What I did this week

It's Friday and time for my weekly post. I am having a hard time thinking of something specific to write about so umm.... here are a few things I did this week. I wish I had some pictures. I never think of taking picture until I go to do a blog post.

My regular weekday schedule goes something like this: Go to work in the morning for a few hours. Ben comes to get me and we swap places. He goes to school and I go home with the kids. Then, depending on the day, we either switch places again or I take the kids to Grandma's while I go back to work for a few more hours. In the evening I am home with the Kids and Ben goes to work or has class. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a longer break in the middle of the day with the kids so I usually use that time to get some things done.

This week I have been getting lots of things done but not getting much sleep. Heber came down with a fever last night and was tossing and turning all night because of it. Eeva has been sick for a few weeks now and I wish they would both get better already. Sick grumpy kids are no fun. At least I get lots of time to snuggle my little ones. All they want is for mama to hold them and nurse them.

I finished knitting Eeva's dress. Now I just need to weave the ends in, sew a button on and knit up the booties to go with it. I think I will also make a matching headband.

I made a last minuet change in the toy I wanted to make for Eeva's birthday. I was going to make some nesting cubes but instead decided to make wool balls with different rattles/bells inside. I went to a whole lotta stores looking for round rattles squeakers and bells bud didn't find what I was looking for. I ended up using some pin pong balls that I cut it half, filled with rice and other stuff, and then tapped back together. For the wool I am using some white wool yarn that isn't twisted. Last night I had so much fun dying the wool different colors. I used food coloring and vinegar and it seemed to have worked really well. I will put together a post on this entire project once I get some pictures.

Lets see.... what else..... I went to the grocery store. I tried to make Cheese and it was a total fail. I successfully make Mozzarella cheese the first time I tried. The second time it was alright and I have never been able to get it to work since. I have used various methods and recipes but to no avail. I have tied at least 3 times now and I just can't get it right. I think I am making it too acidic. Someday I will learn to make delicious cheese. And we will get a milk goat and everything will be lovely. : )

Oh yes and the most important thing: Made the most delicious squash soup I have every had!!! It was seriously so so good. I want more right now but it is all gone.I made a few adjustments to the recipe found here. This is my version

Squash Soup

Ingredients:

• 8 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups apple juice + water if you need more liquid
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1-2 tsp fresh ground pepper (or to taste)
• 8 cups chopped and cubed fresh winter squash (I used acorn and butternut or you could use 6 cups canned pumpkin puree)
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 2 cups onion, chopped
• 4 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh oregano, chopped
• 3 cup whole milk

Directions:
Add everything to a big pot except the parsley, oregano and milk. Cook until all the veggies are soft (about 30 minuets).  Add the parsley and oregano and cook for a few more minuets. Remove from heat and puree soup in batches in the blender. Add milk and enjoy. You could easily leave out the milk and it would still be delicious.

We sipped it from mugs and ate it with cheese toast. It was so yummy! Funny thing: While we were making this Heber kept asking about the "pumpkins" we were using. He carried the butternut squash around all day saying how much he liked his pumpkin. I told him it was called butternut squash. Concerned he asked "does it has nuts in it? I can't eat nuts, they make me sick." They today he asked if our butter had nuts in it. It makes me feel somewhat relieved that he can ask if something has nuts and know he can't eat it. I told him the other squash was called acorn squash which he says "eggcorn". He later told my sister that we were eating corn egg squash. What a cute boy!!

If you try the soup, let me know how you like it. Have a happy weekend!

Happy Halloween

Ok, these are a bit late. I was planning on posting them earlier but never did... And since I have a goal of posting once a week and I haven't thought of much else to write about.... so this is what you get.

We dressed up for a family party the weekend before Halloween and then never ended up do anything on Halloween. We had a busy day and decided for a quiet evening at home. The costumes were simple and I was able to sew them in just a few hours.

my little lady bug

My puppy dog. Heber picked out what he wanted to be and was so excited about his doggy costume. 

