It's no secret that I like strawberries. I don't think most people know just how much I do though...and how far back it goes. It is sort of in my blood I guess. My dad is from a place known for strawberries. They had a special festival just for the special berry. :) Dad's Aunt Pete had a strawberry farm that I remember visiting a lot when I was younger. Of course I did not appreciate the strawberry field as much then as I would now, but those are still great memories that I have.
We have a strawberry farm about 5 miles (if that) from our house in NC and I get so excited when I see the big wooden strawberry hanging from Garner's Farm sign because that means it is time to go pickin'! I love that we can pick our own, and of coure it doesn't hurt that it's cheaper and so much more fun than picking up a plastic container from who knows where at the grocery store.
I'm so thankful to have been able to share my love of the 'berry with our kidlet. I'm pretty sure he loves them as much as I do!
As I was going through pictures tonight for a completely different reason, I ran across an old pic of K at the strawberry field. That led me to wonder how many years we have gone to pick. It's hard to remember because we've gone more than once each year (heck the season JUST started and we've been twice)! Of course, I have K's life pretty much documeted in pictures so it's just a matter of weeding through to find things out. ;) Strawberry season is sort of short-ish so the pics were pretty easy to find. He has been 4 years! 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012!
Here are some pics....through the berry pickin' years. :)
2009
2010
2011
2012
^ He was very concerned about the 2 plants that apparently didn't grow,
^ Asking all kinds of questions and telling the lady behind the counter to be sure to weigh all of his strawberries.
Today when we got up Kellen started talking about the park. He was almost insistent on wanting to go at 6:30am but somehow (and honestly I'm not sure how) I convinced him it would be better in the afternoon when the sun was out. As I figured, he remembered all of that when I picked him up today. So...we did, in fact, go to the park. He was even more excited about the park we went to. Instead of the normal "red and blue park with trees" we went to the "huuuuge wooden park". Here are a couple of pics of his fun.
Stay tuned for a post this weekend. We are meeting Daddy at the zoo and he has already been talking about it a lot. He is so excited!
Hello again. :) I'm still here...again. Just had a little problem with the app I downloaded to get pics from my phone to here. Turns out it wasn't such a great app after all. ANYWAY....
K loves to cook. By now you probably know that he's my little helper almost every day. Even when he's not really helping cook though, a lot of times he will pretend. Here is the most recent picture of his cooking. He was making hamburgers and steak. He might have something to learn though....maybe that those two things really should be done on the grill and not in a pot of water. :)
So....this little gem of knowledge is posted at work. You would really be surprised how often it is referenced at work (and during my off time). This just hit me in the face this morning as I have been racking my brain trying to figure something out.
Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4
I realize that you probably think I fell off the blog planet, but that is not the case....well sort of but not really. I have a running blog in my head. :)
Anyway....I am constantly taking pictures with my phone (instead of the camera) that I intent to post and it was annoying time consuming to get the pics off my phone, to my camera, onto the blog and published (of course with a write up) so instead of going to my great trusty friend Google like I should have done WEEKS AGO, I was just fussing about it and coninuing to do the same thing instead of doing something different about it. This morning as Kellen was playing I decided it was time to figure it out becuase at some point someone else with my kind of phone and a blog has wondered how in the world the easiest way was to get pictures to the blog instantly. Well folks, you're in luck because apparently a lot of Droid users had that question and so I was able to bum the results off of a random forum. Now...it should be super simple to get things from point A to Z without having to go through all the in between steps. YIPPEE!
That is the long way of saying I'm ba-ack. :)
Back later with updates from Valentine's day til now. Thank goodness that is only 2 weeks worth. ;)
On Saturday we had "Jammie Day" and literally stayed in our PJs all day. It was nice (again) to not HAVE to go anywhere or do anything and to just sort of hang out at home. Kellen seems to really like days like that. I guess it's because we're on the go so much most of the time. I figured what better day than to get our Valentine's Day crafts done. I *try* to send out things at different holidays to grandparents/great grandparents but it seems like no matter how on top of it I think I am, something inevitably happens. I had everything planned...everything bought...and even cut out waiting to make Valentine Hugs to send out. Saturday was the perfect day right? I figured we would have all weekend to make them (if it took that long - you just never know) and I could take them to the post office on Monday so they'd be to everyone in plenty of time for V day on Thursday.
Yes, you read that right. I thought it was on Thursday until AS we were making the hearts I realized it was Tuesday and sort of panicked. I think some of the closer family got theirs on time, but the rest had their surprise a little later. I hope everyone has them by now, otherwise the pictures will be spoilers.
