Spring, Farming, and Projects!

Life gets a little busy at times for any mom, but I regret that I haven't had time to blog lately. I've been busy with a lot of little (and some big) projects, kids and work. Eric is busy out in the field and on the farm, and I am busy with refinishing furniture, painting bedrooms and the bathroom, and keeping up with the house and gardens. We've spent very little time outdoors until a week ago because it rained almost every day. Now that it is nice, it is hard to sit still knowing that there is so much to be done!

 

Memorial Day 2014

 

Clara's birthday was a lot of fun. We did a farm theme, of course. I'm shocked I hadn't done that one yet! The cake took me FOREVER, or at least 3 hours. And Clara got a nice black eye for all of her birthday pictures with a minor incident on the stairs. But all in all, I'm really enjoying this whole throw a big birthday party thing. Let's hope I outgrow this phase in a year or two.

 

 

 

 

 

The kids really enjoyed the piñata... except that they couldn't break it. A bunch of little girls vs. piñata equals an adult needing to get involved.

 

 

Memorial Day was enjoyable.  There are a lot of birthdays in the month of May, so a lot of time was spent with family this month. Family is such a joy, and I truly appreciate how close we all are on both sides.  I took some pictures of the girls on Memorial Day with their red, white, and blue outfits because they were so cute in coordinating colors.

 

 

 

I will have to post some pictures later of the furniture and house projects. I have been having a lot of fun with a coffee table and television cabinet. I'd bought these two units for sale at the Crawford Furniture liquidation, and they weren't quite the right stain color. So I sanded with an orbital power-sander, stained, and sealed... I've never done any of that before so it was quite a learning experience!

 

We also bought a Hoosier Cabinet: 

 

 

If you're like me and not familiar with Hoosier Cabinets, Wikipedia can explain it to you. It is in good condition, and I was really excited to get it home, cleaned up, and stocked with some of our overflowing kitchen items that I never seem to find a good home for.  We'll eventually put this in our new kitchen or pantry area when we get to that house remodeling project.

 

We haven't planted our vegetable garden yet, but hope to do that soon. I did buy some rhubarb (about 14 pounds of it!) and made rhubarb sauce.  I froze the rest, and intend to make a few (or several) batches of strawberry-rhubarb jam, which Eric claims is better than regular strawberry jam.  More precious than gold, I realized last year, when he hoarded it and wouldn't let me give any away! 

 

 

Happy Spring!

 

 

Photo Bomb!

A photo bomb, if you have never heard of one, is where you drop a bunch of photos with minimal text.  Here are several photos from one of the first nice days this spring, where the girls were able to play with their new outdoor toys, including their little play house.  Enjoy!

 

Clara's First Birthday!

 

Clara turned one on May 8th.  Thinking back to this day in 2012 and some momentous occasions throughout her first year, a few memories come to mind. 

 

I cried during delivery, something I didn't do when Anna was born because I was only vaguely aware of what was happening to me during my first delivery.  The emotions in general were much stronger with her, maybe because I felt like I'd had taken my mommy training wheels off and was learning how to cruise along in the newborn department. 

Holding Clara and cuddling with her alone during the two nights at the hospital were beautiful.  Trying to juggle two little ones that first summer, I remember Anna falling asleep on my feet as I was nursing Clara because she wanted some mommy cuddle time.  All of a sudden, time flashed and she learned how to scoot on her bottom to get places.  And she's still scooting today.

 

Clara's first birthday party was a lot of fun. We did a ladybug theme.  We invited 50 people to our house.  I was counting on being able to enjoy the outdoors, but it was 40 degree weather for most of May, so we were packed into our house.  Despite this, I wouldn't have changed a thing. 

I found really cute ladybug ideas on pinterest.  I made a ladybug cake.  It was a round cake with red frosting.  Purchased tube black frosting outlined the body of the ladybug, and mint candies made the spots.  For the eyes I pushed mini marshmallows into the frosting and put a dot of the black frosting on it.  I frosted cupcakes with green frosting and put little flower candies on them to dress them up.  We barely had enough cake and cupcakes to feed everyone, but it turned out really cute.

