Banana Bread

My family has a banana bread recipe that I think is just divine! It is a very dense bread and it is oh so good!

Here is the recipe for a 3 (or 5) banana bread:

1 cup sugar (1 1/2)
3 mashed bananas (5)
1 egg (2)
1/2 cup shortening (3/4)
2 cups flour (3)
1 tsp. baking soda (1 1/2)
1 pinch salt (1/8 tsp)
1 cup pecans (if desired) (1 1/2)

I melt the shortening and mix with the sugar, bananas and eggs. Then I add in the pre-mixed dry ingredients (muffin method). Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Aquadoodle!

Ethan got this aquadoodle activity set for his birthday and it is great! It consists of a four panel page that has pictures that are only revealed with water. What is so great about it is that fine motor skills are not really needed. As the page dries the set can be used over and over. It is now in our "going out to eat dinner" kit.

In addition to Thomas, there are also Dora and Sesame Street versions of this kit.

Temporal Thermometer *Revised*

Philip and I were first introduced to this thermometer in our childbirth classes and it is awesome! A temperature reading comes up as fast as you can swipe this thermometer across your child's forehead. In the time it takes a digital thermometer to register a temperature you can take 3 or 4 readings with this one. I know most pediatricians will ask for a rectal temp, but so far mine has taken my temporal readings (even when Ethan was really young). I know this thermometer is more expensive than a digital one, but we did get a coupon from our childbirth classes and even if you don't have a coupon, it is worth the cost.

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Revision: This thermometer has worked relatively well for us for about 2 years. However, recently when Ethan was running a really high fever (over 103) for some reason the thermometer was only registering 99 or 100. I could tell just by touching Ethan that his fever was much higher and another reading with an under-the-arm thermometer proved me to be correct.

My recommendation has now changed for this tool....it is neat to have to get a quick reading, but when you are in more serious situations it is good to have a back up method.