Sunday, January 31, 2010

January - Photos of Kids

It is so very hard to pick the few photos of the kids to share from each month, but here it goes.
Angela:
At the end of our long winter hike.  I don't know if she would say she enjoyed it or not but she did a great job!
I do not understand some things kids do.  This has got to hurt.
♪♫ "I love my brother, I love my brother, want me to say it again? . . ." ♫♪
Connor:
After he fell and bloodied up his lip and mouth.
He had spent some time exploring the attic with Dad.
Helping mom cook breakfast.  He is stirring some pre-cooked sausage that way there is no fat splatters.
Emeric:
Bathtime with my brother.
Not quite sure where Emeric ends and the laundry begins.
Doesn't he just look handsome.
Enjoy!  We'll see you next month.



Thursday, January 28, 2010

Emeric at 4 Months


Emeric is now four months old.  Where did the time go?  He weighed in at 14 pounds zero ounces and he is 25 1/2 inches long.  It seems like he is outgrowing all of his clothes and now I know why.  I will have to dig into the boxes and find clothes in the next size up for him.  I guess that is the good thing about having two boys back to back.  He loves to laugh and smile.  He also has really been having fun making raspberry noises and blowing bubbles.  He is working hard at trying to sit up on his own.  He sits in his bumbo, which I think helps him a little bit. 

It has been a lot of fun for all of us to watch him grow and start to learn.  He is just getting to where he enjoys grabbing toys and trying to play with them.  He thinks it is funny for us to put in his sasa and then he will take it out and smile at us.  I am excited to see how he will change over this next month.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

I've Been Baking

Brian ended up heading out of state for work this past Thursday evening. [He has now been to Minnesota for a tornado and Iowa for an ice storm]. I had made plans to be out of town all day Saturday for a women's conference. I needed some place for Angela and Connor to go. It ended up being four places and since Saturday was National Bake a Pie Day, I baked pies for every one as 'Thank You' gifts. I baked two pumpkins, 1 pecan, a chocolate cream, a banana cream and a sour cream lemon.

I was so happy to have the kids safe and happy so that I could attend the conference without any worry or stress. It was a wonderful day with Lisa Harper and Kim Hill. Kim led us in our worship all day. Her guitar player and vocalist used to sing back up for Wynona and boy did she have a voice. But Lisa Harper, WOW, I think I have become a little bit of a Lisa Harper junkie. I saw her at Women of Faith in October of last year. I am participating in a book study group and we are using her book What Every Girl Wants: the Song of Solomon (I had her sign it for me). I am super disappointed that our library does not have any of her books. I have been scouring Amazon.com to find some in my budget. She is a Bible scholar/theologian who does an amazing job of relating the bible to today’s culture so that it comes alive and makes sense. I am hoping to be able to see her speak again. Until then, I am on the book hunt!


Sunday, January 24, 2010

Octopus-Dogs

I grew up right with my mother teaching me the important things in life such as, "Do not play with your food."  So of course, I am teaching my kids the same good lessons.  But, every once in a while you just need to bend the rules.   Almost a year ago to the day we had squid-dogs which was a lot of fun for the kids.  While reading my FamilyFun magazine I decided to try these close cousins, Octopus-dogs.

The kids had fun pretending that the were screeming while they were in the pot, kind of like lobsters.  First you start by quartering your hot dogs.  Then you skewer each quarter with dry spaghetti noodles.  I used six, but I guess for a true octopus I should have used eight,.  No, that would have made sixteen legs.  Hum, I should have used four noodles, oh well.  Then pop them in a pot of boiling water.

 Now, if I figure this right, six hot dogs quartered is 24 pieces.  With six noodles per piece is 144 noodles.  I skewered them this time because I was surprising the kids, but next time I think I will have them help me.  They both really thought that they were funny, although Connor didn't like the hot dogs having legs.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Brian is all Wet

On the 'Winter Hike' posting I talked about Brian's current job.  I mentioned that he had received a pair of armpit wadders so that he could complete the job.  Now we know why:






I've Been Sewing

It is so wonderful to sit down with a pile of fabric and some notions to then see a nice finished project.  I don't do it that often since I am 'sew' new at sewing and it is a bit intimidating.  But when I do get something done it just fills me up with joy.  I have made some presents for a couple of wonderful women that will be having babies soon.  I hope that they enjoy using them as much as I did making them.
Nursing Cover:

