It was a beautiful wintry day today, the sun was shining and the snow was glistening. It is days like this that make you appreciate the snow. The kids and I headed to the park a short walk away from our house. We had the whole park to ourselves.
The kids had fun on the playground and it is amazing to me how fearless they are becoming. I feel like it was only yesterday when they were so unsure about their ability to climb, slide and explore the park. They always wanted me to stand right by them. Now, they head right for the playground and start exploring. It's awesome. It gives me a glimpse of what parenting them will be like as they keep growing. They are on their own paths and will need me less and less, or at least in much different ways. However, I will always be watching from the sidelines, ready to support them whenever they need me.


We came home afterwards and had a delicious pancake dinner with fresh raspberry sauce. Yum.The recipe is as follows (the pancake recipe is vegan and comes from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and is seriously delicious)
Raspberry Sauce:
Take one package of fresh raspberries and cook them down on low with a little maple syrup. maybe takes 10 minutes to get them nice and mushy. You can do this with any fresh fruit. Blueberries make a great sauce.
Pancakes:
1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS pure maple syrup
Mix dry ingredients in med sized bowl. Mix wet ingredients in separate, smaller bowl. Add wet to dry and whisk to get out lumps.
Cook on skillet with a little high heat canola spray (or regular oil if that works well for you)
Serve with lots of Earth Balance butter and raspberrie sauce. Pure yumminess.