my lenten promise

last year i blogged about my lenten promise and the road that

got me to where i am today, spiritually.

this year, it's even cooler because now emma is learning about the lenten

season at school and her energy about it is just awe-inspiring.

emma's lenten promise is to give up candy for 40 days. since we don't really 

eat that much candy around here, i also suggested we cut down

our tv time to focus on reading and arts and crafts.

(just on the regular, recently, i've been keeping the tv off

and realized that the kids barely notice it's off..but do nothing else when it's on)

emma has also been working really hard on memorizing her 

lenten prayer and well, remembering to say it everyday so she

can put a penny in her mite box. acts of kindness deserves

a donation to the mite box and we're pretty sure it'll fill up quick!

my lenten promise is to give up junk food (sweets, pop, chips) which 

unfortunately can be so difficult!

every time i want to cheat, i think of emma and her

passion to carry out her promise for the next 40 days.

i only pray i can be as strong as her!

recipes i've tried: chocolate quinoa cake

this recipe was given to me by a co-worker of mine

who loves to bake and cook. i was skeptical of the recipe

at first but at the end of the day, a really great product came of it

here's the recipe:

2/3c quinoa

1 1/3c water

1/2 c milk

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 c butter melted, cooled

1 1/2 c sugar

1 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

add quinoa and water to a pot with a tight fitting lid.

bring water to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. 

shut off heat and leave to cool, fluff with fork.

preheat oven to 350. f

grease and line with parchment an 8" round pan (i didn't line with parchment,

just greased with baking pam and it turned out perfect)

in a blender, blend eggs, vanilla and milk.

then add cooled quinoa and blend until smooth.

add the butter blend.

in a bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.

pour wet ingredients into the dry, mixing well.

pour into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes.

(no more no less, otherwise you'll end up with a gooey mess)

test with toothpick to ensure baked all the way through.

voila!

tastes just like a regular chocolate cake except more moist,

serve with any kind of icing!

enjoy :)

WW: Share a Whitney Houston Song

gosh, youtube couldn't have picked a better

freeze frame..sheesh!

anyway..enjoy!

thanks to mama kat for this

awesome writing prompt..or video prompt heh,

game me an excuse to sing!

link up :)

and i slipped in the mud.

the sun has come out to play finally!

our lives are incredibly busy (surprise!) and

it seems as though our family spends less and less

"family" time together so even though

i had to work this morning, i wasn't

going to let that stop us from enjoying the sunny afternoon.

we decided we'd make a trip to fort langley

to take a stroll along the river.

its been a while since emma got to ride her

bike, so needless to say, she was a little rusty.

poor girl was so nervous..though put her on a roller

coaster and her arms are up in the air and she's screamin 'whoo hoo!'

anyway a visit to fort langley just can't be complete

without a visit to wendels so i stopped

in, endured the usual loooong line up

to order some hot chocolate for the hubs and emma

a cinnamon vanilla black tea misto for moi

and some delicious organic chocolate chip cookies!

sorry, you'll have to turn your head to the side to see

how delicious my food/drink is..for some reason my computer 

won't let me rotate this image!

the view of the river from the trail

wherever olivia goes, so must baby..

stealing a picture with my little trouble maker!

olivia is like thing 1 and thing 2 from the cat in the hat.

she pretty much does the opposite of whatever it is you're

asking of her.

so instead of following her big sister on her bike and daddy

pushing the stroller, she has to run in the opposite direction,

heading for the river. thankfully, we found a...

playground!

so that kept her excited for a while

until she decided it was no longer fun.

so what did she do?

head for the river trail again..and since i was the closest to her

i had to chase after her.

and i slipped in the mud.

there you have it folks. probably the only time

you'll get this clear of a shot of my butt.

i was wet.

and.

cold.

and the sun was starting to set.

BUT.

the kids had a great time and even i had 

a good laugh about it.

here's to spending quality time as a family!