Sweet Potato Pancakes + Busy Baby

Things have been incredibly busy around here!  (Do I say that in every post?) But, life has gotten a little better since we started having pizza again on Friday nights.  Oh, how we missed our pizza.  We take a little vacation from our diet every now and then, and have not suffered enough to stop us. :) For pizza, I've been using a whole wheat crust that the kids rave about, and say it's the best pizza they've ever eaten.  Whether they believe it's the best because a) they were pizza deprived for months on end, or b) because it really is tasty is up for debate.  

We all agree on this new pancake recipe, though.  These pancakes are Gluten-free and Dairy-free and we all love them.  

Sweet Potato Pancakes

(Adapted from this "normal people recipe")

Mash together:

1 1/4 cups cooked sweet potato (more-or-less one BIG potato)

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 eggs

Dump in:

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour (I like Arrowhead gluten free baking mix.  Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour also works great.)

1 t. Xanthan Gum

3 1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1/2 t. cinnamon (or more to taste)

Stir the above mixture a little, then Pour in:

1 1/2 cups original flavor almond milk (or other milk substitute)

Mix it all together until smooth.  Add more "milk" if necessary to get the thickness you like.  Make it into pancakes on a griddle or skillet.  Or, fry them up in bacon grease for extra flavor :)

Zack has been a busy, busy baby lately.  He crawls all over the house, getting into all the things he shouldn't.  The other boys were at least happy to sit in their swing and watch a movie when I needed to get something done, but not this baby.  Thankfully the big boys are a huge help, and love to take turns playing with him.

Soccer is in full swing again.  This year we have 3 teams to cheer for.  The boys are having a blast.  Zack loves to play in the grass while Tim and I chat with friends and watch the game.

Hopefully I'll snag a picture of William soon, and add it to the set!

September...

...is my new favorite month.

We have just had the most glorious week and a half of weather. It was so refreshing to my soul. God is so good to have given us seasons. Winter is coming, I know it is, and I almost can't wait. But I know from past experience that by the end of winter I will be soooo glad it's over. I'll be longing for summer. I guess I'm fickle...but I also guess that means I can take fresh delight in old things over and over.

I had a rapturous encounter with a glass of orange juice this week. I try to drink some every day...it's on my pregnancy dietary plan. But one day, in a moment of peace and quiet, I drank it slowly. I savored every swallow. I let the sweetness roll over my tongue...and how I praised Jesus. My, he did a fine job when he created the orange. Moments like that make me long all the more for heaven.

But...enough of my mooning about September and OJ.

What's new...

It's soccer season again!

We had 3 weeks of practice--3 nights a week. Then last Tuesday Samuel kicked off the game season with Team Fury.


It was pretty fun to watch. He reminded us a good bit of Trevor during his first year.

Samuel's first game: (he's #9)


One of Trevor's first games--he's on the orange team:


Actually, I think Trevor is just running 'cause everyone else is running, and Samuel is running because he's supposed to.

Here's Trevor now:


And William:


And a nice one of them together:


Trevor is on the Chargers again. It sure is nice having Trevor and William on the same team. If they all play next year, we will have 3 teams to juggle. Plus, we'll have a baby. I'm going to enjoy every minute of this soccer season!

Friday night we wanted to do something fun...and since it was so nice outside we decided to have an al fresco steak dinner (with our delicious organic Nebraska beef). But by the time we sat down to eat it was dark. So, we ate in the dark. :) the stars were coming out, and before long the moon was up.


William, always the one with a creative idea (last week he wanted to do a wood painting project--it had been "burning in his heart" all week. Burning in his heart?? Where does he get this stuff??) decided it would be good fun to get out the telescope. And he did. All 50 pieces of it. Ok, maybe it was only 15 pieces...but he did it. And Tim proved yet again what a good daddy he is. He helped put it together, set it up, and got it focused on the moon.






I think he enjoyed it as much as the kids.

