May 8, 2003

May 8, 2003 at 4:37 pm we were blessed with a baby boy.  

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To my little man, who makes me smile daily with his quick wit. 

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To my little man, who brings infectious laughter with his boisterous ways.  

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To my little man, who brings a deep love to my heart as he hollers 'love you'.  

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To my little man, who I looked at in wonder as he began to take apart and reassemble anything as soon as he could sit up.

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To my little man, whose boundless energy exhausts me.

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To my little man, who has touched this family so deeply.

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Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Eleven Years Old!

Eleven years ago, our life changed forever, our little girl was born. I remember talking to my mom shortly after she was born and describing her. I was awed that she had these amazing grey green eyes. My mom reminded me that many times eyes change from birth. I knew this was true, but insisted they would not. I guess it was a little glimmer of first-time-mom's intuition, because grey green they stayed.
Happy Birthday to our amazing little lady, whose big heart and wise mind takes my breath away.

When Life Gives You Apples..

It has been downright cool the last few days.  Enough so that a light sweater outside is perfect.  The last couple of years our apple picking has slipped passed us and we have headed out late in the season, when the best, in my opinion, were over.  This year with the onset of crisp air, I jumped on it and we spent some time Monday exploring a new, to us, orchard about 45 minutes from here.  It wasn't the pick your own that we are used to.  They pick and then we get to sample and load up on all we want.  Very reasonably priced too.

I was especially impressed with the reduced price "seconds".  These are the fruit that have some minor blemish on them, and they were selling for $1 a pound.  Fantastic!  These morsels rarely had a bruise, mostly an abnormality in the skin that for whatever reason tainted their appeal (pun intended ;).  Well not for me!  What do you do when life gives you apples??  Make applesauce, of course.  Yesterday after work, I opened all of the windows to let in the fall-like breeze and began slicing and dicing.


Of the many applesauce recipes that I have made over the years, I find that the easiest is always the best.  I don't like it too sweet so for a large pile o' apples (20) I used 1/2 C sugar, 2 1/4 C water and 2 tsp. cinnamon.  I let it simmer for about 45 minutes and then gently took an immersion blender to smooth it out, but only a little bit, some chunks are just fine!  The batch made six pints of applesauce which I processed in a hot water bath for 20 minutes.

I'm thrilled that we so eagerly began the season, Charles wonders why we bothered canning them, they won't last a week!  Well, I have good incentive to make more batches of my four ingredient applesauce, so we can taste the first glimpse of fall the rest of the year! 

Monday evening we finished watching the Walton's with the kids.  All nine seasons plus the movie specials, all in order over about 18 months.  Tonight I am including the applesauce in an old fashioned applesauce cake for B's birthday.  A favorite made by Livy Walton, and a little taste of the simplicity that we strive for.  A happiest of birthdays to my 'old fool'!

A Mother's Day Birthday

I can think of nothing more appropriate than celebrating Charles 8th birthday on Mothers Day, after all, that is what it is all about isn't it?  After celebrating the "best birthday party yet" yesterday, today was the perfect combination of Charles and Mama's day.  A special breakfast, followed by presents to be played with all day long, while mama and dad spent a very productive day in the garden.

We began the first mow, laid out pathways, put down black plastic to kill off weeds in the expanded area, planted the strawberry patch, readied the chicken tractor for the babies transition outside tomorrow, and bought a big flat of marigolds to companion plant in the garden proper.  As we walked the homestead late this afternoon, the kids were playing a very intense game of "spy" on us and came in with bright rosy cheeks and full of winded smiles.

Now we are settling down, basking in our accomplishments, and readying for a birthday/mother's day supper.  Charles is immersed in his new Lego's set, building as much as possible.  Sidney is settled in watching a little television.  B is working his magic in the kitchen.  Me?  Well I am marveling at how fast the Internet can be on a new computer and looking oh so forward to singing Happy Birthday to my little man.

And of course digging into a Mother's Day Birthday cake!

Where Does The Time Go?

Where does the time go?  Ten years ago today I first held this precious little bundle.  I remember saying immediately that I had never seen a baby with such amazing grey-green eyes.  Those sparkling eyes never changed in color, they only enhanced with the sparkle of wonder as she has discovered each new day.  

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl who forever changed our lives and introduced us to this amazing ride called parenting.  Pictures of the weekends festivities to come later!