October/Nov Catchup

All dressed up for Calgaro Wedding Reception

Groom the doggy before we go (See Lexie smile?)

Grandma & Papa

Say "Cheese" Brooks

Yeah ELMO!

3 Blind Mice and the Farmer's Wife

My Monkey ($3.99 @ Goodwill!)

Elizabeth's birthday pic with Grammy Koney & Papa Earl

3 Generations

Mmm, mmm good dinner Mom!

"2" "CAKE!" And she blew out the candles ALL by herself!

Birthday Girl with Papa Gary & Grammy Candy

"Cheese" with Auntie Grandma

Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce

Mommy's Little Cook

Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce
Brown in large pot:
1# ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped

Take 1 whole butternut squash, cut in 1/2. Scoop out & discard seeds. Put face down on plate and microwave 10 min. Let sit in microwave another 5 min. Scoop out inner flesh, mash w/ potato masher.  You could always put in blender, too.

Add following ingredients:
(2) 29 oz cans tomato sauce
Mashed butternut squash
1-2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 to 1/2 C. shredded carrots
Spices to your taste (basil, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic/ onion salt and/or powder, Mrs Dash, Lawry's Seasoning -- whatever is in your cupboard.)
1 bay leaf (take out before serving -- I always forget :))

Bring to boil.  Lower heat to simmer 1-2 hours.  Use what you want and freeze the rest.  This is an awesome recipe and a good way to get kids to eat their veggies.  Elizabeth LOVES spaghetti, and esp this recipe.  She was even helping me taste test and ended up w/ her own bowl of it, eating it like a soup.

Some recipes call for tomatoes, green peppers, mushrooms, fennel, or even broccoli and cauliflower.  But this is my doctored-up version that I thought I would share.  Plus I always lose this recipe and thought it would be easier to keep it on my blog to refer back to.

Family Fun with the Parks

Excited for Elmo!

ELMO!!!

Everyone was there: Elmo, bert, Ernie, BigBird, Telly, Honker, Zoe, Cookie Monster, Count, Oscar

Teeter Toddlers

Yeah Slide!

Nummy food

 

 

Elizabeth & I spent the night at Auntie Jen's one weekend and she treated us to an awesome Sesame Street production.  Super Grover had lost his Super Powers and his friends from Sesame Street helped him get them back.  It was amazing.
The following weekend the Parks stayed over night @ our house to help us with our garage floor. The girls had so much fun.  After they had left, Elizabeth was going around the house saying, "Auntie.  Ady.  Where are you?".

Coupon!

I label this "hobbies"...because I'm a nerd and I like couponing.  The other day I spent $207.54 and total savings was $100.94 -- a savings of 33%.   No, I'm not as good as some eXtreme couponers, but I also don't buy 33 tubes of toothpaste that I dislike the taste of either.  However, I do have 10 boxes of cereal on my pantry -- but I have a toddler and spouse who love kiddy cereals and go through them quite often.

This is just by clipping the Sunday paper's coupons and doubling them up with items that are already on sale -- so I buy an item on sale or use an in-store coupon and also use a manufacturer's coupon.  I've never tried printing out my own coupons because some stores don't accept them.  Maybe someday I'll look into it. But for most things that I buy: if its not on sale and it could be, we don't buy it (unlike milk which is rarely on sale).  If it is...clear a space for 10 of them! :)

Feast Day of Guardian Angels

 

"Guardian angels are not just for children. Their role is to represent individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid their prayer and to present their souls to God at death.  The concept of an angel assigned to guide and nurture each human being is a development of Catholic doctrine and piety based on Scripture but not directly drawn from it. Jesus' words in Matthew 18:10 best support the belief: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."  A feast in honor of the guardian angels was first observed in the 16th century. In 1615, Pope Paul V added it to the Roman calendar."

We thank God daily for our Guardian Angels and pray God's love, devotion, and guidance for them to aide us in our journey here on earth.  Thank your Guardian Angel today and celebrate them on their feast day.

Decks Done!

West/front deck with horizontal boards.

We finished the decks! Well...I supervised and gave input :) David did a great job. We wanted to try 2 different designs.  I like them both.  The horizontal makes it easier for little hands to hold onto the boards when using the stairs, but then the birdies like to sit on them & poo on the deck.  Pros & cons. We have to let the wood age before staining, so that will be next summer.  Just for fun, we took the old steps and put them on the east exit.  They're still pretty sturdy and I hate to waste them and then not have another emergency exit.  They'll do until the next deck comes :) 

 

North Deck with the vertical boards

Cute Pics of "Busy"

My little Vikings fan. (They won!)

