Summer Food is the Best Food

We made bread today.  Harvested 6 big and beautiful tomatoes and a few leaves of lettuce.  Papa grew us some bacon.  The corn's not ready yet, but I picked up a few ears at The Barn because Daphne (and now Christian, it seems) just loves it.  David has been leaving us breakfast treats of blackberries that he's picked while at work.

Summer food --farm food-- is the best food.

 

*We got new a phones so feel free to go back to calling/texting our cell phones for any needed emergencies.

**I used this bread recipe, so if you soak your grains Nourishing Traditions style like we do, you'll appreciate and love it.

***I changed my comment box to a pop-up window because I realized I could and because I think it's easier to leave comments on a pop-up box.  Leave a comment and you too can see just how nice it is. 

One Post with About Twelve Topics

I've been mentally filing away a few blog posts the past few days, but now that I'm sitting here at the computer I can't think of a single one of them.  It seems my mental filing cabinet got donated to The Salvation Army the day I had a baby.  (Pinterest keeps showing so many cute things to do with old filing cabinets that I wish I would have kept it around.) 

What are we talking about right now?  Real filing cabinets or fake ones?  This is such a weird post. 

David took the kids out to the Gorge for a little hike this morning, leaving me alone in a quiet house for the first time in a VERY long time.  I'm overwhelmed with all the things to do, so overwhelmed that I'm just sitting here thinking about filing cabinets.

If you think I might be sad about missing a family hike, know that we went on a family hike just last week.  We took the same trail Christian and I went on with friends a few months ago, but this time the weather was sticky hot and we got to go real slow so that Christian could stand in awe of the waterfall for as long as he wanted.  Both kids had a great time, and we're definitely planning on getting in a few more hikes this summer and fall.

We've gone blueberry picking twice in the past two weeks with another trip planned for this week.  You should see my freezer right now.  It is so full of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries that don't you know I say a little prayer of thanks every time I think about it. We'll be well fed this winter.

Last Sunday we got to have brunch on The Portland Spirit.  Both kids loved it, but I think Christian was the most impressed.  He was glued to the railing the whole time, in wonder at all the boats, buoys and birds he got to see.  (Accidental but impressive alliteration there.) 

The kids and I just got back from four days down in Albany.  David had some overtime to work, plus we had our fabulous Ohio family here, Pascha was in the Linn County Fair (she's a champion), there was time for a late-night out with Shelley, and baby Callie Anne had her baby dedication, so it seemed a good weekend to force our company down there once again. 

We played this baseball game at Gigi's house, a type I had never heard of before.  I still don't get it 100% (I mostly just went where I was told) but you don't have teams, you just rotate a position as soon as a batter gets out?  Or something like that?  I don't remember what it was called.  But it was so fun!  And Christian just loves baseball now.  As if he needed another ball game to be in love with (seeing as how he also got introduced to croquet).

 

erin's amazing batting form

And now we're back to the family is gone on their hike and I should probably try to be productive. 

As a side note:  the screen on my cell phone decided to die last night.  An overnight in a bag of rice revived it after Christian threw it in the pool, but apparently it hadn't healed as fully as I had hoped.  It still works just fine, I just can't see the screen, so I'm trying to remember throughout the day to check my messages via the computer.  Just an FYI if you text me and wonder why I'm slow on the response.  Maybe don't use my cell phone if there's an emergency.  We'll probably go buy a new phone today, which is sad because I don't like buying cell phones. 

Have a nice day.

Monday, The Day We Celebrated

Monday loomed ahead of us: the day we would have to wake Christian mid-nap in order to go spend our last few hours at the hospital to finish up Kidney Stones 2013.

Besides Daphne asking a nice grandma-type lady why she was so old, our trip was fairly stress free because I am the most amazing mom ever because I stuffed their faces with juice boxes and string cheese and fruit leather.  When you're bored you should eat, I think would be the moral of that story.  

So then we celebrated with Yo Cream.  Because when you're happy you should eat.

(Do you like how I did the gloomy part of the day in black and white and the happy part in color?  That's what is called an artsy move.)

I thought I would have more to say but apparently I don't.  I think it's because there's about 900% humidity outside and we northwesterners aren't used to such stickiness in our weather thus it's hard for me to move my arms.  I keep imagining I'm hearing thunder (a good thunderstorm would be a nice accompaniment to this humidity) but I think it's just neighbors rolling their garbage cans out. 

