My all time favorite Sesame Street clip

*turn the music off on the sidebar before viewing.

Little Worm

Ellie has a new pet.

It's a Caterpillar, (I made her give up the frog of last week, due to my fear of accidental release in my kitchen).

She has named her colorful little fellow "little worm". It's a Monarch Butterfly caterpillar. Barry says he hasn't seen one since he was a kid, I don't know if I ever have. This little guy eats milkweed at an alarming rate, and doesn't seem to mind living in captivity. We have no shortage of milkweed around here, so I think he's going to be very happy

We'll keep you updated on it's development or decease.

Mmmmm girl or boy? Girl or Boy????






What could it be????




We know somthing you don't know.



Can you sense we're eager to tell?




























Oh BOY! It's a girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ellie said she knew all along.

They moved my due date up a week.




Her face. Cute little nose.

Yesterday, I did my monthly grocery shopping, and went a little wild buying candy. I haven't had any for ever so long, and so many things sounded good. When I came home I hid my stash for future consumption, and began making dinner.

A little later than usual, Barry comes home from work bearing a gift. A huge bag of candy for his wife. AH hah! With a little guilty glee I snatched the bag with a thank you and a hug. At that moment, Ellie, who accompanied me to the grocery store, started to say something that started with "but she already..." was promptly hushed and given the evil eye.(Which in my case, can be quite evil). Thankfully she hushed.

Next day.

Dishes done,
House cleaned,
Laundry washed and ready to be folded
Ellie napping

I broke out the candy bag.
Sitting in the middle of the living room, I poured out the bag.
What a sight of colorful gems.

James, who was NOT napping was quite interested, to say the least.
He promptly walked over and plopped his diapered-self down beside me.

I decided to share my treasures

First, James tried a SweetTart. Not what he expected, but acceptable
Second, James tried a Cinnamon Bear. This poor bear's leg was given a small bite and
swiftly rejected.
Third, James tried a Carmel, and then folks it was all over. He took one bite and let out the longest most sincere "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm", that a little boy could make. Then he held out his little palm and said "plezzz" in his sweetest voice.

As I looked at his little outstretched hand, and his little dark brown beggar eyes, I thought, as I have thought a hundred times in so many months, "This little boy is after my heart."

Carmel's being by far my favorite and best candy in the whole world.

So with the guise of folding laundry, little James and I sat side by side on the living room floor in a short but efficient assembly line. He'd select and take the Carmel out of the bag, hand it to me, I would unwrap it, he would take a bite, and I would finish it off.

Many happy minutes followed and many many carmels were enjoyed.

It's True!

Turn off the music on the sidebar, before playing.

So glad when Daddy comes home.....

Barry going back to work has probably been the hardest on James. He really misses his Daddy. They are best pals. They feed the animals together, go jogging, irrigate the lawn, weed the garden, mow the law, drive the tractor, take trips to the hardware store, fix things, build things ...etc

This past week James has wandered around the house. Saying Dad, Dad!. He goes to the top of the stairs and yells Daddy! and looks and waits for him to come up. He also spends a lot of time in the window watching for Dad. I took this picture at 6:00 in the morning after Barry had left, James was already on the look out for him to come back.

Because of James' sadness we call Barry's office phone several times during the day and listen to his answering machine. I try to hang up before it beeps, but James is often leaving his dad messages, "HI!, Hi Dad!, Hi!, Dad Dad! Daddddddddy!." Fortunately Barry usually doesn't get to upset about getting messages from his boy.

We're so glad when Barry finally comes home each day, James runs to him with a grin and gives him huge hugs and kisses.

For Posterity

Here's my baby bump picture at ~19 Wks. Yes I know the baby is riding low, I think that's why I cramp up every time I work hard. ....or I might just be really lazy and be milking this pregnancy for all it's worth. :)


Names suggestions please. My appt is next week and then I'll schedule my ultrasound within a couple of days.

So for now Boy names, and Girl names are both welcome.

Fair warning, I do not like trendy names, unisex names, or just plain weird names for my children.

Thanks.

Cookies

We'll I'm supposed to be canning today, but Ellie wanted to make cookies, and she's been so sweet lately, I couldn't resist.

First: This is how James eats a peanut butter sandwich, almost no bread enters the mouth.



Here's are the cookies, aren't they fun?
Watch the progression of the pictures. I think James has an idea how who is going to eat the cookies.
























Don't worry, I gave him ONE. He was saying "cheese" for the camera so cute.

....We'll actually I gave him three, ate three myself and gave Ellie three, but don't tell Barry. We're going to tell him it was a small batch .....or something.

Garden and Harvest Time.

So I'm mourning the end of summer, and dreading the start of canning season. I have been so lazy this year. I have done exactly nothing, no jams, no jellies, nothing.

I hate the urgency of it all, it's like having a job. I hated having a job with deadlines and stress.

But here we go ...... First in the line up

Green Beans
Drying my herbs
Raspberries and Strawberries
Peaches
Apples for sauce and pies. (I would love to dry some and make leather and chips)
Freezer Corn

I'm going to let Barry worry about the Sun flowers, Indian corn, popcorn, potatoes, carrots and onions.

There that doesn't look too bad.
(Out of pure laziness I'm skipping things I don't like this year, like pears and apricots.)

Feel free to drop by and help, otherwise steer clear, the canning dragon lady is a frightful sight.

