Little Things Make Me Happy

A couple of things that made me happy today.  I got a free little picket fence holder from someone, I had the styrofoam cube from my friend, and I had the construction paper for the grass and I bought the long suckers today as take home gifts for Gwen's birthday party.  You can't really see in the picture, but the suckers are watermelon slices.  I plan on making chocolate chip cookies on sticks also, but I kind of like the long sticks and watermelon slices in there.  It makes me happy OK?

Another thing that has made me very happy in the last few months is this little framed footprint of Zeke's feet when he was two months.  I had it laying around and I thought... I'm going to frame it and I just LOVE looking at them.  When I'm having a frustrating moment I look at these little tiny feet and it makes me happy.

Now in case you are wondering... I'm toying with making a t-shirt blanket and also getting a frame for my peep hole on my door.  More on that another day.  What makes YOU happy?

Omaha Trip

Ben and I got away to Omaha, Nebraska without kids this weekend.  We had such a great time!  Omaha is a very family oriented city and not too big.  One thing I noticed is that almost everyone in Omaha has tattoos.  We stayed in the Old Market area downtown so we didn't drive the whole weekend.  It was lovely.

Here we are after renting a couple of bikes.  We had a nice bike ride over the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Missouri river.

Ben and his crepes one morning for breakfast.  He could not eat all of this, but they were delicious.

We went to the farmer's market to look around.

One Asian lady was selling these flowers.  I loved them and asked her what they were.  She said "love in the mist."  Interesting.

Omaha has street trash cans that have recycling on one side and trash on the other... love it!

We went to the zoo while we were there.  Here are a few of my favorite shots.

I learned a group of jellyfish are called a "smack".  How are these even animals?  They are gorgeous!

A stonefish blending in.

a blue hummingbird.

Us in the rainforest under a waterfall.

One of my absolute favs... silverback (adult male) gorillas. 

Old Market passageway.  We ate dinner here after the zoo.  Lovely.

slides in a park.

We went to a diner one morning for breakfast.  It was run by an Asian family.

It had a working jukebox and Ben chose "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and I chose "I Fall To Pieces" by Patsy Cline.

Success

Success at Any Age:
4 – not wetting your pants
12 – having friends
16 – having a driver’s license
25 – being intimate with your spouse
35 – having money
50 – having money
60 – being intimate with your spouse
70 – having a driver’s license
80 – having friends
90 – not wetting your pants

Little Things

I found this egg under a tree yesterday hatched.  It made me smile.  And yes, we have a tiny little wagon to tote it in. 

Zeke fitting into the tight spots.  He's still little to me.

Big Friend, Little Friend

 We have a book with this fold tale in it.  I love it and reminds me it is wise to be friends with everyone.

One day Lion closed his eyes.  He wanted to fall asleep.  Then, Mouse came by.  Lion heard Mouse and woke up.  Lion glared at Mouse.  Then he grabbed him.  Mouse began to shake.  He didn't want to fall.  "Great Lion, let me go!" said Mouse. 

"Why should I let you go?" asked Lion.  Mouse said, "I am a little mouse.  But I can be a good friend to you."  "How could a little mouse be my friend?" asked Lion.  "You will see," said Mouse.  "Ha!  Ha!  Ha!" said Lion.  "You can go.  You made me happy today."

Many days passed.  Then one day Mouse heard a great and scary roar.  "Is that my friend?" asked Mouse.  "Did something happen to Lion?"  Mouse ran in haste.  Before long, Mouse saw what had happened.  Lion was in a big net.  "I will help you," Mouse told Lion.  "How can you help?" asked Lion.  "You are so little."  "I can help," said Mouse.  "Don't move," he told Lion.  Mouse began to nibble at the net.  He made a little hole.  Before long, the hold got bigger and bigger.  Soon Lion was free.

Lion was so happy.  "Hop on my back," he told Mouse.  "We will ride together."  That day, Lion and Mouse became friends.  They are still good friends today. 

The Cutting of the Trees

We went to Serb Fest on Saturday and I thought I had more pictures, but I guess they didn't take.  We had Serbian food and listened to Serbian music and Zeke tried to kiss this little girl.  He was determined.  It made us laugh.  Here he is leaning in for the kiss.

Ben single handedly chopped down two trees in our back yard.  I'd like to put two more planters there for gardening.  It's a good thing we chopped them down as they were half rotten on the inside.

Lately

It's summer time here and so we are outside a lot these days.  Sprinklers, baby pools, swingsets and trampolines are our companions when it's not raining.  Today we visited a new park.  There are some gorgeous parks in the area and I've been going to the same ok ones.  Little did I know!  By the way, this park today had a sand box and I've decided DEFINITELY NOT to put sand in our back yard.  :)

and I told my mom I'd send her a picture of my newest project, but why not just show all of you.  My friend, Janna, gave me this kit that you make tiles and you are supposed to transfer a photograph onto them.  I decided to choose a stamp I liked and stamped them instead.  I think they turned out pretty well.  What projects are you doing?  I've added bell pepper and dill to my back yard garden and Ben's bamboo is now taller than our fence.  

Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer

This is a wonderful way to use your homemade vanilla extract.  The store bought kind is plenty good tasting, but has oil and other scarey ingredients.  I'm going to give this one a whirl and let you know what I think.

1 C half and half or heavy cream
1 1/2 C milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 T vanilla extract or whatever flavor you like
Put in a quart sized jar and shake

Stays good for two weeks in the fridge.  Cheers! (or "ching" in our house)

What Happens At Grandmas...

