Baby finally cooperated without a hand or arm over his/her face for a bit of a profile shot. Still a bit blury, but the best photo by far we have been able to get.
5th WIP of 2012
4 hours ago
Monday, March 19, 2012
The end is near
Not the end of the world, by far. The end of a pregnancy. Today we had another ultrasound to check on baby. I am at 32-33 weeks depending on who you talk to. Full gestation for humans is 40 weeks. According to a popular baby website at 32 weeks baby is supposed to be 3.75 pounds and 16.7 inches long. Gaining approximately half pound a week until birth. According to the ultrasound today genetics are wonderful - our baby is approx 6 pounds! My dad forgot to tell me until after we were pregnant with James (9.4 pounds) that he and his brother were 10 and 11 pounds. Apparently this little one is taking after papa's side of the family. Check up went well, we start on the twice a week checks the first of April. If baby has not come by May, eviction will be happening on May 7. We will keep you posted.
Baby finally cooperated without a hand or arm over his/her face for a bit of a profile shot. Still a bit blury, but the best photo by far we have been able to get.
Baby finally cooperated without a hand or arm over his/her face for a bit of a profile shot. Still a bit blury, but the best photo by far we have been able to get.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
That's how we roll...
Future heart breaker and or county worker. This is his outfit of choice for going out to see the chickens and work in the yard.
Of course little sis had to find some glasses too.
She was being just a little bit too quiet in the bathroom today. She is also a giant ham when it comes to pictures.
Somehow I am thankful that I don't have much make up beyond mascara and chap stick. She got Blistex all over the counter and her neck, and did a pretty good job on her right eye before I caught her. Looks like my little tom-boy has a feminine side after all.
Some days you just want to pull your hair out and run away screaming. The only problem is that they usually follow you while you try to flee. Most days we roll with the punches and find humor and beauty in messy faces, muddy clothes and the half hour long search for sunglasses. If you don't, you will be on the crazy bus. For the record, I have a reserved seat on that bus but today I am reveling in the photos of my amazing kids and pretending that I didn't laugh at them while I took pictures.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
For the love of nettles
While standing on my head in our chest freezer looking for a certain cut of meat, I encountered a gold mine. To most, it would not be quite so exciting, but this time of year finding greens and veggies stashed underneath things is like gold. I found 1/2 gallon of frozen stinging nettles, a gallon of collards, kale, blackberries (I knew they were in there somewhere) and sliced Kohlrabi. So, tonight's dinner, a veggie "noodle" lasagna made with eggplant, kohlrabi, cabbage and hamburger. For a first course - because we are fancy like that - we had cream of stinging nettle soup. It was wonderful!!! I was also reminded that it is time to go in search of fresh supplies. A few weeks ago we pruned the orchard and checked on our patch of nettles up there and none had appeared yet.
Here is our soup recipe:
1/2 gallon frozen or fresh nettles
2 small potatoes
2 large onions
2-5 cloves garlic (make it to your taste, we used 5)
handful frozen basil
butter
1 cup milk or cream
2 T flour
1 quart chicken stock (from our rooster who was unruly and mean but tasted good)
Caramelize onions in butter. Add chicken stock, thin sliced potatoes, and garlic. Cook until potatoes are fork tender. Add nettles. Cook additional 5 -10 min. Puree entire mix. Before adding mix back to pan, make a white sauce by melting 2 T butter with 2T flour and slowly stirring in milk. When sauce gets thick and bubbly gradually stir in pureed nettles. To this, I topped off our bowls with shredded mozzarella and some sausage bits (also from the freezer clean out). The kids both gobbled it up as did Scott and I. There is just enough for me to take to work tomorrow.
Just to prove I am not crazy, here is another person who eats, and enjoys nettles He also has a really cool blog and is here in Western Washington. I can't wait to try his recipe that I linked. I have some things to pick up first before I can make it. I also love that his kids are involved with the harvest and all aspects of things.
Here is our soup recipe:
1/2 gallon frozen or fresh nettles
2 small potatoes
2 large onions
2-5 cloves garlic (make it to your taste, we used 5)
handful frozen basil
butter
1 cup milk or cream
2 T flour
1 quart chicken stock (from our rooster who was unruly and mean but tasted good)
Caramelize onions in butter. Add chicken stock, thin sliced potatoes, and garlic. Cook until potatoes are fork tender. Add nettles. Cook additional 5 -10 min. Puree entire mix. Before adding mix back to pan, make a white sauce by melting 2 T butter with 2T flour and slowly stirring in milk. When sauce gets thick and bubbly gradually stir in pureed nettles. To this, I topped off our bowls with shredded mozzarella and some sausage bits (also from the freezer clean out). The kids both gobbled it up as did Scott and I. There is just enough for me to take to work tomorrow.
