A Full Family Friday
There’s nothing quite like waking up to the screech of my daughter screaming, “MOMMMMMMMMMMMMY, MOMMMMMMMMMMMMY, MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY!!!” Putting my pillow over my head doesn’t help me tune it out, so I stumbled out of bed and discovered her butt-naked in her crib, trying to clean up a big puddle of pee-pee. “Sucio [dirty] pee-pee, Mommy.” Yeah. Good morning, Melissa!
The day definitely greeted us with an exuberance that couldn’t be squelched even with a cranky toddler running through the house naked, welcoming our house guests who walked through the door just as my darling Ellie somehow managed to throw a fit, say hi, and run all at the same time. Jeffrey took a semi-day off, and took his family to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). Ellie is loving having her cousins here and had a great time playing with all the exhibits. Thanks for the photos, Jenny and Mike!
Uncle Mike, Jeffrey and Ellie Graye
Kinsey and EG after playing in the water!
Conner showing her the Dry Ice filled Bubbles
Cierra helping EG get her own Bubble!
SOOOOOO cool!
Look!!!!
POP!
While they all went off to play, I stayed home and took care of all the miscellaneous things that needed to get done around here. I finally got around to picking a bucket of green walnuts to make Vin de Noix (Walnut Liquor) for Christmas gifts. This is the first year that I’ve actually remembered to pick them before the nut really started to form, so this year will be a bit of an experiment! I haven’t had a chance to go buy all the other ingredients, but hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to sneak away in order to buy a couple cases of vodka. Yes, I said a “couple cases.” It sounds like a lot, but last year I went through four cases of large bottles, and still could have used/sold/given away more, so I figure I may as well go all out.
After some walnut picking, Jake and I headed out to the garden to get some footage of strawberry picking, which led to a much needed organizational spree in the greenhouse. Once that was done, I pulled up the onions that were telling me they were ready to be pulled (their stems bend when they have finished growing). Then I dug up a few of my carrots (almost 2 pounds), and then joined Geekah in his quest to clean out the weeds in the garden. Once that was done, I headed inside to start dinner: Disguised Vegetable Lasagna (it’s very similar to my lasagna recipe, but with more than just a couple additions and methods, I think it deserves its very own posting). See, there were more than a few vegetable haters at the table tonight, so I took the challenge and figured out a way to disguise a multitude of healthy ingredients! While I wasn’t able to convert all of them, I do believe everyone went back for seconds! LOVE that!
- The beets give the sauce an insanely beautiful color! And the combination of all the veggies puts this lasagna in a class of its own!
While the sauce was simmering, I sliced up the carrots and made one of my favorite summer snacks: Spicy Pickled Carrots. So darn good, fresh, and clean!
In some areas where I planted Carrots, I didn't amend the soil enough, so it was too hard for the carrots to penetrate, so instead they shot off with a million different roots! Ha. They look like aliens
DELICIOSO!
With the air conditioner still out of service and the heat nearly unbearable, once everyone got back to the house and EG had had her nap, it was pool time. I can’t tell you how proud it makes me to watch Ellie swim the entire length of the pool alone. Not just that, my little almost-2-year-old jumped off the diving board, caught her breath, and then swam to the side – without anyone touching her. I almost burst with pride, and also gratitude to the swim school for giving her such an amazing, life saving skill! It’s pretty darn amazing. Jake got a lot of footage, and is working on putting together a video, so hopefully within the next couple of days, we’ll be able to post it for you to watch!
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