Wish Lists

December already? So much knitting to finish, so little time!
And the babies are not helping with the time issue.
Given that the frenzy of gifts is almost upon us, I thought I'd answer that frequent/common question again. What do "we" want?
Robin and I don't really "need" anything. We each maintain a list on Amazon for ideas. I think I have one at amazon.ca and another at amazon.com - but they may be melded. I can't recall if Robin's at .com or .ca
Abi has a list there too for books and music.

Okay, gift ides for Abi:
She enjoys books and is starting to read on her own.  To be exact, she's reading letters and sounding out some words and writing words and learning to write new words. Early reader books would be good.

Abi does a lot of crafts. Thus we can never have too much paper (she's not usually interested in construction paper and it doesn't hold up well with paint or markers). Sparkle glue (not loose sparkles), small plastic gemstones to glue on, sequins, pompoms, etc would all be loved. And more washable paints. But no more markers or crayons, please. I think there's a good 5 dozen crayola markers in every size shape and colour and boxes of crayons.

Abi has more than enough Calico Critters for the time being (as I'm also taking into account ones I know she's already getting this Yule).
Likewise, she has more Littlest Pet Shop animals than I had - and that's saying a lot; I'm not counting my collection that she inherited.  The same applies to Ponies.

She enjoys playing with her little Polly Pocket dolls and their clothes. Same with her LPS Blythe doll. They're not my favourite choice, but more clothes would be fun and they do have the benefit of fitting into all her existing doll house accessories and playing with the Calico Critters and the pet shop animals.

She has asked for more wooden train set pieces.  I believe most wooden sets state that they are compatible with other wooden sets.  Ours do at least.  A train 'station' type of thing would be good. Our tracks are in storage, but there is a whole other set of wooden tracks here at Nana's that she could use with new trains and larger structures for now.  We do have quite a lot of track.

She'd like a new stuffed toy, but I will say that she can be very picky about stuffed animals so it would be ideal to let her choose her own.

All the girls have plenty of clothes, but for reference I'll say Abi's moving into a 5T (definitely not 5X). Claire at 6m is already wearing 12m sizes (18lbs+) while Lucy is still in 6m sizing (14lbs+)

The babies have quite a few toys.  They enjoy the small O-Ball that they share, so a second larger one might be good. Yes, I've become less rigid about plastic toys, but only because now many are BPA-free.  They already have plenty of rattles and chew toys.  They would enjoy some more interactive toys that are age appropriate.  Yes, I'm also more willing to endure the noisy, light-up toys - as long as they don't talk or sing and they're easy to shut up. Toys with buttons to press, 'walls' that stand up to play with, that sort of thing.  Clearly I'm not good at describing them.
It's interesting for me to watch the babies play because they're interests are so much different than Abi's were. Plus, I'm more desperate for toys that will distract them...

Frozen Bananas

You can never have too many recipe ideas for frozen bananas. Because, inevitably, you find yourself with very ripe bananas that are tossed into the freezer for "later" use.
The easiest (and arguably the tastiest) use for these bananas is as an ice cream substitute. Just mash 'em up. Sugar-free (besides naturally occurring fruit sugars), dairy-free, gluten-free and delicious.  That was Abi's first "ice creams". 
Frozen chunks are also good for teething babies starting around nine months. Especially if you have one of those new mesh bag feeders.
The next easiest use for frozen bananas, IMHO, is fruit smoothies.  Toss in whatever else you like - milk, yogurt, orange juice, berries...

Then there's the classic Banana Bread. Everyone has their go-to banana bread recipe. (Right?)

Yesterday I needed to bake for two potlucks (alas, I didn't make it out to the first due to icy roads). I knew we had bananas to use up. I planned to bake a couple banana breads.  Sadly, I faced two obstacles: 1) one of the containers with frozen bananas turned out to contain very freezer-burnt 'naners. I have no idea how long my mom's had them in there.  I was thus two bananas short. 2) I couldn't find the recipe box with our recipe nor could I find it in the recipe book it came from here at my parents'.
I did, however, find another recipe that - once upon a time - I had left a note beside: "Excellent!"  Clearly I had made it before and thought it was darn tasty.
I made a double batch and damn, I was right! It's tasty.  So here it is from a Kinette Cook Book of some early year.
(Cover has been burnt off by my dad. Several pages are also scorched. Why yes, my dad does leave things/put things down on hot burners on the stove.)
I'm slightly revising this a la Mandy

Banana Coffee Cake 

Preheat oven to 350

Beat together in a large bowl
1/2 c. soft butter / margarine
1 c (or a little less as I prefer) sugar
3 eggs

Sift together
2 c. sifted AP flour (or unsifted if you're lazy like me)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

 Mash
1 c. bananas (about 2 bananas)
Alternate blending the dry and banana into the mixture. 

Spoon batter into a 13x9", greased pan.

Combine a topping of (I didn't have any butter left to use and didn't want to worry about coconut allergies, so I simply sprinkled on brown sugar)
3/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp flour

Cut in
2 tbsp butter.
Mix in
1 c. flaked coconut
Sprinkle mixture over cake.

 Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy.