It’s been a while since I posted about food. This was Mother’s Day weekend, so that means we make some special things for Mommy that we hope know she’ll like. And it doesn’t count unless I feed her something I’ve never made before. If you’re going to make something awful, why not do it on Mom’s special day? But the boys helped me this time, so she had to say she liked it, even if she didn’t.

For months I’ve been dying to try what Alton Brown calls the world’s best banana ice cream. Since we just got an ice cream attachment for the stand mixer, I figured why not. So early Saturday morning I had Isaac go downstairs with me to help me freeze the bananas. After reading the reviews of the recipe I knew to peel them first. After they were frozen and thawed I assembled the ingredients and had Isaac and Jonathan put them in the food processor. After that it was just chill and run the ice cream maker.

That was pretty easy, but then I thought banana - chocolate swirl ice cream would be even better. I saw in one of Emeril’s cookbooks that he uses 6 ounces of chocolate and 2 tablespoons of oil to make vanilla - chocolate swirl ice cream, so that’s exactly what I do. It didn’t swirl. The ice cream froze the chocolate into rock hard ribbons dispersed throughout the dessert. Yummy, huh?

But then I thought “That was too easy, Karen will never let me get away with just that.” So I made this strawberry - almond cream tart to go with the ice cream. Desserts are a lot of fun to make. For this I also read the reviews so I knew to omit half the sugar from the strawberry topping and to add a little extra butter to the crust. It came out really well, thanks to our Carolina strawberries that were very sweet. We’ll have them locally in another month or so I think.

So the desserts went over well, and the everyone enjoyed them. Except for Isaac, who only ate the ice cream. The boys were very proud that they got to help make it. The biggest hit of the day, though, was a beverage made from cran-raspberry juice and soda water. Karen raved about it. Of course she did, it took no effort.

Life is very interesting when you have all boys. I have three, very soon to be four.

Life with boys includes, but is not limited to:

Farting noises

Uranus jokes

Superheroes

Video games

Toy dissection

Knights and battles

I have also made some observations along the way:

1. Never say “okay” if you weren’t paying attention to the question.

2. Fighting over the baby brother can quickly turn into fighting on the baby brother.

3. A single baby fart can entertain the older brothers for hours.

4. So can a baby booger.

5. Boys have the coolest section in the toy store and the Disney store.

6. But not the clothing store.

Well technically his birthday was Wednesday. It took me a while to come up with something to write, though, because at first I was kind of sad. Remembering back to what was happening in the days after Ben was born can be tough. We were glad to have the little guy around, but sad that he’d have to deal with these disabilities his whole life. And Ben is developing very slowly. But then I started looking through the pictures we’ve taken throughout the last year and it made me feel better. It’s very cool to look at where we’ve been and see how far we’ve come. So that’s what I’m going to do.

This is how small Benjamin was when he was first born:

Here he was a year later, on his first birthday:

Isn’t Mommy pretty?  Since his last birthday he’s learned to do a few new things. He’s started rolling over onto his belly by himself consistently.

He’s even started rolling around the room to get to toys.

He’s learned to hold onto things, like toys,

drumsticks (he also likes to play the drums),

and even his mic-key tube.

He’s even started bringing things to his mouth, which we think is very cool.

But the coolest of the cool is that he sits up by himself very well now, and he likes doing it.

I just need to work with him on his balance so that he can catch himself before listing over too far. There is a point of no return on that right side since he has no way to catch himself over there. In the past year we haven’t made a whole lot of progress with “mouth food,” but I like to attribute that to the fact that he’s been teething constantly since Thanksgiving.  Ben is interested in food, but it usually takes some convincing to get it near his mouth.

Happy Birthday Ben. We love you.

Yes, for the first time this year I cut the grass.  It was so long (we’ve been getting tons of rain) that I had to use a scythe.  I did manage to bag a squirrel, though.  It was delicious.

On the one day last week that we didn’t get rain I took Jonathan out for a picnic lunch at the park.  We were there two hours and I am once again saying those words I say every spring.  We need a house with a bigger yard.

First we hit the swings..

Then he chased butterflies.  Here he’s hunting for one…

Lastly he picked some flowers for Mommy.  Yes he knows that dandelions are weeds.  He ended up choosing some cherry blossoms to bring home instead, and they dried and wilted in the very hot car.

