Dirt and snow and big trucks

The farm sold a small corner of property to  PG&E earlier this year. The company is putting some sort of underground substation in.  The most exciting part of this was the gigantic hole they dug, then used cranes to drop the pipes and things. Now they have covered it up and we get to be the happy recipients of the "extra" dirt that doesn't go back in the hole.  Do you see the pile of dirt under the orange scoop? All of that is coming our way! We need it too! Our ground is hard hard hard!
When dirt is delivered onto snow and in cold wet conditions, something is bound to get stuck. Luckily, hubby is a farmer and has full access to some cool tractor things.  There was some pushing on the driveway to get the belly dump truck up a time or two. Then the back hoe to rough up the road a bit to avoid that again.  Later the belly dump got stuck.

So, the guys attached a chain up front to the John Deere.

Unfortunately that wasn't enough power, so onto pushing also! Our favorite backhoe got lined up in back and then guess who got called off camera duty? yours truly...
"you want ME to get in that thing? let me just go put some boots on that are allowed to get dirty and a coat!"
and so...I got to hold down a floor button that locks the back wheels, and rev it all the way up! weehaw!
We got 22 loads on day one, on to day 2, of probably the same amount! It will be interesting to see what it all looks like in the spring!

And we got 'er done! yippee!  My services have not been required again, I guess they learned their lesson! (shucks! That was kind of fun.)

the elves keep getting bigger

I had convinced myself that we might not decorate much.  I want to make an advent wreath and spend a bit more time on the meaning of Christmas. I have a family advent devotional which is nicely set up for four family devotions in Advent. Plus we have a devotional from church that daddy is reading to us.
Long story short though, yesterday morning, Caiden's first words were, "Daddy, you have to go get the Christmas stuff so we can put the tree up!" and so, it began.  Daddy went and got the boxes out of the old house. Then the kids amazingly started decorating! I remember well, decorating for Mom, I am totally excited for the next 15 years of them decorating! How lovely!!

I can't believe how big my elves are getting, they had so much fun decorating and reminiscing when the traditional ornaments came out, they even spread them decently around the tree. The real test will be if the puppy and kitty will leave the bottom 1/3 alone! 
I guess we will start baking soon, I think fudge will first on the list!

Princess and the Roman Soldiers

We do love our quiet/nap time around here. About one o'clock we melt.  I nap sometimes, Ady naps sometimes and Caiden will even occasionally nap.  My advice to them is that they do not HAVE to sleep, but they need to start their quiet time by laying down. Then if they can't sleep, they can play quietly in their room.
Today, I caught up on my bible study work (meeting tonight). Ady fell asleep with the princess kitty, aren't they cute? They are great snuggle buddies, and who wouldn't fall asleep with a little motor going near an ear?

Caiden chose to continue working on copywork.  He has decided to copy the book of John.  He said that he plans to copy Romans next. Although he thinks that the book of Romans is about the Roman soldiers (since we have just spent several months learning about Italy and Rome in History)...I can't wait to hear his questions! ☺ Have you ever read through the Romans Road?

From Scratch

I have been having fun this week making some new stuff from scratch.  The first favorite dish (without pictures though) was brown rice/lentil with saucy chicken and Indian flatbread (chapati). I have already made a second version of this using the rice/lentil mixture, chapati, and leftover ham, tomatoes, onions in terriyaki...good stuff!  When I make the chapati, the kids like a fresh one with melted butter and cinnamon/sugar, in fact we all liked that! so I guess I will have to make double batches!

After watching an Asian cooking show on PBS CREATE I got inspired to look up Ramen noodles.  I love the things but refuse to buy them. The kids love them as well, but I still refuse.  There is pretty much nothing redeemable in the things plus there are unhealthy things, like MSG that we just don't need to consider a "treat".  So, I google searched and found this site for homemade Japanese Ramen noodles.  I used what I had in my pantry and must say that they turned out pretty well!

3/4 cup flour ( I used about a 1/4 of semolina flour)
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 T. water

Basically Ramen is an egg noodle.  My grandmother had taught me egg noodles for the family tradition of noodle gravy.

I would mostly just need to know how to get them to be longer and a little more ramen like!
After combining, kneading, and resting for 30 minutes, the dough is ready to roll out, if it still "springs back" let it rest a bit longer.

Then fold over twice with generous flour between layers, otherwise you will get noodle blobs, not long noodles!

Next, cut very very thin, they do "poof" a little in the water, so they will be wider than what you cut.

After they are all cut, THERAPY! there isn't anything quite like letting fresh flour-y noodles run through the fingers!

