Fair Days

My cucumbers have been growing out of control but since I entered the 6" and larger class I did not want to pick them for fear they would wilt before entry day. I also was worried that my plant would not produce another two that would be large enough in time.

Levi and I took our cucumbers tonight to submit them to the Fair. It was "Horticulture" entry night from 6-8 pm. We stood in line awhile and then realized we were in the wrong line. So we went and stood in another line. After that line there was one more line to stand in. The whole time Levi stood right next to me, taking in all the surroundings. We were in the pavilion so he would stare up and ask "Can we go up there?" I told him after we entered our cukes we could go up the stairs. It woudn't be all the way to the top but it would be as high as we could go. He seemed excited by that proposition. I was so proud of my little guy for behaving and not wandering off!!



Walking around I just had to take a peek at my placements. I couldn't resist. I was disgruntled to see that my double chocolate peanut butter cookies had garnered a 2nd place ribbon. Snort! I walked over to the bread section and my spirits lifted to see my (ok, well Kim's) rye swirl bread on the top shelf next to two other breads. There were two large ribbons. Hmmm 3 breads and 2 ribbons...this does not add up. I am not sure if I won an overall award for the bread or not. I did have a blue 1st place sticker on my plate. Yahoo!

We also strolled over to the open class photography. I found Matt's chicken photos quickly. Both had a 1st place blue ribbon sticker. One was already on the wall and the other was on a table. So I am not sure if he will get a special award or not. I can't wait to go back once everything is on display and see how many names I recognize from the submissions.

After all that we had to walk over to the Fair office to pick up our free gate passes. Levi was getting a little bored by now. He could see the combines out the window and asked a lot of questions that I could not answer about those. But I did my best.

Growing up

It's been a fun past couple of weeks with the kids. Hard to keep up with everything on the blog but they've been growing and developing quickly, sometimes I think way too quickly. It seems to happen so much faster the second time around - where has the time gone??

Ellie is already very much wanting to be in motion. She will push off in her bouncy chair and try to twist around and will end up in a precarious position when not buckled in.

She is also getting more Bumbo seat time now that we realized she is big enough for it and enjoys it.

Today I had her laying on the bed and was giving her some tummy time. She was pushing up and when she made eye contact she would laugh a delightful bubbly giggle. So darn cute! Next thing I knew she rolled over! Awesome....but....she is not my little baby anymore. Kind of a bittersweet feeling.

Levi continues to be an incredibly sweet little boy. We were at my mom's last weekend and he brought me a flower and said "I love you momma." If that doesn't melt your heart... The other day I opened up the refrigerator and what a surprise! On the top shelf was a bouquet of dandelions in a coupler.

I have been doing a lot of baking lately, for pleasure and also for the upcoming Fair. The day to submit exhibits was last Thursday. So earlier last week I "warmed up" by making a batch of Oatmeal Scotchies. Levi called them "oatmeal scotch" and they were a big hit. So Wednesday night Levi helped me make our favorite Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies. He loves to add the ingredients and help me count out how many we have added. I am trying to help encourage this love of baking so he is not afraid of the kitchen later on. Skills!

Thursday I spent the day yo-yo'ing between home and work, making up some of Auntie Kim's rye swirl bread. It was going along great until the second rising when Matt turned on the air conditioner. Can't blame him - it was getting hot in the house - but that seemed to put a real damper on the lifting of the dough. I am not expecting a Championship at the Fair this year, that is for sure. While I was home rolling out the dough and assembling the loaves, Ellie watched me from her perch upon the table in her Bumbo seat.



Little schemer

So for Fair entries this year I entered the cookies and rye bread, Matt entered two photographs of chicks, and I also entered cucumber and tomatoes. Well the trouble is, the fair deadline is a month before the fair, so you have to guess what you might have available in your garden to take in. I have tomatoes now, but not Fair-quality. One has a split and two more have some little holes from ants or slugs or who-knows-what raiding my garden. My cucumbers are gargantuan so I will probably get a 3rd place for submitting those. Sigh. When I took in the baked goods and photos, they could not find my name on the master list, but they did have Matt's name. After running up and down the steps in the pavilion four times I was so flustered that I completely forgot to pick up my free gate passes. SO I am hoping to get them tomorrow when I take in the cukes.

This morning Levi and I had some fun while Ellie was napping. Cindy had given him some chalk so we marked up the sidewalk. Yahoo!

It's not a Home Depot bag!!

Often when I am changing a diaper on Ellie I notice that the trash can is full, or overflowing, so I ask Levi "Can you bring me a bag please?" And he says with such enthusiasm "Yes! I can!" and off he goes to get me a plastic grocery bag. Well apparently he brought me a Home Depot bag (green) and it was a little bigger than the Andys or Wal-Mart bags, and I must have made a fuss over how perfect it was that time (extra-full can). So the next time he brought me a bag it was another green Home Depot bag. Awesome, thanks son! Yesterday I asked him to bring me a bag and it seemed to be taking him an awfully long time, so I went to check on him in the kitchen. He had bags strewn out all over the floor. He was incredibly frustrated that he could not find one from Home Depot! I told him "It's ok! Any of these will work - they are all just fine for what we need. Now we need to put the rest of these back in the holder" (SIGH) "Oooohhh.....kay."

