Father's Day

We spent our Sunday with the "My 3 Sons" group of boys. Here they are from oldest to youngest. Despite the rain, and having to stay inside for the afternoon, we enjoyed our Father's Day visit. Isaiah had made granola for grandpa K. He's turning into a chef and learning to ride his bike with no training wheels. When that happens, watch out for some camping and bike riding with grandma and grandpa. Phinehas has had some successess too, as in:He's Potty Trained. Now that's an accomplishment worth bragging about! (at least you're not embarrassed by it when you're just 2.7) and that 3rd little one? Well, so far he's letting his brothers do all the work. I'm sure that won't last too long. Older brothers tend to make slaves out of the littlest (as I recall from experience..) But his cuteness sure makes up for his lack of work!

pillow fancy

I don't know how many pillows you all sleep with, but I have 2 on my bed just for me. This is how it works: I pick one to start on and sleep for a couple of hours contendly depending on the night and my stress level. Wake up briefly, turn my hot pillow over and VOILA I have a nice cool pillow to sleep on for awhile. When it gets overheated (you know, to that 98.6 level) I will switch pillows and have a nice big feathery one to sleep on for two turns of the pillow. I love having a cool pillow to lay my head on. I have to do this pillow switching thing several times a night. But it makes for a more comfortable sleep. I've even heard there is a name for this phenomenon. Try googling "switching pillow sides" and you get a facebook fan page. So apparently I'm not the only one who does this sort of thing every night. Wierd huh?

granola

I have always loved strawberries,yogurt and granola sprinkled on top for breakfast in the morning. During Strawberry season it's like an obsession. So the strawberries are coming in and I have discovered homemade granola. Wow ee!! My taste buds go nuts. I had really been into Kashi golean, but that tastes pretty dull compared to this one:
8 c. oatmeal (not quick)
1 c. each of any of the following:
walnuts, almonds, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, pecans
1/4c. honey
3/4 c. maple syrup
1 1/2t salt
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c. oil
1 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
mix the oatmeal, nuts etc in a bowl and set asid
mix the syrup,honey,sugar,salt,oil cinnamon,vanilla and boil for 1 minute
pour over the oatmeal mix and mix well. Put on large cookie sheet and put in 250 oven. stir every 10 minutes and cook for a total of 40 minutes.

You can experiment with the amounts and kinds of nuts and things. I also fiddled with the syrup, honey and oil to figure out what's too much. You can cut back on the liquid a bit if you want.
But it's very good. (even with yogurt and strawberries)

Farmer's Market

Orange City's Farmer's Market opened last week. Big hurrah from me, but it is slightly problematic getting there since it's only open from 3-5, and actually you have to be there right at the opening bell (yes they ring a bell and you can't buy anything one second before it rings either. They're very strict) in order to get the good stuff. It all goes in a big hurry. Well, all the good stuff goes. Like strawberries and asparagus. The first week I sent Ron with strict instructions to only buy strawberries or something fresh NO PIES OR BAKED GOODS. So he came home with nothing. He hadn't gotten there til almost 5 pm. So, he learned his lesson and the next day it was open he made it by 3 and brought home two quarts of strawberries and 3 bunches of asparagus. Good Man! I am still snacking on the strawberries, though the aspargus went in a hurry. I'm glad not to have to share that with my kids. I asked him to go again on Thursday and when I got home from work what did I find on my counter?? A PIE!! Honestly. Of course he was pleased with himself, after all, it was Blackberry! What could be better than that? It seems there were no strawberries to be had, and the asparagus lady wasn't even there, so since I hadn't given the 'NO BAKED GOODS' instruction, he just had to get something. He didn't want to disappoint me.
I'm going to have to find the Farmer's Market in Le Mars and just do this myself. The U-pick strawberry place (Getting's Gardens) isn't open yet, but when it is, I will go up and pick a freezer full. I definitely didn't have enough strawberries to last me all winter. I can't have Ron running off for baked goods everytime I'm not looking!

Committees: this is why I like to do things myself!

weekend camping

This was our first camping trip of the year in our camper. We headed to a favorite spot with most of our small group from church. It was rainy and cold two out of the three days. We took a canoe trip on the one sunny warm day that we had and that helped ease the pain of the generally cold, wet weekend. It was so fun to share with each other and to take time to do some worship as well. Wish we could spend another year together. I also hope our next camping trip isn't as cold and wet!! At least the camper doesnt' leak. Woo Hoo.

3/4

Got to visit with some of "my" boys this last week. Don't know what Simeon thinks about it but the other two were pretty happy. We even got a game of Candyland in! This is the best.