Next up is to put them into boiling water, not worrying about excess flour, it just falls off the noodles, no worries.  They only take a couple of minutes, so don't leave!

I had in bowls a little bouillon base and parsley, and added a little water from the pot. Next, I added noodles to each with more water and stirred and served it up to the kiddos. They LOVED it! they cleaned it up and said that they would love to eat it again....just not right now!

Now that the kids had approved and I had served the "boring" version, I was up for the next challenge of a more adult variety.
I had only rolled and cut 1/2 the dough (I had wisely made a double) so I started the process again for myself and hubby.
This time while the noodles were cooking, I cooked up spinach and onions and mixed up a sauce of terriyaki, rice vinegar, bouillon, water, and sesame oil...yumm!

Once the noodles were done, I put them into ice cold water to stop the cooking. Then added them into the pan with the spinach and onions, added the sauce until it was all heated through, then poured into bowls.

I had thought about adding some shrimp, but couldn't seem to dig deep enough in my freezer, plus hubby doesn't care for the stuff and I really wanted him to try it, I would be lucky to get him to eat the spinach version!
It was delish and mouth watering! I would definitely do this again.  I will have to keep watching cooking shows because they really do encourage me to be creative, which is a whole lot more fun than sweeping floors!

Comets

We are thoroughly enjoying our science curriculum. God's design for heaven and earth. is fabulous. Caiden absolutely adored animal science last year and is just as much if not more enthralled with space this year. His drawings consist of planets, stars, astronauts.  He likes to look at the stars at night and dreams of owning his own telescope.  We were able to check out some issues of kids discover from the library and the issues were all about planets and space. And of course we have checked out piles of books from the library.  We have also enjoyed NASA's website for kids They have great photos and games to play with.
Today the kids made their own comets out of styrofoam, glue, glitter and tagboard. I think they enjoyed it!

Advocare 24 day challenge days 8-10

Day 8 "weigh in" down 5 1/2 pounds!

days 8-10
probiotic Restore tablets 30 mins. before breakfast
with or before breakfast, fiber drink
afternoon spark drink on empty stomach


day 8 food
breakfast: creamed egg on toast (family favorite, not especially low anything!)
snack: 1 c. v8
lunch: chowmein and sweet n sour chicken (took kids to town)
dinner: 2 wasa crackers w/pb, unsweetened applesauce
snack: cottage cheese
total veggies...4

days 9 and 10
I didn't keep very good track and didn't do nearly as well with my food choices.  Glad day 11 is coming which should be a nice change! 

**I think the two desserts over the weekend have awakened a sugar craving. I was doing pretty well until then. Now I am battling the carb/sugar beast. hopefully I can get back on track tomorrow. I cooked some turkey in cranberry/orange sauce today that will hopefully turn into something delightful for lunch tomorrow!
The recipe calls for canned cranberry sauce but after seeing the high fructose corn syrup on the label, I used my recently purchased cranberries ('tis the season!) to make my own sauce with stevia. Kevin had some as a snack and approved!
***Spark energy drink. it tastes just fine, but I'm not a real fan. I have been having a hard time winding down in the evening, even when I drink it before 2 o'clock.  Maybe I need to switch it to the mid-morning?

baby girl turns 6

My little girl is almost 6. We had her family gathering this weekend, a week early to accomodate schedules.  For lunch Ady got to request the menu. She chose Mashed potatoes, bacon, and graham crackers. I added a salad.  Interesting choice of bacon as the main dish for lunch...but hey, she's turning six, why not?
Next up were her presents. She enjoyed this time of being the middle of the attention. 

The "big" gift of the day was a new bike.  She has had two hand me down bikes this year blow out the tires. We are hoping that a new one will hold up to the rigors of farm riding!

Her dessert of choice was pumpkin pie which fortunately Costco is great at making. 

I guess I got off pretty easy this year, but considering the efforts that went into turning 5, it was nice to take it easy for 6. Plus it's really not totally over yet.  We are hoping to meet with the other half of family sometime soon, and I'm sure we will do something on her actual day to celebrate as well!