Just to prove I am not crazy, here is another person who eats, and enjoys nettles He also has a really cool blog and is here in Western Washington. I can't wait to try his recipe that I linked. I have some things to pick up first before I can make it. I also love that his kids are involved with the harvest and all aspects of things.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Dark Days Slacker
So, I started this dark days challenge awhile ago. I have failed miserably. We do eat a lot of locally, sustainable, organic things but where I lack enthusiasm (or maybe time) is in sharing it here. Part of the challenge is to connect others to local sources, share recipes and build a community. There have been challenges within the challenge, one pot meals, sweet treats, vegetarian dishes. For me this is not a problem, we made the challenge dishes. Here is the link to Not Dabbling in Normal where we all converge. It is a great place to "get lost" in cyberspace reading others adventures and borrowing recipes for future meals. Where I lack the most, is putting it all here. So, in a nutshell is some of the meals we have had in the past month or so.
Dinners and planning are getting more creative since we have used up the last of our potatoes, carrots and onions from the garden. We still have a healthy supply of dried Kale, frozen collards, kale, zucchini cubes, and berries as well as lots of canned goods. It seems my staple for any dinner is always an onion, I will have to find some this week. We still have a little 1/2 pint of garlic left from last year's garden. I'm hoping it will make it until harvest this year.
For the Vegetarian challenge I sacrificed some green garlic this week for an "egg cake" as the kids call it. It is a quiche without the crust. We put in frozen tomatoes, green garlic, frozen zucchini and sauteed it all up. After draining it and adding dried kale and onions, we lined the bottom of a 9x13 pan with the veggie mix and poured 18 eggs over it all. Needless to say our chickens have been laying well. I usually bake it at 350 for about 45 min to an hour or until a knife in the center comes out clean. Even better, there was lots of leftovers for Scott's lunch and for ours too!
For Valentines day we had tenderloins from Softich Cattle Co. The last of the frozen green beans from the garden with garlic and roasted squash. Dessert was a new experiment for me - I made a mousse. It was pretty good though I think I over cooked it. It was made with egg whites, honey, and chocolate. Oops! I forgot chocolate was not local to Washington. Well, here is a photo of our non-local mousse, but it was good. After cooling, it deflated but it was pretty impressive coming out of the oven. The kids are asking for it again and I think I will try since this was a very easy recipe and was heavy on the eggs that we have an abundance of at the moment.
Dinners and planning are getting more creative since we have used up the last of our potatoes, carrots and onions from the garden. We still have a healthy supply of dried Kale, frozen collards, kale, zucchini cubes, and berries as well as lots of canned goods. It seems my staple for any dinner is always an onion, I will have to find some this week. We still have a little 1/2 pint of garlic left from last year's garden. I'm hoping it will make it until harvest this year.
For the Vegetarian challenge I sacrificed some green garlic this week for an "egg cake" as the kids call it. It is a quiche without the crust. We put in frozen tomatoes, green garlic, frozen zucchini and sauteed it all up. After draining it and adding dried kale and onions, we lined the bottom of a 9x13 pan with the veggie mix and poured 18 eggs over it all. Needless to say our chickens have been laying well. I usually bake it at 350 for about 45 min to an hour or until a knife in the center comes out clean. Even better, there was lots of leftovers for Scott's lunch and for ours too!
For Valentines day we had tenderloins from Softich Cattle Co. The last of the frozen green beans from the garden with garlic and roasted squash. Dessert was a new experiment for me - I made a mousse. It was pretty good though I think I over cooked it. It was made with egg whites, honey, and chocolate. Oops! I forgot chocolate was not local to Washington. Well, here is a photo of our non-local mousse, but it was good. After cooling, it deflated but it was pretty impressive coming out of the oven. The kids are asking for it again and I think I will try since this was a very easy recipe and was heavy on the eggs that we have an abundance of at the moment.
