Let's go Outside

I can't say that the backyard was the reason we bought this home, but it was a big factor.

 YEAH!!!  An apple tree (a canner's dream).

 And grass, but not so much grass that it's overwhelming.



 The massive porch which is also covered so we can enjoy being outside even when it is raining

Halloween

In between posts on the new house, I thought I would throw in some of Miles.  Here is Halloween with a 2 year old

 Wow.  Wrangling 20 kids on Halloween is a lot of work.  Thank you preschool teachers

 Here we are trick or treating at Tully's.  Miles is in there somewhere.  He is the Engineer Driver

 Okay here is the sitting still picture before we explore our new neighborhood.  When I was asking Miles what he wanted to be for Halloween, I told him that engineers drive trains and did he want to be an engineer.  He interpreted that to mean that the front of the train was an engineer so he decided he wanted to be an engineer driver.

Here we are in the new neighborhood.  

New Home Part 2

Okay so now that I've blogged once, I remember that it's kind of fun.  This highlights some of the fun quirks of the house.

I love love love built-ins.  Here is one in the hallway.

Okay, I know that I will probably get tired of it one day, but for now, walking into my pink bathroom makes me smile.

Here is a close up of one of the towel racks in the bathroom.  I love that it is hexaganol.

This is the light fixture in the hallway.  Most of the light fixtures in the house are hideous and need to go (ornate crystal chandeliers) but these I like.

Our New Home

Wow.  I didn't realize how long it had been since I wrote on the blog.  Anyway, we bought a house and it is fabulous.  I thought I would do a series of posts showing the new place.  Here is the first post showing the entry and living room.

Here you see the front door.  I know, super exciting right?

For some reason, Scooter wanted to be in every photo.  Here is the living room decorated for Christmas.  The tree that dominated our townhouse looks really tiny in here (and this is just one room).

From the entry way looking into the living room.  I love this blue wall and the book case

What you see from the outside.  I love the windows and the blue from the street looks so happy

Getting my Craft on

A few days ago my friend sent me this link:
http://thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com/2011/03/infinite-variety-three-centuries-of-red-and-white-quilts.html
Seeing all those quilts ranging from simple to extremely intricate made me want to work on Miles' quilt. I already had the fabric for it and it was already cut out. Here is the quilt top.



So I didn't sew it correctly and there are no points in the zigzag but I still like it and, remember, I am making this for a toddler.

Mom and Miles Dance

Miles and mommy love to dance together

Miles turns 2

Whew! It's been a whirlwind. Miles' birthday was a few weeks ago and I am only now getting it posted. Here are some highlights for a little boy's second birthday.


Grandma Jones came to visit for Miles' birthday. Here they are enjoying the aquarium

Miles with a few of his presents. For a few days after opening presents all he wanted to do was "play presents".

Here he is with his art studio. Thank you Ikea.

What's birthday without a cake? Here, Mom and Dad try to teach Miles how to blow out candles.

Digging In!!

Traveling with a Toddler

This weekend we went away for a night. Steve had a work thing to go to so the hotel room was free. I volunteered to spend the evening with Miles. The pictures above was Miles and I relaxing early in the evening before everything unraveled into chaos. "What a deal for me" I thought. Miles and I took a train in to town, walked around for a while until we found a place to eat and then came back to the hotel room. It was close to 8:00 pm so that was a great time to put Miles to bed. I was so excited to put him down and then lay in bed and read. I wouldn't have a cat jumping on me and I could spend the time completely alone.

What I got was a screaming toddler. I knew he would not like being put to bed in unfamiliar surroundings, but I was sure he would settle down after about an hour. That did not happen. He cried for an hour. I then picked him up and turned on the TV (Miles never gets to watch TV so it is very exciting for him when he does). Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to get to the TV so all I had was the free videos. I first picked a review of a childrens' movie. That lasted 5 minutes. I needed something that lasted longer. Next I chose a workout video (I didn't have many choices). The workout video was targeting abs and since I plan to get into a swim suit this summer I thought it would be a great learning opportunity. Well it turned out to be a pretty interesting 20 minute work out video so I thought I would give it a try. I put Miles back in his crib and watched it again, this time while participating. While I was working out, Miles was in his crib throwing everything out saying, "Kitty out. Giraffe out. Blankie out. Other blankie out. Miles out?" followed by him banging on the wall and opening and closing closet doors very loudly.

After finishing my workout, which was pretty intense, I moved the crib so Miles could not touch any walls. I then turned out all the lights so it was pitch black in the room. At this point, it was around 10:00 pm. Miles started screaming as loud as he could. I was tired and grumpy and did not last very long. I picked Miles up and again turned on the TV. This time, I found a free video called "Sleep" that showed calming images while playing calming music. We watched it three times before Miles finally fell asleep in my arms. At that point, it was 11:00 pm. I was exhausted, and Steve was on his way back to the hotel. I didn't get any quiet time to myself, I was all wound up and my muscles were aching so I didn't sleep well, then Miles wakes up promptly at 7:30 am.

