Pioneer Woman's new kitchen line

I have followed Ree Drummond's blog for a long time. I'm always inspired by her. I like her television show (one weekend this winter I watched like 12 episodes in a row with my niece Josie. Remember that, Josie?!!) I like her writing style, I like her photographs. I like her cookbooks and everything I've ever made from them. (Her lasagna cannot be beat.)

This week she launched a line of dishware at Walmart, and I want every single item. (Except the basset hound cookie jar. No offense to that dog, I'm just not a dog girl...) But other than that, I can't get enough. When I registered for dishes, more than ten years ago, I chose all bright colored accent pieces (from The Bibelot) to go with my white plates. I still adore them. But I could definitely add to the collection. I'd take one of every tea cup and cereal bowl and ramekin above. And that pretty pitcher and measuring bowl.

So I told Rory his gift giving will be simple for me this year. Just head to the kitchen section at Walmart. I recognize I sound like a commercial right now...so I should mention I am in no way being asked or compensated for blogging about this. I just saw these pictures on her blog and I cannot stop thinking about how badly I want to get to Walmart now...

a kiddie parade

Out town had its big four-day celebration this weekend. It's sort of a mix of cowboys, guns, bank robbers and good immigrant pioneers who defend their town. We participated in Townie Night, a discounted night for all the locals and the Kiddie Parade and went to the big parade. I was looking for cowboy and cowgirl outfits for the kids and asked Elsie to try on a cowgirl hat. She looked at me like I was an idiot and told me with a scowl, "I'm going to be a kitty!" You know, because it was a kiddie parade. So I had one cowboy and one kitty.

She insisted on having socks on her hands like little paws and was very, very pleased.

Ivar got to wear part of a costume that my Grandma Harrington made for my dad, when he was a little boy. He loved being a "roadie cowboy" (his version of a rodeo cowboy) and practicing his lasso. At one point during the kiddie parade he lasso'd his foot and this cracked him up for a good half a block.

Elsie pushed around her pink stroller with her pink kitty, wearing her pink kitty skirt and waved at the very few spectators that came to watch. She was the happiest kitty in the kiddie parade.

extravagant and wasteful

I signed the kids up for preschool two mornings a week. We had our very first day on Monday and it was so fun. The kids were so excited and I love, love, love that they are in the same class. Dropping them off was more adorable than sad...they were side by side playing in the sand box and both stood to wave goodbye to me, beaming and proud to be there.

I love them so much.

Then I looked at the clock and tried to figure out the very best way to use the two hours I had before me. Time like this is so, so rare for me. Rory had hinted that I go grocery shopping as we are out of all staples in the house, but I didn't want to waste my two hours of downtime at Cub. Truth-be-told, I'm not sure how many of these personal hours I am going to have before a little baby joins the mix. This was my time and I felt very protective.

I drove to Caribou and I had my laptop along, but then realized I had forgotten my mouse and what I wanted to work on was a lot photoshop stuff...and not having a mouse would be really annoying. So I drove home and looked around, trying to decide what I could do.

I knew I should accomplish something. But I also knew I should rest. But I knew there really were things I could tackle while alone in the house. But I also knew the day was glorious and sitting in a camping chair outside would be perfectly fine too.

Sara has a new song on her new album that talks about time, and how we use it. How we are called to rest, called to play, called to relax. The song is an invitation to join her on an adventure and she says, "It will be extravagant and wasteful." Those words hit me so hard the first time I heard the song. Because that is how it feels when we're really resting. Extravagant. And wasteful. But we're still called to it. We're still commanded by God to be still, and to set aside one out of the seven days he has given to us to be restored and renewed.

I wish I could say that I poured myself an ice water and went outside. Instead a payed a visa bill, sorted a pile of papers and edited a few pictures. And all the while I wondered why I couldn't rest. And it made me think to write this blog post.

Sometimes productivity does feel restorative. But I want the lack of productivity to feel that way too. And I certainly don't want lack of productivity to feel condemning.  Because it is okay just to be.

I have another chance this week. Maybe I'll be extravagant and wasteful with those two hours.

cereal

If I could go back and retake this picture I'd put my legs together and spread them out in front of me. Might have been a bit more flattering. But the fact that I was even sitting on a curb was impressive enough and I do like how happy we all are in this shot! 

