Adventures in Mommyhood

Each coupling of my children gives a different dynamic.  When I have the two big kids, there is lots of fighting, but also lots of independent time and "grown-up" activities.  When it is the younger two, there is no fighting but more intensive parenting on my part.  Last Friday, I got to spend time with Fisher, my 7 year old and Holland, my 19 month old.  Claire, the lucky duck, got to go out of town with her Daddy.  While he attended to a job site, she spent the day and night with her Grandma! So that left me with my big boy and my little girl.  Not a combo I often get to enjoy!  It was so sweet to see them together.  It is obvious that Fisher considers his baby sister the sweetest baby on Earth and Holland just eats him up too.

I have been feeling extra thrifty this week.  I'm not sure why... maybe it's the new furnace we had to install last week... or maybe it is the new air conditioner that was installed with it... or maybe it is the four new tires for our van that need to purchased imminently...  Hmmmmm.... Anyway, I've been looking to save some cash.  When you keep getting slammed with expenses that are somewhat out of your control, it feels good to take charge of the spending that you can control.    There are a million ways to do this, and here are a few ways I did it this week: 1)  We didn't eat out.   I made my meal plan, bought the groceries, and we ate them.  Tonight, my husband and daughter are visiting Grandma out of town, so of course it was tempting to pick up a pizza or something to feed to myself, Fisher and Holland.  But instead we split the leftover spaghetti and cut into the watermelon I bought yesterday.  And we were full and happy.  Every time we eat out, it costs abou

This little 15 second clip makes me giggle every time I see it.  She reminds me of those little monkeys on the Wizard of Oz for some reason....  :)

Fisher started 1st grade this morning!  Other than a few nerves over sharing a locker with a girl and wondering if his friends would recognize him with his new, longer hairstyle, he was extremely excited to be back at school. When he jumped out of Lance's truck at the end of the day, he described his day as "AWESOME!" 

Here's a little bit of what's been happening in my kitchen this week... Caprese Salad Made with my own tomatoes (notice the pretty yellow ones!) and my basil.  I made a balsamic reduction for the first time to drizzle over it. Freezing Corn As I was driving one morning, I passed a produce stand that was advertizing corn for $1/dozen.  I stopped by and found out that if I bought anything at all, I could get all the corn I wanted for $1/dozen and all the watermelon I wanted too!  I eft with a yellow pepper, a large seedless watermelon and 3 dozen ears of corn!  Deal! I was able to get 14 cups for my freezer! Grilled Steak and Peppers with Quinoa and Black Beans Tonight I marinated a cheap cut of steak in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic.  Then I cut the steak into chunks and skewered them with red peppers.  I served it with Quinoa and black beans.  For the black beans, I sauteed a little onion and garlic, added a can of black beans (slightly drained), and then

{this moment} {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

The Outdoor Campus is one of my very favorite places to spend time with the kids.  Today we went to their "all natural" playground and then for a short hike.  The weather was gorgeous.  I am so thankful that the humidity and heat have left us.  This little house of sticks was a paradise for Holland to toddle through.   She refused to smile for me... But this goofball was glad give me a grin In this pic, I have just been thrown into the mean witch's oven... Add caption Holland did great in the backpack... when she got antsy, I just handed her pieces of Rice Krispy bar!

There are some really nice things happening in my garden right now!  Such as... This pretty little green pepper that I grew!  This is my third summer trying peppers and I finally have something to show for it. He tasted delicious on the pizza I made for supper tonight! And my lovely mint is delicious in the Mojito I am drinking as I type this post.  My tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, and for some reason the slugs haven't found them yet!  I enjoyed the first one on a BLT for lunch today, though I didn't take a picture because I was in such a hurry to eat it... My cucumber plant is also blossoming, as you can see to the left in the photo below: But, to the right, you will see my sad, sad, dead zuchinni plant.  I don't know what happened!  I had been able to harvest two nice zucchinis from it, and then one day I found a half-rotten one.  The next thing I knew, the plant was progressively dying.  I am really sad about it- I was so looking forwar