I had made some strawberry shortcakes, and we had those for dessert. I made them with the recipe off my Bisquick box.

You can get the recipe HERE.


Anyway, all that to say that while we were eating our dessert (the shortcakes + thawed out strawberries from our freezer + vanilla creamer--a good substitute for Cool Whip) Trevor shared that this was probably his best day this year: he loves to eat outside at night, he loves to look in the telescope, and he loves when we have good dessert. Yea, baby, fill up my Mommy Tank. Fill 'er up. :)

Anyone need to run out any buy them some Bisquick??

Okay. Last story.

Our friends Pete and Caitlin crashed our house yesterday to have a car cleaning party. Here's some pictures:







This is their daughter Claira...








Claira liked the soap sudds. She had fun smearing them anywhere she could reach...




Trevor really didn't like getting messy. He didn't like getting wet, and he didn't like that the grass stuck to his wet feet, and he tried to keep as grass-free as possible.


The other boys didn't care as much...




Ah...here's to hoping that September ends as blissfully as it started... :)

Back to Real Life

I may just have to get used to the fact that my blogs will be more infrequent for the next couple months. Sigh.

After posting last, I went back up to get the boys from Wonderwoman. She and Dad met me halfway--in St. Loius. The boys had stayed with Grandma and Grandpa for nearly a week and a half, giving me some much appreciated time at home to work on things in peace and quiet. On our way home we stopped by the Rocket rest stop in Alabama. Trevor was the only one interested in having his picture made (er, that's taken, for all you northerners).


Lest you be deceived by the boys' pants, let me tell you that it was miserably hot...I was dripping sweat within minutes. Those crazy boys just really, really like to wear their pajamas. It's one of the perks of taking a car trip in the Tolleson family.


Once we got home, we had a day to repack and get ready for our next little trip--down to Gulf Shores Alabama for an annual family reunion. The boys had a great time in the beautiful pools.


Lately, Trevor likes to play with anyone besides his brothers when he goes to the pool. He either likes to find a new friend, or play with a grown up. He had a blast throwing the ball with Tim...


Trevor's got on his sweet new prescription goggles.




William and Samuel enjoyed running all over with their cousin Judson. The went down the slide dozens of times. They're just getting on at the top here...


I learned that it's pretty hard to get a good "slide" picture, and gave up quickly...


I love this one, though...


Our condo was right on the bay, and Trevor was very insistant that I take a picture of the lights at night...


Here's a picture of our branch of the family at the reunion...I think it turned out great!


Once we got back home, it was time to get back to business. We are in our 3rd week of school, and are really enjoying it. At least, most of us are enjoying it most of the time. :) Math has been giving Trevor and William fits...mostly they just don't want to think hard. I understand. :) I guess that's part of the reason we have them at home, so we can work at working. If only I knew how to teach them to do that!

One day last week the weather was actually pleasant in the morning. We delayed school for an hour or so, so they could enjoy the day outdoors. It's cicada season again, and they enjoyed gathering as many shells as they could.


I overheard Samuel talking about getting enough of them gathered to sell. Cute :)


They were very excited to discover one cicada just emerging from its shell. Trevor came in to get the camera.


It was very cool to watch its wings stretch out.


Wow.

Hopefully that's a rolly polly William has there?


We also started soccer last week. Here's Sam at his try outs. In a basketball shirt. :)


Tim is an assistant coach on Trevor and William's team, and Samuel is on Judson's team, since my brother-in-law is the coach there. It's going to be super nice to only have 2 teams to watch! Boy, next year all 3 boys will on separate teams. But I don't need to borrow trouble.

While I'm on the subject of soccer, may I explain a soccer gear mystery? According to William, if worn on the outside of your socks, everyone will be distracted by your cool shin-guards. You have to put them underneath so your team won't be distracted. :)

And lastly, one of my little joys of the week: a 2 inch long baby lizard that I found licking the dew off one of my plants. So amazing. God makes such beautiful things.


