Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Just another day on the farm...
Since the kids have a day off today, we headed out to Grammy and Grampy's farm. My clothes smell like bonfire smoke, my hands smell like dog, and the kids are dirty beyond measure, but a good time was had by all!
After a quick look around, we helped Grampy drag some boxes, branches and wood scraps to a paddock to build a quick bonfire, trying to feed Big Guy's typical 10-year-old-boy pyromania!
I can't believe I put this one in the post, as the photo of me is fairly horrible, but Big Guy was trying to be in a picture while taking it, and I thought he was pretty funny...
A little smoky perhaps? (The consequences of bonfires on very windy Kansas days!)
The Pied Piper of Holton leads his charges:
Basking in a rare moment of sunshine:
Hangin' with the goats:
Having a moment with the turtles:
Just hanging around the pony pens:
Coming...
And going...
The elder statesman of Prancing Pony Farm in a moment of ease!
They start driving young out on the farm!
After a quick look around, we helped Grampy drag some boxes, branches and wood scraps to a paddock to build a quick bonfire, trying to feed Big Guy's typical 10-year-old-boy pyromania!
I can't believe I put this one in the post, as the photo of me is fairly horrible, but Big Guy was trying to be in a picture while taking it, and I thought he was pretty funny...
A little smoky perhaps? (The consequences of bonfires on very windy Kansas days!) 
The Pied Piper of Holton leads his charges:
Basking in a rare moment of sunshine:
Hangin' with the goats:
Having a moment with the turtles:
Just hanging around the pony pens:
Coming...
And going...
The elder statesman of Prancing Pony Farm in a moment of ease!
They start driving young out on the farm!Thursday, October 9, 2008
Real Live Nephew of My Uncle Sam...
I've always heard that the best thing about campaigns are the hats...
Thursday Two, Electric Boogaloo
During naptime, I sat down to work on my current nemesis, the big-heavy-blanket-with-no-end. At the beginning of log cabin projects, I am always fooled by the early quick progress, forgetting that each stripe gets longer and longer. I had the goofy idea that if I doubled the yarn, it would be bulkier and thus gain size faster, which is true as far as it goes, but boy, it still goes slowly. I also figured that since this blanket is (I hope) destined to keep a cold Afghan child warm through the winter that the doubled wool would also work in my favor. However, it is hugely heavy to work with and it eats yarn REALLY fast. I'm probably going to have to finish it soon whether I want to or not, because it's due at the charity by, I think, the 14th, and also, I'm almost out of yarn...
After a quick visit with Mark, the Tile Guy, who came to give me a quote to replace the nasty carpet in our bathroom with tile, I had to go pick up the kids. After playing/talking/complaining loudly in his crib for well over an hour, of course he fell asleep half an hour before we had to leave for school, so this sweet sight is what I found when I went up to get him:
He woke surprisingly well, though, and sucked down his afternoon bottle on the way to school:
Where there was much rejoicing in the halls because a burst water main means a surprise vacation day tomorrow! So I'm hoping tomorrow is as beautiful as today so we can get out and get some fresh air and sunshine.Speaking of fresh air and sunshine, Big Guy had football practice at 6:00, so I dropped him off:
Left Miss G with Daddy:
Took Little Guy to run a quick errand or two and pick up some Outback takeout for grownup dinner (is it legal to marry salmon? I loved my dinner that much!) and put the kids to bed.And my day ends with too much TV and the blanket that will NOT end. I've made it to the last stripe, because that's my last color of worsted weight wool. It's a bit smaller than they asked for, but I'm hoping its considerable weight will outweigh it's deficiencies. So the goal is to get it in the mail on Saturday... if I have lots of knitting time tomorrow, that might actually happen!
Good night!Thursday, part one
Some of the mommy blogs I read have been doing a photo journal of their weeks' activities, and I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. Due to the life of glamour and excitement I lead, I say in the words of Bette Davis, "Buckle your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride".
I dragged myself out of bed at about 6:45 this morning, remembering that we had no sandwich bread left, and that the kids need school lunch, so I threw the pizza stone in the oven, cranked it to 500 and quickly rolled out a couple of pitas to bake. Below is one of the pitas waiting to cool enough to be wrapped in cloth napkins and thrown in the waiting lunchbags, to the right:
Since that batch of dough was about done, I threw together a new batch to rise (from the amazing and wonderful book that's sweeping the blogosphere: Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day):
Then (I can hear your pulses quicken with the excitement) I fed the kids breakfast, got everyone dressed and emptied the dishwasher:
Drove the kids to school. Big Guy usually walks down his corridor by himself, because he has to be in his classroom by 8:15 and Miss G's class doesn't begin until 8:35. Yes, that's right, folks, twenty minutes to wander about aimlessly, keeping Miss G from being beaten to death by those not as chipper as she is first thing in the morning and keeping Little Mister from escaping down the hall and out the door! Okay, I'll totally grant that she doesn't look wildly chipper in this photo, but really, usually she's a loud, bouncy blur!
Making a break for it!
The door opens and we drop Miss G off for a fun day in Ms. Cook's pre-k class!
