The Homestead

Well, I guess I'll give an update of the homestead. It's pretty quiet 'round here. Been keepin' busy chasin' off the varmints. Shot me a squirrel the other day. Good eatin' too. Ok, just kidding. But it has been quiet and I have been busy. The garden is growing like crazy due to the ~100 degree heat we've been having. It shouldn't be this hot already, it's only June! I've even canned green beans, both Tara and my Mom were shocked. Here's some pictures of the garden. I took these on Saturday and already our garden looks different.

The corn is tasseling, the tomatoes are blooming, the green beans are in full production, have more lettuce and spinach than I can handle, the zucchini is starting to produce, the strawberries look like they are struggling (haven't produced a strawberry in over a month), and the birds are eating all my raspberries. So if any of you locals want some fresh produce, just let me know, I have plenty of lettuce and spinach.

Jet Lag

I'm here. I'm alive. My kids made it, and I don't have to travel alone with them ever again, if I don't want to. I am dog tired.

Randy and I scheduled this trip a long time ago. I looked at prices, called him, and he booked it. I told him I wanted to fly on the 6:50 AM flight, and so that's what he scheduled for me. Or so we thought. Last Sunday I asked Randy to get my itinerary off of his email so I could tell my parents all the info and they could pick me up. Well, when Randy went upstairs to check his email, I didn't hear from him and thought he got distracted. So, I asked him if he found it yet. He said, "Ummmmmmm, there's a bit of a problem." My immediate thought was that he didn't book the flight after all, and I wasn't going. That would be awful. No, that wasn't it, he booked us for 6:50 pm instead. Right at Emma's bedtime, and Kenadi's too. We were scheduled to arrive in Seattle at 11:16 pm with a layover in Denver in between. Then, a 1 1/2 hour drive home. OH, that sounded miserable, but I was trying to think positive and convince myself that the girls would sleep and it would all be ok.

So, I got to the airport with plenty of time, loaded our plane and felt like it was all going smooth. As soon as we boarded the flight attendant told us that we just received a stop-flight for the next hour because of storms in Denver. We could get off the plane if we wanted to, but they recommended staying on in case we could leave sooner. Meanwhile, Emma and Kenadi were already tired and getting cranky. Emma was crying and nursing wasn't helping. Kenadi wanted to climb all over and visit little kids up and down the isle, which I eventually permitted to an extent just to keep her happy. Finally we were permitted to leave, and left 45 minutes after boarding. Emma didn't fall asleep on take-off like I had hoped, and she cried the whole time. Kenadi was tired and restless and kept kicking the seat in front of her and making the guy turn around.

I wasn't too worried about making it to my next flight in Denver, since I would have an hour in the airport until boarding. I still rushed us over there just in case they were ahead of schedule, and on my way I found a reader board that told me my flight was delayed and wouldn't leave Denver at 9:35 pm, but instead 1:10 am. I about cried, since I was tired too, and knew that I couldn't get the girls to sleep with all the other people waiting. After sitting down and waiting for a while, I found out that my flight was canceled and we were all supposed to get into a customer service line on the opposite side of the HUGE airport and they would tell us what to do. I just kept telling myself that this couldn't be as bad as Cancun, and not to worry. When I got to the line, it was about a 1/4 of a mile long, and a girl I had met with 2 kids found me and told me that she just called the airline and they told her what she needed to know. So, since we were hungry, she told me to get us some food and she'd stay with the girls and call the airline for me. After being on hold for 20 minutes we got through and found out that I'd still need to get in line, and it hadn't gotten any shorter. Luckily my new friend followed me around and gave Kenadi someone to play with while I figured things out. Well, after being sent to a different customer service desk on the other side of the airport, (around 11:00 pm now) I was finally able to talk to someone who would help me. He told me my flight would leave at 6 am and gave me my boarding pass and was about to send me on my way, when I asked him if they had a hotel or room for us or anything. Apparently they don't do that for people who have to stay over due to weather (that is why our flight was canceled). I even cried, and let him know that I was all by myself with two little girls who need a place to sleep. It didn't work, but he DID say that he'd get me some blankets and a pillow. Hurray! After saying "goodbye" to our friends, I went to get the blankets and pillows that were promised to us and found 1 blanket, and 1 pillow. Both very thin and tiny. He didn't even give us enough for all of us! I couldn't belive it! So, I scavenged around and found 2 more pillows and 1 more blanket. I found us a nice little spot to sleep, next to the window at a gate that didn't look like it was going to be used anytime soon. Us 3 shared our pillow and blanket until about 4, when I had to find more (used ones from the cleaning ladies bag, I was that desperate) because it was getting so cold. Luckily Emma slept in the stroller and Kenadi slept on the floor and both got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep. And Me? I got about 2 very uneasy hours of sleep. The next day we were up and on the plane by 5:30. The lady who got on behind us told me that her and her husband "just made it back from the hotel that they gave us. We got it because they canceled our flight due to bad weather. Did you get one?" Arg! I was so mad. Oh well, at least we didn't have to drive back to the airport in the morning. This flight was a little better though. Emma was so dead tired that she slept most of the way, and Kenadi was better too. I picked up my stroller after we got off the flight and found out that they broke the wheel on it, and made my way to my mother, who I desperately needed by now. She was waiting with my sister Kayla at baggage claim. On the way to meet them, the only elevator that gets you to baggage claim was broken, so I had to do a detour with the stroller and girls. That took us up 2 stories, outside, around the airport a few times, down a story, and to another elevator which took me to the baggage claim. It was literally a 20- minute detour. I guess I couldn't end the trip with anything too easy, could I? I finally made it to my mom and sister, and out the door with our luggage... only to find that they also broke Emma's car seat.

