Works of Art -Lil Sis Edition

Lil Sis is now a preschooler. She absolutely loves school and is sad when it's not a school day. Like her brother, she is becoming an artist. Here are some of her drawings so far.

Early October 2015: Lil Sis and mommy. 

I'm the blue upside-down person and you can very clearly see Lil Sis with her pixie cut on the left. She's very proud of her pixie cut.

October 2015: Daddy Giant, herself, a tracing of Baby Cheetah

I helped a bit...drawing legs on the two people and coloring baby cheetah yellow at her request, but the rest is her.

October 31, 2015: a portrait of her aunt who is pregnant and her son. They are swinging.

November 14, 2015: Lil Sis' "P-ata because it's made of Ps.

February 29, 2016: illustration for a story she wrote "A Silly-badilly Story"

February 29, 2016: Trash Man and Recycling man from her original "A Silly-badilly Story"

Watercolor painted deer

March 2, 2016

I remember struggling to teach Big Bro how to use water colors. Lil Sis picked it up well and fast!

March 18, 2016: Daddy at work in his office

First cucumbers ever

Turns out that some of the plants that I thought were zucchini are actually cucumbers! This is big because I have NEVER grown a successful cucumber plant. I guess the mounding that the guy at (the now defunct) Grand Isle Nursery suggested worked!

I prefer European cucumbers for eating, so the kids and I turned these beauties into quick and easy refrigerator pickles. 

Boil vinegar, sugar, salt, pickle spices (a mix from Healthy Living Market), cool, pour over cucumber slices, and leave in the fridge undisturbed for 3 days. They are delicious (but strong). Big Bro still likes them, he loves pickles. Another fun first for our garden. 

Boom & Bust

Peach trees bloom every other year unless you take the time to thin the flowers so the tree doesn't experience boom and bust years. This is what I learned from the people at Hackett's Orchard, but they were talking about apples.

This year I should have thinned the blossoms to prevent the boom/bust cycle. I failed to do it though. I was only thinking about crop yields, not the tree itself. I was ok with having a year off from peaches. 

This year's crop was bigger than it was 2 years ago. The branches were so heavy with fruit that they bowed toward the ground and the whole tree (both of them) began to lean. My father-in-law tied them up with stakes. I held my breath that the peaches would ripen before an overburdened branch broke. The idea of building a crutch to help hold up particular branches came to mind, but never materialized.

On Monday the kids and I picked some peaches. After at least a week of checking them each day, many of them were ready. We filled our basket, then went inside to get a bigger container. When we returned one of the branches was snapped. Was I just unobservant the first time or had the branch snapped during those few minutes away? Sadness.

So the kids and I went to work and made up songs like "we've got to pick, pick, pick the peaches...to protect our trees!" And repeat.

We got a huge haul, an entire red wagon full. There are a few chicken eggs hanging out on top of the small collander too.

I read that most trees can heal themselves, and sealants cause more harm than good. There was nothing to do for the tree but saw off the broken branch and hope the tree survives.

Bottom line: don't be lazy or greedy, thin those peach blossoms! 

Canned Patience & Practice

August brings the bounty of the harvest. The pears are starting to come in, the peaches too. And this year was an especially bumper crop of both. 

Now comes the task of processing so we might actually enjoy all the bounty. With the pears I have time because even though many have been picked, they will still take weeks before they spoil.

The peaches, on the other hand, do not ripen on your counter, they must ripen on the branch to achieve the best flavor. No surprise then, you have to consume or preserve them quickly. 

I'm still pretty new to canning and preserving so the night before I started canning I read up on the process for canning peach halves in water or ultra lift syrup. I was feeling pretty good about how the next morning would go. 

In the morning the kids both washed the jars, Big Bro rinsed them, filled them with fresh water and put them in the canner. 

I started halving and peeling peaches. 

The kids were done washing and still eager to help so I tried to have them twist apart the peach halves. It was too difficult, but thankfully they went to the living room to entertain themselves. They're getting better at that.I placed the cut peaches in a water and lemon juice mixture to prevent browning. I filled the bowl and maxed out all the space. My jars were warming in the canner, the ultra light syrup was cooking.

Then I looked at the lids. Crap. The only lids I had were wide mouth and all the jars that were so nicely warmed in the water were small mouth, save one. Despite my prep I still goofed.

I found some wide mouth jars and got them cleaned and warmed. The next problem was the jar filling. Peach halves have to be arranged pit cavity side down in the jar. Hot packed peaches are slippery and it took some effort to get them all the right way. Then there's the filling the jar with syrup to the right level, getting the air bubbles out, wiping the top, closing it up, then putting it in the canner. Somehow I tipped a jar while trying to get the bubbles out. Hot peaches and syrup splattered on the floor. Lil Sis came in and laughed, "Mommy, you're standing in peaches!"