We also made our own pizza for a dark days dinner another night with frozen veggies and home made dough. The kids had lots of fun creating their own flavors. I set out taco meat, bratwurst, cheese, the last jar of pre-made canned tomato sauce from our garden, frozen tomatoes, frozen zucchini and basil. The two pizzas were a little topping heavy but good. The flour to make the crust came from Bob's Red Mill a company that is not entirely local, but supports non GMO sources, organic practices and is definitely a fair trade company. The dough was a mix of buckwheat, whole wheat and we rolled it out in cornmeal to keep it from sticking. Next time I am making thicker crusts to support all the toppings the kids put on the pizza. I also need to remember to de-thaw and drain the veggies, not put them on the dough frozen. It was a bit soggy when they thawed/cooked. They tasted good though. No problem with getting our veggies at dinner that night!
Madilyn with "her" pizza, a creation of cheese, bratwurst, tomatoes and a basil leaf.
Yes, that is HER can of V8 she was drinking while making dinner - I know not local but who can refuse a 2 and 5 year old asking to drink V8, I had better be getting more veggies in the ground soon so that I can juice alot this year.
Yes, that is HER can of V8 she was drinking while making dinner - I know not local but who can refuse a 2 and 5 year old asking to drink V8, I had better be getting more veggies in the ground soon so that I can juice alot this year.
James with "his" pizza - the first layers of bratwurst, taco meat, zucchini, tomatoes, lots of sauce, cheese, mushrooms and lots of basil leaves. To all of this he added more vegetables after the picture was taken. I should have made another crust and called it a calzone! Again, we had leftovers for a few days and for Scott's lunch which was really nice for me to have a bit of a break from cooking.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
You can't get away with this anymore
Only when you are a kid can you get away with these things. It somehow becomes unacceptable as you age. Here is the list I have come up with. There are many, many more things that loose their charm as you age but these are the ones freshest in my mind.
Repeating yourself 1,000 times in an hour.
I swear I answer the same question over and over all day long. I read somewhere the average 5 year old asks about 450 questions a day. I think whoever counted that gave up by noon. All day long there is a constant stream of questions, many repeated over and over and over. My personal favorite is when is lunch. The clock does not lie, James is learning to tell time. He has it down that when both hands are on or near the 12, it is time to eat. At 2:30, rest time is over and that when the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 6, Dad comes home from work. The other day he asked me 6 times (yes, I counted) before 11:00 if it was lunch time. When I asked if he was hungry, "Nope, I just wanted to know."
Picking your nose.
Or more specifically picking your nose, showing it off, wiping it on your shirt or someone else and then telling everyone about it in great detail (a very critical part of the small humans development).
Being brutally honest
James told me he didn't like dinner the other night - it was not what he wanted to eat, it was too crunchy, didn't taste good and he wanted something else. Scott may have had the same thought, but quietly ate a little bit, cleaned up his place at the table and made a sandwich. James is still talking about my burning the dinner...last week.
Playing naked in the yard
My kids will be nudists if I let them. They love to play outside and inside naked. It doesn't matter if it is 40 degrees outside or 85. It makes for less laundry, but a dirtier tub. For some reason no matter how cold it is, how muddy it is or how hot it is the key to utter happiness is running around naked. It can instantly fix any owie, bad mood or rainy day. Asking them to get dressed is like trying to get them to do the impossible.
Nap time
Lets just say, it is the most underrated part of the day. If only we all could take a nap half way through the day. We would wake up energized and ready to take on the world. Instead, we work like crazy while the small humans are recharging their batteries. They then wake up ready to destroy whatever small hold on a clean house we had accomplished while they were quietly resting. We live on caffeine so that we can keep up with them.
Turning a 10 min. project into a 3 day one
What should take a little bit of time always takes 60,000 times as long with children. There may be a small exaggeration in there, but have you ever tried to vacuum when you have two little helpers? The toys magically jump back out of the toy bins, right into the path of the vacuum making you stop what you are doing to pick them up. Then, there is always some sort of crash, followed by "I'm OK mom!" or frantic whispering and the unlucky scout sent out to distract mom and dad while the other tries to make it look like they didn't do it.
Wearing your underwear backwards or recycling them for several days in a row
I will never understand just why they put pictures on the BACK of kid's underwear, but everyone who knows anything knows that the picture goes on the front. No matter how uncomfortable it is. James still has not mastered the fact that some of his briefs are much more comfortable if you wear them the right way. Print boxers work better. Madilyn has the same trouble too.
