Friday, September 24, 2010

dear, oh dear

Wow. Believe it or not, I am totally out of range of the Internet, excepting my mother's iPad. It doesn't read my camera's memory card, so until I happen to pass some place with wi-fi, i'm afraid the blog is going to be pretty sparse. I'll leave you with a quick story:

At burger king the boys both got a toy owl. Levi promptly announced that he was going to name his owl Jack. Micah thought for a moment before he announced that "I'm going to name mine... Owligator. Owligator the owl."

He's three.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

deja vu

Kevin and I used to do this with a towel. 
It was so much fun (of course not quite as much fun as using the four-wheeler and the hydra-slide in the woods after it flooded... but still really fun). 
Micah's not quite ready to pull Levi yet, but he'll get there, and in the mean time, it's fun to watch him try!


Monday, September 20, 2010

Ooops-Soup

Oops - but first, a brief story...
Micah:  "Mama, do you want to come build trains with me?
Mama: "Oh, that sounds fun, but I need to spend just a couple minutes here with Jesus (and this cup of coffee), and then we need to eat so we can go to the lake."
Micah, with the air of one explaning the most obvious fact: "But Mama, you can come over here, and Jesus will come with you.  He is with you ev-wy where."

Well.  And on to the oops...
I like to keep this blog pretty positive, which is - I believe - a good thing, but sometimes it gives the impression that I have "ev-wy" thing together, which is laughable.

Point in case: I decided to try this recipe for carrot-tomato soup. It looked yummy.  It smelled yummy.  I even took a picture, thinking, wow, something to share on the blog!  

But, see, here's the thing.  While I was following the directions, I was thinking, there's no way these carrots will cook enough in that amount of time to puree down to a smooth texture.  But see, I'm not the best or most adventurous cook out there, so I decided to trust myself to people who know better, and just went on with it. 
This decision turned out to be a big mistake, and one I feel really stupid for making, as it left the soup with the texture of tiny carrot bits all throughout, which was nothing what any of us were in the mood for.

I share this, because, well, it's funny.  This kind of stuff is post-worthy too, in it's own way, because nobody on this planet is perfect, and there's no point pretending.  Maybe you wished you could sew, or knit, but you only end up with mangled messes when you try.  But maybe just maybe you can cook, and today you can sit back and chuckle at me and my Oops-Soup.  I promise not to try any new dishes if you ever come to dinner :-) 

Thursday, September 16, 2010

mama-made

I've been getting quite a lot of stitching done, while papa bear's out of town.  My main goal is some warmth for my hard-to-fit child, so I got enough material to make him 3 pairs of pants.

Ahem.  And something for a skirt I've been wanting to try forever, from Weekend Sewing.  The boys helped me pick it out, and it's beautiful.  I'm calling it my Motivation Skirt though.  You see, with Fall beginning, there was no point to making a skirt to fit my post-baby self now was there?  All that for something I might get to wear a handful of times?  I don't think so.  So I intentionally made it so that it won't fit right now, but if I take decent care of myself, I should be able to enjoy it come Spring (or, possibly even Summer - let's be realistic here).


And here's Eve, decked out from the waist down in her mama-made duds. 

And the pants?  Well, Micah wasn't sure at first.  They're corduroy, so at first he was thinking they were going to be the tight, fitted type that he abhors.  But he touched the fabric and saw how soft it was, just as Levi came in and cried, "Are those for me?"

Well, let's just say that settled that at once -ah, brotherly love - (Of course it also added another pair of pants to my sewing list).


So I've finished two pairs for Micah, and the third is just waiting for the special pockets before I finish stitching them up.  They were super easy.  I just cut them up, nearly the same as I did the bandana pants.  I did add some extra length though - the corduroy will cuff well, and it will give him room to grow over the next couple of seasons...
...I hope.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

our spot

This is it.  Our spot.  This little rocky beach, surrounded with woods.  It's quiet, you can paddle here (ah, the dreams I have of having a family canoe), you can picnic here, and you can't hear any traffic from here.  And despite the fact that it's free, there's rarely anyone here!

I love this place.  It's a place to be quiet, a place to be loud.  Perfect for ambling along or for running.  A place where Mama and baby can snuggle on the blanket (she loves to turn her face into the sling, away from the sun and wind), while the boys can really be boys.  And not a single mosquito in the place.







Eve sat and looked at that water, and the noisy wind-made waves, for the longest time.  I just love being outside.  If I could own a home in a quiet place like this, well, I just don't know what I'd do with myself!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Eve's point of view







Okay.  Normally I would have left out that shot where she's a bit cross-eyed, but she was concentrating sooo hard.  I snapped those pictures, put the camera away and turned back to the porch to hear Micah shouting:

"SHE ROLLED OVER AGAIN!"

