Evelyn Starts School

I have agonized about school for Evelyn.  Sometimes on here, but mostly just in my own head.  What Scott and I wanted above all, was what was best for her and feasible for the rest of the family.  Having Celiac disease added an extra layer of difficulty to the decision.

After much discussion and research, we finally decided to send her to a small, local private school (Whitefield Academy) instead of the original plan to homeschool.  It was a HARD decision.  But at the end of the day, we decided it was an environment that would allow her to flourish and that homeschooling wasn't the best option for me.  

And let me tell you, one week in, it's one of the best decisions we've ever made for her and our family.  

She adores her school.  She excitedly gets dressed in her uniform each morning, runs into the building, and has a giant smile on her face every day when I go to pick her up.  The highly structured environment with lots of stimulation and activity is the perfect fit for her.  Seeing her do so well makes me laugh at how stressed I was about the whole thing.  

Annabelle: 3

You're three now my little Annie.  And you are every ounce of it.

You appear to have two distinct personalities.  There's the side of you that is so talkative, joyful, and loving.  The side that wants to wear pigtails and princess dresses and tell strangers your name.  Then there's the side of you that is frustrated that you don't run the world and will let us know it.  It's amazing how fast the switch from one personality to the other can happen.



You and I started out your 3rd year at a donut shop.  A brand new experience for you, and your eyes lit up when you saw the case full of donuts.  You quickly decided on a pink on though; which came as no surprise.

You wanted your birthday party to be at the Deanna Rose Farmstead, one of your very favorite places.

You requested m & m cake and were thrilled to see a giant cake covered in your favorite candy.

For the first time this year you were able to answer the birthday interview questions.

Who is your best friend?

Shepherd!

What is your favorite color?

purple

What is your favorite animal?

horsies

What is your favorite thing to do?

put on makeup

What is your favorite thing to wear?

my heart dress!

What is your favorite food?

cake

What is your favorite show to watch?

the catepillar movie

What is your favorite thing to do when we go to Iowa?

build towers

What is your favorite thing to do with daddy?

go somewhere to get cake

What is your favorite thing to do with mommy?

wash dishes

 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

a mama

What should I tell everyone about you on the blog?

That I'm Annie.

Oh yes, you are.  My little Annie who thinks just about everything is scary (slides, swings, fast moving vehicles, the car wash...).

You love all things carbohydrates.  Particularly baked goods and french fries.

You still sleep with your sheepie and blanket every night.  You take a nap most days right now, but a couple of times a week I find you up in your room having a good ole time instead of sleeping.  Thankfully your version of a good time is a bit different from your big sisters and you mostly just play with toys in bed when you don't fall asleep.

At your 3-year-old check-up the doctor said you were very healthy and seemed to be developing right on track.  You weighed 30.4 lbs. and are 37 inches tall (putting you in the 50th percentile for both).  

Easy Roasted Garden Tomato Sauce

Some of us (me) planted A LOT of tomato plants this year.  And while I love the idea of growing lots of things, watering my plants, weeding the ground around them, and harvesting things as they ripen, that leaves me in a place of having to come up with what to do with those veggies.  Most of them we have no problem polishing off as soon as they leave the plant, but tomatoes are a little trickier.  One or two nice tomatoes are great to slice up and serve on sandwiches or cook in something, but what do you do when you have a whole basket of them and have epic fail when it comes to salsa making?

This is my harvesting colander and I've filled it to overflowing twice now with just tomatoes.  I can't eat that many sandwiches.

Two things we do eat a lot of though are eggplant lasagna (which I also make with zucchini sometimes instead of eggplant) and pizza, both of which require tomato sauce.  So I hunted for a homemade sauce recipe and immediately abandoned most of them as soon as I read the word "blanch".  No thanks.  I have no time for such nonsense.

So I combined several recipes that seemed simple enough and made my own even simpler version that is delicious in it's simplicity.

You can use any kind of tomatoes, but for the simplest version, Roma tomatoes are the way to go.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes (cut out the cores if you are using large tomatoes)
Whole garlic cloves
Olive oil
Italian seasoning

Preheat your oven to 225 degrees.

On a baking sheet (I add a silicone liner to make clean-up easier), place all your tomatoes.  If you are using large tomatoes, place a clove of garlic in the center of each.  For Roma tomatoes, just spread 4-6 cloves out on the pan amongst the tomatoes.  Drizzle with olive oil.

Roast for 2-4 hours, depending on how much time you have and how large the tomatoes are.  You will know they are done when they look like this.

Dump all the tomatoes and garlic into your blender and blend it to oblivion.  Add a few dashes of Italian seasoning and blend it a little more to mix it in.

 Now, if you used big tomatoes, they have a lot more seeds and juices on the inside, so your sauce is going to be kind of watery.  That's really easy to remedy by putting it on the stove on a low simmer to let it reduce down.  If you just used Roma tomatoes, you're all set at this point.  Jar it up and call it dinner.