His favorite part was the tail. He kept says "I have a tail, and Angle (my parent's dog) has a tail too"

This week I have been baking lots of yummy food and trying to take a slower pace. My house -especially the kitchen- is a huge mess but who cares really. I am doing what I want to do and not worrying about the rest. This weekend I hope to get Eeva's knitted dress done and start a sewing project for her birthday. I can't believe this little angle is almost 1. She is very close to walking and is starting to say a few words. How did she get so big so fast?

What are your plans for the weekend? Does anyone know how to get it so my pictures don't have a border? I have tried editing the HTML to say border=none but it is still there.

Busy

Why do I feel like I always have so much to get done? Sometimes I feel so busy it is completely overwhelming. I run from place to place as fast as I can to get more things done. Doing, going, rushing. I have a to do list that I constantly keep (either in my mind or on paper) of all of the things that need to be done: dishes, laundry, grocery store, meal planning, library, LLL, sewing project, knitting, .... it can go on forever.

What is this mindset of business that I always seem to have? I don't think it is necessary or even important. A few days ago it occurred to me that being to busy with so much to do was not making me feel fulfilled or even happy. I was so grumpy and cranky, yelling at my kids and whining to Ben. I was miserable! This was not a new revelation to me but it was a much needed reminder to slow down, enjoy life, be happy. 5 years from now, I won't think back to this time when my kids are so little and say "oh how I wish I had a cleaner house, or I wish my dishes were clean." I'm sure I won't care about that at all. Instead I will wish I had taken more time to play, to laugh, and to love. I will wish that I had cherished and soaked in every moment when my babies were little for it only last such a short time. I want to stop being to busy. I want to stop doing things that make me overwhelmed and stressed. I want to forget all of the to dos and instead do the things that make me happy and fulfilled.

My usual self would say "What is wrong with me" but I resisted. On Tuesday I went to a workshop on Emotional Intelligence and learn many things. On of the most useful things I learned was to resist asking "Whats wrong with me" and instead as "What can I change". So I put this to the test. Being a list maker, I made 2 lists: "Things that make me happy" and "things that don't". I noticed that I wasn't doing anything on my "things that make me happy list." No wonder I was so miserable. So I decided to make a simple change- Do more things that make me happy and less things that don't. That is exactly what I did yesterday and it worked wonder for me. I took the kids on a little hike to trow rocks in the stream. I enjoyed taking pictures while the kids played in the leaves and water. It was so refreshing and I feel so much happier. It's funny how easy it is for me to get stuck in a rut of miserable living and how a simple change can make such a difference for me and everyone around me. My new goal for the next... well forever really... is to do more things that make me happy and less things that don't. I will put this up on the fridge along with my lists as a reminder : ).

Hope you all have a happy weekend full of things that make you happy.

At Mothers Breast

Several weeks ago I got some pictures taken for a blogging project called "At Mothers Breast." It is put together by Katrina who blogs at Musings of a Redhead. This is was she says about the project:

Breastfeeding is beautiful, natural, and normal. That is what I set out to capture on this photographic journey. I want to show real moms feeding their babies. I want more people to be exposed to how natural and normal breastfeeding can be. I think that part of why so many moms struggle to breastfeed is that they don't often see other women breastfeeding. We learn from watching. I hope this collection of photographs will inspire more women to nurse their babies and to feel comfortable doing it anywhere. And I hope it will inspire all of us to give more support to breastfeeding moms. They need it!

If you are a breastfeeding mom and would like to be photographed for the project, please contact me at redbeanphoto@gmail.com. You must live within an hour's drive of Salt Lake City or be willing to travel here.

~Katrina Anderson

Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

It was fun to participate in the project and I think the picture turned out great. My pictures are up on the website today. You can see more of them here. 

Scripture study and prayer

Our Bishop offers a different Bishops challenge for every quarter of the year. Once it was 100% home and visiting teaching. This quarter his challenge was to read the entire Book of Mormon before the end of the year. My first thought was to not even try. I don't read regularly so if I just don't accept the challenge I won't have to feel guilty when I don't accomplish the goal. Then it occurred to me how ridiculous this thinking was. If I don't even try, I have already failed. So I decided to accept the challenge and so far I have been doing really well at reading everyday and staying on top of it. My trick is that I can't do any knitting (or other reading) until I have read my scriptures. It is working well for me.

