What's been going on here...

Internet's been out again, so here's what's been going on with us.
Short version:
making strawberry jam, nursing chicken pox and strep throat, babysitting, switching from crib to big-boy-bed, school play, making an Easter cake, and all the usual stuff.

OK, longer version:
I LOVE strawberry freezer jam, and what's easier to make than that? Not much. Anyway, it does have a boat-load of sugar and I was wanting a healthier option. I called my cousin R, who loves agave as I do and she gave me an awesome recipe off the Xagave website. It only uses agave and no sugar at all. It is cooked, so doesn't have the same fresh taste as freezer jam, but is so good that it's worth it. The fam is happy, I am happy. Here's the recipe (with a little tweak from me) :

2 quarts strawberries, 1 1/2 to 2 cups agave nectar, juice from half a lemon (I used some from a bottle), 1 tsp lemon zest (which I didn't use at all). Blend or mash (keep chunky), boil, then simmer for 45 minutes. Store in airtight containers (jars or whatever). You can keep in frig for months. Like ours would last months!! HA! It's hard not to just eat it with a spoon...

What else... oh yeah. Chicken pox and strep. Little Miss got both (from school). She's over them now and it's all good. I'm just waiting for Dr. D to show up with them.

The crib switch I was a little worried about. Dr. D loved his crib so much that I thought he'd be mad about losing it, but I was wrong. He loves his "big boy bed" just as much, so the transition was totally painless.

Teeny Bopper is in Fiddler on the Roof at her school, and this is performance week. She is Bielke, the youngest daughter. Makes for some late nights, but she says it's worth it. :) We get to go see it tomorrow night, and I CAN'T WAIT!!!

For Easter, we kept it low key. The kids got a couple treats, and we colored eggs and made an Easter cake. I made the cake and the kids decorated it. Cute! We always color both boiled and raw eggs. With all the eggs we do, if I boil them all they go to waste because we just don't eat that many boiled eggs. I try to mark the boiled ones with an X, but if we can't see it we do the spin test before trying to peel it to make sure it's a boiled egg. (you know, the "if it spins freely it's boiled and if it doesn't it's raw" test) We make sure to count the eggs to make sure they are all retrieved and none are left out to rot. Anyone else use raw?

That's us in a nutshell over the past couple weeks. Isn't catching up fun??? ;)