Father's Day

There's something about Father's Day and this farm! 

We have been to this farm countless times, so you would think we would all be bored with it.  Not the case.  We go here and while the kids enjoy visiting the horses, cows and sheep, my husband and I enjoy the beautiful scenery and peaceful nature of the place.  

Yesterday was a great day.  We walked around and had lunch at a festival, then stopped here on the way home.  It was a relaxing day.  A happy day!  #1 and #2 ran up and down a walkway for an hour while I sat in the grass with #3 and while Daddy sat on a park bench and watched the animals walk around.  Life seems to slow down when we are here.

I <3 lazy Sunday's!

Fabric

One of my good friends has a hope chest in the middle of her living room that she uses as a trunk for kid toys.  Saying it that way makes it sound like a toy box, but it's the most organized "toy box" I've ever seen.  She has everything in there nice and neat, and when the kids are board with what they are playing with, she rotates.  Genius!  

I just hosted a Tupperware party and got a nice chunk of change... SO.... my husband found me a Lane cedar chest that will enable me to do just as my friend does.  The only downside to the one he found was that it had this awful upholstered cushion on top.  I have been eager to take on little projects in the house, so I took off to Joann's Fabric to see what I could find.  My hope is to eventually have a modern beach house feel in that room.  With the wall color in mind, I found this fabric.

It is a nice canvas material (not outdoor canvas... that's more expensive).  There was only about a yard and a quarter left at the store, but I really liked it, so I got it and hoped it was enough. 

It was!!!  Imagine how excited I was!!! 
I've never re-upholstered anything before, but I have had it explained to me in the past, so I was confident about it!  I unscrewed the cushion from inside the chest, grabbed the staple gun and went to town!  :o)

The picture is a little dark, but it came out wonderful!  A new window bench for #1 and #2 to sit at and watch the turkey's that frequent our yard.  #1 loves to read Highlights on it.  :o)

I found another fabric that I loved.  Time for another project!



New outdoor sitting area

My mother comes up once every other week to see the kids and so I can get some errands done.  She stays at my house and hangs out with them, and I take off to do things.  It's nice because I can do them ten times faster without little people to lug in and out of a car 17 times. 

We have been talking about my garden a lot on the phone, and I was telling her how I was trying to figure out some kind of seating for my back porch.  I'm always looking to spend more time out there, but with limited seating, we don't do it that often.  When she showed up this morning, she had my early birthday present in the back of her car.  These two chairs, the table and orange pot.  I LOVE IT!!!  And now, I can enjoy my iced tea on the porch overlooking where the kids play.  Ahh... speaking of which... I'm on my way there now.  :o)

Planted our garden

We put our garden in, and so far, it looks like this will be our best year yet! 

The first year, we started small.  We didn't want to put a ton of time and effort into it until we got the swing of things.  We planted a varitety of vegetables... pumpkins, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and some other things.  Peas and some cucumbers were all that produced, so I'm glad we didn't put much into it.

Last year, we planted a ton, but we didn't get much out of it.  The problem was that our cucumbers/squash/pumpkins all flowered, but nothing produced fruit.  After talking to some friends and my garden-savy sister in law about it, we decided the problem was due to a lack of bees/bugs cross polinating!  Ah-hah!  Makes sense.

This year, we went all out.  We changed the location to somewhere with more sun and already, it looks amazing!  Well... for the begining stages, it looks great!

We started cucumbers, delicata and zucchini in paper pots, which is what you see in this picture.  They are in the process of being planted (I was out all day today, otherwise they would have been in the ground today).  This garden is about 4 times the size... actually, probably closer to 5 or 6 times.  I am pretty confident that the problems from the past won't revisit... but if they do, I'm on to it and will be ready! 

Tomatoes and Broccoli

To get the kids a little more into it this year, I let them help me pick out some starter plants.  #1 picked out purple cabbage because she LOVES purple, and actually likes it... just like mommy!  She also picked out broccoli.  #2 picked out cherry tomatoes (she LOVES tomatoes... also like mommy) and yellow peppers.  #3 didn't pick anything because he slept through our trip to the farm stand. 

We are eager to see how it goes this year.  We had a few cucumbers last year and made some sweet pickles out of a few.  The kids also liked drinking cucumber water with the cucumbers we got.  I really hope we are able to do more this year!  Maybe I'll be a little more ambitions with the canning.  

Pumpkin patch with #1 and #2's colorful garden stakes

This is where our pumpkins will hopefully grow.

Minimalist wanna-be!

I have always been an organized person, but for the past year, I have been fighting it.  #1 has always been very good about keeping things "just so"... she's a perfectionist, but once #2 was mobile, that all went out the window!  She has always been a messy kid.  It drives #1 crazy.  Who knows what #3 will be like, but as of now, he's all boy.  He takes toys and just throws them to see what happens.  It's pretty funny actually, because he has this devilish laugh that makes me wonder what's going on in his little head. 