For favors I made oreo ladybugs.  I also found this idea on pinterest.  You dip oreos in melting chocolate.  First in the regular brown chocolate and apply the candy eyes while it is wet, then after it dries (hardens) you dip the sides into the red melting chocolate. 

I found that if you pop them in the fridge on a cookie sheet for a few minutes you can speed the process up.  After the red chocolate dried, I used toothpicks to put the dots on the bugs.  By the way, I'd had my gallbladder out the Monday prior to her birthday, so I was home to do all of the party prep.  And I had help from my mom!

 

 

 

My brother-in-law Travis had access to an inflatable bouncy house, so we had that running despite the cold weather.  The girls loved it!

Clara was pretty tired out by the time it was time to do the cake, so she didn't enjoy the process as much as I'd hoped.  She poked it a little and ate maybe a bite or two. 

She perked up when it came to the presents, but Anna probably had more fun opening presents than she did.  And Anna continues to have challenges sharing Clara's toys, but that is another story.

A big thank you to all of our family who came, helped, and shared with us little Clara Bug's first birthday!

 

 

  

Just Winging It

So often, I realize that I try to overthink motherhood.  I try to read about raising babies and toddlers.  How to feed them the best foods.  How to handle tantrums.  But sometimes the best child-raising outcome is one that happens naturally.

Anna is finally potty trained!  I have been putting her on the potty in spurts of diligence off and on since she was 1.5 years old.  She is just over 2.5 years old.  So this long year of frustration over whether she was going to EVER going to go on the potty has concluded with much amazement that she simply decided one day to GET IT.  There was one morning where she went through 6 pairs of undies before 9am.  Another afternoon where she peed on my (new) couch not once but twice.  It always seemed like when I pushed she pushed back.  I tried rewards:  m&m's and marshmallows.  I tried a made up a potty song that was really not very catchy because I can't remember the tune now.  When she indicated interest in riding a school bus, I told her that only big girls who go on the potty can ride school buses.  I bribed her with the offer of taking her to the zoo if she went potty all the time.  Well, none of those things seemed to work and I did feel a little guilty for all of the bribing!  Finally, I relaxed a little.  Probably because I was exhausted of the whole issue.  I let her tell me when she had to go.  And she did, and has been dry for a month now.  Even more amazing, I thought that it would be another year of wearing pull ups at night but she has been waking up dry in her big girl underwear. 

So there is one example of how just letting things take their natural course has been effective.  I have also been pleasantly surprised with Clara's reaction to trying table foods.  I followed all the common "food rules" with Anna.  I fed her pureed veggies before fruits so that she wouldn't get hooked on the natural sweetness of fruit.  She doesn't like (many) veggies.  I never gave her samples of my ice cream and cake until her 1st birthday.  Clara has gotten the benefit of loosened "food rules," mainly because I don't want her to develop challenges with trying new foods like Anna.  So Clara gets little tastes of anything that she can gum.  She's had waffles, toast, hard boiled egg, scrambled egg, shredded cheese, string cheese, corn, peas, carrots, peaches, pears, pot roast, spaghetti, and even cake and ice cream!

So maybe part of being a good mom is overthinking each decision and worrying about whether I'm making the right one.  But I think part of learning to be a good mom is learning how to wing it.  How to let the "I'm not doing enough" and the "I have to follow the rules" go. 

Happy New Year!

I've been so super busy that I feel like New Year's Eve should be just about Eric and I sitting in front of the television.  We might make some glogg and watch a movie, but probably not.  Right now I'm thinking about making my mom's birthday cake instead of waiting until tomorrow, but I probably won't.  I just want to veg.  Luckily it's a "no bath" and "no fussy dinner" evening.

Christmas was a blast!  I truly enjoyed everything this year, although Anna and Clara were just getting over colds and I was fighting off a really strange flu bug that made me achy everywhere but had no other symptoms (I'm grateful!).  Santa Clause came and brought Anna some play dough.  Of course that is what she remembers Santa brought her out of all of the other gifts.  Clara has learned how to clap in joy whenever you say "Yayyy Clara!"  And our tree has dropped a lot of needles and must go.  We spent a lot of time with family during four Christmas parties. 

I am feeling extremely blessed in 2012, and I am hopeful that 2013 will be just as great. 

Happy New Year!