Yesterday I read this scripture:

"For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee" (1 Nephi 21:15, also Isaiah 49:15)

It brought a smile to my face and hit me pretty strong. There is no way I could forget my sucking child. When you are nursing there is such a strong physical reminder that shouts "Your baby needs to eat. Now!" I get mighty uncomfortable after a few hours away from the kids. The scripture says I might forget, but the Lord will not forget us. He knows us and loves us as a mother knows and loves her child. He knows our needs and does not forget.

Silly kids! Eeva gives me this looks in a lot of pictures. I think it is hilarious.

On a similar spiritual note, Heber has been saying lots of prayer recently. It is pretty cute (accept when he is crying and screaming because someone else said the prayer). For a little while he would forget to address Heavenly Father and would just go straight into saying thank yous. I would have to stop him and remind him that we are talking to God when we pray so we start with his name. This is what he usually says:

How you start mom? You say Dear Heavenly Father. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for our blessings. Thank you for mommy and daddy, thank you for Eeva and daddy, thank you for me and mommy (He will add in anyone else in the room multiple times). Thank you for our food, thank you for our eggs, thank you for our burritos (or whatever else we are eating). Bless daddy at work. Thank you for Jesus Christ. Amen

 It really is a very sweet prayer. I love the simple faith of children. I love the simple lessons my children teach to me. Mothering gives me constant reminders to be patient, be kind, breath, and love one another.

A few other thing that Heber does to make me smile:

• Takes all the pillows and blankets from the bed, arranging them in a circle. He call this is pot and asks me if I want to come in his pot with him.
• He will make up his own words (actually just a sound of some sort). When I ask him what that is he explains it to me using more unknown words and sounds.
• He calls most things that open and close a gate. He likes to make gates out of my arms, blankets, clothes on the floor, and everything else he can think of. 
• When I say "Heber, where are you?" His response is "Here my am"
• He asks me to play with him but not just for a little bit. "Play with me for a real really long time"
• Anytime he is playing make-believe. One of hims favorites is pretending the rug is a lake. He jumps in and says "I splashed you mom. I got your shirt all wet. Now you have to go get a dry shirt on." We also pretend I catch him with my fishing pole and eat him up.
• He likes to give us lectures about things that we should or shouldn't do. He gave me the best lecture the other day about Grandpa's (who he calls Granshin). "Those are Granshin's bees mom and you DON'T TOUCH THEM. Just leave them alone. You just look at them!"
• He will also lecture Eeva saying in a stern voice "Eeva, I said no! Look at my eyes Eeva. Listen to me!"
• He mixes up the words fun and funny. "Let's go the the park. It's so funny"

 I love this boy of mine. He brings me so much joy even through all of the yelling and tantrums (he apparently learned well from me) and mess making. He can be such a stinker sometimes and other times he is so sweet. I am so glad to be his mother.

stuff

I haven't posted here for quite a while but I didn't realize it had been almost a month. I think that the longer I go with out posting, the less ideas I have for posting. I think I would like to do a post at least once a week. As far as blog reading goes, I like shorter posts more often but I seem to struggle with short posts. We will see how it goes.

I have been knitting this dress for little Eeva.

 

Prior to this, the only things I have knit are scares, dishrags, and leggings. So considering all of that, it has gone quite well. I am about half way through. It is far from mistakes but I think I would like to am another one at some point now that I know what I am doing.   I am making it in green with brown booties. I will post pictures when it is finished. It has been so much fun to knit.

We have had the rounds of a stomach bug that I sure was pick up at my cousins wedding 2 weeks ago. Several members of the extended family have all been sick. Heber and I were sick last weekend and Ben was sick early in the week. Eeva came down with it yesterday and it hasn't been fun. Amazingly this is the first time that she has ever been sick. It is such a contrast to Heber who gets sick a lot. I attribute this to vastly different birth experiences but who really knows. Heber got lots of antibiotics through my breast milk (I got an infection from my C-section and was on some pretty mega doses) and I think that really taxed his immune system. 