Maybe one day I'll get my act together and get things out early. I REALLY thought I had it timed perfectly this time. :/
Here are some pics from our day.
Notice the tongue action in this shot. Apparently it helps with concentration. :)
Our finished Valentine 'hugs'.
This last picture was just too cute not to share. It is from a different day but I love watching him fall asleep (I think I've mentioned that before). He's so peaceful. I only wish to sleep as peacefully as he does! But until then, I'll keep taking pictures of him while he's sleeping. :)
That's what I initially thought when I saw the front of the most recent Reader's Digest. Why? Because there is a big peanut on the front and I like LOVE peanut butter. Unfortunately, this issue had nothing to do with peanut butter.
However, the title article was:
Well...isn't that something I wonder on a normal basis? So, I turned to page 126 to find out my fate. This article had several questions from "readers like you" and whose questions were analyzed by their "panel of psychiatrists, psychologists, and other therapists".
One of the questions was from a 50 year old who was wondering if it was normal to have trouble recalling people's names. Verdict was yes, that's normal, it happens with age and that's why older people start calling everyone by "sweetie, champ or buddy". (Which, for the record, is NOT why I call my kid 'buddy') :)
Another was from someone who wondered if having crazy dreams and feeling like they're real after waking up was normal. Verdict was not nuts.
Then I came across mine. Yes, there is one here that applies pretty directly to me. :/ I have this thing...a pet peeve if you will...about repetitive noises. Before I get to that I have to share this pic I found. So true!
You know the repetitive noises I'm talking about....constant pen clicking in the office, or gum smacking, or blinkers, you get the idea. Anything that is repetitive like that gets on my last nerve. (Oddly enough though, typing does not. Weird, huh?) It's gotten worse recently to where I seriously cannot focus. It is super distracting and it is almost like my blood starts boiling and I can't sit still. It doesn't make me angry or anything...just VERY agitated and anxious. I don't know why or when it started but luckily, my coworkers (and family, on occasion) humor me and stop when I ask.
ANYWAY...this question was from a person who asked, "When people are eating, I can't stand the sound of a fork or spoon clanking on a plate or bowl. I get chills, nauseated, and a headache. I'm also sickened by the sound of people chewing with their mouths open. Is there something wrong with me?"
The verdict: Possibly nuts.
Lovely. Who knew...there IS actually a name for this...um, condition. It is called MISOPHONIA. What? Seriously?
So as I do with so many other things, I went straight to Google. You can too Here...if you want to. Now, in all seriousness, I am not going to say that I actually HAVE this condition, but it is interesting all the same. I will admit to being just a LITTLE bit nuts though...on occasion. :)
It's a pretty good Reader's Digest this month. I've gotten a few interesting things out of it. For example, who knew that PIE was on it's way 'out' and doughnuts were 'in'. Really? I didn't see that coming. How about the 13 things your Pediatrician won't tell you? Good to know. I always like the humor sections. Lastly, I like the quotes. I think they used to be called Quotable Quotes. Michael J. Fox was speaking to me in this quote section. "If you fixate on the worst-case scenario, and it actually happens, you've lived it twice". Well....how profound. Me, the person who looks at every possible way something could go, and usually gets wrapped around the worst case, needed to see that quote today. I'm not saying I'll stop, but that sort of puts things in perspective.
For those of you who are here to see K, we had a dinner of champions: grilled cheese, oranges, clementines (don't let me get that name wrong in front of him) and milk. After dinner we practiced our "Eww, eww, light blue" song (light blue = UNC Tarheels). Being Pack fans, we root for pretty much anyone who plays Carolina, but tonight is a big rivalry game - Duke vs UNC so we're definitely rooting for the Blue Devils! Yes, the video sounds a little 'coached'. I'm not sure what his deal is. When he was doing it for fun it was so cute but as soon as I turned the camera on, this is the best I could get.
He also made up a new song...sort of. JT has Red Solo Cup as the song we hear when we call him so it is frequently stuck in my head. Tonight we ate on red Solo plates so K started singing: Red Solo plate, I fill you up...with dinner....with dinner". It was pretty cute.
I think that'll do it for tonight. Happy Hump Day!