I pressed on, but by now I had been canning for over an hour and the kids were starting to fight over who had which activity book, which color crayon, and even whether the illustrated sea urchins and other creatures were boys or girls. "Make at least one a boy??? Oh please!" Begged Big Bro. "Noo!" Shouted Lil Sis.

My counter top still overflowed with peaches and there are hundreds more in the basement. My canning effort up to now only yielded 2 quarts and one pint of halved peaches. One of the jars hadn't even sealed so we would have to eat it in the next week or so. Seriously peaches, I love your sweet taste, but this was the pits.

I ended up turning my second batch of cut peaches into purée and froze it into popsicles.

Maybe this weekend I will try again.

The Baby Bird Rescue

It was a little past 6:00 when the kids and I went out after dinner to play until their dad got home. Within minutes he arrived, grabbed a plate of food and hung out with us on the front lawn near the big blue spruce. When he went to return his plate to the kitchen he suddenly noticed a little bird on the ground. It had arrived out of nowhere.

Thankfully he found it before our dog Pepper did. We located the nest up in the blue spruce. It was perhaps 15 feet up and sheltered by many branches on the way up making it impossible for us to get the chick back into the nest. The mother, a mourning dove, didn't show any outward signs of distress that her baby went missing.

A quick look online told us to build a nest and affix it to the tree so, just maybe, the mother bird would still take care of it.

I picked it up in a towel and my husband placed it in a yogurt container he had stapled to the tree and filled with soft wood chips.

But it was cold and we had nothing to feed it. The chick still seemed doomed. So I kept looking online hoping for a better solution.

Then I came across a page on wildlife rehabilitation published by the Mount Mansfield Veterinary Hospital (http://www.underhillvet.net/wildlife-rehabilitation/). Incredibly, it shared contact information for a number of wildlife rehabilitators and even said what types of animals they cared for from songbirds to foxes and raccoons. There was even one who specializes in doves: jackpot.

The first rescuer I called just went to voicemail. The rescuer #2 picked up but was out to dinner in New Hampshire on her vacation. She gave me the number of rescuer #3 which also led to a voicemail dead end. I called rescuer #2 back and she told me to put the chick in a box and bring it in the house to keep it warm until rescuer #3 called back.

In the meantime, during our bedtime routine with the kids, Rescuer #1 called. I sent her photos of the chick and she confirmed that it was a very young chick who would have to be fed with a tube down its throat. She figured the chick would be ok until morning as its mother likely fed it all day long until about 6:00 PM when it must have tumbled out of the nest. I arranged to meet her that night to hand off the chick.

I drove with the radio off and the car warmed for the sake of the chick, which was now snuggled warmly in its makeshift nest with it's tiny back moving up and down with its breath.

Then under the light of a street lamp near the dumpsters at the highway exit gas station the chick drop was made. 

The rescuer will do her best to keep the little chick warm and fed until it can return back to the blue spruce pine tree in front of our house. Keep your fingers crossed. 

Adult mourning dove

Image source: Wikipedia 

The summer of zucchini

This year's garden was wholly my effort, with some planting help from the kids. It was a quick effort because doing things with two kids running around and making demands isn't easy.

In some ways it's one of our best gardens. I used Green Mountain Coffee burlap coffee bean bags as mulch (you can get them for free at their factories). Therefore, for once, the weeds are actually under control.

Then again, not all of the space we typically use was planted. Also many of our seeds were old eg. the sweet peas didn't do much of anything. We picked maybe two dozen of them to eat as impromptu snacks.

This year I planted cilantro which grew quickly from seed and tastes delicious. It's a nice addition. There's basil too, also from seed, but it's getting shaded out by the tomatoes, whoops.

We've had a decent crop of tomatoes so far. Here is the latest collection sitting on my window to fully ripen.

I have shied away from planting zucchini in the past because I know what a monster it is. Zucchinis typically take over gardens and your neighbor then tries to pawn two foot-long giant vegetables off on you.

From FB:

This year I went for it anyway. I planted a few seeds and I think I have three plants now. It's hard to tell because they are so sprawling and prickly! I don't like touching them.

The zucchinis themselves are sneaky little buggers, hiding among the prickly stalks disguising their full-size.

Do you see the two zucchinis in this picture?

So when you have prolific zucchini plants what do you do? Zucchini bread of course!

