Herbs and Lettuce

I harvested some parsley and mint and hung them to dry. I like the way the hanging herbs look in my kitchen. Maeve tells me several times a day that I am going to make her mint rot. I've tried explaining, but I've resigned myself to nodding and just agreeing with her.

I also picked the last of our lettuce and some swiss chard. I blanched the chard and stuck it in the freezer to use in soups later.

The rest of the garden looks good. I'm disappointed with the kale, cabbage and peas this year. We've got lots of green tomatoes, tall carrot tops and some peppers. My winter squash plants are huge and the pumpkin has taken off even though we planted it in a bunch of weeds.

Tomorrow (I hope) I will be planting strawberries in a newly built raised bed. The plants were free and I had intended on planting them elsewhere, but Mathew had other ideas. I can't wait until next summer.

Food to Make

I have an on-going list of things I want to make.

-Yogurt: I want to have this batch sit for only six hours and then strain it so that it's a thick, Greek style yogurt.

-Ghee: I've read that it's shelf stable for six months and have never tried it. It's simple to make and sounds tasty.

-Cultured buttermilk: another easy one that I can use to make ranch dressing.

-Gnocchi: This can be used in place of noodles and I've been wanting to make it for awhile now.

Those are the big ones I want crossed off my list. I also want to make more pretzles and bagels for the freezer.

Getting My Sew On

It's been almost seven months since my sewing machine has seen any action. Sad.

I have finally started working on new curtains for the living room. I have one panel done and am trying to decide if it looks too much like a fraternity style window covering. The fabric I am using is a blanket from India. I received it as a gift ten years ago (ten? How am I old enough to say that?) and it matches my living room perfectly. I just need to decide if I should make it look less blanket-y and turn the curtains into roman shades or something. I will probably be lazy.

I dug a couple of fabrics out of my stash to use for skirts. For myself. I am in desperate need of something girly. I love skirts. I have a whole pile of skirts. Unfortunately, the whole baby thing has ruined my figure for the time being. I have a lovely vintage piece of fabric that I'll use and a piece of jersey knit that will be a huge pain in the rear to sew. I need to replenish my supply of fabric. That will require some serious garage saling and thrifting this summer. I think I'm up for the task.

Also on my sewing list is another skirt or two for Maeve. She doesn't need them, but she picked out fabric a million years ago and I still haven't done anything with it. She reminds me often. She also has requested various costumes (a dolphin, five different kinds of bugs, a dog, a rabbit and more that I tuned out) that I might attempt. I wish it was fun to sew boy clothes. I'm not the world's greatest pants sewer, even though they're easy, and I've never attempted a shirt. Maybe I'll just make Finn a few bowling pin pillows and call it good.

Guys and Dolls

Finn found a doll at bedtime tonight. It's a Precious Moments doll that says "Now I lay me down to sleep.....amen" when you push the doll's belly. It provided me with a lot of entertainment.

First, Finn was very happy that the doll said "aim it" at the end. He thought it was awesome that the doll was talking about guns.

Then Finn asked how many babies I have. I told him that I have three babies: Maeve, Finn and Oren. Finn quickly corrected me and said that I really only have one baby because he and Maeve are grown up. He then stood up on the bed to show me how much bigger he is than Oren. Finn also proclaimed that he is 120. Actually, he first said he was 1500, but I guess 120 is a little more believable.

I talked to Finn about how tired his baby was and how much his baby just wanted to snuggle and go to sleep. I was wrong. Apparently the baby wanted to jump, fall down and climb the mountains that were Finn's legs.

Eventually, the baby and Finn's special dolphin, Waterball, were wrapped in Finn's blanket (which is really MY baby blanket, but I don't think I'll be getting it back) and tucked in beside their Daddy. As I was kissing Finn's forehead, I said "goodnight Daddy". Finn's eyes widened and he said, "I'm a Daddy dolphin". Right. That should have been obvious.

Lemonade

We made a very good batch of lemonade today.

Juice of 4 lemons

3 quarts of water

1 C sugar

That's it. We strain the juice as we pour it into the pitcher. Maeve likes adding mint because she thinks it's awesome to add edible leaves to anything.

Barney

I am usually not a fan of seeing other people's kids covered in food particles, however my own children are adorable.

Oren had the time of his life eating blueberries. He's typically a bit cleaner than this, but I suppose it's good to go a little crazy every once in awhile.

First Splash

The funniest part of these pictures is the dog. She will only get in the water when she has someone to play with or bother. Bridget gets right in there and rolls around, splashes and throws balls with the kids. She absolutely loves the pool and I think can I see her smile when the kids start screaming and complaining because she's hogging the entire pool.

Baby Wearing

A few days ago Maeve was having a conversation with my mom about siblings. My mom was explaining that she had ten brothers and sisters and Maeve's response was, "Wow, that's a lot of baby carriers! Your mom had to be really tall!"

A Girl and her Rabbits

Maeve will often times sneak the camera and take several pictures like the ones here. I love them.

The top is a picture of her Neopet that she had to have for Christmas. It was the one and only thing she asked Santa to bring. What choice did we have? We found out later that Neopets are some kind of online gaming/fighting kind of thing. Whatever. She adores this rabbit and adorns it with her favorite hair bows and pieces of jewelry.

The middle picture is our Flemish Giant, Fiona. She was once kept in the house, but has since been doomed to the porch because, sadly, I am allergic to her.

Finally, this is Rainbow. Rainbow is Maeve's rabbit and the love of her life.

Four's a Crowd

This is what happens when I say "smile".

Standing

Oren has figured out crawling and has moved on to bigger and better things. I prefer crawling, but he didn't ask my opinion.

My Sweet Boy

Fruit!

We planted several fruit trees this year and were pleasantly surprised to find fruit. The kids split the cherry and we'll see what happens with the pears.

Thanks, Honey!

We were all getting out of the van one day (shortly after we bought the van, I might add) when I noticed this huge dent. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Mathew, did you see this dent? I think someone hit me in the parking lot!

Mathew: No, I didn't notice it.

Me: Why are you giving me that look? Did you do this?

Mathew: No....

Me: How long have we been married? Did YOU dent MY van??

Mathew: I backed it into the mirror on my dad's truck.

Kidlets

As Sinful as Oreo Fluff

I don't know if everyone has experienced oreo fluff, but it was a staple at my sorority house in college. We were all excited when there was oreo fluff at the end of the buffet. This french cream recipe excites me in the same way. I've used it to top brownies and to fill chocolate cupcakes. Incredibly unhealthy, but absolutely delicious and it will take a very strong will not to lick the remains out of the mixer bowl.

French Cream

1 C milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 C sugar

4 Tbsp flour

1 C butter (or shortening if that's your thing)

Cook/whisk milk and flour until thick and smooth. Add vanilla and let cool. Combine butter or shortening and sugar and beat until fluffy. Combine everything and beat for about 15 min or until it looks like a thick cream.