It is also much easier to put your underwear under your bed, in your bed, in the drawer or with you toys so that you can find them again tomorrow, or next week sometime and reuse them. Somehow the room smells like a locker room. Laundry baskets are highly overrated.
Imaginary friends
When I talk to my friends and no one else can see them, people look at me funny. They wonder if I am "special" and they tend to cross to the other side of the street. James has a fireman who lives with us sometimes. To the point that we have to set a plate for him, and be careful not to step on him in the living room. I wonder what Scott would do if I told him my imaginary friend was sitting in his chair tonight, so he had to go find another spot to sit...
Sometimes I think the imaginary friends are the best, they don't eat, don't fight too much and if they forget to take off their boots I don't know it because they do not leave muddy footprints.
Pooping/farting/peeing in public and talking about it in great detail.
This morning my daughter had to go to the bathroom. She didn't want to walk the 50' to the house so she loudly demanded to pee in the driveway. While the neighbors drove by, Papa, brother, dad and I watched. Then she told us all that she went potty in the driveway. An hour later, she told the checker at the grocery she went potty in the driveway. Fortunately the checker is not fluent in Madilyn. We were still discussing the merits of using the driveway over a toilet at lunch.
At Taekwondo the other day one of the girls in the class had the farts. She proceeded to let wind with every stretch and then quite loudly let us know that it was her fart. It was funny. Especially since it was not my child. Somehow I do not think it would have been quite so laughable if it were an adult.
Poop humor
It is cute when you are 5, not when you are 45. Especially at the dinner table. Enough said.
Repeating yourself 1,000 times in an hour.
I swear I answer the same question over and over all day long. I read somewhere the average 5 year old asks about 450 questions a day. I think whoever counted that gave up by noon. All day long there is a constant stream of questions, many repeated over and over and over. My personal favorite is when is lunch. The clock does not lie, James is learning to tell time. He has it down that when both hands are on or near the 12, it is time to eat. At 2:30, rest time is over and that when the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 6, Dad comes home from work. The other day he asked me 6 times (yes, I counted) before 11:00 if it was lunch time. When I asked if he was hungry, "Nope, I just wanted to know."
Picking your nose.
Or more specifically picking your nose, showing it off, wiping it on your shirt or someone else and then telling everyone about it in great detail (a very critical part of the small humans development).
Being brutally honest
James told me he didn't like dinner the other night - it was not what he wanted to eat, it was too crunchy, didn't taste good and he wanted something else. Scott may have had the same thought, but quietly ate a little bit, cleaned up his place at the table and made a sandwich. James is still talking about my burning the dinner...last week.
Playing naked in the yard
My kids will be nudists if I let them. They love to play outside and inside naked. It doesn't matter if it is 40 degrees outside or 85. It makes for less laundry, but a dirtier tub. For some reason no matter how cold it is, how muddy it is or how hot it is the key to utter happiness is running around naked. It can instantly fix any owie, bad mood or rainy day. Asking them to get dressed is like trying to get them to do the impossible.
Nap time
Lets just say, it is the most underrated part of the day. If only we all could take a nap half way through the day. We would wake up energized and ready to take on the world. Instead, we work like crazy while the small humans are recharging their batteries. They then wake up ready to destroy whatever small hold on a clean house we had accomplished while they were quietly resting. We live on caffeine so that we can keep up with them.
Turning a 10 min. project into a 3 day one
What should take a little bit of time always takes 60,000 times as long with children. There may be a small exaggeration in there, but have you ever tried to vacuum when you have two little helpers? The toys magically jump back out of the toy bins, right into the path of the vacuum making you stop what you are doing to pick them up. Then, there is always some sort of crash, followed by "I'm OK mom!" or frantic whispering and the unlucky scout sent out to distract mom and dad while the other tries to make it look like they didn't do it.
Wearing your underwear backwards or recycling them for several days in a row
I will never understand just why they put pictures on the BACK of kid's underwear, but everyone who knows anything knows that the picture goes on the front. No matter how uncomfortable it is. James still has not mastered the fact that some of his briefs are much more comfortable if you wear them the right way. Print boxers work better. Madilyn has the same trouble too.
It is also much easier to put your underwear under your bed, in your bed, in the drawer or with you toys so that you can find them again tomorrow, or next week sometime and reuse them. Somehow the room smells like a locker room. Laundry baskets are highly overrated.
