Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Randomness...

Randomness...

1. My kids can both melt my heart and disgust me all in the same day. Yesterday, Charlie asked to lead the prayer at breakfast and asked if she could vacuum for me...melt my heart. Then later that afternoon, she wiped her nose all over her hand and preceed to lick the snot off her hand...gross.

2. Last night, we saw a fox walking out across the back pasture. A moment later, we saw the cow come running and chase the fox away. Cool to see how protective she was of her calf.

3. I realized I haven't taken a single photo in the last week and I don't even feel bad about it.

4. Charlie has been whining to have the training wheels taken off her bike. So, Joe took them off a couple of days ago and she wouldn't go near the bike...didn't even want to try. We ended up putting them back on for now.

5. Joseph is crawling all over the place. It is so fun to watch and I'm thinking it's time to put gates up at the stairs.

6. Joe and I got to go out on a date Saturday night. Thanks grandma LuAnn for watching the kids...especially the crabby baby that would not take a bottle. And she kept the girls overnight too...what a blessing!

7. I'm sick of picking green beans. It always seems like a pain in the butt this time of year, but am always glad come the middle of winter. We are going to dig up the potatoes over the weekend. My tomatoes are finally starting to turn red...if only the chickens would leave them alone.

God bless!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Menu Plan - Week of 08/29/11

I've sort of menu planned for awhile now, but in the last month I've started planning in alot more detail. I made myself a spreadsheet with spaces for daily planning/prep. work, breakfasts, lunches, suppers and snacks. I still don't plan snacks, but have a general idea at the beginning of the week what is available for snacking.

It has helped a ton. I don't need to rush around and figure out something for the sitters to feed everyone for lunch and my afternoons go a lot smoother when I already have supper planned and half together before the kids are whining that they are hungry. I also am better able to specifically plan with/for leftovers.

Monday 08/29
Breakfast - eggs, smoothies
Lunch - hotdogs, fruit
Supper - burgers on the grill, sweet corn, coleslaw

Tuesday 08/30
Breakfast - granola, yogurt, peaches
Lunch - pancakes (from freezer)
Supper - chicken stirfry, brown rice

Wednesday 08/31
Breakfast - eggs, bacon
Lunch - chicken salad
Supper - beef stroganoff (from freezer)

Thursday 09/01
Breakfast - oatmeal
Lunch - leftovers
Supper - spaghetti, garlic bread, sweet potatoes

Friday 09/02
Breakfast - cereal, smoothies
Lunch - leftovers
Supper - homemade pizza

Saturday 09/03
Breakfast - french toast
Lunch - sandwiches
Supper - steaks, salmon on the grill, green beans, salad

Sunday 09/04
Breakfast - muffins, fruit
Lunch - tuna melts
Supper - vegetable and lentil soup, bread, salad

Have a blessed week!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Out and About


We love a good county fair. We have been to a couple this summer. Just last week the kids and I ventured to our local county fair for the evening.

First stop.....the tractors. Their dad would be proud!



This was moments before Charlie leaned forward and almost knocked the whole thing over.

 


Joseph chilling listening to The Kingery Family singing some bluegrass ans gospel music.
Last week was busy. On Friday, we visited one of our favorite apple orchards for their opening day.....











On Saturday, we picked up Travis and headed to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market. We came home with a bunch of goodies.....flowers, popcorn, honey, kale, lettuce, blueberries, brussel sprouts and more.


On Sunday, we headed to Joe's parents for brunch to celebrate his birthday. The food was wonderful as always. My sweet mother-in-law made a special meal just for me.....things I could eat.

The kids practiced driving the gator. Charlie is already pretty good at steering, but now Joe is teaching her to run the peddles too.


 


We relaxed in the shade and visited......talked about solving the world's problems.
Babies ate and babies slept.





Kids played in the slip-n-slide.

Sunday night, we had some great friends over for supper. We ate outside, kids rode bikes and we chatted the night away.

What a blessed life we have.
God bless!

Cori Turns Two

Recently, we spent a Sunday afternoon celebrating Miss Cori's second birthday. A bunch of our family and friends were able to join us. The weather was perfect and it is always great to be able to get together.