I wrote earlier this month of how I was done with carbs and grains and sugars again, and as a result got rid of all of the cereal in the house. In a hilarious twist, when Rory asked Elsie what she would like to buy with her earned quarters she proclaimed, "Cereal!" We laughed so hard. And when they came back from Target she proudly showed me her Strawberry Special K cereal that "has strawberries in it!!!"

When she got her cereal, Rory picked up a few boxes for himself, and just like that, cereal is back in our house.

I haven't had a bowl though. I'm good with my smoothies and eggs.

Actually, that was true until last night when Elsie woke up upset about something at 1:30. She was inconsolable, out of her mind, and Rory finally got her back down around 2. I could hear him clearing his throat for about an hour and finally a little after 3:00 he came downstairs and we started talking like it was the middle of the day. I followed him into the kitchen where he poured himself a big bowl of honey nut cheerios.

At first I was just going to watch him eat his bowl. But then we started talking about Hillary Clinton. And I decided to pour myself a bowl. Then we talked about Donald Trump. And poured myself another bowl. We kept eating cereal and talking about our crazy world and it was so awesome. We were equally frustrated and concerned that we were not getting any good sleep, but what are you going to do? Eat cereal. And talk politics.

There are lots of parts of marriage and romance that are hard to capture. The beauty of steadfastness, the gift of healing time, the quiet comfort of knowing each other well. Those themes don't really make their way into many movies or novels, but they're the very best parts. And now I'd add middle-of-the-night conversations to the list. Hard to explain why this moment was so sweet and romantic with two exhausted parents loading up on carbs at 3 in the morning. But we both commented the next morning how great of a night it was.

And cereal has never tasted so good in all of my life.

a secret of the universe: toy organization

I am about to totally brag. And if it bothers you, I apologize. But I have unlocked a secret in toy organization that I wish I had figured out four years ago. Instead I have been stepping on toys in the middle of the night for almost five years, and wondering how on earth we could tame this mess of duplos, puzzle pieces, doll house toys, thomas trains, blocks, kinex, lincoln logs and game board pieces. But I have done it! And I want to tell you how.

It should also be noted that our farm house doesn't have a livable basement (it's limestone from the 1890's) or a play room. If we had a separate room for toys we might have a different system. But because our bedrooms are our playrooms, we had to figure something out.

I know I've already shared the toy organization I implemented three weeks ago (there is a picture in that post). But I just have to say it a little clearer, because it has changed our lives. OUR VERY LIVES!!! It began with a weekend of throwing and giving a lot away, sorting like items into storage bins, and labeling every container. (The labeling has been a nice feature for babysitters or cousins so they can help with the clean up too.)

But now, this is how it actually plays out in our day-to-day:

First, the toys are up high. They are in the kids' closet, which is the only closet in our home. No kidding. But the kids can't reach them and this is key. Any toys that are accessible are going to be scattered on the floor, so none are accessible. (Except their books, which they are suddenly very interested in, as there are no other choices! Awesome!) This even means the food that goes with the play kitchen is out of reach. And the marbles that go with the marble run. Everything is inaccessible.

Second, each kid can choose three items for Quiet Play Time. Each day after lunch (usually around 1:00) both kids go to different rooms to play for 90 minutes. 60 minutes alone and then 30 minutes together. Ivar has his own timer that he sets and takes this job very seriously. And each day they can select new toys. I think what this changes is that they are focused on only three choices to play with. And they play for so much longer! When all toys were out and accessible I think they were overwhelmed with what to do with their time. Or the room was so messy, nothing looked fun at all. But on their clean floor those three choices are very clear and suddenly they play hard. Sometimes longer than the 90 minutes!

Thirdly, clean up is obvious. They know exactly where to put their toys when it's time to clean up. Sometimes we pick up right after Quiet Play Time, other times just before bedtime. But they know they have to have their three items picked up, and know right where to put the items.

And forth...I really know what my kids like to play with. And what they have no interest in, at this time. This is helpful for Ivar's birthday gifts...he loves kinex and looking at the booklet to copy a creature they have pictured. He is so proud. I think he has graduated from duplos, but he is definitely on to Legos. He spent much of Labor Day at Mimi and Papa's building houses and buildings and just picked out a step-by-step Lego book at the library.

All in all, it is a bit more facilitating on my part. I have to be up there to get toys up and down. But three weeks in, and I haven't had to pick up a single toy! Not one! Mothers of the world, I have cracked the code. And it might sound rigid or strict, but somehow these boundaries have brought order to our chaos and fun back to our playtime. My kids love it as much as Rory and I do. It might work for you too.

