's pinata.  VERY disturbing

Happy Halloween!  Iain didn't dress up, he helped me with the candy.  Ria was Elsa.

At Ria's walkathon, another mom took this awesome picture of us!  You can tell that she's going to be SOOO much taller/bigger than me just from looking at our teeth!

Happy Thanksgiving family picture (Iain doesn't look so old in this one!)  PLEASE NOTICE, I'M STILL TALLER!!!!  BWA HA HA!!!!  I'M TALLER!  (In 5 years it will be three 6 footers and one 5 footer, but I'm enjoying three 5 footers and one 6 footer ;-))

Ria dressed for her Elegant Party at school

Gosh, its hard to get pictures of Mr. Nearly A Teen... Here he is plonking around with Fur Elise.

Here is Iain's carrot alphabet.

Oreo has a favorite stuffed animal.  This pink mouse (originally from Mormor to Ria) travels around the house.  We find it in a different place every morning.  This evening she came to W's lap, dropped the mouse in his lap, then jumped up and snuggled.

And Oreo also found that she can climb the tree.

Freya checking out the new wall climbing facilities

And the Japanese maple has a final burst of beauty before giving up her leaves.

My mind is blown - Gluten Free bread

Yo!

No pictures, sorry -- I owe you.

I'm just being blown away with my most recent gluten free baking experiments.  As you all know (because the only people reading this are family and friends ;-)), I've been a bit psycho about GF baking since January this year, with the whole rice/arsenic thing.  A ridiculous amount of my brain space has been taken over by variations on sandwich bread loaf recipes.

I'm avoiding rice flour (we'll eat rice that looks like rice, but not hidden as flour), and I hate the smell of xanthan gum (bionic nose), and everyone other than Ria in this family are sensitive to the funky smell of sorghum flour that shows up when it is even mildly old.  That kills all the easily purchasable GF bread loaves and mixes.  So, homemade GF sandwich loaf bread.

I've obviously (um, obvious to GF bakers only) gone the psyllium husk route.  Psyllium husk can act as a gluten replacement, as can xanthan gum, as can guar gum (also a funky smell and aftertaste), as can chia seed and flax seed (though they aren't as impressive as psyllium husk, not good enough for a bread loaf).

We have this GF baguette we love, Against the Grain, which is based on tapioca starch + eggs + cheese, like Brazillian cheese bread.  Its a variation of choux pastry.  No need for a gluten replacement.

Psyllium husk is awesome for developing a bread structure, but the problem (for me) is that it doesn't bloody well TOAST.  Psyllium husk absorbs huge amounts of water, which is what gives you the really good bread texture, together with its gelatinization.  However, this makes it nearly impossible to make the darn stuff toast properly.  I like things to crunch and toast.  Seriously failed in the toast zone.  Xanthan gum toasts, but has that funky flavor/smell.

So.... I found out that the woman behind the Against the Grain baguettes, Nancy Cain, had a GF cookbook.  http://www.amazon.com/Against-Grain-Extraordinary-Gluten-Free-All-Natural/dp/0385345550

So, Ms. Cain works with the gelatinization properties of starch, specifically tapioca starch, and loves this light buckwheat flour that I love http://www.ployes.com/online-catalog/product/3-acadian-light-buckwheat-flour-3-0-lb-per-bag.html (I found her cookbook from a mailer from the light buckwheat flour folks).  I've done a number of her recipes from the book (cookies and pancakes) that are awesome, but I wasn't really impressed with her bread loaves based on pre-gelatinization of the tapioca starch....though it is an awesomely fun science experiment to play with varying the temperature of water/oil mixed with tapioca starch and see how dramatically differently the texture is (cold water + tapioca = slurry, boiling water + tapioca = bouncy rubber ball).

So, on a whim, I tried her bread recipe that used the pectin from applesauce (apple butter, actually, but I tinker with everything), but doesn't fully pre-gelatinize the starch with a boiling water/oil component.  The "gluten replacement" structure is from eggs and the pectin of the apple butter, which I replaced with applesauce + canning pectin.  The batter was basically liquid, but it made bread.  I didn't pre-gelatinize the starches with hot water, but it (*&*&%&% made BREAD.  Weird structure issues,  but bread.  2nd time I followed the recipe more, and used WARM water & WARM applesauce.  Heat is a big big factor in this pre-gelatinization of starches, and the loaf was AMAZING.  Stretchy, moist, rose, AND IT TOASTS.