Here's hoping that it won't be another month before my next post!!!

Fall is Here!

...and we are loving it.


That tasty treat would be a caramel apple, made by Tim. Tim is so creative. I love him so much. (Is that too mushy for a blog??) I am so NOT creative, and he makes my life way more beautiful, interesting and TASTY.

What inspired this beautiful apple, you wonder? Well, I'd be pleased to tell you.

Pretty much anytime I ask Tim what he wants for lunch/dinner, he says, "something GOOD." Poor Tim. I want something EASY. Not too long ago, after church, we were hunting for something GOOD to eat for lunch at home. If I remember right, we went for something EASY in the end...grilled cheese. Hmmm... Lunch was lacking something. Fruit? I suggested that we had a couple of apples, and we could make some kind of dip...caramel, or cream cheese... (I'm still thinking EASY at this point.) Well, with Tim in charge, the apples will need to be GOOD. Thus: Caramel apples with white chocolate drizzled on top. They were SO DELICIOUS.

In case you are inspired by GOOD things, here's how we made them:

We washed 2 apples (of course).
We melted 10-15 unwrapped Brach's Caramels and 2T of water in a bowl in the microwave.
We spooned the caramel over the apples, and set them on waxed paper on a plate in the fridge while we ate lunch. (Really, they didn't peel off the paper at all...perhaps there's a better way?)
After lunch, we melted Almond Bark (again in the micro) and spooned it into a baggie.
After cutting a little bit of the corner off, we squeezed the bark onto our cooled apples.
We pulled the apples off the paper, and cut them into slices with a big knife.
We ATE them, very happily. :)

In other fall news...I have more pictures of tree climbing. The pictures I took just didn't do the trick for showing how high our little rascals were. Tim took these, and this is the first I have seen how high up Trevor was. It's a little shocking...

In the first one, you can barely see Trevor in the center of the picture:


The second one is a little easier. Try to remember where int he tree he is, so you can find him in the 3rd picture:




Oh my goodness...was he ever high. I'm not sure what I think about that. I am keenly aware of my lack of understanding of how to raise boys.

Soccer is also Fallish, so here are some more soccer pictures...

This is from Trevor's last game. He is 2nd from the right. Look how small he is compared to the others!


He played really well that game.


Here's a couple from an older game:




And William's last game...he got to play Goalie 2nd half:




In the SOUTH, blowing and raking PINESTRAW is Fallish...

...and lots more fun to do when the kids help:











And, another Fallish thing is, of course, hatching Triops...
What? You haven't heard of that? Well, you are missing out!



Here is our set-up.

We bought a kit of Triops eggs while in Branson this year. The kids have been begging since March to hatch their eggs. Well, tis the season.

If you are curious, you can go here to see a page about Triops.

We had to make sure the water was the right temp before we started, hence the heating lamp. Then we added our egg mixture:



All that debris floating in the water came with the eggs. After 1 day, they hatched. I think you can actually see one triop floating in the water in that last picture. It is a light brown speck, floating in the middle of an open area, just below the "GLAD" sign on the bottom of the container.

So, now, just 1 week later, we have 6 baby triops swimming like crazy in our bowl.


Yes, in the dirty water, you can see one of them...he looks a little like a horseshoe crab. We are having a blast with them.

We'll keep you posted on their growth, of course!

Fall is also time for CAMPING.
We are getting camping fever...which can sometimes be alleviated just by setting up a tent.





We are actually psyching ourselves up to go camping soon. Time will tell what we wind up doing, I guess.

Lastly, here's a barrage of old pictures I came across from the last few months:

Crazy:


Smooth:


Thoughtful:


Here's a nice one of WonderWoman


This is of Trevor dancing. He has this hilarious, bobbing, bouncing dance that makes us all laugh.


This is when Samuel was the King of the Class for a day.


He brought home a book that the class made all about SAMUEL.


Happy Fall!