38 weeks

I have a goal this weekend to get a decent picture of me at 38 weeks pregnant. Until then, I'll let you gaze at the soybeans in the field behind our house that are turning bright yellow right before our eyes.

My friend Shannon told me right when we got pregnant with this baby that the best thing she did when she was pregnant with her last baby was have professional house cleaners come and deep clean her home just before her due date. Largely because at 9 months pregnant you're not really scrubbing your bathtub anymore (...or ever), but also because after the baby you don't have to stare at all the dust and dirt while enjoying your new babe. So we did that yesterday and I think my house is

cleaner today than the day we moved in. Best decision ever. Tuck this little wisdom away for when you have a baby or your sister/daughter/friend has one...

Elsie got a cold last week and it has worked its way through our whole family. We've burned through an insane amount of kleenex at this house, but I think we are on the upswing. At least I really hope we are.

I got an email from The Baby Center today telling me that at 38 weeks my baby is the size of a leek. I hope not. I think they take their measurements based on the length of the vegetable, but a leek just seems too scrawny to be accurately associated with the seven pound babe inside of me. 

On Saturday night I ended up going grocery shopping by myself at the last minute. The plan was for the family to go, but we had car trouble, so I jumped in the truck to do it on my own. I hadn't fully thought through how tired I was to do a full week's worth of grocery shopping and by the end I was exhausted. I was walking from the last aisle to the check out lines at a very slow swagger when a very elderly man came out from his aisle, pushing his cart, to walk towards the same check out line. We were neck and neck. We walked with the same fatigued posture and he smiled big at me.  We had a sweet and unspoken, though very bonding, moment. Then he turned into lane 7 and I went to lane 5. 

The kids are doing awesome and start preschool next week. I have them in for two mornings a week, in the same class, and we are all very excited. They can't wait to bring their backpacks to hang on their hooks and I can't wait to have some consistent, undivided time with the new baby. I have started calling them my velcro. They must sense all the change that is to come, but I cannot leave a room without two bodies physically finding their way to be as close to me as possible. Lots of cuddles and snuggles are needed lately and it is very sweet. (and I'm back to edit that word a bit...sometimes smothering. It's sweet when I'm thinking about it. It's smothering when I'm living it...)

At our midwives appointment this week Elsie asked if the midwives would listen to her baby too. So when I was done, she crawled up on the table and they listened for her baby and let her listen. Ivar was quite sure someone needed to tell Elsie that she does not actually have a baby in her, but Rory was quick to quiet him so she could have her special time. She told the midwives proudly, "only girls have babies." 

picture bunting

We moved into this house three years ago, and since then I have hung zero photographs. We have some canvas art, but most of our walls have been left bare waiting for us to enlarge pictures on canvas or purchase frames for a collage. For some reason these tasks always feel daunting (and expensive!) and the can continues to be kicked down the road.

We still have hopes of making barn wood picture frames for a big wall collage, but it will be a while before that project is tackled. Yet we have these awesome pictures, waiting to be seen and enjoyed and remembered.

So this weekend I printed out 75 of our families best. And then I taped them to a piece of lace and hung lots of photo garland around our sunny room. And for under ten dollars the number of family pictures displayed in our home went from zero to about 50. Just like that.

I love it so much. It looks so festive. Ivar asked me if I was decorating for a birthday party. And I believe I was doing just that. Decorating for the Birth Day coming up at the end of the month. Little-baby-to-be got a special bunting all its own.

a country lemonade stand

Ivar has been asking for chores lately, trying to earn quarters. He has his eyes on Mack, the truck from the movie Cars that carries Lightening McQueen across the country to his races. We told him he could wait until his birthday, or try to earn the money to buy Mack on his own. So he has been working hard. If he checks for eggs each day for a week he gets a quarter. If he helps me unload the dishwasher he can sometimes earn a quarter. We try to come up with good tasks and he has been very helpful.

Earlier this week, Ivar was lamenting how long it was going to take him to get Mack and then Rory explained another way to earn quarters. "Ivar. There is another way to earn money. You offer something that someone else wants to buy. You work hard to make something and someone else will give you their quarters and you give them the thing you made."

Rory explained the concept of a lemonade stand, and when I came home that night they proudly showed me the sign they had worked so hard on.

Can you see the joy on this boy's face?!! He was so, so proud! Rory was teaching him what to say when the neighbors came. For each person he proudly said, "How can I help you? One dollar will give you two cookies and one cup of lemonade." Rory showed him how to give them their lemonade and cookies first, and then to take their quarters. And then to thank them for buying his lemonade. It was so, so awesome. And Ivar was a very good salesman.

