Monday, June 27, 2011

Homemade Fingerpaints

K thinking about the squishy-ness between her fingers!

K got to test out her artistic ability recently and let me just say, she's an artistic genius. OK OK that might be the mommy in me thinking she's some sort of prodigy but we did have a blast doing it and it turned out really cute. Our first batch was a bit "chunky" but it worked perfectly for her little 8 month old hands to get a hold of. Miss K used her lovely paintings as Fathers Day gifts!



How To Make Finger-paints

You will need...

  • Food coloring in your favorite colors
  • 1/4 cup of cornstarch
  • 2 cups of water
  • Small saucepan

Mix the cornstarch and water in saucepan and slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once mixture is thickened and clear, remove from stove and let cool. Pour into separate containers and slowly add food coloring until desired color is reached (I started with 2 drops, stirred, and then kept adding one drop at a time).

All the pretty colors we made!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

new additions

You may notice some new additions to the blog over on the right hand side and down at the bottom. Those are buttons to a website called Top Mommy Blogs. I now belong to the site, if you enjoy reading blogs I highly recommend checking it out, there's lots of great blogs there! I hope if you're reading this you'll take a few minutes to vote for me using the button to the right! Please and thank you!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Field Widow

It's that time a year again, the time of year that only another farm wife could truly relate to... the time when you become a "Field Widow". What is a Field Widow you ask?

Well it's a phenomenon that occurs three times of year when the crops are grown and ready to come off the fields. Also known as first cutting (hay), second cutting, and chopping of the corn. Why would this make me a widow? Well, my husband starts his day at 5am every morning, he has a cup of coffee and then heads down to the barn, milks the ladies cows, and spreads the manure. At this point it's about 10am. I may or may not see him for a short breakfast, when that's over it's a kiss for me and a snuggle and some kisses for K then he's back on his way out the door. At that point he'll be in the field all day, mowing/raking/baling/wrapping. If I'm around I'll take him a sandwich and some fresh water for lunch and get to spend about 15 minutes with him. About 4:45pm he'll come back in the door, wash his hands and face shovel dinner in his mouth, kiss K and I again and back out the door he goes for night milking. This usually takes until about 8pm. Sometimes this is the end of his day but if Mother Nature is calling for bad weather the next day, then sometimes he's back out in the fields again til dark getting the last of the hay cut/baled/wrapped!

This ladies and gentlemen, sucks! He's exhausted, stinky and sunburned when I finally see him at night. I have grown to accept it and move on because I know that it only lasts a short while (well at least until second cutting, oh yeah and when it's time to chop corn...). I will have my normal husband back eventually, but I do miss him terribly when he's gone and I know K does too! Oh well, just another part of being the farmers wife!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Fathers Day!

My father is a hardworking, kind, and charming (in his own special way) man with a stubborn streak that only makes everyone love him more. Although he worked swing shift in a paper plant to provide for our family but he never let that get in the way of spending time with me. My father is a very special man and he was and always will be the first man I loved!

This year I not only spend time appreciating my father, I also spend time appreciating my husband. This year is his first official fathers day! K and I worked hard on some very special presents for her daddy for fathers day. We finger-painted for the very first time and made special pictures for daddy, her 2 grandpas and her great grandpa! We also made a picture for S using cutouts of our hands and mommy ordered daddy a new watch from amazon.com! Daddy was very excited about all of his gifts and K loved chewing on the envelopes!

I hope the men in our lives had a very happy fathers day and they truly know how much they are loved and appreciated! K and I are both very lucky girls to have such special men in our lives!

Monday, June 13, 2011

8 months!

My dear baby is eight months old today, can you believe it?! I honestly don't know where the time has gone that she can be that old already! She was a bit cranky today and we didn't get our "birthday month photo-shoot" done like I normally do but I'm sure there will be other pictures to post soon!

Posing!
What a face!!

Happy girl!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

sad news....