Lessons learned, don't expect relaxation when traveling with toddlers and keep your expectations low when it comes to "me" time.

Jammie Dance

Don't you just love pajamas? They are so cozy, there's no buttons or zippers or anything constricting. If you have a good pair it's like wearing your favorite blanket. Growing up, my mom called them "jam jams" which, to me, made them so much more special. I have tried to instill that feeling in to my child.

At the request of a friend who stalks my blog, but never leaves comments I have posted a video of Miles getting excited for his jammies. It's the favorite time of day for everyone in the family.

Horchata!!!!

I often find myself becoming obsessed with something. It can be a project, a food, a piece of fabric or people or stories...whatever. This week I was obsessed with horchata so I decided to make my own. The recipe I got from allrecipes.com. I didn't follow the recipe exactly and I think next time I make it, I will make more changes, but it was still really good and a fun drink to try.

For those of you who don't know what horchata is, it is a refreshing cinnamon flavored rice milk drink that is often served with mexican food. Apparently, it is often served at breakfast because it is considered to be great for a hangover, but I just read that online. I don't think I will ever need a cure for a hangover.

And now, for the recipe...

Lola's Horchata
1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
5 cups water
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Put rice and water in a blender and blend until the rice starts to break up (about one minute). Let sit for 3 hours (Because I did this step before going to church, mine sat for more like 5 hours and it was still tasty, also my blender was leaking with 5 cups of water so I scooped some of it out to blend the rice and then added it back in for the sitting time).

2. Strain rice and water into a pitcher, add other ingredients, stir, and refrigerate. Serve over ice.

Easy peasy and it was delicious. I made some chicken enchiladas to go with the drink and we all had a fun time (not really, Miles drank the horchata and decided he didn't want to eat any of the meal but just have more drink which made for a high strung, stressed out mother. Eventually, I got him to eat a few pieces of broccoli (he loves broccoli) and two bites of enchilada).

The one complaint I had a bout the drink was it left a huge amount of silt at the bottom of the glass (sugar and cinnamon) which bothers me terribly. I think next time I make it, I might take some of the strained rice water and heat it with the sugar to make a simple syrup, then add the milk and vanilla. I might also include a cinnamon stick in while making the simple syrup instead of using ground cinnamon.

Cooks...what are your thoughts? How would you remedy the problem of the silt?

Natural Cleaning Products

For Christmas, my friend made me some all natural cleaning products and I was super excited to try them out. The cleanser is just baking soda and your favorite natural oils to make it smell nice. I don't know what oils my friend used (something citrusy I think), but I am loving this cleanser. First, I cleaned my kitchen sink and it was so nice to not cover my hands in a harsh smelling detergent. Then I went upstairs to clean the bathroom. I didn't realize how my system for cleaning the bathroom revolved around not mixing the cleanser with the glass cleaner and how my nose suffered with all the fumes. Two best parts, I didn't have to spend 20 minutes scrubbing down my arms from the elbow down to get all the toxic cleanser off my hands and, now, if I want to put Miles in the bathtub right after cleaning it, I don't have to worry about any cleanser being left behind.

The all-purpose spray was super great too. I don't know what is in it, but the other night Miles wanted to help clean up after dinner. Being under 2, there isn't a lot of deep cleaning he can handle other than clearing his dinner dishes. However, the table needed to be wiped down and I realized I had an all-natural all purpose spray. I set him up on a chair, gave him a rag and sprayed down the table. Together the three of us wiped down the dinner table and had a fun time doing it too. It was so nice to be able to include Miles in the house cleaning.

Christmas

We were really looking forward to celebrating Christmas at home this year. It's nice to have your child sleep in his own bed, wake up in familiar surroundings and then see that something is different at the Christmas tree. Here is Miles' experience.


Everything is set up for optimum viewing when Miles wakes up.

Here, he is seeing things for the first time. Let me explain the picture a little. In the morning, it is cold in our house so we bought Miles some slippers to wear in the mornings. Everything was going great until Miles needed a new pair of school shoes and we bought him some new sneakers. Now, every morning he insists on putting his shoes on. On Christmas morning, I asked Miles if he wanted his house shoes on. He agreed until he saw I was talking about the slippers. As a compromise, Miles offered his chicken wear the house shoes and he would wear his sneakers.

Don't worry, Scooter got presents too. He got a catnip pillow with big eyes on it. Miles took one look at it and deemed it an owl.

