here's the church

Here's the church

Here's the steeple

Open the doors..."peoples in der!"

my day of mad baking

I just got done using my oven to the maximum energy efficiency. I thought, well, since the oven is preheated....and I just kept going. The end results are awesome, except for the disaster of a kitchen i have to clean now. I just never learned to clean as I go. Seriously, when will i get it. So, i don't know how to get the pictures in order. Being the avid blogger that I am I never learned this skill either. So someone please tell me. I've seen some really good blogs out there that have great pictures that are all in perfect order to tell a nice little story. That is not how this post will be. I will simply have to label each picture in the order it is. So here we go.

One item i made today was wheat bagels with sunflower seeds. This is the finished product.

The next item was bread which i make about every week any way. This week is oatmeal bread.

I also made some delicious chewy granola bars with honey, peanut butter, chocolate chips, walnuts and dates because that is what I had. I forgot to put sunflower seeds in.

I made babyfood as well. This is peaches, cherries, spinach and sweet potatoes, and greenbeans with a little minced garlic mmmmm.

These are my bagels boiling for a minute on each side.

This is my little helper who kept tripping me. I wish I could show you a picture of Fisher but that would be highly inappropriate. When I went to check on him he was in his room, pajama drawer pulled all the way out with every single pajama item on the floor around him. He was, of course, naked. Sometimes he has days where he just likes to change clothes a lot.

These are the bagels after i rolled them into shape.

My bread rising in the pans. I don't know why this is typing in hyperlink mode.??

My bagels getting kneaded by my trusty mixer which I LOVE. Thank you to my loving husband who so generously gave it to me for mothers day. We know that was a selfish gift :) as I use it to make HIM food!

After continual tripping I locked him up in his bouncer.

Bread rising on the fridge. I told you these pics were not in order. this is ridiculous.

My kitchen mid storm. I wanted to show you pictures of all the dishes i have to do but right when I went to take the picture the camera died. I'm exhausted but I feel very accomplished right now. Now, when Adam comes home and asks "what'd you do today?" I have proof of what I did. Unlike yesterday when he came home to a messy house and asked that very question. "I cleaned all day. Can't you tell!?" I'm not lying. It's a little discouraging when you spend all morning cleaning the kitchen just to make dinner and have to clean it again before bedtime. Well, Mr. Finley is waking up. He took a very good nap today! This is the second day in a row. Keep it up!

redecorating

I'm a terrible interior decorator. I know what "feel" I want but am clueless as to how to get there. So I had my friend, come over and help. I just love her home. She recently moved and it was a second later that she had the place feeling so cozy and cottagy. My place still looks blank. Anyway, of course i'm going for a beachy feel. I guess white white white is the key. Which NONE of my stuff is. So paint is flying. I'm painting all my wood furniture, covering my throw pillows, putting sheer white curtains all over the place, and finding white stuff at yard sales. So far, I've painted a side table and my picture frames that I will make a picture collage out of. Unfortunately, I'm out of spray paint, so I brush painted all these frames...more to come too...with no patience I'm afraid. They look okay, but i'm sure they could have looked better. I finally noticed that the homes I've gone to that I just love always have family pictures scatter through out. I think that's what makes a home feel like home. So, I've been gathering picture frames at yard sales. I can't wait to fill them with family photos! I'll post pictures of how my stuff turns out as a i go. This is taking a lot longer than i expected. With 2 kids who are pretty rambunctious it's no wonder I can even get the laundry done around here. How do mom's of 3 or more kids do it? I wonder this all the time. 2 kids have me at my absolute end. Man, they're fun though!

Our crazy morning

we were up at 5 am this morning. Finley woke up but I decided to let him wait a little while. He fell back asleep at 5:30, but Fisher then decided it was time to get up. Who can blame him. I would rather sleep on the cold grass outside then listen to my brother cry right next to me. We tried to have Fisher go back to sleep on the floor in our room but that didn't work. Needless to say, a day can't be good when it's started that early and under those circumstances. On the upside, I was up early enough to try this new pop tart recipe I had been wanting to make for breakfast.
It's been a rough morning with both kids. I'm about to have a heart attack from the stress. Fisher won't leave me alone and is whining uncontrolably, and Finley has been cranky all morning because Fisher hit him in the head with his airplane. Fisher is having a hard time finding something to occupy himself while I vent on my blog and keeps tugging at me even though i've been paying attention to him all morning. You know when you're so tired you have a hard time thinking straight and you just kind of stare into space?
Days like these are hard, but I look at my two kids and my heart melts. I just love them and wouldn't have life any other way. Fisher is talking ALL THE TIME! He's getting so good at holding a conversation with me. It's fun but I can't get him to STOP talking. I have been successful at getting him to whisper though. :) Finley is crawling all around. I've got the eyes like a hawk again, searching the floor for chokeable hazards...including all of Fisher's toys. Finley loves guitars. Everytime I go to put mine away he cries! He also loves playing the ukulele. Speaking of Finley, he just woke up from his nap, the 20 minute wonder. Little booger.

a good memory

We hiked the trinidad head today and there is something that happened that i don't want to forget...so i'm writing it down. We had gotten pretty high. Fisher was in a kelty pack on Adam's back starting to fall asleep. As we peered down the cliff at the water, Fisher sleepily said, "der's stars in der mom". He thought there were stars in the water because of the sparkle the sun created on it. After he said that I looked at the water in a new way. I just love the way small minds think.

Our Dwelling Place

Here is a virtual tour of our new home. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhqz6iSbOiE You have to go to YouTube because i think it was too long to put on my blog. This video is rated PG 13 because there is mild baby nudity. There's my disclaimer. The house is not quite finished yet but Adam is working hard at getting things put together. I am working hard cleaning. I tell you what, I don't think I have cleaned this much in my whole life. Both apartment and the house had to be done. I've been trying to use "green" products so I'm not inhaling a bunch of toxic stuff, but some things just require BLEACH!!! I am so in love with all this space! So many cupboards in the garage and my kitchen. So many windows! (more cleaning) I no longer have to save quarters for the washer and dryer. I have a dishwasher now! I also love having a bathroom right off of my room. I love the blue color Adam painted our room. I love the backyard. Most of all, I love watching Fisher here. He can go in and out of the back door as he pleases and he likes to play up and down our hallway. He likes to play in the back yard on his bike that he can't quite pedal yet because he's too short! It makes my heart happy to watch my little boy have an environment that he's able to stretch his legs in! It feels like home when I watch him. Right now, though, he is just a tyrant. He's been trying to do anything and everything he can that is naughty. Corner time is not seeming to work. Yelling at him doesn't work. He kinda just smiles and thinks it's a joke. Adam made him stay in the corner for 10 minutes when he threw his rice all over the dining room. We tell him to put his nose in it and he smiles and says "nose" then happily puts it in the corner for a second. We definitely have our hands full at this point.

He's Got Moves