At this point the battery in my camera died.  Lots of fun was had by all, and Ben got a nice walk in the stroller from Grandma as well.

Monday was Panera day since nobody wanted to cook. We brought home our wonderful goodness, and since it was kind of cool and rainy I got potato soup. Ben didn’t want to sit in his high chair so he was sitting on my lap as I ate. It was an interesting exchange. Ben was holding a spoon because he likes to hold things, and I was trying to see if he’d let me feed him. He was squirming and not cooperating. In all honesty these days he’s a little more adverse to oral stimulation. Ben’s getting in a few teeth and he’s been making such progress with physical development that I guess the oral motor skills took a back seat. And that’s my fault.

At one point during dinner Ben dropped the spoon he was holding. It fell to my right, so I leaned over to get it. As that happened I guess I leaned Ben forward just a bit, and he saw something else that he wanted to play with. The Styrofoam bowl that the soup was in. By the time I came back up with the spoon (total elapsed time: 0.7 seconds) the bowl was tipped all the way over, and the soup dripping off the table.

So Benjamin is coming up with some pretty creative ways to put an end to any physical / occupational therapy sessions Mom and Dad try on occasion. Luckily it was a thick soup, so it didn’t all land on Ben and my lap.

Let’s see, as a Christmas present from December 2006 (coincidentally the last time we saw the man) we were given a coat rack for our entry way as a subtle hint gag gift. We have no coat closet in our 110 year old house so he bought us a coat rack. Doing some math, that’s 16 months later I get around to hanging the thing.

In my defense, I did have some repair work to do before I could hang it. I had to stop the water leakage problems (involving fixing the roof, cleaning out the downspouts, and repainting that corner of the house), wait for the wall to dry, patch the plaster, then prime and paint.

Four years I’ve been hanging my coat on the dining room chairs. It will take months for me to get used to going to the door for my coat.

And when you’re done with that clean the fireplace.

You could subtitle this post Disturbing Superhero Images, vol. 2
Here’s vol. 1 in case you’ve forgotten. I should really keep up to date on these things.

Jonathan has this Spider-man & Friends memory game. In this game you match the top half of the superhero to the bottom half. A very interesting concept and I’m sure this game is enjoyed most by the Marvel supervillians.

Well, upon close inspection of these playing pieces (because I have nothing better to do) I noticed something. The male superheroes like Spidey, Thing, and the Hulk are buff, with six pack abs and bulging muscles.

Okay, so maybe Spider-man looks more like Fonzie. The girls, however, look 4-5 months pregnant. Here’s Spider-girl and Storm:

Being married to a currently pregnant woman, I can truly say that it is indeed a super power. But not exactly in the crime fighting sense. More in the creating life sense. Karen’s other superpower is getting me to go get things for her.

This is how the letter reads when you’re accepted into a school of magic:

Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress

Here’s how the letter reads when you’re accepted into kindergarten at the Catholic school:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dinner,
Thank you for taking the time to allow your child to participate in the evaluation process for the 2008-2009 kindergarten program at [You don't expect me to put the name of the school here, do you?]. Our evaluators are pleased to report that your child meets all the criteria to have a successful experience in our program for the coming school year.

In other words, congratulations, your child is qualified to enter kindergarten. Personally I’d rather have gotten the Hogwarts letter.

This is the first in a series of posts aimed at educating my readers. I know that drivel you were taught in health class, it was all a pack of lies. I can tell you with confidence that there are many things that make babies magically appear from the sky. These include:

1. Purchasing more Christmas stocking hangers than there are people living in your house.

We bought these when Aliyah was staying with us, but then she moved on campus. That makes this one her fault.

2. Having a car whose seating capacity is larger than your family.

3. Having an unused guest bedroom in your house.

This one is also Aliyah’s fault. Note that the color of the room is pink, guaranteeing that the child will be another boy.

4. Having a blog whose tagline starts with “Life with three boys…”

5. Being on someone’s blogroll who calls your blog “Ben and his THREE Brothers.”

6. Naming your blog “My Three Sons.”

This is what I almost called my blog, but I’m nowhere near Fred McMurray’s height.

7. Putting off the vasectomy.

Okay, so maybe this is the real reason