I have documented all my garden firsts on this blog so here is the latest. This morning I made zucchini muffins. The kids were playing happily and independently for most of the time while I grated the zucchini and mixed the dry and wet ingredients separately...

...then mixed it all together.

The kids joined me to butter the muffin tins…

...and of course for the eating part. They are delicious!

Have you made fresh zucchini muffins or bread? Here is the recipe we used: 

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zucchini_muffins/

A few days later we tried Zuccini brownies too: http://www.texanerin.com/2013/08/chocolate-zucchini-brownies.html#_a5y_p=3859621

Those Dreaded School Lunches

I signed Big Bro up for a four-day camp that met from 8:30am through 2:30pm. I got three of his buddies to sign up with him so he would feel more comfortable with me dropping him off for such a long day. I figured it would be good practice in advance of Kindergarten. Going from three mornings of preschool a week to five full days of school is a huge change.

While I thought what good practice it would be for Big Bro to try a new routine, I didn't realize it was going to be good practice for me as well: getting up and out the door early, and packing those dreaded school lunches.

I have read blogs about packing school lunches and they all like to describe what a pain it is. The endless containers, the wasted food, the preparation time, planning and shopping, limited menus due to kid's picky palates, and of course, food restrictions due to the nut-allergy epidemic. Just like Big Bro's new elementary school is nut-free, his camp is also nut-free. So much for endless peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches.

I bought a YumBox last Christmas (an impulse, sale purchase). It offers compartments that seal shut with just one lid. Each compartment is labeled with a food group to help you plan a balanced meal: protein, grain, vegetable, fruit, dairy, and even a tiny one for dip. In addition to filling his YumBox, I also sent him with a breakfast bar and granola bar for snacks.

Here's how the week went:

Day 1: ham slices, Parmesan goldfish crackers, cucumbers and ranch, 2 cherries and a strawberry, slices of cheddar cheese.

Result: He ate everything but the ranch. He was hungry when he came home but that's not surprising, after school snacks are typical. He informed me he was so hungry before dinner and he "never had real lunch today."   Uh oh.

Day 2: buttered bread (I ran out of ham, shoot), hard boiled egg, cucumbers and craisins, slices of cheddar cheese, chocolate caramel kiss as a bonus.

I sent him with two breakfast bars and 2 granola bars and told him to save at least one for the ride home with his friend and his mom. 

Result: He had a good ride home and ate 2 bars when he got back here. He ate everything in his YumBox minus the bread crust, a small cucumber and a few craisins. He even ate the egg (yay!) and said he wasn't hungry during the day, nor did he say he had no real lunch.

Day 3: buttered bread (crusts removed this time), goldfish, an egg (why mess with success?), ham, carrots (a change from the cucumber) and cherries, plus another chocolate caramel kiss (his favorite part, surprise, surprise).

Result: he didn't touch his buttered bread or ham (it wasn't the usual brand so he didn't like it). He left behind goldfish and even cherries. He said he wasn't hungry. He didn't eat any of his granola/breakfast bars either until he got home. Weird.

Day 4: final day! I had a late night meeting so he ended up with cheese, strawberries, crackers, egg, carrots, and a slice of ham even though it's not his preferred brand (it's all "Black Forest" ham!?), and the beloved chocolate kiss.

Result: the ham came back half-eaten so that's some progress. The carrots came back because "he only likes carrots with ranch."

After only 4 days of lunches I already felt the monotony of this packed lunch thing. There were two nights in the week when I felt like I should have gone shopping, but only made a store-run on one of those nights. I'm glad Kindergarten will have hot lunch options for purchase to break it up a bit. The YumBox compartments really did help with packing a varied lunch. 

What grains, proteins, dairy, fruit and veggies are packed lunch favorites in your house?

Surviving the 1st Family Campout

I love camping. There were a few years (between the ages of 16 and 19) when I did quite a lot of it. Much of it was intensive including some true backcountry trips. Even though I'm not a frequent camper anymore, I still love it, so was excited thinking this was the summer my little family would try it out.

We bought a 5 person tent at Costco for $80. I set it up in the living room to start so the kids could play in it and get used to it. Lil Sis was excited to sleep in it. For three nights in a row as I tucked her into bed she protested, "I thought we were sleeping in the tent!"

I told her we would do it on the weekend when Daddy was home too (he's been super busy with work and school board/supervisory union meetings). That wasn't my only reason though. Big Bro only wanted to camp outside, not in the living room, which was another hurdle. Sibling conflict, sigh. 

But the even bigger reason was that camping out (or in) is a commitment. It's not a time when you tuck your kids in and then have a couple hours of adult time before nodding off to sleep. I had to count on the kids being up late (for them) and going to bed early myself (husband and I are night owls).