Bundled up on a cool day to go play outside.

 

Trying out our new hippidy hop on our tippidy toes!

Elizabeth is closing in on her 2nd year.  She can recognize all of her letters, is starting to work on numbers, and is now putting 3 and 4 word sentences together.  Of course Mom and Dad understand her better than anyone else as it is with all toddlers.  :)  She wasn't one to really copy what we said for a while, but she is liking to do it more and more -- with everything, good and not-so-good.  Kids are definitely good mirrors on how you act, and I'm learning to watch my "acts".  :)
The other day, she said "Daddy running", "Mommy sit down" to play playdough together, and when Auntie Kitty asked her to come play blocks when Elizabeth wanted to play playdough "I don't want to" came out loud and clear - sending us into a fit of giggles.
Like I said, she'll repeat just about anything you ask her.  The funny thing is what she calls herself, "Bizzy".  @ daycare, the kids call her Liz or Lizzy - easier to pronounce than Elizabeth. And while I call her by her full name or BooBoo, I guess she has just put them together and calls herself "Bizzy/Busy". Either are cute and she's definitely a "Busy" little girl.  We are so blessed.

1st Time Canning Results:

First time we tried canning. Outcome:

Carrots: 11 Qts

Beans: 11Qts & 13 Pts

Pickled Beans: 7 Qts

Corn: 21Pts, 1 1/2 Pt

Pickled Beets: 8 Pts
Refrigerator Pickles: 3 Pts

 

 

 

And if we didn't have enough room in the canner then we froze what was left of the batch.  We also have onions, potatoes, and green tomatoes in the garage.  All in all, it was a good year. The fences really helped to keep the deer our, but a little more water would have helped.  David also grew sunflowers as well.  My mom came to stay the weekend & teach us the art of pickling. Good times had by all.  Hopefully we'll get a deer & get a chance to try canning venison!

The Baby's Got Rhythm

Save Your Blanching Water

The next time you boil or steam vegetables, don't pour the water down the drain.  Let it cool & use it to water potted patio plants, and you'll be amazed at how the plants respond to the "vegetable soup."

Plant Freezables Near Each Other

I am starting a "Gardening Tips" label for myself (and the 3 people who read this blog :) ). Since we have such a short growing season, we have to make the most of it.  Year after year I get these good tips, but do not remember them from year to year - so I blog them for future reference.  They will include things I hear from others as well as trial & error on my part.

Plant Freezables Near Each Other:  It just so happened that the past few nights have been pretty cold and so we cover our freezables with plastic.  Out of pure dumb luck, I planted my cukes, tomatoes, and peppers near one another.  Thereby, we were able to cover them all together versus covering different parts of the garden.  That's my tip.  Take it or leave it, but I'll try to remember it for next year too!

Family Gathering in Ely

Like looking in a mirror when eating Grammy's yummy chex mix

Mark & Troy: Get your motor runnin'

Ruby's frog from Mark

Alpaca Farm

Baby alpaca - Elizabeth refused to pet it, but it was SO soft!

Getting bigger! (Zane was napping)

Zane & Derik-o

Beautiful Day!

Ruby learning from Mark how to cast

Mom & Kelly yakin'

POP! Praise the Lord! (Canning)

Wanna see how many miles I can put on your pedometer?

Kitchen helper in her new apron.

More of Grandma's jars.

Using Grandma Brooks' blue jars. I bet she'd be happy they're still getting used.

1st time canning.  David has yellow wax beans in his garden and I have green bush beans. We've done 5 gallons of beans between canning & freezing so far.  Not bad for first timers.  It helps to keep those deer out this year!  Listen for the seal, "POP!" PTL!

Trip to Ely

"Oh Grandma, long time no see!"

"Wee - I could do this all day. How 'bout you guys?"

We love other people's toys.

While David went to Bemidji to help his sister fix up their future business,

Elizabeth & I spent the day in Ely.

Vikings Game Night BBQ with Friends

Maki Family

Elizabeth pushing Isabella

Good Pass, BooBoo

Does this really require a caption? How about:"How Cute"

Isabella pushing Elizabeth



Elizabeth: "Quick Bella, you distract him while I take his trike"

Bella: "What do I do again? Stand here & look cute?"

Mission Accomplished - Actually Brecken shared very nicely :)

Frozen Yogurt

Take Gogurt sticks, freeze, and cut in 1/2 to serve to toddlers.  LOVE!!!
Great idea I stole from Sister Jen.