I came across this website playscapes and my mind has been spinning with idea for creating an outdoor playscape for the kids. I have also found many places I want to visit. They all so like so much fun but here are few of my favorites (click picture to go to website):

 

 

 

 

Anyway, So so many cool places to play. You should go check it out.  

That is all for now. Have a nice weekend. Leave me a comment : )

This girl

These days I can't seem to get enough of this girl!

She has such a wonderful spirit about her. 

She can be strong willed and quite opinionated. She has recently learned to crawl and scoot about and climb. If she sees something she wants, she is so very determined to figure out a way to get to it, even in her semi-mobile state. 

I hope I can teacher her (and all of my children) to think for herself and to stand up for what she knows is right. I hope that she will always no she needs no ones approval to be of self worth.

Eeva, I am so glad you have blessed our home with your presence. I am so happy you can be here on this journey with us. I am trying to be a good mom and I love you with all of my heart!

Labor Day Weekend

OK... This is a little late but oh well, here it is anyway.

We went down to Utah to visit Ben's family over Labor Day weekend. Things didn't work out as planned but it was still nice. It is always fun to visit (and get fruit from all of Ben's parents trees). Here are some pictures and such:

We picked apricots, plums, and berries. Eeva came out with me to get the back berries. I set her on the ground and she dove for the berries she could see. It was so funny and she got really messy, especially when she found the plum.

all cleaned up

We had a nice dinner with produce from our garden and had a nice chat while the kids were playing.

We went on a walk one day

and a hike the next. The hike was about 4 miles and went to a pass that overlooked Twin Lake in the next canyon over. I carried Eeva the entire way (this girl is getting heavy) and I was so tired by the end.

There were old mine remains

and a small little cave. I asked Heber if he wanted to go in and he said "No, its took scary. I want to just look at it though.

Thanks Dave & Marilynn for always putting up with us- sleeping at your house, eating all the food, and taking your fruit. I couldn't ask for letter in-laws! You have always been so kind and accepting of me. Also Thanks for raising a great son. He is an exceptional husband and father.

Breastfeeding is good for todlers too

And it is such a joy. At least most of the time. Sometimes I feel so touched out I want to scream at the next person who tries to touch me. I feel grumpy and irritated at being needed as a food source all day long. But most of the time I very much enjoy the chance to sit and snuggle my babies. It is so rare for Heber to sit still. I love when he climbs into my lab and we get the chance to sit a be together without other distractions. I love that he says silly funny things about nursing. He calls my milk "nee nees". I love that it is such an easy accessibly fix-all for any bumps, bruises, or hurt feelings. A few months ago he would always say "I want nee nees to feel better" (for him to feel better). Sometimes Heber wakes up during the night and will say funny things. Last night he woke up and said "I don't want any nee nees, I just want a drink of water. No I don't want water, I want nee nees so I can sleep." The other day I asked him what nee nees taste like and he said "It tastes yummy like milk" Like cow milk? "No, tastes like nee nee milk."

Thinking that nursing should stop at a certain age is ridiculous. Just because a baby reaches 1 or 2 or 3 doesn't mean that the benefits they previously received are suddenly gone. They are all still there. Nutrition, immune system boosts, skin to skin benefits, ect. They don't disappear when the child reaches a certain age. While I cannot fathom nursing a 4 or 5 year old (dumb cultural expectations), a few years ago I would have never ever imagined I would be nursing a 2 1/2 year old, Yet children grow older one day at a time. It's not like all of the sudden I am nursing a 2 1/2 year old. He just grows older day by day, month by month. I'm not sure where this journey will take me but I am trying to follow and do what feels right to me. I have long ago given up on doing what is culturally acceptable. Really it is only in the United States that nursing an older toddler is so strange and even gross. I think a huge contributing factor to this is that in our culture/media breasts = sex. Ugh!!

Today I read this article at Peaceful Parenting that talks about natural weaning and how weaning happens. It was a good reminder. For now I am happy to let weaning happen when and how it does, or at least continue on as long as we are both happy nursing.

