Blueberries for Winter

 Last week my sister-in-law and I took the boys blueberry picking. Luckily the heat had yet to get really high and being that we went in the morning it was no too bad out. The boys had a great time. I was amazed at how many blueberries made it into Ian and Cai's buckets.

 Last summer only about 10 berries made it in before they started eating. This year both of them picked. Cai than ate all the berries he picked. And poor Ian lost most of his as he ran down the row. I was able to pick 8lbs so mama was happy with the whole trip. It was fun to listen to the boys talk and play together.


 In the beginning Rachel and I were telling the boys all the things we planned on doing with our blueberries to help excite them about picking. Not that we minded them eating as many as their little tummies would hold. After their attention started to get distracted we set the older three with the task of filling the bottom of on of the buckets. Ian was all excited about this job.

Every time his brother or cousin would eat or steal berries from the bucket he would scold them. "These are for winter" he would tell them. "If you don't pick blueberries, then there won't be any for winter." Have to admit it warmed Rachel and my heart to hear him. Sure we could get blueberries in the grocery store. But our boys don't know that. Blueberries come from the blueberry farm and if we don't store them now than there will not be any later. Makes me feel happy to think that not only is picking blueberries a fun activity but hopefully I'm teaching my kids important lessons on eating locally and seasonally.

  While a few of our berries were put in the fridge for eating, the majority were saved. I made a batch of jam and froze the rest. When Mark was taking out the cookie sheets with berries one them to the stand alone freezer, Ian asked what he was doing. "Well Mom is freezing these blueberries." Ian's response, "For Winter. Oh I remember" :) Oh I love that kid.

If anyone is interested I simply  use the recipe in the pectin box for making  jam. 

Menu Plan Monday- July 18th

Happy Monday! That sounds really cheery. I'm not really cheery today, but I'll try cause if you act happy you become happy right????? It's been a frustrating day today. But boys will be boys and add heat to that and you get all sorts of fun. Right now they are eating so hopefully with full tummies they will be content for awhile.  So last week we had pizza on Thursday instead of chicken stir-fry, cause there was no leftover chicken to put in the stir-fry. Whoops. I got to go out on Friday night for an all girls night with some women from church. It was a much needed break and so fun hanging out with these women who I'm starting to really truly admire. Making friends can be hard, but being accepting into their group has made things alittle easier. Saturday Mark and I went into South Bend for the afternoon without children!!!! And I got found a beautiful dress to where to the weddings I'm attending in August. Finally I got to go golfing on Sunday. This is the second time this summer and I am both loving getting to go and wishing I could find a way to go more often. Oh how I miss golf. Oh how I miss my golf game, playing only one a year means my game is really bad. But it was fun. And I even got par on one hole so that was nice. :) Ok enough rambling and on to our menu for the week. I'm cooking all week. My mother-in-law is going to be gone for a week starting Wednesday which leaves me to cook over the weekend. So here it is a full weeks menu. 

Monday: Great Green Vegetable Pasta (Simply in Season)

Tuesday: Super Stuffed Tortillas (Simply in Season)

Wednesday: Chicken Cacciatore (Simply in Season), oven roasted potatoes, veggie 

Thursday: Baked Pasta with Zucchini (The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces)

Friday:   Crustless Quiche (Simply in Season)    

Saturday:  Homemade Pizza using No Rise Pizza Crust  

Sunday: Chicken stir-fry or other leftover meal 

Be sure to check out Finding Joy in My Kitchen as she is hosting while Laura at Organizing Junkie is vacationing.  I don't have alot of links for recipes. Mostly I use my cookbooks. So I'm going to start adding what cookbook recipes are in as part of my menu. This way you at least know where I'm looking :) Stay Cool this afternoon. 