Summer

I've enjoyed this summer more than any other in my life. I am sad to see it go, but I will cherish the many happy memories.

The Race

I entered my first race today. Being almost 5 months pregnant my goal was to complete the 5K and not pee my pants.

160 people in the race. Including children, grandmas, grandpas and actual runners.

I wasn't able to run very much because it bounced my bladder around too much, but I finished in a long but exciting 45 minutes.

Barry won!!! Of course Barry won.

The guy in second place thought he won, but the officials informed him a guy pushing a stoller beat him. ;)

What they didn't tell him though was that same guy fell threw a roof yesterday. :(

We went on our evening walk yesterday -it being our last summer Friday-night together before Barry goes back to work. Turns out our elderly neighbors were re-doing their roof. Turns out it was a high priests activity with the Elders recruited. We sadly walked back home and Barry put on his work clothes and work shoes and rode his bike back.

I was proud of him for going, but I was sad we missed our evening together.
Ellie said we should pray for him to be safe. So we prayed he wouldn't fall OFF the roof while helping out.

He came home 3 hours later and said he fell THROUGH the roof. ACK! Fortunately he was able to catch himself with his arms before he fell all the way through. His legs went through their sheetrock, making a dandy hole in their house and a quite a mess.
(I should add in here that the house was old and wasn't built to code, or this wouldn't have happened)

Luckily he just seriously scraped up his chest, cut his arm pretty good, and got some massive bruises and a very sore body.

Perhaps next time, Ellie and I need to be more specific in our prayers, but we're VERY glad he's okay, We're also very glad that the home owner gave him a bar of soap to clean up with. A HOMEMADE bar of soap. I have found another soap maker. She has tons of stuff too, and says I can bring my kids over and we can make soap together. :)



I wish this was a better picture. This is often the scene when I look out my kitchen door, Barry and James working on some project together. Here James is learning how to light a fire with flint and steel.

Egg Rolls and Cheeseball Cake

I've decided pregnancy is all about being irrational.
My motto has become, "It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to agree with my tummy"


Okay I admit it, I was suppose to do my monthly grocery shopping on the 25th of July, I am still yet to complete it. Here's the problem, FOOD.

Lately the scene in our house has played out at the dinner hour.


Barry: Hi honey, what's for dinner? I'm starved.

Jill: Hawaiian Chicken

Barry: Mmmm that's sounds great .............. ................uhh where is it???

Jill(with disgust): Oh. I didn't make it

Barry: What!?!

Jill(with a frown): We'll we didn't have any brown rice.

Barry(Hands on his hips): We'll we have 100's of pounds of white rice.

Jill(gulping and wrinkling her nose): Yeah, but doesn't the thought of eating that sticky, starchy, smelly white rice make your stomach churn?

Barry: No!

Jill: Oh.

Barry (exasperated, gazing into an empty fridge): We'll what am I suppose to eat?!?

Jill(walking out of the kitchen): Ellie's having a tortilla smeared with peanut butter, maybe you could try that ....just don't let me smell it.


Normally I'm a whole grains, fruits and veggies kind of girl.

Lately I've been Fats and Oils, Fast food, Deep, Fat, Fried kind of girl. Say it with me, Deep! Fat! Fried!

I've had this intense craving for Chinese food. In fact I bought myself a package of frozen egg rolls, just to satisfy this craving, and my are they nasty...tasty ..nasty.

Most days for lunch I heat up the oven(and the house) to 400 degrees. Then I peak in the oven and watch my single little delicious package of processed carrots, cabbage and white mystery meat saturated with oil and MSG come to it's hot crunchy goodness. Barry is bewildered by this. How can you eat THAT, he asks with disgust? "I don't know" comes my simple reply as I take another crunchy bite with a smile but equal disgust, "but I can!"

Cream cheese has also been in my dreams.
My lovely mother brought me up a half dozen packages of cream cheese to add to my stash when she last came to visit.

Our family has been enjoying cheese ball after cheeseball. Too many cheeseballs

After three in a row, and the heart burn starting to get to me. I knew something must be done.

SO with my last 5 cream cheeses I decided to make my first New York Style cheese cake. My favorite dessert in the whole world.

After a half an hour prep time, 70 minutes of baking on a hot summer day, then 45 minutes more for the topping to cook, then a hour of letting the cake sit in the cooling oven, it was ready to be removed.

It was truly beautiful, a work of art.

I blended and strained raspberries for a sauce. Then after refrigeration for 12 more hours, the cake was ready to eat.

I sliced my piece, drizzled raspberry sauce on it and took a bite.

Mmmmmmmmmmm decadent goodness...Mmmmmmmmm ........Ewwwww..mushy... tangy smelly cheesy..........ewwwwww. I don't want this.

I handed my piece to Ellie.

She takes a bite, "Mmmmm this is a good cheeseball cake Mom."


Anybody know a good recipe for egg roll dipping sauce?



(Authors side note) After three days of watching my family enjoy my hard work, I once again tried the cheesecake and surprisingly found it quite to my liking. IN fact I ate a big piece for Pre-Breakfast(a necessity when your preggers), Breakfast, and then another piece for Lunch.
Around Dinner time with a belly ache that could kill a horse, I decided I wouldn't eat Cheese Cake again for a very very long time.

Nothing to blog about.