Charlie and the hat (and Dada, too)

Mama finished Charlie's hat to match his pants (oops, forgot to take a picture of the pants. Oh, well it will have to wait until tomorrow).

Charlie had to try it on. Yes, I know the ends aren't woven in yet.

But, you know, when you are 8 months old there are always more things to do.

Like trying to crawl AND practicing your vowels.

And playing with balls.

And trying to crawl again.

Then you wonder...how do I get rid of this thing?

And life is good.

'Til you see Dada wearing your hat. Why is he wearing my hat? (Mama says he's just goofy.)

And back to the ball again.

So proud of himself.

The Garden

I don't pretend to be a master gardener. In fact, I'm not even sure you can call me an amatuer. Beginner is more like it. True, I did garden with my family as a child. But picking up rocks, and allowed weeds does not make one a gardener.

In past years, I've failed miserably, mostly probably because I forget to water. I'm slightly lazy, and always a very busy person. This year I've read Supersize Me and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and others, and have realized how little I want to be dependent on the food giants with their GM foods. So we frequent family farms that use heirloom seeds, and buy my own seeds from http://www.rareseeds.com/.

This year I think I have so much more invested in my garden than years past. With three children to feed and care for, and concern about what goes in their bodies, I am working harder. But I only have 2 garden spaces. Half of our back yard is overran with Japanese Knot Weed, an invasive and non-native plant brought to the US in the 1970's for "decoration". Between the knot weed, jewel weed, nipplewort, baby oaks, morning glorys, and blackberries, I have my work cut out for me!

Last year, before I found out I was pregnant, and in my early pregnancy, I had pulled up quite a few of the strawberries in the garden pictured above, and tried to plant some seeds. Unfortunately, my same old habits took over, plus the additional "burden" of pregnancy, and I just was not able to physically continue taking care of it.

By this spring, my little garden was again overrun by jewel weed, nipplewort, baby oaks, blackberries, and strawberries (sometimes considered a weed in Oregon, they are pretty invasive). The last few weeks we have worked to clear out that little garden. This is square foot gardening to the max!

In this small space of 5x8 or 5x10 I have planted popcorn, lettuce and chard, 2 kinds of carrots, 2 kinds of beans, a row of broccoli, some cucumbers (I'll train them to go up the fence), and a dozen onion starts.

Of course, this is not enough food to keep us all winter, but I do have a baby to take care of, a house, and soon school again. It will be enough to supplement our budget, and fun for the kids to go pick dinner!

Whats for Dinner? Menu Plan Monday June 29 - July 5th

Some part of me is being VERY resistant to menu planning. I have no idea why. :) However, it will save me some grief, so I'm going to try. I'm thinking we need to have beans every week. It'll be healthful and save some money. So Thursday is either Chili if I have TVP or Barley, Black bean, and corn burritos (recipezaar 357938). I might have to make tortillas, though.

The Barley, Black bean, and corn burritos are out, we had them for Sunday dinner. There is enough for leftovers or lunch. But I found Hermana Juans Easy Pinto Bean Soup. That ought to be good. http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/2008/11/hermano-juans-easy-pinto-bean-soup.html

I've been thinking about Food Stamp Challenges. Some are done for finacial reasons, others seem like they might be a personal test. Whatever the reason, it's interesting (and educational!) to see what people come up with. We are on our own personal Food Stamp Challenge, but really on foodstamps. My decision to start menu planning came from the fact that misplanning during the month of June meant we just didn't quite have enough to make it through the month. Our family gets $2.67 per person per day. I also have to buy at least 2 cans of formula a month to supplement our WIC. Not very much money, and easy to mismanage on that tight of a budget. I hope to do better this month!

Ta-ra ta-ra! Now, for the menu plan!

Monday June 29 - Hermano Juan's Easy Pinto Bean Soup

Tuesday June 30 - Dinner at mom's

Wednesday July 1st - Ladybug's birthday, she requested Salmon croquettes. In her honor we are also having Devil's Food cake with cherry frosting.

Thursday July 2nd - Chili or ???

Friday July 3rd - spaghetti

Saturday July 4th - cookout somewhere :) Maybe in honor of MY birthday, I'll bring Simply Sweet Home's Patriotic Cupcakes. http://simplysweethome.blogspot.com/2009/06/patriotic-cupakes.html

Sunday July 5th - My birthday!

See I'm an Organizing Junkie for more meal plans! www.orgjunkie.com

Growth

I realized today that I've changed. Matured. Learned to appreciate things more. Able to give and receive compliments so much easier. Appreciate the little things easier.

What was it that brought these changes? Three years of school? Charlie? Being over 30?

I don't know.

Tonight I got to ride MIL's horse. What a beautiful experience! Difficult, but beautiful. She's done a good job training the horse. It was hard work, though, the horse thought she'd see what she could get away with, and I had to keep working working working to get her to behave.

10 years ago I might have been frustrated that I didn't get it all right. Now, I'm just thrilled to have gotten something right.

Thanks for the lessons. I've needed them.

A new project...

...as if I don't have enough.

Let me just say I LOVE knitting for Charlie. So far I haven't knitted for anyone else, but I bet I'll like it, too.

I have a sweater that is ready to start for him, but this one http://thriftyknitter.com/?p=223 It's such a beautiful baby vest, but I think I'll have to adjust it (as in try to size up) because Charlie is just so big. And I don't have any beautiful tweed for him. It'll be on my wish list.

Sebastien's Refridgerator Breakfast Cookies

For days now, Mr. Seb has been asking me to make banana bread with chocolate chips. He's been policing the banana's (Mom needs four bananas to make the bread, nobody else can eat one!) for several days. Finally, I just decided to bite the bullet. There was never going to be enough time to do it, so I begged Des (well, bribed her, let her watch TV on the big TV in the living room) to watch Charlie so I could cook.

Dinner cooking-check

Cookie dough for the week-check

Ah, now, a banana breakfast cookie recipe. Wowza there are a million out there.

So, Seb's cookies were born.

4 banana's mashed

2 eggs

1.5 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup applesauce

splash of oil

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (could have used a bit more)

handful of coconut

handful of currants

handful of date crumbles

handful and a half of sunflower seeds

half a bag of chocolate chips

fill the coffee grinder full of oats and make flour

fill the coffee grinder 3/4 of the way full of flax and make meal

3 cups of flour (or whatever you need now for a good "cookie" texture)

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes (bigger cookies might need a bit more).

YUM. As you can see, we couldn't resist the temptation.

Hello again!

So a while back, I was just a full time college student with a part time job, 2 school age kids, and a busy life, who planned on graduating in June 2009.

Now, I'm a full time college student (taking the summer off, ouch to the budget) with 2 school age kids, a 7.5 month old baby (6.5 months adjusted thank you very much), who graduated on June 12th, but won't receive her degree until December. Still have a busy life, by the way. Hee hee. My pregnancy with Charlie threw the whole world into chaos (why I haven't posted in nearly a year and a half), but he's the coolest thing since sliced bread (well, maybe since Taterbug was born in 2001). Hubby and I have celebrated an amazing 11th year of marriage, and here I am. Never thought I'd find myself here. School was just a pipe dream in October 2005, and 2 children were the max.

And now the object of my affection...