We don't do it often...and I'm not really sure why not. We all seem to like breakfast food at dinner time. I ran across a recipe after a friend shared the site 100 Days of Real Food with me. The recipe was for Breakfast Casserole Bites. I thought it looked easy enough to do on a spur of the moment, we already had all the ingredients (a huge plus!), something K could help with (and do a good amount of), and pretty yummy. It was also something that would freeze well for an easy breakfast another day. Those are all important components.
Something I learned about myself tonight. I cannot crack eggs successfully. I think I spent more time coaxing little pieces of eggshell out of the bowl than I did at anything else in this dish. Yes, I said coaxing...because I really was talking to them, trying to convince them to come out because those little boogers are hard to get! I've never been a big egg person and it definitely showed tonight. I need more practice crackin' those suckers open! Maybe we'll make this dish more often (different variations of it) so I'll get to practice.
Here are a few pictures I took along the way. My trusty assistant is always very helpful.
I cut the bread but he distributed it. His task was to put 3 bread cubes in each circle. It was funny to watch how he did it....so determined and precise. He was a little upset when he accidentally put 4 in one circle. We worked it out though and gave a few of the circles 4...you know, because 4 is the magic number these days. Everything becomes "because I'm going to be 4 on my birthday". ;)
The beginnings of the 'bites' (bread + egg mixture).
With the bacon and cheese. Although the recipe called for them, I skipped the foil muffin liners all together. Rebel in the kitchen, haha. I was hoping the cheese wouldn't cause this to be a disaster. I was worried it would stick to the edges, even with the cooking spray. You might notice that I went left to right with the bacon. The bacon started out a little more sparse in the beginning (on the left).
So I decided to add MORE! Who doesn't love crunchy bacon?!
Here is the finished product. Turns out the cheese didn't cause them to stick and the bacon sunk a little.
The verdict from my trusty assistant....
We'll attempt this again. I think next time we'll skip the bread and add more ingredients....kind of making them into omelet bites.
Kellen loves clementines. He's had one in his lunch every day for the last two weeks (maybe longer). He loves to peel them and has recently discovered that he can even start the peeling himself with my never used Pampered Chef orange peeler. It has been in the drawer for a while (*cough* years) but I had never used it. We (I) don't eat many oranges and when I did start eating clementines, they're so easy to peel that I didn't need a peeler. He likes it though and he's so determined when he uses it.
About all we had time for tonight was dinner and some reading. Someone didn't take a nap today and part of our new rule is that if you don't sleep during nap time (b/c it is REALLY still obviously a necessity), then you go to bed a little earlier. He probably should have been headed that way even earlier based on the dramatics. He was tired...but he'd never admit that...even up until the end where for the 3rd night in a row he fell asleep as soon as he got quiet and with the light still on.
In all of my nerdiness, once K went to bed, I watched FRESH - a documentary on industrial vs sustainable agriculture...the big corporations running the show, the smaller farmers trying to grow things naturally, what is going into our food and how different things are now compared to, say, 50 years ago. In case by some chance you're interested in seeing it, it's available online for free through tomorrow and can be found here: Fresh. (Side note, it's about an hour long) To me it was enlightening...or maybe interesting...and thought provoking (albeit a little on the slow side). JT would probably use the term 'hippie' but at any rate, regardless of whether I subscribe to the ideas and principles of it (or not), it was still interesting. However, it was clearly written on a bias so I wonder what the response from the other side would be like....
As much as I like having a plan for meals, there are just some days where I don't have it all together and wing it. I sort of had a plan for today, but in all honesty I just didn't feel like going with it. So, as I do sometimes, I improvised. With the help of my trusty assistant, we made what I'm going to call...chicken, bacon, broccoli, cheese thing.
For a sec let me get to one thing that if you don't know about me, you need to know. I am a chicken person; however, I do not do bones, skin, veins, or dark meat. I'm a boneless, skinless, chicken boob eater. Yes, I can admit that...I envision chickens with no feathers or bones or clucks for that matter. Something else I've realized over the last couple of months though is what many of my dear dark meat eaters have been telling me for quite some time - I'm eating the driest part of the bird. Okay, this may be true...but for someone who doesn't do bones (and who has tried the boneless thighs, yuck!) it is hard to get into the dark meat.
In prepping tonight's dinner (meat off of a rotisserie chicken), I found that my trusty assistant was a very valuable tool when it came to deboning the chicken. I forgot to mention that not only do I not like to look at bones or eat off of them, I really do not want to touch them either. Turns out, my trusty assistant had no problem digging right in. ;) If I ever had any doubt (which I really didn't)....he's definitely a keeper!!