After drop-off, Little Mister and I headed over to HyVee to do some grocery shopping, which I forgot to document (please don't cry from the disappointment). I took a picture of our shopping bags in the trunk of the van, but I wasn't sure if the excitement wouldn't kill you, so I decided to skip it!
I dragged myself out of bed at about 6:45 this morning, remembering that we had no sandwich bread left, and that the kids need school lunch, so I threw the pizza stone in the oven, cranked it to 500 and quickly rolled out a couple of pitas to bake. Below is one of the pitas waiting to cool enough to be wrapped in cloth napkins and thrown in the waiting lunchbags, to the right:
Since that batch of dough was about done, I threw together a new batch to rise (from the amazing and wonderful book that's sweeping the blogosphere: Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day):
Then (I can hear your pulses quicken with the excitement) I fed the kids breakfast, got everyone dressed and emptied the dishwasher:
Drove the kids to school. Big Guy usually walks down his corridor by himself, because he has to be in his classroom by 8:15 and Miss G's class doesn't begin until 8:35. Yes, that's right, folks, twenty minutes to wander about aimlessly, keeping Miss G from being beaten to death by those not as chipper as she is first thing in the morning and keeping Little Mister from escaping down the hall and out the door! Okay, I'll totally grant that she doesn't look wildly chipper in this photo, but really, usually she's a loud, bouncy blur!
Making a break for it!
The door opens and we drop Miss G off for a fun day in Ms. Cook's pre-k class!
After drop-off, Little Mister and I headed over to HyVee to do some grocery shopping, which I forgot to document (please don't cry from the disappointment). I took a picture of our shopping bags in the trunk of the van, but I wasn't sure if the excitement wouldn't kill you, so I decided to skip it!After dispatching the groceries, I hung a quick load of wash on the porch clothesline:
Prepped fruit for hungry kiddos in the hopes of fending off requests for crackers, chocolate, chips, pretzels, etc. (The grapes in the upper left are on skewers, about to be put in the freezer for "grape pops", one of Miss G's favorite healthy treats.)
The bread dough has risen and is ready for storage in the fridge until I need it! The cookbook in the foreground below (okay on the right, since my photo is sideways), is my new favorite, called The Sneaky Chef. The general premise is that, yes, of course, ultimately we want to teach our children to willingly make good food choices, but in the meantime, let's make sure they get the nutrition they need by sneaking the good stuff in. Not revolutionary, but she has a number of purees that she adds to various recipes to boost the nutrition, and I've been having lots of fun experimenting with them. I made her "Brainy brownies" earlier this week, and they were really good! Lower in fat and sugar than regular brownies, they are whole wheat, also contain oat flour, and her purple puree, which is (drumroll, please) blueberries and spinach. You'd truly never know it. Everyone in the family ate them really cheerfully!
Making the "purple puree" for more brownies this weekend:
A brief break to read blogs and eat breakfast at our 10:30 (Little Mister was watching a little PBSKids while I was cooking and taking my break):
Out to the back yard for a little fresh air, reading (for me) and playing (for both of us)
Then we were off to the dairy to buy our milk and pet some calves:
I couldn't manage to get a picture of the boy and the front end of a calf at the same time!
Then home again, home again, jiggedy jig for stories and naptime.
Quite unusually, after all this time blogging, he's still awake up there, just talking to himself. Hopefully he'll fall asleep soon! I'm going to go update the laundry and then knit and watch a little tv. Don't worry, I won't keep you hanging on the edge of your seat too long for the exciting conclusion of my Thursday!
Prepped fruit for hungry kiddos in the hopes of fending off requests for crackers, chocolate, chips, pretzels, etc. (The grapes in the upper left are on skewers, about to be put in the freezer for "grape pops", one of Miss G's favorite healthy treats.)
The bread dough has risen and is ready for storage in the fridge until I need it! The cookbook in the foreground below (okay on the right, since my photo is sideways), is my new favorite, called The Sneaky Chef. The general premise is that, yes, of course, ultimately we want to teach our children to willingly make good food choices, but in the meantime, let's make sure they get the nutrition they need by sneaking the good stuff in. Not revolutionary, but she has a number of purees that she adds to various recipes to boost the nutrition, and I've been having lots of fun experimenting with them. I made her "Brainy brownies" earlier this week, and they were really good! Lower in fat and sugar than regular brownies, they are whole wheat, also contain oat flour, and her purple puree, which is (drumroll, please) blueberries and spinach. You'd truly never know it. Everyone in the family ate them really cheerfully!
Making the "purple puree" for more brownies this weekend:
A brief break to read blogs and eat breakfast at our 10:30 (Little Mister was watching a little PBSKids while I was cooking and taking my break):
Out to the back yard for a little fresh air, reading (for me) and playing (for both of us)
Then we were off to the dairy to buy our milk and pet some calves:
I couldn't manage to get a picture of the boy and the front end of a calf at the same time!
Then home again, home again, jiggedy jig for stories and naptime.
Quite unusually, after all this time blogging, he's still awake up there, just talking to himself. Hopefully he'll fall asleep soon! I'm going to go update the laundry and then knit and watch a little tv. Don't worry, I won't keep you hanging on the edge of your seat too long for the exciting conclusion of my Thursday!
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