And just for a little comic relief, a photo taken by Caiden

Advocare 24 day challenge: days 4-7

weigh in at day 4: LOST 4 pounds!!! :)
You can see days 1-3 here
Days 4-7
Probiotic restore capsules 30 mins. before breakfast
afternoon: spark energy drink on empty stomach
cleanse tablets before bed

day 4 food
breakfast: 1 slice multigrain toast w/minimal butter, over easy egg, tomato slices
snack: 1c. v8, 1/4 c. pumpkin seeds
lunch: homemade polenta with turkey meatballs in spaghetti sauce, steamed broccoli 
snack: 1/2 c. applesauce, 1/2 c. cottage cheese
dinner: 1c. veggie soup w/barley, 2 wasa crackers
snack: banana, soy crisps

total veggie servings...8

day 5 food 
breakfast: 1c. total raisin bran with 1% milk and sliced banana
snack: 1c. v8 soy crisps
lunch: vegetable soup with barley, broiled polenta
snack: applesauce and cottage cheese
dinner: (at church) chili and corn chips
total veggie servings...6

day 6 food:
breakfast: 2 scrambled egs with salsa
lunch: (Ady's birthday menu) mashed potatoes, bacon, salad
snack: Costco pumpkin pie
dinner: apple with peanut butter, soy crisps
total veggies....5

day 7 food
breakfast: peaches with cottage cheese
lunch: chicken curry with vegetables, brown rice, and tortilla  **we are studying India with Sonlights' passport to India    project, so curry chicken fit in well. Ady even experimented with eating rice with her fingers as we had seen done on the video.  If I would have been better planned we would have made traditional Indian flatbread to go with the meal.**
snack: 1c. v8 soy crisps
dinner: large artichoke (w/mayo)
snack: (at women's bible study) pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap/pecan crust....Thanks Erika!!! :)
glass of 1% milk before bed
total veggies....5

days 4-7 summary
When I got on the scale the morning of day 4 and saw a 4 pound loss, I was soooo encouraged! I am feeling pretty good.  Really, I have tried to cut out the white flour and sugar.  I am still using stevia in my coffee and that seems just fine. I don't feel as hungry as I thought I would. I think that by focusing on veggies and proteins, I am giving my system better stuff to digest. My blood sugar doesn't seem to be diving all over the place.  I did manage to have two desserts in two days, I'm wondering how much that will affect my "weigh in" tomorrow.  But, in real life, I eat dessert...and life WILL go on! ☺
I have enjoyed browsing my cookbooks for low fat lean meat recipes. I am actually surprised that after giving up dairy last summer for awhile, that my menus had become quite dependent on cream sauces and cheese. It is a good experience to make other kinds of sauces and "bump up" the veggie count.
There are 3 more days to this stage of the 24 day challenge..so far so good!

Advocare 24 day challenge: days 1-3

I've gotten a little "soft in the middle". I never could/did lose my first round of baby weight. I'm now in my mid 30's and obviously my metabolism is changing. Diabetes runs in my family. I am prone to hormonal headaches. I don't want to be fat.  I really really want my cute jeans to fit without a muffin top. However, I don't like to sweat. Lots of reasons to do something about the pudge!

I was looking for something to help me "jumpstart" a weight loss. I feel like I know quite a bit about nutrition but seldom follow through in the long run. I do cook lots and lots from scratch;  I would say that our diet is fairly healthy. However, it does contain quite a bit of milky, cheesy, sugary, fatty tasty foods, and so....a kick start is needed.  During my lovely girls weekend at Women of Faith there was a booth for Advocare. My BFF and I got "roped in" and are now up for the challenge.
I also need to be moving my BEhind more....I am trying... this mostly consists of walking more.  I have pilates and yoga discs that could be beneficial, but...did I mention already that I do NOT like to sweat? could be a problem...

24 day Advocare challenge
During the first 10 days, the focus is on fiber and a cleanse.  I am supposed to try for 8-10 fruits/veggies a day. (ha! I'm usually lucky to get 2!!) Also supposed to avoid white flours (bread, reg. pasta, cookies!) and sugars!

day 1-3:
fiber drink before breakfast
afternoon Spark Energy drink
cleanse tablets before bed

day 1 food
breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, tomato slices
lunch: vegetable soup (with textured vegetable protein added), corn chips
dinner: chicken salad sandwich on multi grain bread, tomato slices
snack: banana
total veggie servings....4

day2 food (began substituting stevia for sugar in coffee)

breakfast: canned peaches, lowfat cottage cheese
snack: soy chips, 1 c. v8
lunch: vegetable soup, tuna steak, wasa rye crackers
dinner: 2 wasa crackers with bruschetta, two slices deli chicken, 1/2 c. v8
snack: banana 
total veggie servings....6.5 (How will I get 1.5 MORE????)

day 3 food:
breakfast: scrambled eggs with lowfat cottage cheese and salsa, 1 slice multi-grain toast with elderberry jam.
lunch: vegetable soup, 3 maza crackers
snack: 1c. v8 
dinner:Whole apple with peanut butter, soy crisps
snack: fresh homemade unsweetened applesauce, cottage cheese, 1 c. v8
total veggie servings....8!!!!! :) ( I have no idea what I would do without v8!)