After all that, I am still tired. Next time I'm sending Randy with the girls, and I'll stay home. =)

Cookies and Cream Fudge Pops

It's 12:23 pm and I am sitting down to blog instead of taking a nap.  You're lucky.  This morning started off at 6:45am with a run with my friend Allyson, a quick jaunt home to shower and make it to Emma's breastfed baby study where we popped in for a good 10 minutes and left with $70.  After that we drove over to my DR to get some thyroid med. samples for myself to take on my trip home (in 5 days!).  I really wanted to go garage sale shopping this morning because it is garage sale paradise around here, but after all that I decided I'd rather go tomorrow by myself so I brought the girls home for lunch and early naps.  I AM planning on taking one as soon as I'm done.

Cookies and Cream Fudge Pops

1 small box of instant chocolate pudding

2 C milk

6 Oreo cookies

1/2 C or more of whipped cream

Make pudding with milk, and let stand 5 minutes.  Crush cookies and stir into pudding with whipped cream.  Pour mix into small bathroom cups and stick a Popsicle stick into them.  Freeze for 3 hours or more.  Heat the bottom of cup for a couple of seconds with hot water to get pop out of cup.  I made mine with all low-fat versions of the stuff, and I couldn't tell a difference.  Anyways, they are a great summer treat, and the kids can help make them too.

Now, off to my nap and swimming later.  I'm starting my weekend early!

We Have Been BUSY

I'm giving you a preview of what this next "Food for Thought Friday" will have on it.  Lets just say, it's a great summer treat, and it's messy.  Kenadi loves it, and half of it ends up on her face.  Are you excited?

I love that it's summer time.  I love this season!  Here's a few tidbits of what we've been doing lately:  On Saturday's we spend most of the day gardening.  I love this time of being outside with the family all helping (well, sometimes Kenadi's help actually gives us more work, and Emma mostly sleeps), and spending time together.  Kenadi is usually in charge of helping us water things, since she likes to play in the water so much.  Her weeding isn't as selective as we would like it to be either.

Randy weeded like crazy last Saturday, and got most of the garden done.  He loves being outside too, and seems to be more productive than I am.  (I have good excuses, like KIDS)

The weather here has been hot.  Upper 80's and lower 90's.  I like to take advantage of the heat and get out in the pool, or spray park.  Emma didn't quite know what to think of it because some kids kept splashing her without noticing, and no matter where I moved her, she still got it.  I think she was nervous the whole time.  You can see it in her face.

It takes Kenadi about 15 minutes to get over her nervousness too.  I wonder why.  She loves going, and always asks to go, but acts a little scared until she's used to it.

I also babysat like crazy last week.  It was fun though, lots of kids for Kenadi to play with.  Here's her little friend, Jackson. They are cute together, and he was calling her his buddy.  I loved it.

Of course, our days are filled with singing and dancing.  I need to figure out how to put video on here, cause some of Kenadi's moves are classic.  Complete with hip shaking and a head roll.  She told Randy that she learned it from the belly dancers at the Medieval festival that we went to a couple of months ago.  It's hilarious.

We toured the Braums ice cream factory, and it includes a bus ride on their bus painted like a cow on the outside.  It was Kenadi's first bus ride, and she had so much fun!  She got to sit by her friend Reagan, and it made her feel like such a big girl.  I had fun watching her. Anyways, the ice cream was AWESOME!  So creamy and good.  They give you free ice cream bars at the end of the tour, and I almost went straight to their store and got us some to take home.  I didn't, cause I knew that I couldn't stay out of them if I did.  The tour was neat, and I'm sold on their products now, because they have more calcium in their milk from "squeezing" the water out of their low fat/nonfat milk so that it tastes better and has more nutrients.  More milk, less water.  It was also so fresh because the factory is right by the dairy, so everything is done that day, and shipped out the next.  So, we had fun.

Okay, now that I did a commercial for Braums...  Kenadi and Emma have been playing together better.  Kenadi is figuring out how to be a good big sister to Emma, and share and be more gentle.  They both love the piano, and are so cute when they sit and play together.  It reminds me of when Haley and I would do duets together.  I'd always "fall" off the piano bench and bring her down with me.  I wouldn't just fall either, I'd do some dying act or something.  Our practice session always included us laughing so hard and mom yelling at us to get back to practicing.  Good memories.

This is our kids country club.  Have a dip in the pool, take a ride on the swings or slide down the slide...  back to the pool.  How 'bout a Popsicle?  I love summer.

We've been grilling almost every night, and I'm running every day again.  Back to family fitness, good food, and fun.

P.S. Isn't Emma getting so big?  She now has 5 teeth, and should be crawling VERY soon.  I'm betting on this week.