I came across this video today and I thought it was so funny. I think this is the exact same reaction that I would get from Heber if I tried to put a blanket over him while nursing. It made me laugh out loud.You should go an watch it!

Yellowstone

Last weekend we took a trip to Yellowstone. My sister and her husband have worked there for a past few summers. We were able to go visit them and get into the park for free. It was nice to visit my sister and her husband as I don't get to see them much. Other then that, it wasn't the greatest trip. The kids were grumpy from being in the car all day, it was cold and rainy, and I got the worst migraine I have ever had. Migraines are rare for me but this was the most intense pain I have ever had. I told Ben it was worse then child birth. It hit me out of nowhere and after a few hours and a nap it was gone almost as suddenly. It was very strange. All in all though, I am glad we went. We did get a few nice pictures::

Old Faithful

Notice the nice blue sky, this was in the morning.

Old Faithful the 2nd time

Now see how dark and stormy the sky is

We drove around and saw some other springs, geysers, and Mud pots. I don't remember specifically which ones. The rain would stop while we were in the car but would start again as soon as we got out to look around. At least this is how it seemed. When we stopped at Grand Prismatic (picture bottom right) it really started raining hard. A few of us decided to walk around anyway. We got completely soaked and couldn't see much because of all the rain.

We stopped at West Thumb and Hotel Yellowstone

Ben and a few others went to Canyon to see the waterfall. No pictures were taken and it was while I was napping. We saw a nice Bison close up. We also saw a grizzly bear (it was too far away for a good pic).

My dad was towing sisters broken van back home. We had to stop to get it on the trailer better shortly after starting for home. It took a while and Heber entertained himself by throwing rocks into the puddles from the previous days rain. 

It didn't take him long to discover how fun it was to jump over the puddles. Fortunately he only chose the small ones to jump over.

Maybe next time the weather will be nice (it was raining and cold last summer when we went to visit my sister as well) but until then.....

Canning Talley

I have been doing some canning and wanted to make a list of what I have done. I was hoping to keep track of amounts but I'm not that organized and I am too lazy to go count the jars that we have from this year. I love to preserve our own food! I think I have mentioned this before but is it just so extremely satisfying to me. This is mostly for me but a blog seems like a good place to keep track of things like this. What I have done so far:

Canning:
Jams- Strawberry, raspberry, raspberry peach, apricot and possibly a few other combinations.
Green beans
Green chili peppers
Pickles- Dill, Bread and Butter
Apricot Puree
Green Enchilada Sauce


Freezing:
Green beans
Jam- Strawberry, and 1 other combo (I already forgot what it was)
Zuchini
peppers- bell and chili
strawberries (I froze them in the spring and we have already gone through all of them in fruit smoothies, I really need to finds some more strawberries soon)
Raspberries


Dried
Zucchini
Basil
Fruit Leather- appricot and banana




Things that I will be doing soon:
Peaches - bottled, jam, puree, fruit leather, frozen
Pears - bottled, dried (dried is so so good!)
Apples- sauce, juice, dried and maybe pie filling
Tomatoes- salsa, soup, sauce, dried, and anything else I can think of to do with tomatoes
Plums- fruit leather, jam
Blackberries- jam
Veggie Soup of some sort (I need to figure this one out still)
Winter squash- bottled, frozen 


This winter I plan on bottling a bunch of dry beans. I am excited to have the convenience of having these ready make with out the preservative and $$ of buying them in the can. I think I will also try making re-fried beans.

When ever we pick some of our broccoli Heber wants us to take his picture while holding it. He is such a funny boy. The broccoli we have grown is so tasty but we have had mixed results. Some of it has been perfectly good with no bugs at all but another plant had so many bugs we couldn't eat it. Strange indeed.

I love having yummy food without strange ingredients and saving money. The exchange is a lot of work. I mostly enjoy it though. The exception to that is the end of September when it feels like I have been canning non-stop for weeks and weeks. I am sick of canning by then but there is usually still lots of tomatoes to do. Anyone who wants to come and can with me is quite welcome! I would love to have company and canning is better with someone else.