As I was editing my last post S came in with some very sad news. He was going out to feed our two doggies and found our oldest Sammy dead. Sammy was given to S and his brother and sisters in 1997 and we figure he was approximately 14 years old. We're pretty sure he passed on from old age and it looks like he might have passed in his sleep. It was so hard calling all of S's brothers and sisters to let them know. He was loved so much and we're going to miss him greatly!



RIP Sammy <3
 

Catch Up Post!

Can't believe that it's been a month since I posted! Such a HUGE slacker I am! Lets see what can I update you on...

May 30th was my birthday and we spent the weekend before down at my parents house having a good time with some friends and family. I got to go out for some adult time without K and although I missed her terribly, it was much needed! I have been with her practically every minute since she's been born and it's good for both of us to have time with others!  

Out to dinner with friends, K and her budd MJ
hanging out on the back porch with some cousins!
watching over her baby cousin!
baby kisses!
chilling with Aunt A!
On my actual birthday getting ready to go out to lunch!
K and I have been spending lots of time at the park. I do laps with her in the stroller for excersie and when we are done we go swinging on the swings!
She looks so little in that big swing!
She loves to swing!
Miss K is a crawling machine! She's so quick and is gone in a flash if I don't have my eyes on her. She's also been pulling herself up on things and getting into trouble! She loves to pull herself up on the bookshelf in the living room and pluck each and every one of her books off of the shelf! Tonight she pulled herself up on the t.v. stand and was trying to get to the power strip and I said "K, NO NO!" and she turned around, looked at me, got the biggest pouty lip and started bawling! I think we're going to have our hands full with this one!

CAUGHT!
Last weekend we had Seth's siblings and parents here for a cookout. It was a good time and the kids all had fun! Seth's oldest sister lives a few hours away and we don't get to see her and her kids often so it was so nice to spend time with them!
Look at those beautiful eyes!
K was completely captivated by her cousin playing the guitar!

pretty baby!
being silly with daddy!


Monday, June 6, 2011

Peas

Baby Food Entry #10 - Peas


I was very lucky to get some peas from S's great aunts garden to make K's baby food with! I can't wait for the farmers market to open next week so that I can start getting fresh locally grown fruit and veggies to make baby food with!

  • Pop open pods and scrape out peas.
  • Place peas on the stove in a pot with just enough water to cover.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat and allow to cook at a low boil until peas are nice and tender.
  • Drain (but keep your water in case you need it to thin your puree)
  • Puree and divide into containers.


Thursday, June 2, 2011

Green Beans

Baby Food Entry #9 - Green Beans

  1. If using fresh beans snap off the ends.
  2. Put in a pot on the stove with enough water to cover and bring to a boil.
  3. Reduce heat and allow to simmer until beans are very tender. 
  4. Once they are really tender puree them until smooth. Using any of the leftover water from cooking the beans to thin if necessary.

**TIPS**
  • You don't have to use fresh beans, you can use frozen ones too. I would check labels first though to make sure that there wasn't anything extra added to them. 
  • My first batch was very grainy and I wasn't sure what I did wrong, and I still haven't figured it out. For some reason the second batch was better, wish I could tell you why but I can't. K still enjoyed them even if they were a bit gritty.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Peaches

Baby Food Entry #8 - Peaches

At the risk of sounding like a broken record I decided to bake the peaches just like the pears and apples to retain their nutrients. 

  1. Halve the peaches and place them face down in a baking pan with an inch or so of water. 
  2. Bake them at 400* until they are soft and squishy, approximately a half hour.
  3. Dunk peaches in cold water to peel off skin or remove with a knife, and remove the pits. 
  4. Puree peaches. Usually I would tell you to reserve water for thinning but I found the peaches to be exceptionally thin without any extra water. 


 **TIP**
Make sure that the peaches you pick are ripe. I made the mistake of getting peaches that weren't quite there yet and my puree is very bitter. I have to mix it with apples or pears to get K to eat it!