Friday night arrived. Lil Sis still wanted to camp in the living room and Big Bro still only wanted to sleep outside. We had just had a string of gorgeous weather days. The lawn was dry, the forecast was clear. However, beginning Saturday night, it would be another stretch of rainy days, who knew how soon the next dry spell would come? Maybe we should sleep outside without the indoor practice since we had been building up the anticipation and the weather wasn't going to accommodate the original 2 part plan this weekend.

So, I made a quick decision, after dinner I dragged the tent outside. We gathered up sleeping bags, pillows, stuffed animals. We brushed teeth outside in order to be more authentic. Then we started a campfire. I didn't have any marshmallows due to the spontaneous nature of it, but it was still nice. The kids enjoyed being outside in their pjs, watching the fire, playing on their play structure, finding firewood. 

Nini and Grandpa joined us for our campfire. When the flames started to die down we put it out, then headed into the tent to sleep. It was around 8:15 maybe?

Snuggled in our sleeping bags, we took turns telling stories, then watched for the stars to come out. We only saw two before I told them to close eyes and sleep because it was 9:00. They were both asleep in minutes.

Amazingly we all fell asleep and spent the whole night in the tent. Sure, we all took turns waking up. Lil Sis slid off the air mattress and spent part of the night by our feet, Big Bro's pillow slipped off the mattress and got all "dewy" so I gave him mine. Dada of Ma'at's hair and feet were getting wet from touching the tent walls (they're not super waterproof. You get what you pay for...). We slept (amazingly) until 6:45 despite the sunrise and chirping birds. We were all still sleepy, and a bit stiff, but I was happy and proud that we had made it!

We went inside and the kids watched cartoons from their sleeping bags on the living room floor while I made breakfast. 

Looking over at my husband I said, "I'm so glad we did it, but we don't have to do it again for 5 years." ⛺️ 
Although, in all seriousness, we will do it again. It will only get easier the more we do it!

"Guard"ening

Oh it's a cheesy title, but sometimes being cheesy is oddly satisfying. Here's the story, you'll understand the title by the end:

It was past Memorial Day and I knew we had to plant our garden quick if we wanted time to grow much of anything. The kids and I headed to our local plant nursery only to find that they were not growing any seedlings this year because they are closing (due to poor sales the last few years after 24 years in business total). A sad state of affairs for our little town to lose a valuable service. So we after buying some seed packets and shovels we reluctantly drove the 20 minutes or so to the next closest, locally-owned, garden center. We bought Early Girl tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, and kid-sized garden gloves.

I had put up the chicken fence already and dug the thick weed cover out thanks in part to Grandma playing with the kids so I could spend the necessary time with a shovel and rake.

I decided to mound the rows this year since the owner of the defunct nursery said it might help the cucumbers grow (I've never had any luck with cucumbers). Big Bro patted the mounds down as I piled them higher. Getting him to pull out stray weeds we turned over was like pulling teeth though. Eventually we got Lil Sis away from the kiddie pool and into the garden to help too. She has an aversion to getting dirt in her shoes which is why you typically see her in socks and sneakers. But in the garden even socks and sneakers couldn't keep the dirt out and she (we) grew frustrated with having to clean her shoes out every 2 minutes.

I convinced her she should go barefoot. Her feet would get dirty but we would wash them at the end. At least this way the soil wouldn't be trapped between shoes and socks. She went for it.

It was her first year planting and she did great. She loved dropping the seeds in the holes then pinching them closed. Big Bro loved it too. We/I sang "The Garden Song" repeatedly. It was extra special this year because Lil Sis has been making big strides with her physical abilities this spring/summer: riding a pedal bike (with training wheels), climbing trees, hopping on one foot. Things that she has been more reluctant to try than her brother ever was.

We planted black beans, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, cilantro, basil, snap peas and radishes.

So why "guard"ening? Because all the while that we were having this nice time I was on guard knowing that 2 prisoners recently escaped from a maximum security prison across the lake. Just the day before authorities had refocused their manhunt in Vermont. Yes, logically the prisoners were probably not going to hang out in a town right near the NY ferry crossing. Nor would they lurk around a population center (small as my town is). But whenever I ran to the barn to grab more tomato trellises or look for the next seed packet in the basement, I wondered if I should be more vigilant about locking doors to the house and not letting the kids out of my sight for even a minute. It was an odd contrast of sweetness planting with my kiddos, and creepiness from the outside world seeping in ever so slightly. I hesitate including this part because this is a journal of sorts so why would I want to remember this? But it is what it is.