Pod Swaddler (I blogged about these a while back, you can find it here):

Burp Rags:


I have one other project in the works, if I get it finished soon I will post it too.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Winter Hike

When I think of Winter I think of a down blanket, a good book and a cup of coco.  Maybe, just maybe, I will think of bundling up and taking a couple of trips in the sled to then come inside for the first thought of blanket, book and coco.  Not so this past Saturday.  Brian is working on a job right here in Portage.  Before he started he told me he'd figure out where it was so that the kids and I could drive by and see him.  But once he started he realized that wasn't an option as there were no roads that drive by his location.  You see he is working on the Wisconsin River. 

They park their vehicles a little over a mile from the job site and then the drive amphibious vehicles called Argos down a short road, over the bank and onto the frozen river. 



After about a half mile on the river they are finally at the job site.




















The bank of the pole on the left is erroding into the river and they are building support for it.  The pole on the right will have that problem in the next 'x' years so they will fix it up too.  To build up these supports they have had to break through the ice to get all the way down to the ground.  The company bought Brian special armpit (not hip, but armpit) waders so that he can get into the water to work.  Fortunately it is only about 3 feet of water, but it is still really cold.  The company is making sure they have adequate breaks to warm up in their handy dandy warming ice fishing shack, which they are keeping warm with a propane heater.

Well Brian wanted us all to see this and he figured he could drive the car down to where they start using the argos.  That way we would only have about a 1/2 mile hike to see the job site.  Of course there was no such luck.  Some people who were cross country skiing had parked right in the way of the road.  That meant that all five of us, bundled up in full snow gear, were going for a hike. 

Angela walked while I had Emeric strapped to me in the moby (my baby carrier) and Brian pulled Connor on the sled (though Connor did walk for a little bit).  It was a beautiful sunny day, it was not too cold and there was no wind.  We couldn't have asked for a better day for this hike.  It took us about 2 hours to do around 2 1/2 miles through the unplowed snow.  We hiked down the road, up over the bank, along the top of the river then back on land to follow the power line to get to his job site.  It was a lot of hard work (which included a lot of whining from Angela), but we were all proud of ourselves when we got done.  Fortuanately for me, dinner was cooking in the crockpot so I didn't have to cook once we got home.  We just topped of the day with some fresh cooked hot chocolate and our vegetable beef barley soup.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Potato Chip Cookies

Okay so right about now most of you are thinking that I had a typo in the header of the post. Therefore, you are reading it again to make sure you read it right. Now you're saying to yourself, "potato chips cookies - yuck!" Well that is exactly the reaction that Brian and Angela both had. I was a little more excited and intrigued when I found this recipe in a book a couple months back. I kept sitting on it and waiting for the right time to spring it on the family. My parents had purchased a bag of Lays Classic Potato Chips while they were her so I figured these could be the first cookie to grace the cookie jar for 2010. Here is a picture of my dough all full of coarsely crushed potato chips, my rolling pin (what I crushed them with), the potato chip bag and my little helper who ate chips.

This shows the first beautiful batch to come out of the oven.

Brian said they taste sort of like a chocolate chip cookie (I didn't really think so). They have a slight chewiness and no crunch like you might think. There are also butterscotch chips in them. The sweet and salty of both types of chips makes a great combination. I love the look of a full cookie jar - it is a testament of love.

Then standing guard over the cookie jar is my cute cookie making snow lady. I received her from a swap that I participated in before Christmas. My partner must have read up on me and seen that I like snowman, that I like to bake and that I make cookies a lot because she is wearing her apron, holding a cookie and a cookie recipe book. Even though she is wearing Christmas colors I decided to leave her out, she makes me smile. Thank you so much Melissa!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Angela's Haircut

About once every six weeks I have to cut Brian's hair and when we think about I cut Angela's bangs. For this past week Angela has been saying she wants her hair cut. So last night we went
...SNIP...SNIP...SNIP...
Here she is all ready and excited for her hair cut.











AND.........with a big smile after it was all done.










She wanted to make sure everyone saw the big pile of hair we cut off.