The funny thing about having a lemonade stand in the country is that we rarely have cars drive by! So last night I emailed our neighbors telling them that we would be selling lemonade and cookies from 6-7pm. I wrote that Ivar was working towards purchasing a truck to hold his favorite cars and we'd love to see them.

As a result, the turnout was great. Lots of neighbors came at the same time and it turned into a little catch up for everyone. And we loved that it was just an hour. It was super muggy and our kids' interest was about an hour in length anyway. Ivar worked hard, Elsie ate a lot of cookies and I fielded lots of questions about being 37 weeks pregnant. (Check out the side profile of me below!)

It was only right before bedtime that Rory helped Ivar count his money and found that, combined with the money he had already earned through chores, he had enough money to buy Mack and to tithe on his earnings. Everyone was very, very pleased. And Ivar didn't fall asleep until 10:15.

overheard

Ivar and Elsie play marvelously together lately. Watching them come up with pretend play is the best:

For example, Baby Jesus and Baby Mary. They had a little dispute as to who got to be Baby Jesus, so one of them decided they could both be babies. These babies were quite adventurous. They were taking turns in a laundry basket shooting each other down the Nile. One day we'll sort all these Bible storylines out. Until then it's the best audio story I could ask for. They are hilarious.

When we're in the car, they are very competitive about what is on their side of the car. This has evolved over time into a celebration with Ivar yelling, "Yay! I have corn on my side!" And Elsie echoing, "Yay! I have soybeans on my side!"

I called upstairs, "what are you playing up there?"
Ivar ran to the top of the steps to tell me, "It's Pinky's (Elsie's blanket) birthday! But she's sick, so she's taking a nap for 10 minutes and we might have to cancel her party." (So hilarious because Ivar has had his last two birthday parties cancelled and rescheduled because of illness. Naturally that is just part of the pretend play now...)

We're really into band aids around here. If ever things get too quiet, it is quite common that an entire box of band aids have been found and used. Sometimes I see it as a waste of band aids, other times I see it as a good price to pay for a bit of quiet time.

your very own fruit farm

Our garden is overgrown with weeds again. I'm pretty sure we'll scale it way down next year because gardens are a ton of work. They're work to plant, to weed, to weed, to weed, to weed, to harvest and to prep for the next season. Even right now, I cannot keep up with my tomatoes. Because I'm just not up to the challenge. I'm even freezing them...but getting them picked and processed it just not happening!

I told Rory that I think either you need to be absolutely passionate about gardening or have your life depend on your garden lest you starve to death in order to maintain a garden this size. Without the burning fire inside of me, the work just doesn't get done.

But fruit. Fruit, people! Fruit is amazing. AMAZING. To be sure fruit takes some time on the front end. You don't get to harvest anything the first year. Maybe you get a quarter harvest the second year. And half a harvest the third year. But then you are in the money. I love the fruit on our farm more than any other part.

And that's what I'm hear to say today. Listen up. My very favorite parts of this farm are all things we could have done on our 1/8 acre property in Minneapolis. Scaled down a bit, but still just as worthwhile and honestly, a whole lot less work!

I believe everyone should have a few rows of raspberries along their garage. (Last night I posted the recipe for that Raspberry Pretzel Dessert...did you see that? It's so good!) And a few blueberry bushes on the side of their house. Everyone should have an apple tree or two somewhere (I can fully endorse Zestar apples so far. They are AMAZING.) And if you want to really go bonkers, throw in four hens in a coop for eggs. Obviously not a fruit, but then you will have covered all my favorite parts of the farm. In your own yard in the city or the suburbs.

And! My friend Lacy recently went plum picking, right here in Minnesota, and raved about them! The kind she picked were called Underwood and now we will definitely be adding plum trees to our little orchard. So you might want to throw a plum tree in while you're at it. (Those are blueberries pictured above...just didn't want to confuse anyone...)

All this to say, the parts of the farm that I love the very most do not require a farm. Sort of an ironic truth for me, and a pretty awesome one for you if you don't ever want to live on a farm! I do love it here, but also feel like it's my responsibility to pass along how able everyone is to do the things we're doing in their own backyard. So plan out your yard accordingly. And when your kids come in the house with a huge tupperware full of raspberries for everyone to put on their oatmeal in the morning, you can call and tell me "thank you for your passion for fruit." And I will feel happy.