                                                                                                               

Menu Plan Monday- July 11th

Wow time just keeps flying past. And part of me longs for it to slow down, while the other is just waiting for nap/night to come so that I might have a few minutes to breathe without children under foot. We seem to live for weekends, the time when Mark is home and I have extra hands and more importantly eyes to watch over boys. While last summer I looked forward to Aiden being just alittle older and able to play with his brothers, I now miss the time of being able to put him in the sling and carry him everywhere without his disapproval. He may be able to play with his brothers but he is also everywhere and anywhere and I don't seem to have enough eyes to keep him out of trouble sometimes. He certainly keeps me on my toes. :)

Our mama duck's eggs hatched and they have moved on. We missed seeing the ducklings, as by the time we realized they were gone all that was left were the egg shells and a path through the vines they walked through. :( The boys still go over and look. I'm sorry we missed seeing the ducklings.

So on to my menu for the week. Here we go:

Monday: Chili- cause I have so many beans and it's been raining
Tuesday: Zucchini and spaghetti
Wednesday: Baked chicken,  oven roasted potatoes, and veggies
Thursday: Chicken stir-fry (assuming we have leftover chicken)

For more menu and recipes check out Organizing Junkie.

 Happy Monday everyone!

T-ball, big boy underwear and other random updates

I thought about trying to post several separate posts, but this is just easier. So call me lazy but you are going to get one big updating post.

Update #1- T-ball

Well T-ball has officially come to a close for the summer. Ian's last game was last week. He even got an award afterwards with his name on it. It was all very exciting- after the fact. We forgot a water bottle and Ian got cranky and won't play his teams last turn in the field. He's a stubborn kid when he wants to be. And it's so darn frustrating. While T-ball was fun, I'm so glad it's done. I'm ready to have my Saturday's back. In fact tomorrow we are headed to the Ft. Wayne Zoo to celebrate not having to be at the ball field. Well that and we have yet to have a chance to go since it opened in late April. Even with T-ball being over, our days of playing ball are not. We still play lots of ball in the yard. Of course with tennis tournaments airing on TV and Daddy starting his summer league the tennis rackets are starting to make an appearance more and more. Everyone needs a change of pace once and awhile. :)

Update #2 Cai's big boy underwear

Yep that's right. Cai is wearing big boy underwear and I couldn't be happier. After a week of wet shorts Mark and I spent a whole Saturday (June 18th) working one on one with him to sit down on his little potty. I put a waterproof tablecloth on the floor and we read books, watched tv and drank lots and lots of juice. We had two maybe three successes and several accidents. Sunday wasn't much better, but as a plus he demanded underwear when we tried to put a diaper on him to go to the zoo in the morning. Monday (June 20th) he was dry all day. :) It has been smooth since. Sure we still have the occasional accident, usually caused by Mom or Dad not getting him to a potty quick enough when we are away from home. But mostly he stays dry. I feel it is safe to say that we are officially down to only one is diapers. And I can admit that this fact makes me ecstatic! Really! Truly! Yeah for potty training. Or at least the results :)

Update # 3 words words and more words

Aiden at almost 20 months is starting to pick up more and more words. We now have the following
Mama
Dada
PawPaw (grandpa)
GraGra (grandma)
woof  (dog noise and thus dog)
chocho (train)
cawcawr (car, motorcycle, truck, etc)
Siyah (Josiah)
Oh (Oliver)
cacker (cracker)
Sure not all of them make sense if you're not around him daily, but hey he's slowly working toward verbal communication. Add in a sign to eat, drink, nurse and more and we have fairly good communication happening. Of course he brothers like to talk for him as well so that hinders his own verbal progress, but he'll get there. And even so, I really enjoy hearing him learn to vocalize and communicate.

Update #4 We put an offer on a house.

That's right we no only put on an offer, it was excepted! So we are now in the process of meeting with our bank to finalize getting an mortgage loan, getting an inspection set up, and meeting with LaCasa to finalize everything with our grant money. It's all very very exciting. The house was built in 1890. It has two bedroom upstairs and one down. Only one bathroom, but that's ok. Nice big fenced in backyard. One of the things I love about the house. Oh I'm so very very excited. The whole thing is terrifying (We Are Buying a HOUSE!), but very exciting at the same time. Wish us luck!