Oh, David and I just started a new show.  White Collar.  We're almost caught up with Psych so we needed something of similar hilarity to entertain us.  So far (we've watched like 3 episodes) it's pretty good; not as funny as Psych but funny enough to keep us watching.  Otherwise the only other show we watch together is Grimm.  That's filmed here in Portland, you know.  I've even seen one person I know on an episode as an extra.  David needs to be an extra, don't you think?  He did get his picture taken with the main guy when he was at his precinct one time.  That was pretty cool. 

Today we went to the park for a bit.  Daphne, wearing shorts and a tank top, went running across the bark chips toward the play structure, fell down on the ground, and her underwear fell off.  She got up and it was just lying on the ground.  I have no idea how that happened, but it was really, REALLY funny. 

So we started at the hospital and ended with lost underwear.  That's some good blog post content (and a lot of words for not having a lot to say. 

Our 4th of July Vacation, The Finale

If you want to read only the most interesting blog post you've ever read in your life, I invite you to head right over here.  If you like me and think you want to be my friend, you should actually just skip right on over me and be friends with Shelley instead.  She's much cooler.  She has a lot of terrific words to share; you'll appreciate learning from her humble wisdom. 

She said it all and then some; it really is such a treat to so easily be friends with someone.  Don't we all need to be able to late-night text with a kindred spirit about the atrocity that was the Downton Abbey Season 3 finale?  Yes, I think so. 

So of course no extended trip south can be made without a visit with her and her two darling girls, and a summer picnic at a picturesque park right next to the river was just the place.  (Of course Christian is left wondering why he is always surrounded by girls?) 

These visits are too few and far between, that's for sure. 

The rest of our weekend was spent swimming at GAB's, trying to discourage the kids from eating what they assumed was tables full of free berries at the Farmer's Market, and trying to keep Christian from completely falling apart.  Apparently the combo of fighting sickness and skipping naps for three days causes him to lose his mind and decide to hate life. 

David was starting to feel better as our weekend was ending but the past two days have been pretty bad again.  Hopefully the next two days will bring some change, because as much as his kidney stones appear to love him, he does not return the same affection for them.  (Actually I think it's just one giant stone.  One giant and unmoving, wants-to-stay-forever stone.)

where's David?

Our 4th of July Vacation, Part 1

Crickets have been chirping on the ol' blog lately, but I do have a few good reasons for why that is:

Kidney stone, fevers, lots of vomit, crabby kids.

The stones are David's, and the same day we were at the hospital getting him a CT scan because the doctor thought he had appendicitis, Christian started throwing up in the waiting room, which spread to Daphne the next day...you get the picture.

The kids are better now, but we have to take David to the doctor again today because he's still not back to perfect shape and it's been over a week since his diagnosis.

Meanwhile, I am the pillar of strength in our family right now....which really isn't saying much.

 
















We had great plans for the 4th last week, with David having the whole week off as vacation time and all, but kidney stones and vomit tend to throw a wrench in those plans.  Plan A turned into Plan B, but Plan B was so perfectly fun that it all worked out just fine.

We spent the morning of the 4th at Grandma and Papa-Great's house, picking raspberries, watching tractors, hanging out on the front porch (a porch that is on my Top 10 Favorite Summer Hang-Out's list).  

I just love this house: my grandpa grew up here, then my dad, then I got to play here (because I grew up 2 miles down the road), and now my kids are enjoying farm life at its finest here as well. 

The 4th night was at Gigi and Papa B's.  We love staying at their house because Gigi cooks us lots of food and Daphne can ride the lawn mower with Papa B and Christian can play basketball all day long.  Best hotel ever.

I dressed the kids in matching flag t-shirts, and coordinated myself with a blue stripe dress, but David wore brown (not proper patriotic family matching and a totally lame color to wear on the 4th of July) so we didn't take a family photo like I wanted.  Plus this is how it went with trying to get the kids to have a picture taken together:

A whole lot of not good.  Christian was exhibiting classic post-sick, sleep deprived behavior. 

The fun of this vacation did not end here!  But alas, my patience for sitting here and uploading photos has.

Stay tuned.