5.28.2011

2 months

Hey, sweet emma. You are two months old today. This month has flown by. While you've been napping, daddy and I (with the help of your big brother) have been busy working on the chicken coop, the greenhouse, and the garden. You love to go out into the greenhouse in the morning. You keep me company while we watch the sun slowly work its way over the house and into the greenhouse. It keeps getting warmer and warmer. You smile at me while I sip my tea. Sometimes we read and sometimes we just sit. I could watch you for hours. But, eventually mason wakes up and we are on with our day. I will always cherish those mornings together.




A few things to note about you, at two months:



~you have rolled over a couple times now



~you are starting to smile when people talk to you



~you are pretty content to sit on mason's lap while we read stories to you



~you love baths (or at least tolerate them without crying)



~you always fall asleep in the car



~you are so alert when you are awake...taking it all in



~sleep most of the night, waking up around 3 and then 6



~follow people with your eyes when we walk by



~still have the chubbiest legs and arms (love!)



We love you so much little girl.


xoxo,
mommy


5.26.2011

almost there


Our greenhouse extension is so close to being finished (thanks to some help from lacy!). For now, it's complete enough that we were able to move our tomato plants out. And it's wonderful to hang out in. We still have a few things to do:
~paint trim
~finish the west wall
~clean and paint the new door
~remove the old insulation
~create some sort of vent in the roof (possibly)


But all those things will have to wait until we put up another garden fence, rototill the old garden and the new garden, and plant all of our seeds which will happen this weekend.

This is the view looking to the east. The white beams in the middle of the photo are where the greenhouse used to end. We more than doubled our space!



It is pretty awesome having the greenhouse attached to the house. Ryan and I are so glad we decided to do it that way. It was not our original plan, but it works. Mason loves it too! He gets to be "outside" even when it's cold and windy. He wants to go out there first thing in the morning. He's completely covered in dirt by breakfast. He helps dig, water, and most recently he loves to search for little pieces of wood in the dirt and bring them inside and put them on our wood pile by the woodstove. This keeps him occupied for quite some time. He's such a helper.


This is from inside the living room, looking out. Yes, that is sourdough rising on the chair. The greenhouse works wonders for rising dough. The pepper plant starters on the table still need to be planted.
I love that I can just walk out the living room doors and cut some greens for salad. I don't think it gets much better than that.

5.17.2011

more baked

I'm still baking my way through this cookbook. A few weekends ago we celebrated my mom's and sister's birthday. I brought the peanut butter banana cream pie found in the pies and tarts section of the cookbook. It was my first time baking with a vanilla bean. Yum!
It was my first time making pudding from scratch. So easy!
It was four layers of deliciousness!

That weekend was so much fun. I can't believe how our family is growing. I love that mason and emma are close enough to jackson to get together now and then. Especially because I am so close to my cousins and I want the same for my kids. It was hard to get a good picture of the bunch, but there will be many more opportunities for photos! This weekend I made the nutella scones. These did not last long in our house. They were perfect with a cup of coffee. Sweet, nutty, and full of chocolate.Nutella Scones
from Baked Explorations

2 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. butter, cut into chunks
1 large egg
1/2 c . heavy cream
3/4 c. toasted hazelnuts, coarsley chopped ( I used walnuts)
1/2 c. Nutella

In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and use your fingers to rub it into the flour until the mixture is coarse. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and cream. Slowly pour into the dry ingredients until the dough just comes together. Add the nuts and knead to incorporate. Flatten the dough into a rectangle (about6 by 12 inches) and spread 1/4 c of the Nutella on top. Roll the dough up into a cylinder and gently flatten into a disk. Cut into 6 or 8 wedges and place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Heat the remaining 1/4 c. of Nutella in the microwave and drizzle over scones.



We just may have a bottle of Jack on the counter...next up: Whiskey Pear Tart

5.14.2011

morning snuggles

Mason's new favorite thing to do in the morning is to crawl in our bed and "hold you emma." He makes sure he is laying on the pillow first and then puts his arms out. Then you have to let go of emma, because he wants to do it all by himself. Love that smile! And who said it was ok for emma to get so big already??

5.09.2011

brick by brick

After we finished our ceiling project we began adding on to our greenhouse. We decided to extend our greenhouse past the double doors in our living room. This way we would have more room for plants, we would be able to open the doors to let the heat in to our house, and we would be able to access the greenhouse from inside. A couple weeks ago ryan started framing it out. Mason loved watching from the window and kept saying "daddy....work....hammer...bam!bam!bam!"

You can see the existing side of the greenhouse and the very beginning of the framing.

Since I snapped that picture, ryan finished the framing (except for the new door), painted it, and last friday we hung the roof. Grammie came to watch the kiddos today and ryan and I tackled the floor, which is sand and brick and more sand. I got my workout in by carrying every single one of those bricks and stacking them within reach of ryan, who worked on the floor. We are a little over half way done. Mason supervised from the window. Every time I stopped, even for a second to chat with ryan, mason would say "more brick, mommy." He's my little personal trainer.

We're making way on Project Greenhouse and hope to have it done by the end of the weekend. We have lots of tomato seedlings that are ready to move in!

In other news:

~we planted more than 100 trees and bushes

~the chicken coop is here!

~our little chicks have more than doubled in size and we've had a few venturing out of their tub, causing all sorts of cheeping since they can't figure out how to get back in

~it's time to start thinking about the garden

I think we're adding more to our to-do list than we're crossing off, but we always love a good project.