(In case you were wondering where Maddie is in our life, her nose can be seen right by Kellen's feet. She has learned that she can get all kinds of surprises...on purpose or by accident...by hanging out near him. I can't blame her for trying...)
He was pretty happy with how dinner turned out. I didn't take a pic of it in the pot because it just was not picture worthy, but it did taste pretty good.
After dinner, we played with horses and bulls. (Gasp! It was not knights in shining armor tonight! He did talk about it though.) He lined up his horses on one side and bulls on the other because the bulls were "not very nice". He also took the daddy horse over to a different part of the carpet because that daddy horse was going to a new barn while the mommy and baby stayed with their friends. This is the second night in a row he mentioned that....
To end the night, we did our normal reading and he fell asleep almost before we were done reading. Ever since he was a baby I've loved watching him fall asleep. Blink...blink...slower blink...slower blink...eyes closed.....zzzzzzzz. I didn't have the heart to snap a pic or take the chance at waking him up. He looked so peaceful.
Today was pretty much just a day at home. Kellen was literally in his PJs until almost 4pm. I had sort of planned on doing a few things out of the house today but we hardly ever just stay home and since there was nothing super important on the agenda and Kellen was really liking playing here, I decided that we'd just stay put. (Wish I had made that decision AFTER I did my morning routine...I could have been in my PJs all day too!)
He had so much fun playing with things he hasn't played with recently. One of those things was a little animal attached to a ball.
After that he marched around like a drum major in a parade...with the hat Daddy gave him. He loves the hat! He thought it was pretty neat to pull the band down as a chin strap.
Finally, once we got dressed, we decided to take the walk we'd been planning for most of the day. It was another pretty day (although not as pretty as yesterday) so we needed to get outside. We walked up to his school's parking lot and did some sword fighting (yes, he takes a sword with him almost everywhere) and then some balancing on a balance beam...although he told me they were really "car waiters". I asked him what that meant. Of course he answered, "Mommy, it is where cars wait, like when you bring me to school. Your car waits here". Well, why didn't I think of that?
After lots of balancing and jumping off the "car waiters", we walked over to the gas station to get a drink. He stopped where the Nativity was during Christmas and noticed there was still some hay left behind. He started exclaiming, "It's WHEAT! Look, I found wheat! We can make our very own flour!" Sometimes his randomness really amazes me and keeps me entertained! :)
^ Can't you just sense the excitement?!
^His "wheat" collection.
As we were about to head home, we heard the train coming. I am not kidding when I say it is amazing that I even got a picture of this "little" train. He was bolting down the tracks like a bat out of....anyway, I have never seen a train move that fast...especially so close to intersections. I'm not even sure the lights had time to start blinking or the little arms had time to come down. He was moving fast. I wouldn't have gotten a pic if I hadn't already had the camera out!
Happy end of the weekend to everyone. It's hard to believe tomorrow is already Monday again...and for the first time in a few weeks I actually am planning to work all 5 days. :/
I have a lot of thoughts on what to write...but since I'm tired I'm going to go with what's easy tonight. :)
We had a pretty nice Saturday. We started out the day with the usual...K making my coffee while I poured his milk and we watched an episode of Curious George.
Once we got up and moving we headed to New Bern to The Accidental Artist to do a little painting at what K calls "the painting office". Not sure where he got that from.
What we didn't realize was that we would get kind of stuck downtown because the Shriner's parade was today. Since we were there...and sort of stuck...I knew K would like to see the 'little' cars and trucks. He loves watching the Shriners in the different local parades so we watched for a few mins. I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture but it was a BEAUTIFUL day today. I don't know the exact temp but it was pretty close to perfect! I cannot believe this is JANUARY!
Of course on the way back to the car we had to stop and talk (and hug) several bears.
We had lunch with Dommie and then headed over to see how Poppo was doing. K got surprised by a popsicle while he was there.
Then we headed over to Dommie and Poppo's house to have some fun outside. We have to enjoy this weather while we can! K had fun walking on my (old) balance beam.
He also did some of his normal 'yard boy' duties.
Of course we did lots of other things too...roped each other with pseudo lassos (the rope holding together a bale of pine straw), checked on Poppo's garden, jumped on the neighbor's trampoline...and then lastly, K had to show is "Angry Bird face". (Not sure why my camera zoomed in so far but it is still a cute picture anyway.)
We ended our trip with the normal ride home. He usually ends up reading something on the way. This time he stuck with the same book the whole way home.
