Littlebits

My son Jake has always loved computers.  When he was two he would sit at my computer, open up the photo booth and take pictures of himself.  He then would open his gmail, attach a photo, and send it to his preschool teachers with the subject HI, the only word he knew how to type by himself.

Obviously Jake's skills have improved over the years.  Whoever has a computer or technology question immediately calls on Jake.  Jake's knowledge is enormous and he loves to learn new things each day.  Jake even gets phone calls for his tech help from far and wide.

Finding gifts for Jake is always a real challenge.  He does not want very many things.  A few years ago he got a Raspberry Pi.  This has nothing to do with a delicious dessert. It is a complicated engineering device that I could not possibly explain to you, simply because I do not understand how it works.

When I stumbled on Littlebits a few weeks ago I knew I had found an awesome gift for Jake.  As soon as it arrived in the mail, Jake tore it open and completed every single project in an hour.  The pieces were open ended enough that Jake had many future projects in mind to make the kit last much longer.  During the Black Friday sale, Littlebits had a sale.  Jake chose a new kit so that he can create more cool inventions.

Today Jake wants to share with you his door alarm.  Jake designed it himself, using the pieces in the Deluxe Kit.  As soon as his cloudbit arrives, Jake will be making many new projects including a sound trigger that will email me when my laundry is done.  I can't wait!

Where am I?

My poor neglected blog. I have given you no attention in what feels like forever.  In reality it has been only 2 months.  The past 2 months have been crazy.  Joey has a HS diploma and is working in the culinary field.  He makes amazing food for us and he will be a famous chef one day, I am sure of that.  Alex and Noah are both still suffering from their POTS symptoms.  This video is a good summary of what their daily issues are:

Both Alex and Noah are in the IIS(Interim Instructional Services) program through Montgomery county.  It is the only way for them both to keep up with their school work.
Jake is in 5th grade and having a very good year so far and Diane is in 1st grade and having a fabulous time.
Tons of cooking going on. Our weekly soup is a mushroom, potato farro stew and it is amazing. 
Lots of craziness going on around here.  Will try to update more often.
I will leave you with our healthy Mac and Cheese recipe.

Sara's Mac and Cheese
Heat 1 and 1/2 cup milk in a pan.  In a small bowl whisk together 1/4 cup milk and 3T flour.  Add this mixture in to the milk and heat up after it is slowly boiling for about 5 minutes. Keep whisking it, until it gets a little bit thicker.  Take pan off the heat and stir in 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, 1 cup of ricotta cheese and a little salt.  You will now have a nice creamy, fairly healthy cheese sauce.  Stir in one box of your favorite cooked pasta.  Combine until all the noodles are nicely coated with cheese sauce.  Pour into a oven proof pan.  Sprinkle over the top a bit of salt, parmesan and cornflake crumbs.  Bake at 450 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until bubbly and brown a bit.
Enjoy!