Matt was changing Levi's diaper this morning and when he went to put on a fresh clean diaper he noticed one of the tabs was malfunctioning so he had to throw that diaper out and get another one. Levi noticed what happened and commented "That's wasteful dada!!"

Boy is he observant. Sharp as a tack.

Kiss good night

Putting a toddler to bed often requires a form of creative affection. When one simple kiss to the cheek or forehead wasn't enough Matt invented the vacuum-cleaner kiss... sucking in air as you reach your destination, the child's chubby cheek. This brings on peals of laughter, enough of a reward to come up with another new invention.

Well as of late, Levi has invented his own new kiss. The semi-truck kiss. This involves blowing out two puffs of air (jake brakes, I imagine) and then a "bomp bomp" (the horn) before laying one on my cheek. Too sweet! I much prefer it over his other invention, the fart kiss. (Which is Levi blowing spit and bubbles all over me before a big slobbery wet kiss is applied). Leave it to a boy.

The kids...

Yesterday Levi came running up to me and said "There is a big bug crawling on the fruit!" Oh really! What kind of bug?? Curiosity got the better of me so I followed him out to the dining room. Grandma Venetha had brought us some fruit and inching along on the side of a big peach was this little green inch-worm. I told Levi "Oh it's a little inch-worm! It won't hurt you...do you want to hold it?" Levi agreed after he saw me holding it. He held it just long enough for an ill-focused photo and then quick as could be brushed his hand against the floor to rid himself of it. I was afraid he would smash it, but the creature lived to see another day and I threw it outside.

Levi is continuing to absorb and learn things that will be crucial to his success in life. Last night we were sitting out back enjoying the nice cool weather and I heard Levi reciting "A B C D E F G" That's about as high as he got. This morning in his crib he expanded on that a bit, went a little higher and then switched gears to "W X Y and Z... now I know my ABCs..." He now can recite the spelling of his own name, which is a new development (Why he could spell PIZZA before LEVI is beyond me...priorities I guess) :)


Ellie is ever-growing, starting to notice a lot more of the world around her now. She can track well with her eyes and is reaching for everything, grabbing a lot of it, and some of that making it as far as her mouth. She has also started gnawing on my knuckles and drooling so I foresee teeth in her future. She is starting to look for her fingers and has found the middle ones a couple of time to suck on when sleepy.

We have the Fair coming up this next weekend so we will be working on getting our exhibits completed in time for that.

We also plan to move Levi to a toddler bed in the very near future - Ellie is starting to outgrow her bassinet and is ready to commandeer the crib.

Is it only Tuesday?

Today was interesting. I went out to start up the motorcycle to go to work and when I pushed in the starter button something very strange happened. It wouldn't stop trying to start. Even after Matt jumped in and turned the key to the off position and hit the safety kill switch. It was possessed. So Matt had to run to the garage for a screwdriver to disconnect the battery. Needless to say, I drove the Safari to work today. On my way in I noticed, and killed, two wasps. Possibly yellow jackets but I don't know my winged stingers all that well.

Then about 9:30 Larry comes over to me and says "Ready?" and I say "for what?" "The photo shoot." Oh, right?!

Because today is the 11th, and Ellie turns 3 months old today I decided it would be good to get the kids down to PictureMe at Wal-Mart for their obligatory photos. I like to hang their most recent pic on our wall by the front door. Levi's is quite outdated, having not taken him in for a studio photo since last winter, I figured the time was nigh! I went online and set up an appointment for them at 6 pm, the only time offered to me on the website.

I should have worked late today - but did not since I had to make a run to the feed store, and wanted to get home in time to find something cute for Ellie to wear for the photos. I get home, help get the kids ready to go, and out the door we scoot. We walk into Wal-Mart and what do you know the photo studio is CLOSED. Apparently they close at 6 pm. (And we were there a couple minutes before). Now WHY on EARTH would the website set me up for an appointment AFTER HOURS!? Oh man, I was mad. This totally threw a kink in our plans. So back out the door we went.

We headed out to feed chickens and the horse and drop off the feed. Levi has fun out there poking around in the wood piles and pointing out the cows. All is well. We head home.

Since the kids were already dressed and ready to go for photos we decided to just take our own. The challenge is always a backdrop. And Levi, when he smiles for us for photos now, can tend to look fairly forced. But we did the best we could. I utilized what was left of a straw bale out on back of our 1959 Flatbed truck (In honor of the Fair coming up, never mind that is happening next month) and we coerced and coaxed and tricked the kids into posing. Ellie was easy. She will smile and laugh at me and all I have to say is "Hi!" Levi is wising up and not so easy. But we did ok. I will still plan on a studio photo for him for his 3-year photo but it may have to wait until this weekend.





