Lazy afternoons

Eating ice cream on the patio

Laying on the slide, a favorite activity on a cool summer afternoon, looking at the sky

Climbing the slide

Playing with sticks his favorite thing to do

A dirty face from eating dirt...





Veggies and fruit that either we had too much off or it was going bad. What to do?? Get out the Food Saver!! The peaches and tomatoes got blanched and then bagged for the freezer.

More berries for the freezer, strawberries were sliced and flash frozen

Just a little of what made it to the freezer

Another Bento lunch for Shane. He really likes his bento's and since we have two in this style now (his favorite compared to the others), he is getting them more. Before it would be hanging out at work for about a week before he remembered to bring it home.

Another Bento: Roasted chicken, Stuffing, Italian green beans, strawberries and blueberries

Blogger has been acting funny and not letting me post pictures, but finally here they are!
Our days have been starting out something like this every morning....Diapers set out to dry.

A silly little boy crawling everywhere

His new bear crawl...

Ice cream cones, Yumm

And of course the daily Bento for the Man

Eating on the agenda

Eating is always on our agenda! Perhaps that's why I clean the kitchen almost 3 times daily. Someone is always asking for lunch or a snack. Lunch is every meal in our house...at least Annabelle thinks so. There is no breakfast or dinner its all lunch.

Almost a daily fare, smoothies made with kefir, milk, strawberries with the tops on, and 2 bananas

Levi enjoying his long waited smoothie, he whines every morning till he gets a cup in his hand

Annabelle sipping away on hers

This mornings breakfast, pancakes with local peaches and maple syrup

Shane's lunch in another one of our many bento boxes. Teriyaki beef and chicken with rice (I made him two rice hearts with our rice mold), Mandarin oranges, rice and tomatoes, and a Mocha cake roll.

Rise and shine

We got up bright and early this morning 5am to drop Shane off at work so we can run some errands today. After dropping him off, getting donuts from Krispie Creme we went to the grocery store via car this time. The kids are back in bed now and it time for me to clean the kitchen yet again. Really its the only room I can clean 3 times a day and it still be a disaster every night and morning! Maybe if I stopped cooking it would solve my problem....haha. If only....

Levi has lost weight....well really he just hasn't gained any and instead grew taller therefor making some of his clothes rather loose.

Mommy and Levi, smiling away.

Our loot from this mornings shopping trip spent $12 and saved $12!

Shane's lunch, just in case anyone was wondering what he will be eating today. Leftover meatloaf turned into sandwich, peach, celery and carrots with ranch, and cookies. The lunch box is a Bento (Japanese) style lunch box. We have several different kids this is a laptop lunch brand.

A new garden plot freshly tilled and planted with cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, butternut squash and sweet potatoes.

Our harvest from this morning.

The Market....aka..the Grocery Store

We have been regularly going to the grocery store via bike and trailer for about 2 weeks now(sshhhh....don't tell Shane). Annabelle asks to go everyday, that girl LOVES to shop. I generally end up caving in about every 3 days. I can always think of something we need. They seem to go through about a gallon of milk every two or three days and that doesn't count the milk we use for making yogurt, kefir, and buttermilk. Plus fruit is in season (well some of it) so we have been gobbling it up! As you can see, really there is always something to buy.....today it was strawberries and dark chocolate for some more chocolate covered strawberries!

In the trailer ready to go

Our Loot, in my African market basket, purchased by my dear husband. No need for plastic bags.

Crying cause she couldn't eat the bittersweet dark chocolate we bought.

Deciding to give up asking for chocolate and go play with Levi

My son, always the happy one....well sometimes.

Cinderella man

We watched a wonderful movie last night called Cinderella Man. If you have never seen it, I highly recommend it. It's about a boxer and his ups and downs during the depression. A really amazing movie.

Chocolate covered strawberries was a big hit for last nights dinner of Fettuccine Shrimp Alfredo, Salad, French Baguette, and Strawberry Wine.

More produce from our garden this morning.

Levi playing in his favorite place, the dog kennel.

Sarah patiently watching....

An early start....

So again Levi woke up at 6:00am! I stopped getting up with DH shortly after we found out I was pregnant. Something about 4:30a.m. was just difficult and the thought of sleeping another three hours sounded really good. But alas, Levi has been waking up at 6:00 pretty regularly now. Generally I just snuggle with my little boy and wait for Annabelle to get up before we all head down stairs for breakfast. Not so this morning. I figured since I had lots to do today I should just get up and get on with the day and that's what we did.

To start the day out right of course. If you've never had coffee from a french press I recommend trying it. It's much stronger and has a nice flavor. I doubt you'll ever go back.

Yogurt that cultured from last night.I make it in half gallons. It's much easier to pour than in gallon jars. As you can see we used some for smoothies this morning.

More cultured dairy products, Kefir and Buttermilk. You can read more about Kefir and the health benefits here. Cultured dairy products are super easy to make. Just a milk and a few tablespoons of whatever you want to culture, ei:yogurt, buttermilk, kefir, etc.

Hanging diapers outside to dry. Everyone loves this especially Annabelle cause she can "help".

Helping load the dishwasher. We try to cultivate a good work ethic early so we let them "help" with almost every chore we do. It's amazing at what Annabelle can now do, like load plates and forks into the dishwasher, and set the table with plates, bowls and forks. She will even wipe down the table after eating all happily too!

Getting ready to clean....

Produce from the garden this morning. The baby romaine will go well with tonight's dinner of Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo.

What our garden looks like now... I can't wait to finally taste a sweet ear of corn!

Now it's 8:30 and time for the little boy to take a nap and for me to clean the kitchen...Hope you all have a good day.

Farmer's Market and more...

Our score of produce from the Farmer's Market a couple weeks ago. That was our 3rd flat of strawberries and that doesn't include the 22lbs. we picked from a local farm.
Pastured chickens, and uncured bacon, ham and hot dogs from our co-op

The rest of what we scored from the co-op. Almost everything is organic and anti-biotic free, for health reasons. In a couple of months I'll go more in detail with my anti-biotic free diet.

Playing in the Rain and more fun...

Playing in the Rain!

Trying to stand up....

She loves the rain and loves playing in it even more.

Annabelle trying to pick Levi up....it never works!

They are just too cute together..

He's tired of that and runs away to mommy for shelter.

Finally a smile.

We can never get a good picture she is a major goof infront of the camera