She didn't have much to say, but had no problem ripping into her presents. She was blessed with a bunch of new clothes, a new doll and baby bed, some other random toys, and cute new shoes.


Her baby brother helped with the cleanup.


Her cousin, June (3 weeks old), was the youngest to attend the party.
Her cousin, Allyson (4 weeks old) was also there...but I don't have a photo.


She wasn't too sure about blowing out her candles. Joe ended up doing it. We ended the day with chocolate cake and ice cream and angel food cake with fruit and real whipped cream.

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate. We are blessed!
God bless!

Joseph Jr. - 8 Months Old


A lot has happened in the 3 months since I updated here and here on the little man of the house.

Joseph has had 2 teeth pop through in the last month or so.

He is talking up a storm, not really sure it's real words but it sure sounds like 'dada' sometimes.

He is crawling(sort of) all over the place and getting into all kinds of things. It's funny how you have to re-babyproof after just having babies not that long ago. It is constant reminding the girls to pick up things from the floor...food, little toys, etc.

We still really don't have a schedule but he is sleeping better at night and for naps, though his naps are not very predictable. He almost always nurses to sleep for both naps and bedtime.

And some times his sisters just wear him out and he falls asleep in the middle of the floor.




He pulled himself up a couple of days ago for the first time.




We have still had issues with his skin over the last few months, but it has gotten so much better. As of now, he is pretty much clear. He has a few spots on his legs and chest but overall is looking wonderful.
The end of May, he was looking rough still...pretty sure due to a reaction to dairy that I had eaten. It sort of cleared up in June, but there was a spot that was pretty bad on his right cheek. We ended up taking him into the pediatrician and did get an antibiotic. I ended up at the pharmacy for over an hour waited because I didn't want a bright pink antibiotic. I didn't think it was necessary to add Red40 into the little guy since he seems to have so many issues with foods and skin breakouts already.

The antibiotic seemed to be clearing up the rest of his cheeks. But he also started a new breakout while still on the antibiotic...pretty sure from some beef I had eaten. Funny side note, the pediatrician just can't believe it has anything to do with food or food allergies. She is wrong, we have noticed pretty easily when I have tried a food that I had been restricting and thought bugged him...he would break out.

I have decided that it has already been months of watching what I eat to help the little guy out, so what's a few more months. I've always intended on nursing until my babies were at least a year old and that doesn't seem that far off anymore.

Besides getting a ton of his food from me, he has been eating up a storm too...chicken, rice, sweet potatoes, green beans, bananas, and a ton of other fruit and veggies. He loves chicken broth (which is good since I usually have a batch going in the crockpot)...actually all my kids love soup and broth.

As of now, we are doing no dairy, no eggs, no beef, no corn, no potatoes, no tomatoes, no green peppers, no wheat, no gluten and limited sugar. We know for sure he does not tolerate dairy, eggs or beef. I would like to test wheat again, but at the same time it is nice seeing how wonderful he looks and don't really want to tempt it either.

He is all boy and a wonderful additon to the screeching little girls around here. He will probably out weigh his sisters soon. He weighs about 19 lbs. Cori and Charlie are not too far ahead of him at 23 lbs and 32 lbs.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Multitude Monday

A very random list from the last few weeks.

801. Sweet corn from the garden
802. Afternoon rain storms
803. Mud between toes
804. Campfires with friends, family and little ones
805. Smores
806. Higher Ground and Jesus worshipping







807. Family Friday afternoons...gator rides, ice cream, park playing, and homemade pizza
808. Celebrating Miss Cori's birthday




809. Opening day at the local apple orchard
810. Little ones behaving while running around on a Friday...garage sales, apple orchard, farmer's market and more
811. Finally getting things preserves...pickles, peaches, green beans, sweet corn
812. Celebrating Joe's birthday...we so love this man!



813. Relaxed suppers with great friends
814. County fairs...corn dogs, kettle corn, cattle barns, chickens and more
815. The Kingery Family's music

Counting with Ann!

God bless!