Dairy Days

Last Friday my mother-in-law and I took the kids to "Dairy Days" down at Thanksgiving Point. They had all kinds of animals to feed, games to play, rides, butter to make, and learning opportunities. Creighton surprised me by riding a pony and really loving it (he's usually scared of any animal larger than he is! It was a hot day but we had lots of fun!

Keelian's Blessing

Daddy's Girl!

(Please don't have a blowout!)

Keelian was finally blessed this last Sunday! We felt very loved by all the support we received from family and friends on this special day. How we treasure our family!

Silly Stratton Sayings

There were some things that Stratton said a few months back (right before Keelian was born) that I jotted down on a piece of paper so as not to forget before I could journal it. Well I found the paper. These all happened on the same night.

I made something for dinner that involved spaghetti noodles that night. Whenever I do that, the boys pull out a noodle or two and it becomes their pet worm. This annoys me. That particular night, I was telling him to put his spaghetti noodle back in his bowl and eat it. This annoyed him. He finally said, "I'm tellin' ya for the last time: they're worms!" He also informed me, "He's seventy-eight and he's almost old!" When he finally did eat his dinner he said, "Mmm, this dinner is fabulug! How do you make it?" And then later in the bathtub that night I heard him hollering, "Bloody booger!" So I went in to see him holding this disgusting booger and he tells me, "I just felt it slime out of my nose." Gross. (But kind of funny!)

And then last week the Poulsens and I took our kids to McDonald's. I had Stratton and the girls in the back seat of the van and they were telling each other how old they were. Then I heard Stratton say, "I don't know how old my mom is, I think she's probably one hundred!" Ah, the perspective of a child!

A Temporary Spell

Life is heavenly for a moment. Creighton is actually taking a nap today, Keelian is asleep also, warm and snuggled on my chest, Stratton is busy on some art project at the table, it's windy and sprinkling outside, and I have Pandora playing peaceful piano solos.

It won't last. As soon as Cratey wakes up, the spell will be broken and I'll turn into a witch again. I hate it, but the boys just push me to my limits constantly. Yesterday they were such stinkers! Nothing in my day went as planned (I know, I need to learn to be more flexible) and then as I was unloading the Costco groceries and about to head to Ric's parents' house, the were being disobedient and it was the last straw.

I really chewed them out. The whole time Creighton sat there saying, "What Mom? What Mom?" He could tell I was frustrated, but I think he didn't quite understand what was going on. So I stopped and explained that I was really mad at them because they didn't mind me and it really made me sad and hurt my feelings. Creighton then penitently said, "Awww man!!" And that just totally took the wind out of my sails. I had to turn around so they couldn't see me laughing.

A couple of days ago I was going to just list all of the things Creighton did all day. It was easy to keep track of because he left a trail of disaster behind him (accented with Stratton messes also). Instead I decided to keep track of things I was thankful for, but may be more of a commentary on my attempts at seeing the humor than positivity.

It went something like this: I'm thankful that the big bottle of soap Cratey dumped out while in the bathtub was only 1/3 of the way full to begin with. I'm thankful that Creighton didn't eat the hydrocortisone cream that he squeezed out all over his hands. I'm thankful that when Stratton peed in the van while I was in the post office mailing a package, he peed on the smallest rug in the van. I'm thankful that when Keelian had a blowout while laying on the clean laundry on my bed that the poop only got on exercise clothes and not the nice clothes or my bedspread. And so on...

Herb Planter

I just wanted to post a picture of the herb pot I made my Mom for Mother's Day because I am just so proud of how it turned out! (I even had to make one for myself too.) I got the idea from a Martha Stewart magazine. Now I just need to learn how to do more cooking with fresh herbs!

Children and Chickens

My Mom recently got it in her head that she absolutely must have chickens. She had them when she was growing up and has always talked about how fun it would be to have our own. But this spring, for some reason she decided she was tired of thinking about it and just did it - much to Dad's chagrin! I think she's up to 16 chickens now.

They bought them when they were just hatched and so we've gotten to play with little baby chicks and watch them grow. It has really been fun for the boys - especially Stratton. They are always asking to go to Grandma's house so they can see the chickens. And then they spend all their time in the back yard with them (oh how I want a yard!). Stratton is very good with them (except for when he sends the chicks down the little slide!) - he's not afraid of them at all and is pretty fast at catching them. Most of them are older now and are almost full size, but there are still three little new ones.

The chicks are the ones that Creighton likes; I think the bigger birds scare him. However, he's not nearly as gentle as Stratton is with them (carries them around with one hand, usually around their neck!). I'm surprised that all have survived!

And my Dad has been just putting up with it all. The whole situation has all been quite entertaining! And I'm way excited for the fresh eggs. In fact, I told Ric that if our yard is big enough, I plan on taking some of her chickens for us to keep. She really did get too many - she got carried away in buying them and has now decided that with 48+ eggs a week (hmm... but that was when she only had 13 chickens so I don't know what she's figuring now) she is going to sell the eggs.

Ric is not excited about the idea of us having them either, but I think this is one of those things where he just won't have a choice! Marriage is about compromise, right? Well he gets to go and play or watch sports and I get to have my plants. He brings home a toad for the boys to keep and I get to keep chickens!

I have been interested in freezer meals for the last few years. The idea just really appeals to my plan-ahead personality. I was at the library the other day and came across a couple of cookbooks that intrigued me. One of them was Don't Panic: More Dinner's in the Freezer and Holly Clegg's Trim and Terrific Freezer Friendly Meals. I haven't really looked at the second one yet, but really liked the first one - in fact, I bought it (fyi-I found out you can buy used books through Barnes and Noble online for really dirt cheap!). We tried one of the recipes for pork chops last week that was really good and oh so easy:

Herb Crusted Pork Chops

8 pork chops, bone-in (mine weren't bone-in)

1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs (I used the seasoned breadcrumbs)

1 cup fresh parsley, chopped (I used 1/4 cup dried parsley)

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste (I didn't think it even needed either)

Mix all the ingredients except the pork chops together. Dip the pork chops in the mixture. If you're freezing them, at this point wrap in plastic wrap, put wrapped chops in a ziploc bag and stick in the freezer. If you're serving them, broil on high for 2-3 minutes each side, then set the oven to 350 and bake for 20 minutes or until they're tender. (If you're cooking them after freezing them, just make sure they're completely thawed before you cook them the same way.) The easiest way is to do double what you'd do for your family and bake up half the night you make it, and freeze the other half. Same prep time, but two meals!