Anyhow - when #3 arrived, I decided to put my organized nature aside and just go with it.  To make a long story short, I've had a few episodes of feeling overwhelmed, and the root of it was disorganization and the fact that we have too much stuff!!!  As soon as I started organizing the toys... figuring out what to sell, donate, and put away to rotate with what is out now... just that little task (which actually took a few hours) made me feel like I was gaining control again. 

There is something to say about the minimalist lifestyle.  That's something I would like to work on because the less you have, the less you have to organize. 

These little freak-outs happen every once in a while, and most often, what makes me feel better is to get out of the house and take a nature walk with the kids.  They get so much enjoyment out of being outside, in nature... #1 with her fancy shoes and dress on leading us down the safest path, #2 with her shades on upside down, a song playing in her head and a strut in her step... and #3 in the Ergo on my back with his little legs sticking out the side probably passed out.  Just writing that gives me so much comfort.  It makes me happy to know that they each have their own little personalities... already so strong.  Instead of worrying about how it's going to potentially hurt them in the future, embrase it and make them confident in who they are.  They are my perfect, sweet, little people.  I love each and every bit of them.   

#1 leading the way and #2 dancing up the street!

So, I am going to try simplifying. 

Oprah and becoming a vegetarian...

If you watch Oprah, you probably saw the episode where she and a large portion of her staff went vegan for one week.  I'm always flirting with thoughts of cutting meat out of my diet, so the title of this episode interested me.  I've done the vegetarian thing on and off for years, but vegan?  I've never tried it, and I was curious.  


Well, after watching the episode, there is no way I could go vegan... I love cheese entirely too much, and I can buy cheese from farmers that treat animals the way I am comfortable with... but after watching this Oprah episode, I am going vegetarian!  I'm not going into detail, but it showed the process a cow goes through before, during and after slaughter.  Correction.  The only thing they did not show is the actual "kill shot", but they showed the face of the reporter as it was done, and she looked horrified!  The poor cows.  


Now, I fully understand that eating meat is natural... and that, without it, we would not have evolved to be what we are today.  But, animals are treated much differently these days.  


Since there is much more demand for meat, the "business" has become more about "business" than the raising of an animal.  The whole thing is sad, really.  As a country, we don't need to be eating as much meat as we are.  There would be less heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc., that's for sure... and the health insurance might not cost as much because there wouldn't be as much demand for that either.  Of course, this is just my opinion.  ;o)  


So, you part of my blog now will be to document some of my favorite vegetarian meals.  And with gardening season right around the corner, I just might include some of that too!  :o)  If nothing else, we'll save money on our bill because there won't be any meat in the bill!

Witching hour... how I survive!

Witching hour... Ahhhhh!!!  It's when everything goes from manageable to out of freeking control!!!   After having #3, it only got worse.  Trying to juggle the needs of two toddlers and an infant.  What was I thinking???  Here is how I do it.   


#3 has always been into books, so if I come up with something to distract #'s 2 and 3, she will keep herself entertained in another room doing the book thing.

#2 is into pretend play right now.  We were lucky enough to get a play kitchen as a Christmas gift two years ago, and I'm telling you... if you have the space, it is WELL worth it.  She will spend hours in front of this kitchen pretending to wash dishes, cook breakfast/lunch/dinner, or feed her baby doll in the highchair (not pictured).    

#1 is still a little one, so all I have to do to prevent cries is stick toys on the tray to his high chair and he'll entertain himself until dinner is ready.  Right now, he likes to bang things.  It doesn't matter what it is.  A spoon, cup, toy car... or just his fists.  He is a total boy!  Bang bang bang is all he does! 

Tonight, I made a fairly simple dish.  One that should have taken about 15 minutes.  All I had to do is boil pasta and make a sauce for it with spinach, tomato, cheese and cream.  The longest part about it was boiling the water and letting it cook.  While that was happening, I would make the sauce, and we were good to go!  Ding dong!!!  I was wrong!  It took me a good 45 minutes.  I was lucky the pasta didn't turn to mush... 

My life is chaotic to say the least, but the most important lesson I have to remind myself of daily is this.  Do your best to nourished your children with heatlhy food, keep them warm and make sure they are happy (generally speaking... ha ha).  If you can do that, you are doing fine!  


My kids are warm,  happy, and I made a meal that was 1) edible, 2) colorful and 3) packed with vitamins and nutrients for my growing family.  Oh... and 4) we ate at the table together and talked about our day.  Food to nourish our bodies and conversation to nourish our souls! 

Cheers!