Here we are going through his stocking. The first thing he pulled out was raisins and he wasn't really interested in it after that. Taking everything else out of the stocking was a bit of a chore to be done in between bites of raisins.

The family in our new pajamas.

Miles got balls from the grandparents. He likes to try to carry all of them. Here, he is carrying three, but at one point, he had all four in his hands/arms.

By far, his two favorite presents were the legos and...

A race car track. Thanks again grandparents!

Miles meets Santa

I forgot to post this earlier. This is Miles' first time meeting Santa. We were waiting in line and Miles kept calling him Satan. Miles also calls the Christmas Tree the "Gimme Tee". His stocking is "tockin".

So, we are thinking of not really talking about Santa to Miles. I don't really want that to be the focus of the holiday and want to instead emphasize the celebration of the birth of Christ. Any thoughts?

Decorating for Christmas

Here are a few pictures of us decorating for Christmas this year. I was expecting the worst with a toddler, but things have been okay...so far.


It's important to us that Miles learn about the story of the birth of Jesus and that being the reason we celebrate Christmas so we got him a nativity scene made by lego. Miles loves playing with it.

He also loves wearing his monkey hat. The hat has nothing to do with Christmas, but it's cute.

When we pulled out the Christmas tree, it poked Miles so he was afraid of it from the beginning. Here he is playing with a garland while Steve and I decorate the tree.

Miles finally got familiar enough with the tree to touch the ornaments, but not the tree (it still pokes). This has actually made Christmas really nice because I don't have to worry about Miles playing with the tree and having it fall on him. I think next year I will give him the job of keeping the cat away from the tree.

The magic of Christmas as seen from little eyes.

Thanksgiving and handmade fun

So I am really behind in my blogging so I am combining different things (not the snow thing though because it was just too precious). Anyway, I decided to combine Thanksgiving and other crafts. The best part of Thanksgiving this year was that Steve did all the cooking and preparation. I just did some cleaning and set the table. It was awesome.


Here is my awesome table. Everyone had a chocolate bar favor on their plate. Even Miles got a peppermint kiss on his plate.

Here's a close up of the favors. Steve designed and put them together.

Here is Steve posing with the food. We had friends over and split up the food so Steve made the turkey and israeli couscous salad. Other delights gracing our table were mashed potatoes, sauerkraut mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, dressing, rolls, spicy cranberry compote, a couple different appetizers, and pumpkin roulade and gingerbread cupcakes for dessert. It was so tasty

Here is a close up of some birds I made for a garland that I strung around the stockings. I got the pattern from a book called FaLaLaLa Felt. It's a great book.

I made Miles an apron too so he could help me make christmas cookies. If you look at it closely, it's not very christmasy (there are pigs with webs on them). Oh well. Miles is at the age where he makes everything look cute

snow

Right before Thanksgiving, Seattle got a snow storm (unheard of). This may not seem to bad to friends in family in Utah, but this much snow shuts down the city and turns my commute from 20 minutes to 3 hours. At least Steve stayed home with Miles so I didn't have a toddler on the bus. Here are some pictures of Miles enjoying snow.


Miles likes things orderly. Here he is cleaning the tree.

Steve taught Miles how to catch snow on his tongue

Carmel Apple Butter

I mentioned on facebook that I was making carmel apple butter and several of you asked for the recipe so here it is.

Carmel Apple Butter by Linda J. Amendt
Makes about 7 half pints

Apple Pulp
3 1/2 lbs tart apples, cored, peeled and chopped
2 cups unsweetened apple juice
1 cup water
1/4 cup strained fresh lemon juice

Butter Indredients
4 cups apple pulp
3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp unsalted butter
1 (3-ounce) pouch liquid pectin

To make the pulp: In a 4-quart pan (I had to use an 8-quart pan but that is because I weighed the apples after coring and peeling them), combine the apples, apple juice, water, and lemon juice.

Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the apples are soft, about 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

Press the apples and juice through a food mill or fine meshed sieve. Return the apple pulp to the pan.

Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes. As the apple pulp thickens, stir th mixture frequently to prevent sticking or scorching. Remove the pan from the heat. Measure 4 cups of apple pulp.

To make the butter: In an 8-quart pan, combine the apple pulp, brown sugar, granulated sugar and butter.

Over medium-low heat, heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high, and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the entire contents of the pectin pouch. Return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Skim off any foam.

Ladle the hot butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process half-pint jars in a 200F water bath for 10 minutes, pint jars for 15 minutes.

Halloween

Miles gets to go trick or treating with his classmates to some of the local businesses. Miles was dressed as angry elephant this year.


A few members of the class getting ready to go out. They have a rope with rings that they hold on to.

Fran's Chocolates was our favorite place to trick or treat. They gave the kids boring candy, but gave the adults a chocolate ganache. Yummm!!