ANOTHER SNOW DAY!

Well, here’s a little message from Caden …



We went on a family Valentine Date Saturday night. On the way I said, “How lucky am I to get to spend Valentine’s Day with my two favorite guys in the world?” Caden piped up from the back of the van, “you mean THREE mom,” And was pointing UP when I turned around. “You’re right Cade- I meant three.” Coleman is with us always…oh what I would have given to have had all four of us like it used to be.

We went to Caden’s pick of restaurant. The kid picks a place based on what games they have for him to play while we wait! I always make him sit on Scott’s side of the booth because he canNOT sit still while he eats, and the constant bumping drives me nuts (don’t get me wrong, I LOVE him just the way he is, I just love to watch him bounce from the OTHER side of the booth! Haha) The restaurant was packed, but good food, so I’m not complaining. THEN it was off to Target. On the way THIS song came on, and Caden got teary eyed…when I asked him what was wrong, again, he pointed UP. I knew he was thinking of this video- he and Coleman loved this song-



It breaks my heart when there is nothing I can do to help him, but reassure him he is loved, and that Coleman is watching over him and will always be with him. We try so hard to go on, there are just times for all of us, the hole is so huge. The hardest part for me is wanting to “fix it” but knowing I can’t. We just rely on God to bring us peace when we’re in that moment of missing Coleman so much it makes our hearts physically ache.

Cade perked up a little once we got to Target and we told him he could pick out a Valentine present. He hadn’t been shopping since before Christmas, so he was anxious to use one of his gift cards and finally picked out a new Wii game- oh and a Valentine stuffed kitten he wanted to take to his ‘special friend’ Riley at church. He said, “I saw her in the hall at school and I told her I was gonna get her a Valentine, but she said, “no time- gotta run!” haha He was very excited to give the kitten to Riley- she’s still his ‘special friend’. He was so tired when we got up to go to church- and said it was ALL our fault for keeping him up so late the night before. (we were home by 9:00) “You guys made me stay out too late! We didn’t get home til about a hundred five o’clock!” (guess we’ll work on telling time soon!) He was very grouchy yesterday morning and didn’t want to wear what I laid out for him. He said, “I don’t wanna wear this RED sweater! Red don’t go with brown shoes mom!” He has never ONCE cared what he was wearing- so I told him to wear his black church shoes instead. After arguing back and forth I finally figured out he wanted to wear his tan work boots instead! Lol so he did…I guess those went just FINE with red!

Today he and I are home with- you guessed it, ANOTHER no school day because of the blowing snow- wow has this winter been brutal. Here's Mr. Fashion-all decked out in his “gear” for the day…


I’ve lost track, but I think we have at least 11 days to make up. It could be 12 who knows by now?!? I’m not sure how they’re going to do it yet- but there’s a pretty good chance our summer vacation will be cut short this year. We’re seriously running out of places to pile the snow- and wow is it going to be a mess when it starts to melt. These were taken yesterday...






Oh well, Caden and I have enjoyed our days off together. The last two we had he wanted to make banana bread. He’d start to help, then take off for the toy room again. When I’d call him back out he said, “why do ya need me out here mom? You only need me for one important part- to lick the bowl!” We tried a new recipe (THANKS NANCY H for passing it along!) It was delicious!!! I’ll add the recipe at the end of the update if anyone wants to give it a try… (yeah, that back loaf didn’t come out of the pan so good! So we get zero points on presentation, Haha- still, it was YUMMY!)


Remember last post when I was talking about the “bubble wrap” comment from Caden? Well, here’s his latest…I was getting out of the shower one day and had a towel wrapped around my wet head. He saw me and so innocently said, “you kinda look like an eagle mom.” I said, “oh, you mean because I look bald?” He said, “No……your face.” And he walked away. I stood there looking in the mirror picturing this:



and wondering, “do I need a brow lift???” lol Having kids does wonders for your self- image! :)

He told me one day, “mom? You’re cooler than the ‘flit side of my pillow’- THAT’S RIGHT!” lol I explained to him it was “flip side” of the pillow. I’m working on a new video for him to the Uncle Kracker song “Smile”…every time the song comes on in the van, he and I crank it and jam! A few people have mentioned how it’s hard to watch our videos without Coleman in them…it’s hard for me to MAKE them without him in them too, but I do it for Cade.

OH- I need to mention- the Dance Marathon in Iowa City a couple of weekends ago raised…$1,058,068.16!!!!
FTK- FOR THE KIDS! How awesome is that?!? All raised by AMAZING college students. Wow!!! They continue to make such a HUGE difference in the lives of so many kids fighting and families like ours. THANK YOU!!!!!


In our little neck of the woods here, a local 4H group Elkhorn Eagles (kids from ages 10- 15 yrs old) have come up with an idea to raise money for Coleman’s Neva Div Up Foundation. They’re putting on a 24 hr SKATE marathon @the end of March…we were approached with the idea and so touched that they would do this to help raise money. Their goal is to raise $2500. A BIG BIG thanks to our community for continuing to join us in the fight against Childhood Cancer! We’re so blessed to live here- (even with all the snow!) The people who have always been behind us continue to touch our hearts.


Speaking of support in the fight we have more people joining our team for the CureSearch walk coming up May 1st. I promised some people I’d post the info again if you’re interested in donating to our team. You don’t have to be present to join our team roster, but we’d love to see you if you can make it! Click here to get started:

Curesearch Walk- TEAM LARSON PAGE.


THANK YOU for the donations- it means so much to us!!!
Well, Caden has been playing his Winter Olympics on the Wii, but wants to play outSIDE in the snow again- so better go get us bundled up…might as well enjoy it while it’s here. There may ACTUALLY be a day when it melts away??? THINK GREEN!





Until next time,
Blessings to you all,
FOREVER TEAM LARSON


Thanks for the edit Shelley H! :)



SNOW DAY BANANA BREAD
Original Recipe Yield 4 - 7x3 inch loaves


Ingredients
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
3 cups white sugar
3 eggs
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease four 7x3 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Dust pans lightly with cinnamon and sugar mixture.
In a large bowl, cream butter and 3 cups sugar. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda and flour. Stir in nuts. Divide into prepared pans.
Bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
NOTES:
Make two 7 1/2 x 9 loaves do 325 degrees for 1 hr 10 min. cook 4 loaves at 325 1 hour.
Making a crumbly topping is a MUST. for two loaves: ~ 1/2 cup packed brown sugar ~ 1/2 cup all-purpose flour ~ 2 or 3 tablespoons butter or margarine ~ 1 teaspoon cinnamon ~ 1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans. Microwave butter till soft. Mixed ingredients with a fork until crumbly, spoon over loaves before putting it in the oven.
Hand-mixing in the flour creates a denser, more bread-like consistency.