Raspberry Pretzel Dessert: The Recipe

I put this picture up on both my blog here and on instagram and have had many requests for the recipe. Special shout out to Gail Olijnek, a family friend from church. She's the one who contributed this recipe to the awesome blue Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church Cookbook.

And now prepare yourself. This is one of the best recipes ever. It's salty, it's sweet, it's creamy, it's fruity, it's got lots of texture...it's just a winner.

First Layer:

2 c. crushed pretzels (I use Rold Gold little sticks, crushed in a big ziplock with a rolling pin.)

1 1/2 T. sugar

1 stick melted butter

Mix these three ingredients together and then pack in a 9x13 cake pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 325. Cool completely in the fridge.

Second Layer:
3/4 cup sugar
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz. cool whip
Beat sugar and cream cheese well. Gently fold in cool whip (mine never completely mixes together...the cool whip seems to deflate really fast...) Carefully spread over pretzels, trying to cover pretzel mixture completely.

Third Layer:
2 c. boiling water
2 (3oz) boxes raspberry jello
2-3 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)
Mix water and jello together and stir until completely dissolved. If using frozen raspberries add to the jello and allow to thicken. If using fresh raspberries, put jello mix in the fridge and allow to thicken. Then add the raspberries. (This whole thickening part is very important. I jumped the gun when we were first married and the jello seeped to the pretzels and made a mushy, soggy mess. Now I let my jello set pretty firm so it's even a little lumpy when I go to stir it up again before I put it on top of the second layer.) Then pour it on the cream mixture.

Refrigerate. Gail adds another spoonful of cool whip on top when she serves it, but I never have. 

It's best eaten within 24 hours. Over time the pretzels loose their crunch.
But we've never really had a pan last longer than 24 hours. This stuff is amazing!

the secret sauce to friendship

(This picture has nothing to do with this post, but I didn't get a single shot from Saturday night, and we did eat this raspberry pretzel dessert...so it will just have to do!)

I had a group of friends come over on Saturday night who brought greek food for a picnic dinner, unloaded and loaded my dishwasher, brought all the goods for a foot soak and pedicure and brought three hours of awesome, thoughtful conversation. It was dreamy.

These are friends I made while attending Cedar Valley Church in Bloomington. We were in a small group together from when I was pregnant with Ivar to when I was pregnant with Elsie. Sometime this past winter the mom's of the group started meeting up on one Friday night a month, me driving from the country meeting up in their neck of the woods. Their small group expanded and now there are seven of us who are either currently in or used to be in this small group.

We loved these friends when we were with them formally in the small group. But we were still at the infancy stages of relationship. We watched videos together and had spirited conversation. And we got to know each other. We ate good treats, walked through job transitions, laughed a lot and started building a friendship.

But it wasn't until we mom's met that first Friday night, just this winter, that I realized something huge about how friendships are formed. I was telling the story of how Ivar didn't care to walk until he was 18 months and how hilarious it was to have him three times the size of the other babies in the infant nursery at church because he couldn't graduate to the toddler nursery. Not until he walked. Which he was in no hurry to do. Finally he took his first steps...

And then someone broke into my story and reminded me, "we know. we were there!" And it's true. Ivar took his first steps at our small group. Surrounded by a group of adults in the youth room at our church, he walked clear across the rug right into our arms. And everyone cheered. It was epic!

I stopped telling my story, and was struck dumb with how awesome it was that these people remembered that milestone from years earlier, that I hardly remembered myself. And now, three years later, and (between us the seven of us) TWELVE kids later, we are still celebrating the milestones of one another. The secret sauce to these friendships is longevity. Time. Time together, shared experiences. Memories made even when I didn't know we were making them.

Saturday night will go down as another. The night they drove all the way to my farm to celebrate baby #3, to bring dinner, do my dishes, eat sour patch kids and raspberry pretzel dessert, to pray over me for my labor and delivery, and to pamper me. We'll add tonight to our list of shared memories and in time we will build more and more.

nine months pregnant! (I think)

If you divide 36 weeks by 4, you get nine. Which means if the average month is 4 weeks long, I have been pregnant 9 months. I don't know if I technically am yet, as weeks and months are terribly confusing in the world of pregnancy tracking, but 9 months feels very accomplished so I am going with it. Because I like to feel accomplished.

