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Building and growing...

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:17:00 -0500

Okay, yes- it’s been a long time, but we have been doing lots of building and growing around here. (nice line I stole from the Lowe’s kids apron...) No time to blog really. I never realized how busy it would be with one in school, and trying to help out as I can there with classroom stuff. Plus managing my cake biz and every day life... I love the whole school thing though- his teacher is amazing, and he is always smiling and happy when I come pick him up. It’s fun to see him learning new things and being excited about them.
I took the boys to do something especially fun the other day and was totally free. Lowe’s (and Home Depot) have a free craft/building project for kids on Saturdays. It’s not every Saturday but they do alternate weeks- info is on their sites. Last week was Lowe’s, this week will be Home Depot. They give the kids everything they need to put together a little project-This last project at Lowe’s was to build your own firetruck. They gave the kids their very own apron, goggles, and a kit to make this- which they keep all of it! And a little patch to sew (or iron on in my case) on the apron after you complete a project along with a certificate! It is fire safety month (starting in Oct.) so they kicked it off with lots of public safety tools. And we got lots of coloring books, and I even got the boys fingerprinted. I highly recommend doing these workshops with your kiddos! Boys or girls would love this and it gets them learning to build things and see how stuff works together. It was so much fun, and they had a ball. And did I mention it was free?

Fabulous firsts

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:28:08 -0500

Our house has been flourishing with firsts lately. We have had an awesome summer filled with trips, places to go, and fun to be had... We have had such a great time, but there were firsts that we had to experience as well. Good ones, sad ones, and ones that made us all happy... Here’s a little recap of some of our firsts...
This past June, Levi won first place with his team the Cardinals! It was an awesome season!

Luke’s first fish...

First trip to Carillon Beach- which we all loved!

First Sounds Game- (made it to the 7th inning...)

First trip to Dollywood- so much fun!

First time with no nursery in our home for over 6 years... :(

First time to be three!

First day in big boy undies... and actually using the potty!

First Bread and butter pickles to make-

First day of school for Lukey- in the three’s class already!

The jello truth... did you know this?

Sun, 2 Aug 2009 14:55:56 -0500

Okay, so Josh comes home from work the other day and asks me- do you know what jello is made from? Me, being the cook I am, sure I say gelatin, flavoring, sugar... well yes, but what is the gelatin made from? I don’t know that, chemicals? No, he said- ANIMAL BONES! He began telling me this was one of the topics in the operating room the other day, and had to google it to believe it. As did I... Read on for a little more explanation. The next time you make or buy jello, you’ll know why it’s jiggling. Disturbing to me. I think I may not eat the stuff again.
The gelatin in Jell-O is what lets you transform it into all sorts of different shapes. What exactly is gelatin? Gelatin is just a processed version of a structural protein called collagen that is found in many animals, including humans. Collagen actually makes up almost a third of all the protein in the human body. It is a big, fibrous molecule that makes skin, bones, and tendons both strong and somewhat elastic. As you get older, your body makes less collagen, and individual collagen fibers become crosslinked with each other. You might experience this as stiff joints (from less flexible tendons) or wrinkles (from loss of skin elasticity).
The gelatin you eat in Jell-O comes from the collagen in cow or pig bones, hooves, and connective tissues. To make gelatin, manufacturers grind up these various parts and pre-treat them with either a strong acid or a strong base to break down cellular structures and release proteins like collagen. After pre-treatment, the resulting mixture is boiled. During this process, the large collagen protein ends up being partially broken down, and the resulting product is called gelatin. The gelatin is easily extracted because it forms a layer on the surface of the boiling mixture.
Sound delightful? Guess what else has gelatin in it?
• gummy bears
• sour cream
• cream cheese
• cake icing and frosting
• marshmallows
• soups, sauces and gravies
• canned ham and chicken
• corned beef
• sausage

Mmmm. Who wants some gelatin? It’s just amazing to me that there are so many things that we eat that I don’t really pay attention to what is in them. I am not a vegetarian or PETA person, so this isn’t a big deal like it would be for some, but just something I didn’t know, and kinda gross.

froggy frenzy

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:23:00 -0500

Oh what fun boys are! I never knew the joy a little froggy could bring! Meet Spike (pictured above), he was our pet frog for about a week. Levi brought him home from the hunting property, and was diggin’ having a frog as our new pet. We kept him in a fish bowl feeding him live and dead bugs. (yes, learning a lot about boy things...) We gave him fresh water and grass, but there is an end to everything. Spike was a little messy, and well... stinky. So we let Spike go back into the world to enjoy being free in the frog world. We hear him at night singing his bull froggy song. Notice the lightening bug on his head pictured above! I love that picture.
Then another trip back to the property and we come home with 9 frogs. WHICH we all let go. Until one wanted to be our pet and came hopping along into Levi’s path one night. Meet Jett. Pet frog #2.

