Playing Catchup

Wow! It's been over a year since my last post! I keep telling myself to get back to blogging but it just never happens! ALOT has changed since my last post in Aug 2011.  We have added another future berry farmer into the family he is now 3months old! Time sure flies the second time around doesn't it? We also put on an addition including a new kitchen, and master suite.... hmmm maybe thats where all my time went the last year and a half?
Anywho... i'm one of those weirdos who dreams about new gadgets like label makers and laminators.... I always figured a laminator would cost big bucks but what do you know it was only $20 at Meijers. So I picked one up using my Christmas money ;)

Since N just turned 3 I have been trying to do more "home schooling" activites rather than just playtime. He seems to pick up on things quickly. He has known all his letters for about a year now and the sounds they make so we are working on reading now! Hard to believe, but the kid just keeps growing up even though I ask him all the time to stay little forever. I feel he could have a good handle on the gig by preschool.  He absolutely LOVES angry birds so I figure what better learning activities than angry birds theme?  I found some adorable free printables  : here and used my new laminator so they dont become full of juice, boogers, crumbs you name it :)

It doesn't get much better than this!

As I am finishing up with that mountain of dishes from tonite I can't help but thinking "It doesn't get much better than this!" You may be thinking I have gone crazy so let me explain.
I am washing the dishes as my hubby and lil man are laughing and playing in the living room, bellies full of a yummy dinner and desert.
I am thankful for: 1. A loving husband. 2. A beautiful son. 3. The home we live in.
4. The food I can put on the table. 5. The ability to wash those dishes!
It has been a long summer of not seeing my hubby more than an hour or so a day. Especially hard for lil man since he doesn't understand why daddy is working so much!
It's so nice to start getting into a "normal people" routine again! The lil man is a new person when he has daddy around more often and it just melts my heart!

Well enough of the mush here is what I accomplished tonite!


Speaking of mush..... I steamed and puree'd (sp???) 4 1/2 cup serving of carrots. One of which I used in the cookies we had for dessert! I use carrot puree quite often in things such as pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, homemade mac n cheese, cookies you name it.

Also blanched some corn on the cob so that we can enjoy it in the dead of winter.

Here is dinner: Lemon Glaze chicken and wild rice. I also prepared two more meals of the lemon glaze chicken for the freezer. It was yummy (luckily considering we are going to eat it two more times :)

Don't forget dessert (no this is not a normal thing in this household I was very ambitious tonite!)

Peanut butter raisin cookies with hidden carrot puree, just don't tell my hubby.

I had planned on throwing some of these in the freezer to enjoy later but I'm thinking they will not make it that long.

I can't believe it myself but my kitchen is actually cleaner than it was when I began this afternoon. Thanks to my "Flying Lessons" From www.flylady.net

Go check out her site it is very encourgaing! I am only about a week into it but I am loving it so far. Not that I am following to a tee but at least I am trying.

Busy Boxes!

We have implemented our "busy boxes" for a week now and I am loving them.

If you haven't seen something like this before you will want to make some for your little ones!

Granted my guy is only 18months and I feel the boxes would be much more effective with older children especially preschool age but whats the harm?

We started out with 5 boxes and labled them one for each of the weekdays using my cricut expression machine.

Then you will put special toys, books or activities into each box. I typically wait until late afternoon when i'm trying to get supper ready to pull out the box for the day. Like I said I think for an older child you could get them to keep "busy" for quite a bit longer than an 18mo. old, but he still really enjoys them. In fact he might just enjoy taking the things out and putting them back into the boxes more right now but oh well!

Examples of what you can include in your boxes: Puzzles, books, crayons and coloring books, play dough, favorite toys, a special video, games, one of our fave boxes contains clothespins and cups! Think outside the box! These will keep my guy busy for at least 15 minutes most of the time longer though. Feel free to comment below with a link to your version of "busy boxes".

CSA Week

This week I have the awesome opportunity to take advantage of a friends CSA share. I have heard great things about these and have always wanted to learn more, but never looked into it.

Tonite I picked up my bounty and all I can say is WOW!

For those who do not already know CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. You pay for your share and then you come once a week during the summer (early June through late October) and pick up whatever is in season! I was amazed at the amount of fresh vegi's and herbs I got tonite! (this particular farm is also certified organic which is a plus!!)

My Thirty-One storage tote was FULL! Here is what all we received:

Broccoli, Carrots, Parsley, Basil, Cilantro, Romaine lettuce, Napa Cabbage, Snap Peas, Garlic Scapes, Mixed salad greens, Green Onions, Chard, Kale, Collard Greens and one more green of some sort which I cannot remember what it was called!

My goal is to make sure not of this goes to waste, Honestly I have never eaten about 4 of the items, and never personally prepped a bunch of the others.

Tonite dinner was already prepared so I simply had a romaine salad :) I will try my best to keep track of how I cook each item and whether or not it passed the taste test for me and boo.

I had such a fun time this past week because I got to play caterer all week!

A friend of mine was preparing to take a weeklong vacation to a cottage with about 10 family members!! She gave me the task of menu planning, organizing, shopping and preparing food for the week. While the task seemed daunting to her it was very exciting for me! I love a good project.

With her help I planned out 3 meals per day and two snacks for the week. Made three shopping trips buying everything they will need for the week. Then I got cooking/baking.

Tried out some breakfast burritos for the first time which were frozen so they would be fresh and yummy by the time they ate them! I found it easy to do a type of assembly line with all my ingredients. Also lay out your plastic wrap or tin foil and then assemble the burrito and wrap it right up!

Let me tell you they were YUMMY!!!! Definately be making these again and will keep extras in the freezer so we can quick pull them out for breakfast.

Here is one of my desserts, a Peanut Butter cup dessert. I froze these and they can eat them straight out of the freezer very yummy!

I wanted to add a special holiday touch so I used powdered sugar! All you have to do it cut your shape out of waxed paper lay it over your dessert and sprinkle your sugar over it voila!

Here it is all the frozen meals/snacks I made for the week. All in all there was:

1 pan of Baked Oatmeal, 18 Breakfast burritos, 2 dozen made from scratch cornbread muffins, 4lbs of RioRancho Taco meat, 4lbs of Sloppy joe meat, 2 pans of peanut butter cup dessert,

20 handmade pig in the blankets, 4 dozen whole wheat chocolate chip oatmeal cookies,

(unbaked spoonfuls so they could have freshly baked cookies!) and then 2 large bags of marinated chicken drumsticks! I think that was all the frozen stuff and then I also made up a batch of her Bean Salad recipe which i may have to try for myself someday it looked very yummy!

*Had so much fun and got very motivated to continue to stock my fridge with frozen homemade meals!