I just went through a hard month of carrying this baby. I was in pain and had a few other physical issues that were trying and those trying things got me down. Mentally down and literally down. I am on a pretty strict cycle of two hours up and active and one hour laying on my left hand side. Which, turns out, is awesome. To be forced to rest as a mother of two would be equivalent to forced daily bowls of ice cream. There just isn't much to complain about.

As a result of the pain I was in, I started eating better, cutting way back on social-anythings and we bought a bed for our living room. No joke. If you came over right now you'd find two couches, a fire place and a twin bed. Not awkward at all. I spend my "left hand side" time on this bed. And also sleep there at night. You can imagine Rory tucking me in at night and then heading up to our bed. Without me. The bed was purchased when it was terribly hot and I was dying in our stuffy bedroom. And when Rory kept waking me up to tell me I was snoring. To which I would sadly tell him, "but I was finally sleeping!" I also get up frequently to visit the bathroom and when I roll over (which is all the time) I have to readjust many pillows. I was restless and hot, and Rory was annoyed and crabby. The bed was purchased with both of our full support and enthusiasm. When baby comes I'll move back upstairs, but in the meantime the bed does serve as a quality conversation starter.

Elsie and Ivar are very ready for the baby and it's adorable. They love feeling kicks and seem very aware of what is coming (though none of us really can brace for all the ways a baby will change our normal). Elsie has taken to calling her pink blanket, "Baby Lily" and will come and tell me when Baby Lily "is crying because a lion bit her." I've always hoped my kids would have an imaginary friend, just for the fun of it, but this blanket that is held so lovingly is pretty close. I will continue to encourage this Baby Lily thing as long as I can.

Other than that, the baby is gaining an ounce a day. Pretty impressive. And I have to say this: I absolutely love being pregnant. Even with the harder parts of this pregnancy, there is nothing more marvelous and amazing and privileged than getting to carry a little life in my womb. I love this baby fiercely already. And this is before I've even set my eyes on my babe. What a joy it will be to hold him or her in my arms!

harmony, minnesota

For our babymoon we spent the day and night in Lanesboro, ate another awesome caramel roll in the morning, and then drove twenty minutes to Harmony, Minnesota. There are tours you can take of Amish farms, as well as tours of Niagara Cave. We just had half a day and chose the self-guided Amish tour, a CD you play in your car that tells you how to get to various Amish farms where they sell their goods to you, the tourist.

In the end, the CD wouldn't have been necessary. It was more like a talking GPS than a super informative self-guided tour. But I don't know how you get a map without having the CD... Also the CD tour brought us to many smaller farms, where we got to talk to one of the parents, whereas the tour buses that go tend to visit the larger scale farms with larger storefronts. I can see pros and cons to each...

I would recommend bringing cash. We didn't have much on us, but purchased something little at each place (jams, cookies, granola bars...) They sell much larger items too: aprons, baskets, bird houses, wooden furniture and my treasure from the day: a basket that holds all the plates, napkins, utensils and condiments for toting out to the picnic table. I love it so, so much.

On the whole it felt like these Amish families were living well below the poverty line. I could be wrong, but based on the appearance of buildings, peeling paint and weathered shingles, it did look a bit exhausting. You don't take any pictures on these tours either. They believe that photos are a graven image. (Unfortunately, the day before while at the cattle auction there were two Amish men sitting across from us. I was taking pictures of the cows and trying to get a shot of the whole arena when one of them caught my eye and shot me a fierce look. The other had his hat tilted down. The bummer was that I hadn't even seen they were there...we had just arrived. But the rest of the time I shot my pictures towards the other end of the arena and also deleted all of those first pictures.)

It was a drizzly morning, and visiting these farms was fascinating. I did get the sense that part of their actual income comes from people like us stopping by, purchasing in their shops. And the landscape along the drive was lovely. It's just such a pretty part of our state. 

In the end, I'm glad we went. And I'm excited to go back and visit the cave.

I believe this is called nesting...

Last Sunday on the way to church Rory asked me if I was okay, wondering what was on my mind. I told him calmly, "I don't want to scare you, but I am ready to get rid of most everything inside our house. Every room I walk into I want to purge. Like the laundry room and all of those shelves of storage. Do we use any of those things? And I can't handle our upstairs. I know we don't need a bigger house, but we do need less stuff. I'm done stepping on toys..."

That afternoon I came home and hit the laundry room like my life depended on it. Nothing was safe. Rory moved his office fully to the cabin, I found new homes for some items and pitched others. I took down the shelves and decided the laundry room would be just that: the laundry room. Rory built me a folding counter and one day I'll paint the walls...