Jett was with us a couple days inside, along with the two crickets we got for him and then it was time to move him out. Levi spent so much time taking care of him and collected no less then 30 rolly pollies and put him in our big water tub with water, sticks, grass, rocks, and a whole slew of rolly pollies. We thought he would be happy as a frog could be with all elements he would enjoy especially plenty of jumping room. We left Jett assured that he had everything he would need to get along while we went to see a movie. Well, we forgot one thing. The sun... we returned home to a cooked Jett and cricket, just stiff as can be. Oh how terrible I felt. Levi felt horrible and felt as if he had killed his little friend, but I assured him it wasn’t his fault, things like this just happen... we learned from our mistake, that’s for sure. As silly as it seems, Levi felt like he had some responsibility and ownership that he owed to this little frog. My heart was broken when I saw how sad he was to think that he had killed poor Jett. His heart is so tender. We ended our talk together with a prayer about losing something you love and asked God to heal a sad heart. I am so thankful to have a God that’s always there even when I mess up or my heart is broken. Who knew a frog could help teach that?
I am sure Jett won’t be our last froggy pet, but he sure taught us a little about life. Thanks Jett, you rocked it out while you were here.

Garden galore!

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:28:16 -0500

Our garden is at its peak! This was from a one day picking- we are having something from it every night for dinner or lunch. It is so much fun, and the kids are enjoying it too. Our squash and cucumbers are starting that crazy yellow leaf like they did last year, and starting to look dead, but we can’t complain. We’ve gotten many meals from the squash already. It has been a perfect garden year with the rain and the weather. The garden had been really beautiful to watch flourish.
I don’t like fresh tomatoes, but made homemade salsa the other day that rocked! I try to eat them every year when they start coming in, but I just haven’t acquired a taste for them. Josh has enjoyed them on a sandwich or eating them with dinner. Here’s the recipe I used:
Fresh Salsa
8 tomatoes
3 green peppers (I used a combo of red and green)
4 jalapeno peppers (you can remove some or add some depending on your taste) I also used the sliced ones from the jar
1 small onion
Garlic cloves or minced garlic
salt
Olive Oil
Parsley
Lemon or lime juice
Cut off the tops of the green peppers and remove seeds. Cut off the tops of the jalapenos but do not remove seeds. Cut the outer skin off the onion and cut in four sections.
Place these items in a food processor and run until everything is small. I usually do not leave big chunks of the jalapeno as small chopped bits blend better and give flavor throughout the salsa.
Drop in 1 teaspoon on minced garlic. You can use the stuff out of the jar from the store or put in 2 whole cloves.
Wash the tomatoes and cut off the tops and cut them in half our fourths and put them in the food processor on top of the already chopped up peppers and onions.
Process these until the tomatoes are well chopped. Open the food process and remove the container and put a strainer in your sink and pour the mixture from the processor into the strainer and let strain all the excess liquid from the tomatoes. I usually use my well washed hand in their to stir up the salsa and speed up the process but you can use a big spoon. When Most of the excess liquid is gone dump the strainer mixture into a bowl or container.
Add 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 3 to 4 tablespoons lemon or lime juice. I prefer lime juice but once ran out and used lemon juice and it worked just as well. I use the bottled juice but it you have fresh it would be even better. Add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
Stir everything together with a spoon and quickly get out your chips and get some because as soon as your family knows you have homemade salsa made it will not be around for very long.
My flower garden is doing well this year too, partially because this is the first year in a while I have actually tried to tend to it... Here’s a bouquet I picked the same day I picked the garden.

And.. the corn is in! (not from our garden unfortunately) I put up 5 dzn last night and had my boys ‘the corn huskers’ help me. (What I call them when they shuck it for me!) It is definitely one of my favorite times in the year when all the fresh veggies and fruits are in abundance and we get to enjoy God’s blessings of fresh food!