happy halloween

We had a fun weekend full of friends, football, Halloween parties and plumbing projects! I can't believe November is right around the corner. Now it's Monday and I'm off to enjoy a crazy-fun day with my second graders!

7 months

Happy 7 months sweet Emma girl. You continue to fill our days with your giggles, grins, and squeaks. You have so much to say these days. You especially let me know how you feel if I leave your line of sight. You love to sit up and play. You're getting really good at reaching for and playing with your toys.

I am so in love with your chubby cheeks, soft eyelashes, and pudgy legs. I'm glad you love to cuddle because I know it won't last forever.

You have tried so many new foods this month. You gobble everything down that we have given you, except for a couple days where you weren't so happy about the peas. You've mastered the finger foods too, which has been the only way I can get dinner made these days. You're pretty content to sit in the highchair, eating your snacks, watching me and Mason make dinner.

It has been amazing to watch you grow and change. Here's a few things about you at 7 months:

~you don't really like to play on your tummy, you prefer to sit
~you like pureed spaghetti, along with lots of fruits and veggies
~you slept through the night a couple times this month

~you don't have any little pearly whites yet

~you're starting to scoot around

~you like baths much better, sitting in the bumbo in the tub watching Mason splash around

~you like to look at books

~you constantly grab my earrings and necklaces

~you can feed yourself finger foods

~you take two naps a day

~you are ready for bed by 7:00 and go right to sleep

~you have the best little belly laugh and toothless grin

You're such a sweetie. We love you more and more each day.
xoxo,
mommy

right now

Just a few things I'm loving right now:

~chai
~knitting and sewing
~making plans for scrapbooking
~trying new recipes
~cleaning out the ol' google reader
~mini book club with my bff, Mindy (can't believe I've never read Wind in the Willows)
~visiting the library
~skirts and scarves
~planting lots of greens in the greenhouse...looking forward to more salad
~researching how to make our own yogurt
~Mason making me pumpkins out of paper with Marylin
~laughing with cousins over dinner
~Emma sleeping through the night this weekend, finally!
~Mason bringing cow everywhere, putting him down for naps, and feeding him with a spoon
~being almost done with 1/4 of my portfolio for National Boards
~reading until I fall asleep
~fires in the woodstove
~overalls!

Not so much:
~all the Halloween hoopla
~checking to see if a certain poor little hen is egg bound
~hearing that friends are moving
~snow in the forecast
~wearing skirts on windy recess duty days

green tomato pie

After we pulled all the tomato plants out of the greenhouse we had an abundance of green tomatoes. Not really knowing what to do with them I started looking through my cookbooks. I found a recipe for green tomato pie. It had ingredients like brown sugar, melted butter, cloves, and cinnamon so I figured it couldn't be that bad. We were pleasantly surprised. It was really good. The tomatoes didn't really have a flavor, they just provided a texture and filling for the yummy fall spices. It almost tasted like apple pie. Mason helped me separate all the green tomatoes from the rest of the produce. Then he pulled them all off their vines while I chopped. He's such a good helper. Here is the pie before I added the top crust. I forgot to take pictures after I baked it. Give it a try.

Green Tomato Pie
From the Encyclopedia of Country Living

Cover 2 c. chopped green tomatoes (I used 3 1/2 becasue I wanted a really full pie) with water and bring to a boil. Drain. Add 1/2 c. brown sugar, 2 Tbsp. vinegar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 c. chopped raisins, 3 Tbsp. melted butter, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. cloves. Line a pie plate with a pie crust. Add filling. Put on a top crust and cut holes in the center. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes.


It's shaping up to be a pretty nice weekend. Ryan and I, along with the kiddos, spent the morning stacking firewood and coating beams for a shed that Ryan and his dad are building tomorrow. It was beautiful outside. Mason kept running back and forth between helping me with the wood and watching Ryan paint. The roosters crowed at us the entire time. Then I met a friend at the park and we went out to lunch. It was nice to get out while Ryan headed to the big city to get supplies for tomorrow. Then we topped it off with homemade pizza for dinner and chai vanilla pudding for dessert. I love the weekends!

wordless wednesday

breakfast + family

So, these photos are a little old. It's not so green around here anymore. But, I finally found my other camera and these are some of my favorites from when my mom and sister came to visit.
We love cousin Karly!

Nana with the kiddos at the football game.

Bobcat fans!

And this is my new favorite recipe to serve up for breakfast when we have company. It's a cream cheese fruit braid. I made it for brunch with a friend a couple months back. Then I made it again for my family. Both times I used some of our peach jam and it was delicious.

But now I can't stop thinking about making it with some of our blueberry jam. Anybody want to come over for breakfast?

happenings

Life is in full swing around here and it doesn't look like things will be slowing down anytime soon.


A few of our hens have started laying eggs. They haven't figured out the nesting boxes yet, so my current favorite morning chore is searching for eggs. It's actually more like an afternoon chore since they don't lay until about 10:00 or later. We find them all afternoon long. Here's Marsh. He's one of the two roosters that are left. A few days ago after we fed some scraps to the chickens Mason said, "bye Marsh, have a nice weekend." I don't know where he comes up with this stuff.

Speaking of the big boy....he officially gave his crib to Emma and now sleeps on his big boy bed. We just put the mattress on the floor for now, which is a good thing because we find him sound asleep in the middle of his room quite often. He's a roller. The first night he wasn't so sure about it once we said our prayers and turned off the light. I rubbed his back for a few minutes, but left before he was asleep. The next night I laid down next to him and after about 30 seconds he said, "you can go into the living room now, mama." Geez...thanks. I am thrilled about the easy transition though.

We got about 8 inches of snow this weekend. The snow-covered peaks are just beautiful. Mason bundled up and played outside for quite a while on Saturday. He loves the outdoors.

Emma had her 6 month check-up on Friday. I got to meet my cousin Lacy for breakfast. We had some of the best chai ever and chatted the morning away while Emma made squaking noises at everyone coming in for their morning coffee. She's weighing in at 16 pounds.

I snuck in a couple hours of working on my portfolio this weekend. I made up for it by sewing with a friend and starting a good book.

Ryan and I are making our way through three boxes of apples, tons of green tomatoes and piles of acorn squash. We pulled everything out of the greenhouse since it got to 34 degrees the other night and pulled all of what was left in the garden. We're trying lots of new recipes, so as not to waste any of the produce. We have lots of seedlings for our fall greens ready to transplant into the greenhouse. As soon as we quit building towers that is.