Imaginary friends
When I talk to my friends and no one else can see them, people look at me funny. They wonder if I am "special" and they tend to cross to the other side of the street. James has a fireman who lives with us sometimes. To the point that we have to set a plate for him, and be careful not to step on him in the living room. I wonder what Scott would do if I told him my imaginary friend was sitting in his chair tonight, so he had to go find another spot to sit...
Sometimes I think the imaginary friends are the best, they don't eat, don't fight too much and if they forget to take off their boots I don't know it because they do not leave muddy footprints.
Pooping/farting/peeing in public and talking about it in great detail.
This morning my daughter had to go to the bathroom. She didn't want to walk the 50' to the house so she loudly demanded to pee in the driveway. While the neighbors drove by, Papa, brother, dad and I watched. Then she told us all that she went potty in the driveway. An hour later, she told the checker at the grocery she went potty in the driveway. Fortunately the checker is not fluent in Madilyn. We were still discussing the merits of using the driveway over a toilet at lunch.
At Taekwondo the other day one of the girls in the class had the farts. She proceeded to let wind with every stretch and then quite loudly let us know that it was her fart. It was funny. Especially since it was not my child. Somehow I do not think it would have been quite so laughable if it were an adult.
Poop humor
It is cute when you are 5, not when you are 45. Especially at the dinner table. Enough said.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
You know you are a farming mom when...
You get up early to feed a friend's horses.
Come home as the house is starting to wake up.
You spend the morning inside to keep the kids warm.
You get upset that it is finally warm enough that the kids wont freeze at 10:30 and head outside (half the day has been wasted!).
You use your truck as a giant wheelbarrow to move firewood.
The kids make sand/mud pies while you work.
You haul wood chips with a lawnmower and trailer.
You watch your kids have a great time sliding down the wood chips pile and digging at it with trucks.
It takes 4 times as long to herd the chickens back into the pen with your two helpers.
The kids get bored with chasing chickens and dig for moles.
James explained very patiently to Madilyn that they could not dig too deep in the mole hill because they might find a volcano in the middle of the earth, or China and it is night time there.
You finally realize that you might be hungry so it is probably lunch time.
But...you finish up hauling some wood chips to the chicken pen for mud control first.
When you get inside (kids, toys, tools and yard somewhat cleaned up)- It is 2:45.
So much for nap time today!
You get up early to feed a friend's horses.
Come home as the house is starting to wake up.
You spend the morning inside to keep the kids warm.
You get upset that it is finally warm enough that the kids wont freeze at 10:30 and head outside (half the day has been wasted!).
You use your truck as a giant wheelbarrow to move firewood.
The kids make sand/mud pies while you work.
You haul wood chips with a lawnmower and trailer.
You watch your kids have a great time sliding down the wood chips pile and digging at it with trucks.
It takes 4 times as long to herd the chickens back into the pen with your two helpers.
The kids get bored with chasing chickens and dig for moles.
James explained very patiently to Madilyn that they could not dig too deep in the mole hill because they might find a volcano in the middle of the earth, or China and it is night time there.
You finally realize that you might be hungry so it is probably lunch time.
But...you finish up hauling some wood chips to the chicken pen for mud control first.
When you get inside (kids, toys, tools and yard somewhat cleaned up)- It is 2:45.
So much for nap time today!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Catching up
Things are slowing down around here, we have had some home days to play, garden, prune and clean up our house. Winterschool was a success last weekend, an estimated 1200 people attended! James is still doing taekwondo and is very excited to start school in the fall. Madilyn has taken a huge interest in baby dolls, dancing and necklaces. Scott is working on the Church's web page, and fixing up his lawn tractor - just in time to till the garden. I am doing well, just starting the third trimester with #3 and trying to keep up with these two crazy kids and all their adventures.
Today the kids took advantage of the heat wave (40 degrees) and took mud baths outside.
They also coated their slide with mud and slid down it. Needless to say bath time was BEFORE lunch today. At least they had lots of fun. These pictures were done long before the mud bath was complete - they were quite a bit more muddy at the end of the play time.
Madilyn has been taking an interest in cooking recently. Every time I start dinner she drags a chair over to the stove so that she can help me cook.
Of course she has to sample - sometimes there are bites out of our food.
This is our newest purchase, it is done by BS Fabrication. A friend and her husband made this metal art. It looks great above our fireplace!
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