wordless wednesday

numbers

4 days until school's out
6 days until my cousin graduates from high school and a ton of family will be in town
7 days until all the drywall must be hung and we tear down the wall into our addition
7 days until we celebrate Mason's first birthday (a week early)
8 days until we need to finish the garden fence
9 days until we hope to plant the garden
10 days until I leave for NYC with Hillary!!

Things are a little busy around here:)

insulation

It's a dirty, dusty job. Yesterday was insulation day. We got up at 5:00 and drove two trucks over an hour to Lowes. We needed one truck for the insulation blower we rented and one truck to hold over 60 bags of insulation. We were about 25 minutes on our way back home when we realized they did not give us the hose attachment. So, I headed back and Ryan headed home. At least we didn't come all the way home before we realized it.

My job was to crawl around up in the rafters with the hose.

Ryan kept the machine full until the very last bag. We had just enough. The hardest parts where the corners where the roof was really slanted down and I could barely fit. But, 4 hours, 1200 pounds of insulation, and 2 very bruised knees later (and a big thank you to Nana for coming and watching Mason!) we can check that job off the list!

wordless wednesday {prom shoes}

let's talk compost

Now we really are not experts on this subject, but we are learning as we go. We've been composting for three years with mixed results. This year we are moving our garden and moving our compost pile because we have to extend the dog pen. So, we are trying something new with our compost bin. Check it out:

Ryan made this using some old wood we got from his dad.

It has removable slats on the front so we can get a shovel in there to turn it every so often.


This is the lid (made with some old burlap we've used to cover plants in the garden and two handles we found in the garage) We can easily take it off to pour our goods in. We have a 5 gallon bucket in the garage with a screw on lid. We add all our kitchen scraps to it and when it's full we pour it in. Then add a layer of straw.

Only a few splinters along the way.

It's fun to make something out of old materials instead of throwing them away. Stay tuned to see what Ryan's up to with the rest of this wood. Any guesses?

11 months

This is coming a day late, but what better way to celebrate Mother's Day than to focus on my sweet little boy who is now eleven months. It's hard to believe we will be celebrating the big birthday here in a couple weeks. Mason, you are such a sweet little boy and we are so thankful for you. Being your mom is the best job in the world. I love you more every day.

You are so curious about the world around you these days. You are constantly on the go and making sounds and talking like crazy. You hardly ever sit still, but we sure love trying to keep up with you.

At 11 months, Mason, you:

~are full of smiles

~pull yourself up on anything and everything

~are getting your top 2 teeth (one is all the way through, and one is a sharp point right now)

~can say dada, mama, dog, and uh-oh (my personal favorite, especially uh-uh-oh)

~can give high fives

~clap when we say "yeah"

~eat whatever we give you and never seem to get full

~can drink from a sippy cup and are so over bottles

~love to feed yourself and are experimenting with using a spoon

~can step from one piece of furniture to another

~love to be outside, getting dirty

~you love the greenhouse, too

~play peek-a-boo

~love to play with the dogs and smile and say "dog" when they come into the room

~seem to always be putting your toys into containers (especially dad's shoes)

~love to throw your toys in front of you and then go get them (very entertaining)

You are such a sweet, sweet blessing. We adore you Mason.

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

up, up

Mason definitely prefers standing these days. Almost every time we set him on the floor he crawls to the nearest place where he can pull himself up. He does it in the crib, too.

Who needs a nap?Let me out of here!He's so proud when he pulls himself up. He's getting pretty good at stairs, too. We don't have any, but he has crawled up at three different houses. He's not so good at going back down. He tried to climb on top of this box, but he only got one knee up. I can only imagine what he is going to get himself into in the next few months.

For now, we'll enjoy the constant standing.

celebrate

We met my sister, brother-in-law, and mom this weekend for an early mother's day and to celebrate my sister's birthday. We had lunch and then took dairy queen to the park and enjoyed the beautiful weather. My sister and her husband brought one of their cats since she injured her leg and was on pain meds. Mason loved the cat. The cat loved her leash (sort of).


Mason loved daddy's hat.
We loved Mason in daddy's hat.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Kates!

Happy (early) Mother's Day, mom!

welcome, little cousin

We have a new addition to our family! My cousin and his wife just had their baby girl, Olivia! We can't wait to meet her. I finished her gift just in time. This afghan had it's share of difficulties, but I am very happy with how it turned out. I think I might even venture to start another one, since once I got the hang of the pattern, it was actually pretty fun.
Thanks for stopping by!

cardamom blueberry crisp

I'm borrowing a magazine from my mother-in-law (called Hobby Farm Home). It's an excellent magazine. This issue is especially fun because it has a whole section on desserts you can make in a cast iron skillet. The first one we tried was cardamom blueberry crisp. It was a hard decision with other recipes like caramel seckel pears, minted brownie torte, cinnamon plum kuchen, and mocha pudding cake. We decided to go for one that we had all the ingredients for. It sure was simple and yummy! Well, the real reason that I borrowed this magazine is because their is an article on how to make your own mozzarella cheese with a gallon of milk. But, remember that whole prioritizing thing? That one might have to wait until school's out.


