Sunday, July 31, 2011

and then... there's the two year old











 eislee's birthday was a bit like eislee... wild, and it was gone in a flash just like her last two years.

i didn't get around to making her birthday crown. i think i need to make some without the ages embroidered on the front... so i could reuse them for a couple years. luckily, grandma patti found her a special birthday girl shirt... i think that made up for the crown. she got to do two of her favorite things for her second birthday... four wheeler ride with daddy and eat cake. once again i forgot the new tradition were everyone says something they love about the birthday person. we did talk about it last night over dinner though, and once again i will share them here.

things we love about our two year old

  • mark and lisa love her "foot stompin temper" (the way she stomps her feet when she gets angry)
  • matt loves the way she refers to herself as "me-me"
  • i love the way she imitates me "mamo tur tha waher off, righ now!!!" (maiko turn that water off, right now!)
  • maiko loves the way she smells and how soft her hair is
  • layla loves the way she calls her "waywa" and the way she hugs her with her arms wrapped around so tight
we all love our sweet eislee so much. a very important member of this family. she keeps things from getting to serious around here. yes, very important. we love you eislee... forever and ever.

Monday, July 25, 2011

creative kids







i love it when they surprise me like this. i gave maiko and layla each a craft book and told them to look through and pick out a project that they wanted to make. well, not only did maiko pick out his project but he got started on it without any help from me. sand, dirt, worms, all things he could find without a shred of help from his mother. my joy was simply overflowing watching him run around putting this little wormery together. when did he grow up so much that he no longer needed my help for things like this? such beautiful, independent souls.

our sweet ollie









she is getting so big. she will be half a year in five days... five days. can you believe that? i can't. that also means that eislee will be two in just three days. wow. ollie is such a happy baby. she smiles more than any of the other babies did and she smiles so big. she's a tiny little thing but getting quite strong, rolling over now and pushing up. she has two teeth! i'm excited and also a bit nervous about what the next year will bring. i'm so excited to see the person that ollie will become, but then i can't help but think "how am i going to keep up around here when there are four kids making messes?" luckily there will be many changes going on. ollie will grow and get into more, but maiko and layla will both be going to the big school and i will have quiet mornings with just two! i have mixed feelings about this. on one hand i'm really looking forward to those calm mornings with two and afternoons with three, but on the other hand i'm a little sad that maiko will be gone all day. i am also nervous because maiko is growing and changing so much right now and will be spending so little time with us each day. i suppose it will all work out for the best. he is very excited about having PE class and eating his lunch at school. i can't help but wonder how long that excitement will last. :)

yum.


 this is the new favorite around here.
i've really been enjoying this book and all of her wonderful recipes. i change most of the recipes to fit my cooking style or the ingredients that i have on hand (which she encourages). the thing that i love the most about this book is the learning experience. with each recipe i cook, i learn something.... whether it's something about the ingredients or a new method. for example these whole wheat buttermilk pancakes and strawberry compote... i changed her pancake recipe a bit... we didn't have any maple syrup.... she has a blackberry compote recipe which i didn't have the ingredients for... so i made strawberry.
and here's the recipe:

whole wheat pancakes
ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
 1 tbsp baking powder
dash salt
2 cups buttermilk*
3 large eggs, beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
*if you don't have buttermilk you can just add some vinegar (about a tbsp) to milk and let it sit for a few minutes

mix dry ingredients. then, separately, mix wet ingredients. combine together and cook to your liking.
for the strawberry compote, i just dumped a bag a frozen strawberries into a pan heated on medium heat until they got thick and bubbly, and i added honey to taste.

enjoy!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

meet morris-moses





why morris-moses you ask?
well... we named him moses, but the kids always mix it up and say morris. i'm really beginning to like morris so much better. poor little guy, he was born with a negligent mother. lisa calls him our 4H project. she got him unpasteurized local goats milk. she has been doing all the feeding so far, but i am very willing to pitch in. i know what you may be thinking, but his feeding schedule is not that difficult... twice a day... 12 hrs apart. so that's one shift for lisa and one shift for me. not so bad, huh? he is currently living in my garden space which makes feeding even easier. i'm very excited about this new farm experience.... kinda makes me feel like a real cowgirl.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

and just like that.... she's five

















my little bee is so funny. she has already convinced a few people that she turned six two days ago. when her grammy said "well layla, you have already been telling everyone that your five... now you will actually be five." layla said "well, i'm just going to have to tell them i'm six then." hmmmm. 
it was a wonderful birthday. we did a few things different this time and i am so glad we did. years past we always had birthday cake after dinner and opened presents after birthday cake... which would result in a late night opening frenzy and then off to bed. which i finally realized is no fun. can you imagine waiting all day to open your gifts... opening them all at once... and then going to bed??? nope. not i.
the night before her birthday we read humphrey's birthday, a very sweet book. in the book, humphrey opened his gifts first thing in the morning... and that got me thinking. so, when she woke up the next morning i let her open one gift. then a few hours later i let her open another one. we continued to do that all day. it was so much better. because that  way she enjoyed the one gift she opened for a long time instead of just jumping right to the next and she got to open presents all throughout the day instead of one quick frenzy. she helped me make her birthday cake too (which we still ate after dinner). that has been a tradition we've had for many years now and i love it. another new idea that i got from the book the creative family (wonderful book) is to go around the table when your having the cake and everyone says one thing that they love about the birthday person. we actually forgot to do this the night of her birthday because it was very late when we had the cake so, to make up for forgetting, i'm going to share five things i love about her right here.

five things i love about my oldest daughter

  •  i love the way she keeps special things under her pillow
  •  i love that her excuse for having papers and colored pencils everywhere is "but i'm an artist"
  •  i love how she can sit in her room for hours looking at books and making up stories
  •  i love the way she calls her younger sisters "honey"
  •  and i love her courage

there are many, many things i love about my daughter and i will share more in due time.
happy birthday sweet bee, i'll love you forever.

side note: after i make a couple more crowns (for eislee and maiko) i will share a tutorial in case anyone is interested.

Monday, July 11, 2011

oh sweet summer








there is something so special about summer. staying up late, getting up late, getting dressed when you feel like it, eating on the "when we're hungry" schedule, practically living off of fruit and popsicles. i love having this bit of time set aside each year to just slow down and enjoy. thank you summer, for giving me exactly what i needed.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

the fourth






a beautiful sunset on the water, a warm fire, excited children.... all part of a wonderful holiday. it's hard to tell from the pictures, but the children were not the only ones interested in the fireworks. we had a whole group of curious cows hanging out on the other side of the fence enjoying the show. it was a great evening. i hope yours was every bit as wonderful as ours. 
happy independence!