There is sunshine...

We've had some very spring-like weather the past week or so, creating melting - and then non-existent -snow, perfect for wearing new galoshes. Galoshes are magical to kids, at least mine anyway. I even remember having some as a child and thinking it was the greatest thing ever to walk in puddles and stay dry. Simple joys. There has been trampoline jumping, backyard soccer playing, and general adventure making, all while wearing T-shirts - in January!

Then it turned to winter again, for a day, and we went from a warm and sunny morning to a snow-blowing-sideways freezing afternoon. It was exactly the weather I needed to create the perfect ambiance for my final dessert of the month club, which I woke with a start earlier in January remembering I had forgotten to do in December. Oops. I chose to make a coconut tres leches cake (this might have been the hardest one to give away. Wow.) as a little culinary mid-winter tropical getaway. So delivering it during a snowstorm was perfect. This one is a from-scratch yellow cake, soaked in a coconut milk syrup (cream of coconut, evaporated milk, whipping cream and vanilla) and topped with whipped cream, bananas and toasted coconut. I didn't fully assemble it, as I didn't want the bananas to go bad, so the picture of the assembled piece of cake I snagged from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, my fave foodie blog from whence the recipe came.

On Monday the children and I did some projects about Martin Luther King, Jr. One of them involved drawing/writing their ideas of helping children get along. I am posting them here because what each child drew is so telling about them and their personalities.
Lucas "drew" guns, tanks and bees. I think he might have missed the message of peace...? But he did spell and write the word MOM all on his own (encircled), which I thought was pretty darn impressive for a 3-year-old:

Isabel's was all about - what else? - candy! She dictated the story to me to write on the back; it is written hurriedly, hence the sloppy handwriting. Actually, who am I kidding? I never have good handwriting, but esp. when I'm in a hurry. Hopefully it can be deciphered. Oh, and "mama's sweet box of candy love" is how the children refer to a Tupperware I have filled with the sad few remnants of Halloween candy. It's all in how you spin it, I suppose.

Connor depicted three children holding hands and saying "let's not fight" (what a concept! gee, we should try that at home), and then a map of the world. He is developing a love of geography; we love to study his new globe together.

On the back he wrote about wanting to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday by doing service. That boy is very service oriented. A month or so ago I was in the grocery store checkout line with all 4 kids. Connor stepped away for a couple of minutes, I presumed to look at the Hot Wheels cars he had been admiring. When he came back, he pointed to an elderly lady and said, "do you see that lady? She had to put her cane in her cart so she could push her cart, and she was having a hard time walking, so I pushed her cart for a while to help her."

Nothing fills my soul with sunshine like a baby's laughter. And you never know what's going to bring it on. This time it was Brian whistling. I think this is the hardest I have heard Mason laugh.