My mind is blown away.  No gluten replacement really necessary, beyond adding the structure of eggs (which is a huge amount of structure --- think choux pasty and genoise sponge) plus working with the temperature features of the starches.

This is an awesome loaf of bread.  Stretchy, tasty, it toasts, and it relies on just eggs and gelatinization of starches.  No weird stuff, just temperature.

Crazy weirdness.  Make this loaf with room temperature water, it makes a loaf of bread, although very strange in its structure.  Make this loaf with warm temperature water, and it makes a loaf of bread with honest to goodness proper bread structure.

Chemistry experiments are FUN!!!  Plus, Ria LOVES this bread....

whee!

Book fair!

Dress like a hero day

It is walkathon time at the elementary schools in our district, and the theme this year is "superheros," a topic close to Ria's heart.  The 3 Thursdays leading up to the walkathon are "spirit days."  Today was "dress like a hero day", and the next 2 weeks will be "pajama day" and "backwards day."

Ria decided that books were her heros, so she was dressed as Super Book, with double bonus cool super powers shirt that she got for her birthday.

The books are some she really likes (although the specific Goosebumps book I printed out the cover of at midnight last night is obviously one she hasn't read yet, which was a problem for her), plus some cute quotes.  The non-book ones are:

- a flowchart:  "do you really need a new book?" -> no -> you are mistaken -> buy a new book

- "my idea of an outdoor activity is to take my book outside to read", and 

-  "I'm not addicted to reading - I can quit as soon as I finish this chapter."

heh.  ;-)

And, finally, THIS year's school pictures ;-)

Fall 2015 school pictures:

Iain in 7th, becoming a young man:

and Ria showing her silly side for 3rd grade-- those braces are coming off in 2 weeks!

1st day of school - 2015 (THIS year!)

A bit more prompt, 1st day of school pictures for THIS year (don't they look just freakin' AWESOME!  My kids are great!):

Iain starting 7th grade

Ria starting 3rd grade:

A year late -- last year's school pictures

I'm pitiful....

Here's LAST year's school photos!

Iain in 6th grade:

and Ria in 2nd grade:

1st Day of School (a month ago ;-))

Exactly 1 month ago today, we started school:

Here's Iain on his 1st day of Middle School - grade 6!  He is doing GREAT!  The sudden increase of independence really seems to suit him well.

And our "little" girl, ready for her 1st day of 2nd grade (we've decided this shirt looks like fireworks):

RAIN!

Look!!!  Dampness descends from the sky!!!

Non-Californians would call it a very light mist....for us, it's RAIN!  Wish us a lot more of this this winter, we're parched.

Cuteness!

Will you play with us now?  We're bored!

KITTENS!!!

Interrupting your Canadian trip reading experience, we announce the return of cats to our humble abode!  We adopted from the Nine Lives Foundation, our local no-kill shelter.

Here's Iain with Freya on Friday at 9 lives when we'd picked them out.

 And here's Ria chatting with Freya's sister, Oreo, also on Friday.

We couldn't bring them home right away, as they needed to get spayed and their final check-up....but we got a call today (Sunday!) that they were ready to pick up!  So here they are piled on William's lap, Freya and Oreo, our new kitties!  (Their coloring isn't quite that dark in person.)

Their estimated age is about 14 weeks old, just over 3 months.

Yay!  Our house is a proper home again!

We're home! We were gone?

Hi!  We're back from 2 weeks and a bit in Canada....we had a lovely time.  I'm going to try to actually post some pictures from this trip -- not that you have anything from LAST year's trip yet! -- here we go!

First major activity - Niagra Falls.

The falls on the left is the "American" falls - the "horseshoe falls" on the right is the "Canadian" falls.

We took one of the boat trips - We from the Canadian side got red garbage-bag rain coats.  The American boat folk were in blue.  The people doing the walk to the falls on the US side were in yellow.  Not sure, but we think the folks doing the walk on the Canadian side might have been yellow as well.  We looked like packs of marauding gnomes -- Here's the red team/gang from our boat:

And William kindly models the red gnomish fashion:

The gnome experience was funny enough as it was - but then we hit the crazed water from the falls.  The boat tour has been run by the "Maid of the Mist" tour boat for years (though in recent years the Canadian boat has been switched to Hornblower).  Once we felt the "mist", we settled on "Screaming Harpie of the Mist" as a more appropriate description of the experience. ;-).  It was fun!