The next weekend I went to town on the kids rooms. No toy was safe. I have not a bone of sentimentality in me at the moment. If something was missing, broken or had no other like toys, it was a goner. I had a box for give away, a bigger box for throw away and then found an awesome deal at Menards: 12 tupperware tubs for $6.99. Rory whipped out a label maker he just purchased and was thrilled to get to use it. The toys are high enough that the kids can't reach a thing. Which means we have full control of what comes out, and only after the other toys have been put away.

Ironically I am supposed to be laying low. And I actually am. The night I sorted toys in the nursery there was a huge thunderstorm. I sat in the glider rocker with all the windows open and then would visualize picking up the next four things I would put away before I sat back down again. It was a very slow process, but I did it! And now there is not a single toy in the nursery (except the train table) and we are on the right track, getting ready for baby!

peanut butter banana smoothie

Two weeks ago I decided to go pretty-much-paleo again. That's what I called my sort of grain-free diet. Interestingly, to get back on the wagon I referenced my very own blog (linked above) and found it tremendously helpful. I was so proud of myself!

Two days after cutting out bread, cereal, bagels, bars, pasta, and anything else that has flour or grain (everything except oatmeal and corn chips) my feet deflated. No kidding. I've had some serious cankles this pregnancy and just like that, I had my normal feet back. A week later I ate a very worthwhile piece of chocolate cake that a friend brought over for Bible Study and just like that, my feet puffed up like balloons again.

Clearly I have some serious issues with flour or wheat or carbs of some sort...but let's stop talking about my feet, shall we?

As a result of me going grain-free, we have done away with cold cereal at our house altogether. Mostly because it's temptation island for me, and not good for anyone else either. We've moved on to smoothies, oatmeal, eggs, annika's granola and grain-free granola with yogurt. It's a bit more work and prep, but remember that thing about feet?!!

My new favorite smoothie (and the kids') is peanut butter banana. This will sincerely get me out of bed in the morning, I love it so much.

In the blender I throw (I measure nothing, so I'm going to guess here...)
1 1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. plain old home yogurt (most protein, lowest sugar I've been told)
2 T. natural peanut butter (just peanuts and salt listed in the ingredients)
a scoop of Whey vanilla protein powder. I've used Market Pantry. This is Walgreens. Both are great.
1-2 RIPE bananas. The more brown the better. Often I peel mine and freeze them in chunks.
5 ice cubes
a handful of spinach

Blend until smooth. The addition of the peanut butter in this one is crazy good. Sometimes I make it at night as my "icecream" or dessert... Enjoy!

breakfast buddies

When my brother's kids were here, Ivar kept bringing his cousin Claire's school picture over to our breakfast table so we could have breakfast with her. It was funny because then we'd go and actually see Claire in the flesh, but having this sweet picture at the table gave me an idea.

Last Thursday my nephew Jack drove with his parents to college. I was thinking a lot about them and him and decided we could have Jack's graduation announcement picture join us at the breakfast table. I talked to the kids about what a big deal this day was for Jack. And they were very concerned he might miss his mom and dad at nighttime. And wondered if he'd be home for his birthday. We talked about growing up and learning and becoming an oldult (their term) and then we said a prayer for Jack.

The next morning, Ivar brought Jack to the table again and we prayed for him again.

So now this is a thing. I have found school pictures of all of my nieces and nephews and plan on having one of their pictures join us each morning so we can pray for that cousin. I'm so excited about this plan and love how intentional and connected it makes me feel to all of them. Hopefully I'll be able to drop that cousin a line letting them know, or send them a picture of their picture at our table. But no matter what, that cousin will be well loved by their littlest cousins, prayed for and thought of.

fried eggplant

I gave my friend Annie and eggplant last night and decided I should post what we do with our eggplant so she knows what to do with hers. I also want to recognize that the last recipe I posted was fried green tomatoes. Which is basically the exact same everything as this "recipe." This may make it seem like we fry all of our vegetables! We don't, I promise. But I will say that my kids both ate two egg plant rounds for lunch yesterday and LOVED them, which felt like a win. Mostly this is just the only way I have found and loved to eat eggplant.

So here's the step by step:
1. Cut your eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds. Salt both sides to take as much moisture out as possible. Some let this sit for 30 minutes, but I'm hopeful lunch will be over in 30 minutes, so they only have as much "sweat time" as it takes me to set everything else up.