3 day summary:
I have eaten very different for the last three days, much more fruits and veggies than normal. Cutting out most bread is challenging. I LOVE LOVE LOVE bread and crackers and chips....ergh! But, I am doing well, and have made a few things that I haven't made in the past. I am focusing more on protein and veggie/fruit than on carbs. I honestly haven't felt as hungry as I normally do. I have been more intentional with snacks. I am not normally a big snacker, but making myself eat healthy snacks is helping me eat less at meals...maybe there really is something to eating five small meals a day! :)
What is also really really interesting is that my acid reflux is WAY better! I haven't taken any medication or TUMS...how cool is that?

First soccer game

Ady's first soccer game was yesterday. I apparently do NOT know how to set my camera, because I couldn't get one single decent photo of the game. She ran the entire game and had a great day. She blocked great, kicked, even scored a goal. She wasn't intimidated by all the kicking, she got right in the middle of it and smiled tons! That a girl! well done!!!

County Fair 2010

We do love our county fair. Free entry, no alcohol, lots of family entertainment, great animals, lots of friends to visit, it just doesn't get better! The kids and I went every day for a couple of hours.  It is a nice break from normal life (is there such a thing?) plus it allows us to see parts of the fair each day, rather than trying to squeeze it all in at once.
Every year so far, my kiddos meet Jacob and Rebecca to ride the carnival rides on Sunday afternoon, the last day.  We kept up tradition this year and the kids had a blast as usual!  They are getting bigger and bigger and riding scarier and scarier rides... The morning started with the greased pig contest and they unfortunately did not catch one!
The mommies look forward to an afternoon of visiting and kid tracking...

Then a little decorating

Then a little relaxing in the shade before the rides.

And then some rides!

And the popular pedal tractor pulls. Caiden made it into the second round! Way to go big guy!

And finally off toward home to relax a bit in the quiet with some iced tea, a little napping and some t.v. watching.  We plan to end the day with nice warm baths to get the "fair germies" off ALL of the body, not just the sticky fingers! :)

Spontaneous

I love that my hubby is spontaneous.  Which often makes up for the inability to make plans around the farming schedules.  I was elbow deep in processing peaches yesterday with a list of things to accomplish running around in my head.  The kids were happily playing with their zhu zhu pets in the hall, building homes out of blocks.  Hubby came in and quietly asked if we'd like to go to the lake.  I WOULD!!  I created a stopping point in my process, and got changed.  The kids did some whining, they had their morning t.v. already scheduled out (they only get a couple of cartoons on Saturday/Sunday mornings, so it was kind of like taking dessert away!) But we dragged them out with us anyway.

Our first stop was KFC for some hot lunch...I love that spontaneous also included eating out!  Then up hwy 140.  We turned off at Eagle Ridge Park.  That was a great spot.  Really no one else there.  It was right by a marshy spot of the lake, so I got some snowy egret pictures.  However, getting good bird pictures when your companions are two kids and a two dogs...not real successful :)

We ate our picnic here near the lake.  There was lots of wildlife to see, including critters like grasshoppers, locusts and garter snakes. Caiden LOVED it!

There was a locust in there somewhere, he was trying to talk Ady into getting it for him. Didn't work too well, they are good jumpers!

There was a snake on a rock and he was trying to talk Ady into getting it with the stick. Didn't work too well...do you notice a theme?  And yet...later when he was trying to talk her into getting another snake (and the puppy kept messing that up!) he called HER a chicken for not getting it! crazy kid.

Pretty boy.

Their was a trail through the bushes that went to the lake, perfect exploring for kids!

We decided to drive on down the road to Lake of the Woods where there would be a bit more shade to walk in.  Eagle Ridge was a beautiful spot, but it was a warm afternoon.

Skipping rocks and throwing sticks.  Lake of the Woods has wonderful pockets of beach all over, so you can have a little beach practically to yourself, which was great for the dogs so they could be off leash for a couple of hours.

What kid doesn't like climbing on big old logs?

My sparkly girl.

We also walked down to the general store and Marina for drinks and ice cream.

Do you know how much doggies love ice cream?

I think Anslow had a really good day. silly boy.

We had a nice log to sit on to watch the antics of our crew.  A great way to relax!
And when we were headed home we asked the kids if the day turned out better than watching t.v. all morning and they did indeed admit that it was...yay! We even practiced how they could respond next time.
D: Want to go to the lake today?
Kids: YES!!!! with LOTS of excitement.
They thought I was crazy for practicing the conversation, but maybe they will remember next time? :)