Easter Weekend 2011

We had a nice, quiet, relaxing weekend.  On Saturday, one of Logan's classmates, Emma, called and asked if he could come over to her house and dye eggs.  Well, Logan was pretty excited about this!  Since Emma started school at Cibola House, he is no longer the youngest and has made it his job to take Emma under his wing and show her the ropes. 

Even though the day was for the kids, us grown-ups had a good time too.

Getting the dye prepared.  Krista (Emma's mom) and Emma

Picture time.  Emma's dad (Ryan) is behind Logan snapping away.

Checking out Emma's eggs.

Dying eggs.



Emma and Ryan

 The Easter bunny hid the beautiful eggs that Logan and Emma had dyed.  So Sunday morning Logan and Aslyn hunted them down in our backyard.

Aslyn enjoying the egg hunt.

 

Sleeping Cannelloni

Back when Logan was first starting solids, I purchased two recipe books - "Top 100 Baby Purees" and "First Meals" both by Annabel Karmel.  "First Meals" has recipes from first tastes (6 months old) to family meals (for kids 3-7 years old.)

I hadn't tried any of the family meal recipes yet, so last night I thought it would be fun to make sleeping cannelloni.  One thing I discovered in New Mexico is that you can not find everything you need at one grocery store; however when the day of errands comes down to grocery shopping, we are all usually too tired to go to more than one stop.  So mine were actually sleeping manicotti. 

Here is what the dish is suppose to look like:

And here is what mine turned out to look like - oh dear.

When I first put the dish on the table, JP laughed and asked, "what the hell is this?"  I showed him the picture in the book.  Do you know what he said mine look like?  Dead scarecrows.

Logan didn't seem to care.  He gobbled his up right away.

Sleepy Children

There must be something in the air because I have kids falling asleep all over the house today.

Logan got up, came and gave me a hug, and a little later I found him here.  Curled up and fast asleep in the jogging stroller.

 Aslyn woke up, her and I played for a bit and now here she is.  Notice she is lying on somebody's quilt.



An Apron For Sarah

I have been busy, busy, busy trying to get my sewing projects caught up. On Sunday, I finally got Sarah's (my sister) half apron completed; I only told her I would make her one about three years ago. 

My husband modeling Sarah's apron

The yellow fabric was some 1930's reproduction I had on hand.  I 'm not sure what it was called or who it was by.  I bought the green gingham and the wooden buttons at JoAnn's one day.  Pattern for the apron is called Kitchen Kouture and it is a Linda Flake design.

So, here it is, in all it's glory and magnificence!!  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Our Trip to the Zoo

For JP's birthday this year, he wanted to have a family trip to the zoo.  Below are a few pictures of our little outing.

Arriving at the Zoo

Aslyn wasn't sure about the flamingos

Sharing a ride

Ready to go on the zoo train

These just make me smile

Power Outage

Sunday is our day to stay home, relax, and hang out.  My original plan was to go out and try to get the rototiller started, then start tilling the garden (I've done everything by a hoe thus far.)  However, the winds were blowing 60 mph.  Not a very good day to till.  Though, I feel as though I'm running out of time.  Mother's Day is always my day to plant and I'm not even near getting the soil to my liking.

As I was hanging out in the living room with Logan and Aslyn, them playing on the floor and me looking at a quilt pattern trying to decide if I wanted to make it or make something similar to it, everything shut down.  The ceiling fan, I heard the fridge turn off, and then JP yelling from the computer room, "What happened?" - - he was in the middle of something in his online game.

Usually when the power goes out around here it comes back on within minutes.  Only one time in five years was the power down for three days - this happened when Logan was pretty little so he doesn't remember it.  However, after about a hour of no power, I realized this may be another one of those long term outages.

JP joined us in the living room, him whining about where he was in his game, me about how I can't sew anything now without power and how in circumstances such as these, a pedal foot sewing machine sure would be nice.

I stopped whining long enough to look at Logan and Aslyn, playing so peacefully together on the floor without a care in the world that the light coming through the window would soon be gone - it's also moments like these when I beat myself up for not buying any lanterns or stocking up better on candles.  My whining wasn't going to get the power back on any sooner, so might as well make the best of it right?

When the sun did go down and there was absolute no more light coming through the windows, I lit the few candles I have.  JP and Logan were given head lamps a while back so we dug those out, I remembered that I had a battery operated set of Christmas lights out in the bunkhouse that I had never used.  What better time than now?

Logan thought playing with his trucks by candle light was the best thing in the world!  He would run his tractor by the candle, smiling and, "Momma - whooooaaaaa."  Aslyn didn't seem to care either way, until someone got up to go in the other room for something and she realized she was sitting there all alone in the dark.

When the power finally did come back (Monday morning around 9:30 am), I found myself a little relieved and a little disappointed.  Relieved because, hey let's face it power is pretty darn convenient.  Disappointed because I knew that Monday night will be much like all other nights, JP in the computer room playing games, Aslyn and me hanging out in the living room doing whatever, Logan either with me or playing in his room. 

So often, our "family" time is running errands.  At home we usually are not all in the same room.  So, I found the evening rather enjoyable, the four of us hanging out together, reading, playing and just goofing around.

Victory Gardens

Perhaps it is the anticipation of my own garden, but I have been fascinated with garden history lately.

Victory Gardens (or War Gardens) were first brought about during World War I where food shortages and the fear of escalating food prices brought people of all statures to come together and plant gardens.  During this time the efforts were so successful that the National War Garden Community estimated a produced crop valued at over $350 million.  And all of this was grown in back yards and vacant lots!

The second time communities came together and planted Victory Gardens was in the 1940's during World War II.  Because of transportation and labor shortages, people were again encouraged to plant gardens in the name of patriotism.  Anything to help the war effort.
                                                              
Inspired by these stories - and tired of eating the same old stuff - I went in search of a cookbook with recipes focusing on the produce derived from the Victory Gardens.  Lo and behold, I found "The Victory Garden Cookbook" by Marian Morash.  A book filled with over 800 recipes, tips on how to grow that particular vegetable in your own garden, and picking the vegetable out at the market (in case you don't want to grow that vegetable.) 

As soon as the book arrived in the mail, I curled up on the couch and went through it page by page.  Each recipe I would say, "ooohhhh I'm going to make this" or "yum, this sounds good!"

From stuffed cabbage to pumpkin cranberry cookies, I drooled over each recipe.  Making menus of the recipes I find to serve.

So this weekend, I will venture out to the grocery store and purchase some items for our Victory Garden dinners (it's still too soon to plant my garden here, but I am looking forward to trying these recipes from freshly picked vegetables in the garden -- -- Hurry up Spring!!)

Here is one website I read if you are interested in reading more about Victory Gardens.  And here is another that has the history of farming from the 1920's to today.