Mia Rose wants to clean her nose...

...we stayed in a nice hotel room during our little beach adventure. Kleenex boxes in that room were attached to the front of the sink exactly at the height of Mia Rose. So this is what happened. She stands in front of the Kleenex box and says "...Papa I want to blow up my nose..."

Thank you for reading :)

Moony & Sunny ...

On a car ride during the freezing cold spell Pdx - 20 F, very cold for us :) - the sky was bright blue, the soon was out and the moon could also be seen. Then comes the voice from the backseat "Mama, Papa look - it's moony and sunny out...". Alena was so excited and she now uses her word whenever it's still dark out....

Yeah - for great GALT levels....

We just received the results for both girls from the most recent blood draw and I am thrilled to report that they are excellent. Yay!!! Alena will be so happy to hear that b/c that means that there won't be a draw until the summer :) - Vitamin D levels are still on the low end, but I think that this has nothing to do with CG. It is just so exciting to me especially since they had Parmigiano Reggiano as well as plenty of legumes in the days leading up to the draw.

No draw until summer....this is great :)

Happy Wednesday to you all!

Recall - Updates on this Blog

FYI - I just added a search feature to the blog and because I now update recalls by e-mail as soon as I see them released by FDA I have removed the side bar "Recall" section. I hope that this works for everyone. As a side note, I only post recalls related to MILK products and only those affecting the United States. Please let me know if this works for you all. Thank you.

Great new breakfast place in SE PDX - Slappy Cakes in SE PDX

We had a fantastic "staycation" - Ron took off from work between Xmas and the New Year. I did work a couple of days, but it is just so much easier with one parent at home plus I am quite flexible that I can also work when everybody is taking a break. In any case, during the time off we did something fun with the family every day. Stuff out of the ordinary like bowling (and by the way I lost....ha, lost to a 3 & 6 year old), movies, going out for breakfast or lunch, etc. We did have a lot of fun. On one of the mornings we tried out a new restaurant close to our house. It is called "Slappy Cakes" and the really fun part about it is that there is a griddle in the middle of your table where you can cook your own pancakes. They also have add-on's to the pancakes like blueberries, bacon bits, dried cherries, etc. So much fun AND they, of course otherwise we would not have gone, have also vegan batter. I think they are the best vegan pancakes we have ever eaten. So you order, they oil the grill and they bring out a squeeze bottle with batter plus a dish of Vegan butter (a.k.a. Earth Balance). Then you squeeze the batter on the griddle, add your additional toppings, and voila perfect pancakes. Both girls absolutely loved it and in case you are wondering the additional topping they chose were blueberries (two orders), plus a side of bacon (what strange vegans they are :) )

The rest of the food was also fantastic. Local, sustainable, and fresh. So the next time you want to go out for breakfast, or lunch, and you are in PDX go to http://slappycakes.com/ - Total fun, and so good.

Happy Monday!

A perfect morning at the beach

Good morning from the Oregon Coast...we love going to the beach as
this is the last weekend of our vacation we decided to spend the night
at a hotel. With pool, fireplace, fantastic ocean view, and warm
breakfast bar. I did not check the food out before we drove out, but
came well prepared. Raisin Challah, Whole Soy Yogurt, Earth Balance,
and regular Dave's bread....what a great surprise so to find out there
foods the girls can eat. Fruit salad, and English Muffins...yeah to
that. Both loved...

Ok - better get ready to go to the pool with the family...

Alena is reading to Mia Rose

Reading
Originally uploaded by weisskrull@yahoo.com

...what a great way to start a Saturday morning. Alena reads to Mia Rose

Bend October 2009

Bend October 2009
Originally uploaded by weisskrull@yahoo.com

Both girls in Bend

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009
Originally uploaded by weisskrull@yahoo.com

Our two butterflies getting ready to go "trick-or-treating"

Happy New Year

Did you have a good start into 2010? We sure did and celebrated, as has become the tradition of our little family, with Oregon Dungeness Crab. Alena loves crab and she basically can eat an entire crab all by herself. Of course, so the mothership does all the cleaning...It has been so long, it seems that as I gotten busier with my practice there just was not enough time, and also at times I was wondering whether there is a point to blogging. Well, that in a sense is a deeper questions...but here are New Year resolutions and I am committing myself to at least one entry per week on this blog. I love to get feedback if anyone is still out there....

How are we and the girls doing? We are all good. 2009 has been a good year. The girls and I travelled to Europe in March, the summer we spent here in Oregon and camped a whole lot. Alena started Kindergarten this fall and it has at times been challenging. We have decided to keep her at Childswork and it has proven to be a great decision. There are 16 kids in her class (11 boys and 5 girls) with two teachers and school is from 8:30 - 12:30 everyday. On two days she stays in after-care as those are my designated work days where I just concentrate on my business :). Once a week Alena goes to speech therapy which has been very good for her and gaining confidence.

Mia Rosie still goes to the same school two days a week. Her speech is evolving beautifully in both English and German. That is just so exciting to see. Actually both girls can - if they think a person does not speak English - switch to German only. That my friends, really makes the mothership happy :))) Of course, it may not be 100% perfect but isn't it great...

On the food front, I think we have adopted to this diet that it really is no big deal anymore. We just saw Julie & Julia and I told Ron "...I don't think that Julia Childs' cooking would ever work for us..." OK - duh, of course not...but I did not say that with a heavy heart. Oh, and Alena was watching Clifford the other day and there was a ton of ice cream next to Clifford on the ground. Ron overheard Alena saying "...oh, I would so love to eat that ice cream if it is without Kuhsmilch (cow milk)...". She just said it like that matter of fact, not with a heavy heart "oh, poor me..." no, just naturally so that made us feel great. Empowerment is so important...

OK - we are off to the beach for one night (just made that decision) better pack the soy milk, the bread, and the swimsuits for the hotel pool....So here is to a great 2010.