Final update #5 Mama duck nesting in yard

Yep, seems strange as we are not right next to the river. But Mama duck is nesting out the in ground covering below a tree in the front yard. Grandpa has made sure to have water and food for her. We keep checking to see if the eggs have hatched. I think my father-in-law said he counted six. We are still waiting. One more for thing to look forward to. :)

Menu Plan Monday- June 27th

I know I've been silent for awhile. And I have much to update about. But right now you are going to have to settle with my menu for the week. Looks like I have to go get a boy out from behind the couch. And than wow it's already time to start dinner. Where did the day go? Soon hopefully I can make myself sit down and update. There is much happening in our lives :)

So the menu for this week looks like this.

Monday: Broccoli Basil Quiche from From Asparagus to Zucchini (This is one of my mother-in-law's cookbooks)
Tuesday: Curried Coconut Noodles with Early Summer Vegetable also from From Asparagus to Zucchini
Wednesday: Fresh Greens Pasta Pie again from From Asparagus to Zucchini
Thursday: Pizza with No Rise Crust
Friday: First Friday's downtown- we eat out somewhere
Saturday- Sunday: Eileen cooks

For more menus head over to Organizing Junkie. And have a Happy Monday!

Menu Plan Monday- June 13th

Last week was Vacation Bible School for us. Our church along with several other Mennonite churches in Goshen have a joint VBS. Ian got to go to the Preschool class. Their theme was Jesus Cares for Others. He had lots of fun. I helped out as a Family Group Leader for 3rd graders. I too had a lot of fun. For the K-5 grade our theme was Digging for Treasure. We learned how the bible came to be, about oil laps (even got to make some), about Israel at the time of Jesus and what food he might have eaten, and we got to dig for artifacts just like archeologists. My group of 9-11 soon to be 4th graders we full of energy but lots of fun. Cai and Aiden stayed in the daycare were they watched trains from window, played out side and also had a good time. It was a busy week. Filled with crazy afternoons as boys tried to get out all their squirreliness  after being good all morning. While it was lots of fun, I am so glad it's over. Now hopefully we can find a rhythm for the summer. Although things will probably stay chaotic for a few weeks. Cai is learning use the potty! Very exciting- lots of work for mama. Wish us luck.

Here is the menu this week
Monday: Spaghetti Pie (use up that leftover spaghetti in the fridge)
Tuesday: Summer Vegetable Soup (from Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen) with bread
Wednesday: Mondo Bizarro Sauce (a tomato-spinach pesto from Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen) over pasta with salad and veggie
Thursday: Enchilada Casserole? (I still don't know for sure what I'll make this day)
Friday-Sunday: My mother-in-law cooks :) I think we are going to have a cookout Sunday to celebrate Mark's sister's b-day (which was yesterday) and Father's Day

For more menus and recipe links head over to Organizing Junkie. Happy Monday everyone!

T-Ball Has Begun!

Well it has started. Ian is officially old enough for T-ball and the first and second game have come and gone. It's hard to believe he is old enough. Where did my baby boy go?

T-ball has been an interesting experience from an observers view.Practices weren't bad to watch. It was fun watching the kids learn how to throw. Game are alittle more, well, boring to be honest.

 But it is cute to watch four or five kids scramble for the ball and then try to get it to first base. And of course the very fact that there are five or six adults out on the field helping is kinda funny. But the truth is Ian loves it.

 Over Memorial Day Weekend there were no games, to the great disappointment of Ian. Every morning he would ask "Is it T-ball game day?" And every night "Tomorrow is T-ball game day." No sweetie not this weekend. It's hard to wait until the next game.

Of course that means lots of playing at home, even it's just putting on his shirt and hat and running around the house as if he is out int he field.

 I have been informed on many occasions now that Ian is going to be a baseball player, tennis player and football player when he grows up. But not a golfer to my great disappointment. When did my life start surrounding sports? I'm sure this is just the beginning.

For more pictures and videos of T-ball and other fun this month visit our Picasa May album. :)