First Snow

Today marks the first snowfall to stick to the ground- November 24, 2012.

 

 

Anna woke up super excited to see snow and wanted to go out to make a snowman.  There wasn't enough to make a snowman, but we did get bundled up and venture out.  Her gloves came off almost immediately, because she wanted to feel the snow.  We took a walk to the barn to see the cows, and to escape from the bitter wind.

 

Anna fed the cows.  Most of them were not interested in eating from her hand, but a few ventured closer to give her a sniff.

 



 

I couldn't resist putting baby Clara down and snapping a picture of her, too.

 

 

I took this next photo of Anna at the same age.

 

 



Wonderful Weekends!

I had a really great weekend.  I wish all of my days could be as good as the ones I had this weekend.  It was the perfect mixture of productive activity (cleaning, organizing, baking, cooking) and lazy play time with the girls.  I started a new series of books called the "Game of Thrones," that brings me back to when I was a teen and loved reading fantasy novels.  So I got some reading in.  And some filing and QuickBooks time. 

 

 

And I got baby toys out for Clara that I had stored away in the attic.

She especially loved this one, that flashes and plays music when you hit it.  Right up her alley, because she LOVES to hit things.  Did you ever see this video of her batting her toys around?

50 Posts

Clara's baptism was November 4th.  She was sooo adorable in her little white dress that my mom bought for her.  Like a little doll.  The baptism was wonderful, and I really felt the support from our family for Clara's faith and life with God.  I attended Sunday school every Sunday while growing up, but the past five years have felt like coming home.  I love our little Lutheran church, and what it is coming to mean to our family.

 

 

Afterward, we had a little luncheon that I put a lot of thought into.  The food was all easy to prepare, but there are always a million and one small details that you have to remember (and feel bad about forgetting).  I was happy to use some of our farm-raised produce in the soups.  For the beef vegetable soup, stew meat from one of our steers, green beans, corn, carrots, onions from our garden; and for the potato soup, the potatoes and onions.  I ordered a cake and had some help with some fruit salads.  A vegetable and cheese tray, rolls, and a salad rounded out the soup.  We have a ton of leftovers!

 

After Church, I did some cleaning, but mostly played with my two very exhausted girls.  Did I mention that daylight savings time ended on Sunday?  I really appreciated the extra hour to get ready in the morning, but the girls woke up at normal time and were well past their noon or 1pm naptime.  But they were so tired that they couldn't close their eyes for more than half an hour, much to my dismay.  I was hoping to catch a little catnap.

 

Despite being extra tired, Clara happily sat playing with toys.  Yes, she sat.  For a long time... until she fell backward with a clunk.  I'll keep the boppy behind her just in case for another week or so until she's a little more steady. 

 

Such a simple accomplishment.  But so momentous for babies!

 

Another momentous occasion?  Over 50 posts on Ginny's Happy Family.

Clara, almost 6 months old.

Halloween!

In preparation of Hallowen, we carved a giant pumpkin.  See previous post for an adorable picture of Clara in a pumpkin.  Here is Anna's pumpkin picture:

 

And Anna's pumpkin picture from last year.  Can you believe how much she's changed?  She's not facing the camera because she wasn't too thrilled about this idea.

 

Here are some more pictures of Clara's pumpkin adventure.

 

At first, we're loving it!

 

But then she gets tired and her legs give out...

 

Ugh, mom, this is hard work trying to stay up!

 

Annnnd, she gives up.  And bites the pumpkin.

 



Anna was a doctor/nurse.  She loves her doctor's kit and giving people check ups.  She's even got the "ga boom, ga boom" sound effects going when she checks your heart.

 



 

She was pretty excited about trick or treating, and actually understood the concept this year.

 

I watched in dismay as she devoured her candy. She's never really tried a Twix, Reese's, Snickers, or Milky Way. I would not win the mother of the year award for her balanced meals every day, but I do try hard to not let her consume candy, cookies, and pop on a regular basis (actually, no pop EVER).

So Anna's third Halloween ended in a sugar rush as she tried various different candies, including a dum dum sucker, twix, whoppers, and a very chewy snickers. 

Clara was a cow, and she tolerated the whole ordeal of being carted from house to house with good humor. 

Happy Halloween!