Gluten and Milk

hi!

1st, obligatory picture!  Kids snuggling a Daddy on Father's day.  Yes, I know you can't see Iain's face, but this one is soooo sweet!

Also on the bed is our old kitty Europa.  We had to let her go a few weeks ago due to renal failure.  She was 17 years old, so she'd had a good run, but we do miss her.  We're going to get some kittens soon, though, so soon we'll be a cat-happy household again ;-).

Sooo.....as you all know, Ria has been on a GFCF diet (Gluten-free, Casein-free (aka, "milk product free")) for a long time now.  When we challenged her with gluten and milk last summer, neither went well, and we nixed them both.

Now that the gut-healing process should be complete, we've given them another try......and the results are:

MILK - YES!!!
GLUTEN - NO.

Although we're a little sad that the gluten didn't work out, we are BEYOND THRILLED that we have milk products back!  Cheese!  Yoghurt!  Quiche!    Clearly, Ria's gut problems were the root of her milk sensitivity (which showed in "sensory" terms - i.e., toe walking, flapping, jumping, screeching whenever she felt strong emotions, good or bad).  Ria's gluten problems (which are basically fuzzy-headedness, think drunk/stoned on gluten) have no sensory impact to them, so its not very surprising that the gluten problems are attacking in a different metabolic pathway, and hence weren't helped with the gut healing.

One really cool thing about this challenge - Ria was able to identify that she was "fuzzy headed".  We didn't just have to look for externally-visible signs of the gluten impact, she could actually tell us quite reliably the level of fuzzy that she was feeling.  Nifty!

Aah, the joy of quiche.  We are thrilled to have it back, even with it requiring a gluten-free crust.  (I'm working on a better crust....improvements in progress.)

Happy summer!

School's out for summer!

Hey there folks!  School is out for summer!!!

Here's Ria during her class play of "Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain"....She and her fellow cows are going "Moo" at this point. 

And below she is with her awesome 1st grade teacher Ms. Moore and her doubly awesome aide Gloria.  You can see her silly shirt better in this picture, a giraffe saying "Moo, I'm a goat".  (heh!)  On to 2nd grade!

And, Iain graduated from 5th grade!  Off to Junior High in the fall!, though they call it "Middle School" here.  Below, Iain with Mr. A, his 5th grade teacher, orchestrator of many awesome 5th grade adventures:

The fabulous Mrs. Ross (2nd and 3rd grade) made an appearance for the graduation, which made Iain VERY happy.

And we also got to see Ms. Prentice (4th grade, in the middle), and Ms. Bean (1st grade, on the right) - though I'm not sure how the camera got set into "soft" mode there.

Only Bonnie (his Kindergarten teacher) couldn't make it, since she was with her class....so I'll put in a picture from Kindergarten to fill out the set!  Here she is, ready for pirate math ;-)

Both kids had a wonderful year....Thanks to so many awesome teachers!

Life plans

Ooh, look!  3 of my favorite people!

So, I thought I should update you on Ria's life plans.  She's changed her plan.

Originally, earlier this month, she was planning to be a "Homeless Roamer" when she turned 18.  She was going to roam around with nothing more than a backpack on her back, and extra books in the pockets of her pants.  (She was planning to wear cargo pants with lots of pockets down the legs...taking advantage of her extra height, you see.)  I campaigned against this plan, using the "where will you keep your books" argument, which is when she came up with the cargo pants plan.

Lately, however, she's changed her plan to having a "Home on the Roam."  It will have a sign even, "Ria's Home on the Roam."  She'll live in a camper, which will have a large screen TV and lots of superhero movies and books on the shelves.  It will be a camper with a bathroom in it.  I have to say, I am much more supportive of this plan.  She can't wait until she turns 18 and is able to implement her plan.  Just imagine!  NO ONE will be able to tell her what to do!!!  It will be just awesome.

I believe her career plan is still to be a crossing guard.

(Iain's life plans are much more straightforward.  He's going to be a computer programmer, possibly working at Google with his dad.  I think he's planning on taking over our house from us when we downsize in our old age, as he hopes to live in this house forever.)