This is today.  She told me she needed a "vow" for her violin.  Hum... will she be musical?  I don't know, but I thought it was adorable.

This was yesterday at Ben's mom's house.  They enjoyed skinny dipping in the little pool.  Zeke is splashing and Gwen is cleaning the deck with a brush.

Naked chef.

I believe I got this toy from my sister Stephanie...but it cracks me up.  It is a one eyed camel.  It resides at Grandma's. 

Most Like an Arch

Most Like an Arch This Marriage
By John Ciardi

Most like an arch—an entrance which upholds
and shores the stone-crush up the air like lace.
Mass made idea, and idea held in place.
A lock in time. Inside half-heaven unfolds.

Most like an arch—two weaknesses that lean
into a strength. Two fallings become firm.
Two joined abeyances become a term
naming the fact that teaches fact to mean.

Not quite that? Not much less. World as it is,
what’s strong and separate falters. All I do
at piling stone on stone apart from you
is roofless around nothing. Till we kiss

I am no more than upright and unset.
It is by falling in and in we make
the all-bearing point, for one another’s sake,
in faultless failing, raised by our own weight.

More Videos

The kids acting particularly cheeky at breakfast one morning.



I simply can not get enough of watching Zeke walk.  I could watch this over and over.

Walking Boy and Play

This is Zeke walking.  He's much better than this now, but I need to get a better video.  I feel like I have been waiting on this almost a year and a half... wait... it has been a year and a half almost.  He still prefers to crawl, but when I mention walking he tries. 




The kids playing on the swingset.

KC Storms

Storms in Kansas City yesterday.  Storms do not mess around here.   

Flower and Recipes

This is a tulip poplar bloom.  I think it looks lovely beside my bathroom sink.  Don't you?

Anyway... here are some recipes for you to try.  The first one I got from my local paper and the nice thing about it is that you use lots of good veggies in the sauce and it makes a lot of sauce... so when I made it with the meatballs we had it with leftover brown rice.  Then I froze the extra sauce and another night I made whole wheat spaghetti and put the sauce over it for a meatless dinner. 

Turkey-feta meatballs in vegetable tomato sauce

For Meatballs:
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 C diced red onion
1/3 C crumbled feta cheese (I used more cause I love the stuff)
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary or fresh basil (I used basil from my basil plant)

Vegetable Tomato Sauce

1/4 C olive oil
2 white onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 red bell peppers, chopped
2 zucchini or yellow squash, grated (I used zucchini)
2 carrots, grated
1 butternut or acorn squash or sweet potato, peeled and chopped (I left this out because I didn't have those items)
2 T fresh or 2 tsp dried thyme (I used dried)
2 T fresh or 2 tsp dried oregano (I used dried)
4 (28 oz) cans chopped tomatoes, reduced sodium (I used only one and the sauce was thicker and tastier in my opinion)

1.  To prepare sauce, heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic; saute 5 min.  Add bell peppers and next 5 ingredients.  Cook 10 min.  Add tomatoes and simmer until butternut squash is tender.  about 20 minutes.  (I dumped it all in at once and because I didn't have the butternut squash or potato I didn't cook it that long)
2. Preheat oven to 350
3. Put all the stuff for the meatballs together and form into meatballs.  Put them on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes... or if you are running low on time you can broil them, but watch the time... only about 5 minutes per side.  Remember to stir them if you broil. 

Are you into cooking with whole foods?  Don't know what that is?  It's when you try to keep everything as natural as possible.  Ok, so I made this dessert to take to someone's house today.  I haven't tasted it yet, but it smells really nice.

Whole Wheat Brownie Pie

1/3 C oil
1/3 C sugar (I used sucanat)
1/3 C honey
2 tsp vanilla (my homemade)
2 eggs
1/3 C whole wheat flour
1/3 C toasted or raw wheat germ (I used toasted)
1/3 C carob or cocoa powder
1/4 tsp sea salt

1.  Beat oil, sugar, honey, and vanilla together.
2.  Add eggs one at a time.
3.  Add dry ingredients and stir until blended.
4.  Pour into a greased pie pan.
5.  Bake at 350 for 25 min.

I bought my first organic whole chicken today and a pound of grass fed ground beef.  I'm going to see if I think it is any different.  What items would you buy organically?

Farmer's Market Splash Pad

 Saturday we went to the Overland Park farmer's market.  We were putting together care kits for Alabama tornado victims and they had a splash fountain nearby.  It started with Gwen trying to touch the water.  I told her "no, don't do that Gwen, you'll get your shoes wet."  Ben told me to relax, so I did and childish fun ensued. 

Vanilla Extract Making and Pennant

Today we prepared our vanilla extract to go to the basement and cure for 6 months.  Gwen is my vanilla bean putter in the jarrer.  My, she's looking like a three year old!  It's coming up soon.  Anyway, I thought I'd only make 1 gallon, but I had enough vanilla beans to make a gallon and a half.  Um, somebody better want some of this for Christmas is all I'm sayin'.  

Here's what Zeke was doing.  He's like "what?"

 I told you this year I'm into strings of things.  Well, the rabbits were getting old so I took them down.  I needed some string of something so I made a pennant.  With the help of my borrowed cricut machine I made these cut outs.  It may be weird, but it makes me happy and adds some color to my kitchen.  It's like I'm having a fiesta all the time!  :)