Which explains why she was so focused on getting herself up so high.  It also tells me that her earlier roll was not a fluke, and that yes, we have started down that crazy road to mobility...  isn't that exciting?

Monday, September 13, 2010

i used to have floors...

Once upon a time, I used to have floors.  I swear they're still there.  I swear we uncover them completely, once, twice - sometimes thrice - daily.  I suppose it's what happens when you have two boys who like to build and thoroughly enjoy one another's company.

Every once in a while they stop from their building.  You know, to do school work, to talk to Eve while I'm getting us ready to leave for somewhere, to read for an hour, and occasionally to "play" with their sister while I'm making something for them/us to eat... 




But whatever it is eventually ceases, and they can return to their all important task of covering every square inch of floor... er, I mean, their task of building and playing, which is one of the many things small boys should get to enjoy doing.

Besides.  I can have floors when I'm fifty, right?

Friday, September 10, 2010

home doings...

So, what did we do with all our apples, you may wonder?  The boys did such a good job picking apples that we had enough to make 6 pints of super yummy apple butter.  (The little jar is out so I'll remember to bring some more jam home for my Daddy when I bring my brother his apple butter). 

This stuff is so easy.  Peel, chop, and dump in big pot with lid.  Put in oven on low for hours and hours (like 6).  Mash with whisk or mixer.  Dump in a cup or two of brown sugar, two spoonfuls of vanilla, generous dashes of nutmeg and cinnamon.  Put back in the oven without lid for 3-4 hours.  Can it when it's nice and thick (a whopping 15 minutes in boiling water)...  

We (well, I) made some more bandana pants, this time with pockets.  I wanted to get a rough idea on how they would work for making regular pants, what with Fall settling into place on us...

The boys are pretty happy with them, and so am I (we're talking 15 to 20 minutes sewing time - who wouldn't be happy with that?)!!!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

lingering summer

Oddly enough, my tomatoes have chosen September to make an effort at producing.  They had tried a while back, but we had one pretty good storm, and it flattened them, so I think they got confused.  They'll probably go crazy and produce hundreds of the things, the moment I head out of town...

Our flower garden has finally shot up with some beautiful little things.  They were from a seed collection designed to attract butterflies, and while it took forever for the flowers to show up, we've still had more butterflies (hey, caterpillars have to eat, right?).


Wednesday, September 8, 2010

baby shots

Here are the latest shots of the babe...





And where, you might ask, were the boys?  Why weren't they pressing into the edges of the photo? 
Well, Micah was happily employed with sitting on his big brother (who was laughing his head off)...
Gosh, he's starting to look so much older there!

Monday, September 6, 2010

shh...

Can you feel it sneaking up on you?  Shh... listen.... feel that chill in the air?  Christmas will be here before you know it! 

No, I am absolutely not that put-together of a Mama.  It's just that since I've started making more and more of the Christmas gifts, I've needed more and more time to get ready.  This year I have a couple of knitted projects in mind, along with a dash of sewing.  Anyone care to guess what the secret project above is going to be?

And as for this picture, well, I just thought it funny that our tv functions as a backdrop for our many creations around here...

I'll keep you posted on the projects, just don't tell the boys!

Friday, September 3, 2010

here daddy...





"Here Daddy, hold this baby girl of ours so I can go get my camera." 

Her hair was all ruffly and she was running out of steam, but she was still awake, and I love the green clothes she was wearing, so I had a great time clicking away while Eve cuddled with her papa for a bit before bed.

She's doing so well.  She's soooo sweet and snuggly.  Her brothers adore her already, and are both proud, protective and affectionate towards her.  And she's started cooing back at us, in addition to the massive grins that I have yet to catch on film! 

I am quite convinced that there are a great many little conversations on their way...

Thursday, September 2, 2010

friends



Isn't it great when friends come to see you?  Especially the kind of friends that you don't get to see very often, but you still click with them the moment they walk in the door.

There was a great deal of splashing, cutting and drawing and taping, toys all over the place, lots of snacking, and the whole day was one steady buzz of kid-chatter and noise and Mama-laughter-and-chatting.

When it was time for our friends to go, there was a great deal of hugging, and promises to miss one another "too much" and "for eighty weeks!" 

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

history



Ahem.  The boys had a blast making Roman standards (the poles each legion would carry into battle).  Levi carried around his standard, rather regally, and Micah, well...  let's just say Micah got into the whole war whooping battle-cry idea, swinging Frog B around his head and making a sound that would have intimidated even the Celts.