2. Take three wide and shallow bowls (the cereal bowls pictured above were annoying), fill them with the ingredients listed above. Add some shakes of any sort of seasoning salt to the flour and the bread crumbs.

3. Coat the bottom of your fry pan with oil, plus a little more.

4. Using a paper towel wipe down an eggplant round, taking out as much moisture as possible, and then using a fork coat the round on both sides in the 1) flour 2)egg and 3) panko.

5. The oil needs to be hot enough to sizzle the egg plant, but not burn it. I've noticed my oil starts to dance a bit...I've heard if the end of a wooden spoon sends out bubbles it's ready. Usually I just try putting a bit of a prepared egg plant in and can tell if it's going to fry or if the oil needs more time to heat up, or needs to cool down.

6. Repeat step 4 for all eggplant rounds and add to the skillet.

7. Check them and flip them when they look golden.

8. When they're done they'll be a bit softer, mostly the color will tell you when they're done. Place them on a plate with a paper towel to drain.

9. Top with fresh mozzarella and Marinara Sauce. Some eat it over spaghetti (I don't). And then eat your heart out. I love these so much!

a week-in-the-life revamp

I started documenting A Week in the Life for our family this weekend. Basically it means I am bringing the big camera with us everywhere we go. I'm trying to capture the actual life events in hopes to remember our normal every day.

Rory took this picture above and told me one way to capture our normal every day would be to get a shot of me coming out of every bathroom I frequent throughout the day. Because at 34 weeks, this is a very huge part of my normal every day. I heard the camera and saw him take this shot and laughed so hard.

I took pictures on Saturday and Sunday and I'm already needing to revamp my goals for this project because here's the thing. My baby is really, really low. And life is quite uncomfortable lately. And I've been put on sort of a modified bed rest, two hours up followed by one hour laying on my left hand side. The goal is to keep this baby growing inside of me as long as possible. The goal is to make it to 40 weeks.

I decided to do A Week in the Life before I started feeling all of these very-pregnant symptoms. I worked hard yesterday going to church and the fair (all for two hours at a time, rest time in between) and today I am totally wiped out. And I haven't taken a single picture, mostly because there isn't much to document from my bed. I've seen lots of awesome pictures throughout the day, but just don't have the additional energy to run ahead of the kids to get the shot or even get up from my chair to grab the camera.

So this might be more of a wordy week-in-the-life. I have spent a lot of my time listening to my kids' conversations, without them knowing. And that feels like it's own special treasure of memories to document. This week might be a bit more wordy than full of pictures, and a bit more sleepy than active. But that's okay. That's our actual, honest-to-goodness week-in-the-life here in the middle of August 2015.

celebrating marriage and daily life

I told her, "Now Elsie, mom and dad need 15 minutes to get ready, and I don't want you to get dirty." She told me, "Okay. I'll just go play with the kitties." Oh dear.

We got all gussied up for the night and drove to Art House North where we had a fancy dinner for Rory's folks, Marlene and Madison, to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary. It was such a special night, and hopefully I'll have pictures to post of the whole night for another post. There was a photographer there and I'm so excited to see the shots she got.

Until then, I just read this post on Ann Voskamp's blog and thought it was so good. It's a guest author who wrote a post titled, "How quiet marriages may be the most exciting marriages of all." Please go read it. Especially after a night like last night that celebrated 50 years of two people who devoted themselves to each other. There is nothing more powerful and inspiring and beautiful to see. I left feeling encouraged and excited to keep pouring into my own marriage.

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In other news, I'm going to do A Week in the Life next week. Anyone want to join me?!! The whole purpose is to take seven normal days and to document the ordinary. To take pictures at the grocery store, to get pictures of your house not totally tidy, your kids in church nursery, or any of the other "normals" that don't ever really get documented. Most of the time we have our camera out to document special events, or events out of the ordinary. But the point of this week is to make sort of a time capsule of what life looked like in August 2015. For us it will document life with just two kids, just before the third joins the family. I have watched Ali Edwards do this on her blog for probably five years and have never joined in, but this year I realized how much I would love a slice in time like this even from before we had kids! So I'm jumping in with both feet. Expect lots of pictures next week.

(I ordered the scrapbook, but you truly wouldn't have to. In fact, I'm not sure it will totally work with my style, but I'm wanting to do something creative like traditional scrapbooking so I got it. Ali starts on Monday morning, but I think I may jump start this weekend. I'm feeling especially inspired.)

But now, before you forget, go and read that article on marriage. It was so good! Happy Weekend!