Abraham - 13 Months

13 months old hardly seems like a blog-worthy milestone, but Abraham has been changing so much lately I don't what to forget to document what he's been up to lately.

He's definitely turning the corner from baby to toddler.  He's dropping down to just one nap a day, eating a lot more food, and taking fewer bottles.  His favorite foods are broccoli, fish, grapes, blueberries, and coconut yogurt.

This kid is ACTIVE.  He is crawling everywhere at lightning speed, climbing onto things, getting himself stuck lots of places, and he's started standing independently (and is very proud of it).

As long as he's pushing or hanging on to something, he can walk himself all over the house.  He loves to go under the table and push all the chairs out as far as possible by practicing his walking skills.

 His favorite things to do include playing with Duplos, banging on things as loud as humanly possible, and playing with Evelyn.

A simple trip to the library with Abraham includes chasing him between all the rows of books, returning books to the shelves that he repeatedly pulls down, getting him down off of the shelves, and finding him hiding underneath the computer stations.

When doing something he KNOWS he isn't supposed to, he is often heard muttering to himself, "no, no, no, no."  His favorite naughty activities include removing register vent covers, dropping things down the registers, finding cups of water to dump out on the floor, and emptying kitchen cupboards.

He will happily take a bath anytime of day and has learned how to make every surface in the bathroom soaking wet.  Drinking bath water is also a fun hobby.

He's getting more and more vocal, and while most of his noises are just babbling or screaming, he's added "uh-oh" to his vocabulary and uses at times when he does something he shouldn't or when he falls over.

Thankfully, he's also been continuing to grow at a good rate.  He's now up to 19 lbs. 9 oz. which still keeps him just above the 10th percentile where his doctors would like him to stay!  Keep growing little man!

Complete

It appears that our little family will be complete with 3 children.

Things have been pretty up in the air for months now.  It was as simple as K deciding on her own what she wanted to do.  Plans were made, changed, and made again.

But in the end, K decided that she wants to parent this new baby.

I would be lying to say there isn't sadness involved on our end.  Of course there is.  You can't prepare your heart and home to be ready for another baby without letting yourself emotionally attached to the possibilities.  But, mixed beautifully with that sadness is happiness for K that she has come to a decision that she is really comfortable and happy with.

Pretend Annie's in this photo too.  I cannot for the life of me get the 3 of them in a picture together.

The Perfect Mojito

I don't have the mental fortitude or emotional energy to explain in written form what is happening with the potential new baby, so instead you get...mojitos!

Mojitos have quickly become a favorite summer drink around here.  They TASTE like summer.  Here's what you'll need to make 2 mojitos.

Ingredients

20 mint leaves
10 blueberries (optional)
6 oz rum
6 T key lime juice (or regular lime juice, but key lime is tastier and milder)
4 T simple syrup
1/2 cup club soda

Instructions

• In a martini shaker, muddle the mint leaves.  If using blueberries, add them after you've muddled the mint and squish them up as well.
• Add rum, lime juice, simple syrup, and some ice.  Put a lid on your shaker and shake thoroughly.
• Pour, using a strainer, into 2 glasses filled with ice.  Top them off with about 1/4 cup club soda each.

If you want to skip the work of muddling, or don't have a martini shaker, instead of using fresh mint and plain simple syrup, you can make mint simple syrup instead.  It's really easy to make.  In a small pot, combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar.  Bring to a simmer and stir until all the sugar is well dissolved and the liquid reduces to the consistency of maple syrup.  Remove from the heat and stir in 1 unpacked cup of spearmint leaves.  Cover the pot and let steep for 15 minutes.  Then, strain out the leaves, and store the syrup in a jar in the fridge.  

He Turned One

We made it to his first birthday.  I never, ever dreamed that his first year would look anything like it did.  But here we are at the completion of it, and I am ever so proud of this little guy.

Abraham is one amazing kid.  He is happy, healthy (!!!), and so much fun to have in our family.

He's weighing in at 18 lbs. 12 oz, which puts him just above the 10th percentile for weight.  He still wears 6-9 and 6-12 month clothing with no signs of outgrowing it anytime soon.  He will eat just about anything you put in front of him with his 7 little front teeth.

Through some testing though, we've found out that we can't put peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, egg white, or soy in front of him.  Poor guy.  The hope is that he will outgrow at least some of those allergies sooner than later.

So yes, that cake he is devouring is not only free of those allergens, but gluten as well.  It was surprisingly pretty delicious.  Abraham clearly agreed.

He decided that opening presents is a pretty fun gig when your sister's will give you a chance.  I think I may just go swimming in his eyes in this picture.

But, playing with presents proved to be more fun.  This was his favorite gift (picked out by Evelyn because, "he likes to bang on things").  He screamed at Evelyn when he caught her playing with it.  A glimpse into impending toddlerdom perhaps?