After a light dinner (which is basically eat what you can find) I read the kids a book before bed. Levi likes 'Things to Love' by Richard Scarry. On one page it asks "Do you have a favorite food you love to eat?" Usually Levi says "cake." Tonight he totally surprised me by saying "Yes, I love noodles and ____ and eating ice cream at McDonalds with Grandpa Jerry." I can't for the life of me remember what the second thing was that he said. But wow! He is really putting the sentences together and starting to remember things. It is fun to ask him about his day and see what he comes up with.

Creamy Vidalia Sauce

from "While The Pasta Cooks" p.124

The trick to this flavorful sauce is selecting a sugar-packed onion and cooking it to encourage its sweetness to emerge. By starting the onions in a dry skillet, their moisture is drawn out along with all the water-soluble sugars. Once the juices are released, butter and oil are added, triggering development of a more pungent onion flavor. Sour cream finishes the sauce, providing a lush vehicle for the complex onion flavors.

1 pound long pasta, such as fettuccine or spaghetti
3 large Vidalia (or other sweet) onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup sour cream, regular or reduced fat
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and white pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and stir a few times to ensure that the pasta does not stick to itself. Boil vigorously for the time recommended on the pasta package or until the pasta is tender.

While the pasta cooks, place the onions in a large nonstick skillet, cover, and cook over medium heat until the onions are soft and moist, about 5 minutes. Uncover, increase the heat to high, add the butter and oil, and cook for 5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are a pale golden brown. Stir in the garlic. Remove from heat, stir in the sour cream and cheese, and season with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta and toss it with the sauce in a serving bowl.

Makes 4 srevings.

Levi's 3 year check up

Levi had his three-year check up today. He was having so much fun in the waiting room that he did not want to go with the nurse she she came to fetch us for our appointment. Camille was out today and another woman was filling in for her. She was a nice lady.

The first thing we did was go out and have Levi hop on the scale. He was a little apprehensive so I explained to him that he could stand on the pad and look up and see the numbers that would tell him how much he weighed. He smiled and hopped on, looking up for the numbers. He weighed 29.2 lbs today. Then it was time to be measured. I showed him that and told him it would be just like when daddy measured him at home against the wall. No problem here either, he measured 3 feet and 3/4" tall.

We went back in the exam room and the nurse took his blood pressure. I don't recall what it was, something like 89/50 maybe?? I have never been one to pay attention to blood pressure numbers and what they mean. Whatever it ended up being, there was no cause for concern. He sat very still and quiet as she pumped up the cuff and listened through the stethoscope.

We had a short wait and then Dr Tom came in. Levi said "You have a computer!" And Dr Tom said "Yes I do, this tells me all about you." He loaded up the charts and graphs and took Levi in his lap and showed him his growth progress. He is up to 19% for weight now and 25% for height. Interesting.

He asked about his skin, I said he still has some trouble but mostly in the winter. He has two conditions going on, eczema and keratosis pilaris. The eczema flares up when his skin dries out so Dr Tom said to just be sure to keep him lubed up. He said we had done a great job with sunblock on him. I wasn't sure how he knew that until I realized he is a fair skinned child and this summer he has not been burned. He looked presentable anyway.

Up on the table for a listen with the stethoscope. Levi still has his heart murmur, and it sounds about the same as last time. So we got referred to a specialist and will have to make an appointment for that. Seems like yesterday he was a year old and getting the ultrasound on his heart. Dr Tom asked Levi how he banged up his knee. Levi told him some story about the stairs. I said "no, he got that one from falling down on the sidewalk." Dr Tom said "That one..?"

Levi also had his eyes and ears and throat looked at and got a full exam. Everything checked out great.

The questionnaire was the same as last year but this time we were able to answer yes to most of the questions. The one where you ask the child to balance by standing on one foot, Levi didn't even want to try so we aren't sure about the answer to that one. He knows his colors; and can jump this time, but not very well. He can get both feet off the ground simultaneously but can't really launch yet. Fine by me! Less trouble that way :)

We didn't have any other concerns so it was a pretty short visit. Dr Tom pointed out the most important thing is safety, it's the one battle we have to win.

I made another appointment for Ellie while we were there since Dr Jen is so booked up, I wanted to get her 6 month appt. scheduled while I could. There was an earlier opening for her 4 month appt., but it was before the 11th, so that doesn't work as they won't give the vaccines before the child is old enough. Then the next set has to be 6 weeks later or more. It's complicated.

Yay!

I feel accomplished today.

I got out to the barn about 9 am and had a quick ride. Sinwaan acted up a bit again so I rode him out until he was behaving and we ended on a good note. Not a long ride at all, but productive. It was getting HOT fast out there.

Came home and got some laundry done, a bit of straightening up, dishes washed... and in the afternoon made a ton of sushi. That is fairly time consuming with all the prep work for the center ingredients, it probably took me about 2 hours with the "Ellie interruptions"

We went out and visited with Jenee' and had a fun dip in the pool, the kids loved it!

Now I am going to put my feet up - sure to be a busy day at work tomorrow...