Cardamom Blueberry Crisp
(adapted from Hobby Farm Home)

5 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen) I used 3 c. blueberries and 2 c. mixed berries
3/4 c. flour ( I used 1/4 c. wheat flour)
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cardamom
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Spread the blueberries in a 9-inch cast iron skillet. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, salt, and cardamom. With your fingers or a pastry blender, work in the butter until crumbly. Spread over the berries. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until berries are bubbly and crust is golden. Serve warm.

priorities

Ryan and I have been doing a lot of talking, thinking, and reflecting lately. I wasn't joking when I said our to-do list was 8 miles long (well, maybe that was a slight exaggeration:) But we really do have so many projects going on and are feeling a little like there is not enough time in the day (or days in the weekend) to accomplish everything we set out to do. The tough part is that all of our obligations are not even in the same town....so add a little driving time to the list. Oh, and a ten month old. But, how can you not stop in the middle of it all to enjoy his giggles and chase him around the house??

Needless to say, we've been prioritizing. And making lists. It's not always fun (well the lists are:), but sometimes the things that you need to do are not the things that you want to do. Sometimes the right thing is the hardest thing. When I see people around me struggling with the same things I try to learn from them. I think I've learned more about what not to do though, which can be just as valuable. We are called to do the jobs the Lord has given us, and to do them well. I'm trying to remember that as I balance all the important things in my life. If I let myself get stretched too thin, I won't be able to do any of it well.

It's a tough thing to decide how to spend our time. It feels good to know that Ryan and I are on the same page. We know that these projects do have an end in sight. We will cross things off the list. And we know that God is good, even when things are overwhelming. We've seen that time and time again.

plan b

Ryan and I had big plans for working on the garden today. We are moving our garden to a new location this year (bigger and better:), but that means we need to put a fence up and start amending the soil. So that is what we were going to start this morning. But this is what we woke up to:

Snow, snow, and more snow. Yup, it's still coming down. Snow as far as the eye can see:

Guess we'll have to go to Plan B: maple pecan scones from PW and tackling something else on our to-do list. I'm sure we can find something, our list is only about 8 miles long.

the so fun gloves

I recieved a pretty cool birthday present from ryan's aunt sheri. This girl can knit! She has already spoiled mason with a blanket, a beanie, and little blue booties. She knows more about knitting than me and my knitting friends combined and I've picked her brain many times. She's helped me out of a few knotty situations. Plus, she has a knitting group that gets together regularly to knit...how fun would that be? Friends, knitting, wine, good food...um, sign me up.

Anyway, she sent me a gift quite unexpectedly. Check out these fun fingerless gloves. The color is perfect. I've worn them to work everyday since I got them. They are prefect for keeping my hands from having to touch the cold steering wheel in the morning. Plus, they just make me smile. Thanks Aunt Sheri!

wordless wednesday

molten chocolate cakes

Last Sunday my cousin, Karly, and I were scrapbooking. After dinner we were craving some chocolate. So, we started looking through my cookbooks and once we found these cakes, we knew they would be the perfect thing. This is a makeover recipe from one of my Light & Tasty cookbooks. These babies are cakey on the outside and full of fudgy, melted chocolate gooeyness on the inside. You must eat these warm!

Makeover Molten Chocolate Cakes

1/3 c. butter, cubed

1/3 c. baking cocoa

3 squares (1 oz. each) semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 eggs

7 egg whites (don't let all the eggs scare you:)

1 c. confectioners' sugar

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/3 c. flour

1/8 tsp. salt

Place the butter, cocoa and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until melted and stir until smooth. Add the eggs, egg whites, confectioners' sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Mix well.

Of course if you want to make these exactly like we did....then have your sweet cousin pour in two cups of granulated sugar. Laugh your head off...tell her what confectioners' sugar is. Scoop out as much sugar as you can. Proceed with powedered sugar.

Stir in the flour and salt until blended. Pour into seven 6 oz. custard cups coated with non-stick cooking spray. Place custard cups on a baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes or until a thermometer reads 160 near the center. Remove from oven and let stand 1 minute. Invert onto individual dessert plates and dust with powdered sugar. Serve immediately.

Karly and her sister Lacy are coming over again today after church for some scrapbooking and lots of laughs. Who knows what we'll cook up next:)