Failed Placement

My dear cousins are experiencing the heartache of a failed placement for adoption. My cousin wrote about their experience here, and I was thrilled to see that they are choosing to not hate the birthmother. Clearly they are hurting, but that is no reason to hate. They are some of the kindest people I know, and will make the best parents. Please spread their information around, so that their family can grow.

I am mourning for their loss today, and my sweet little girl can tell. She asked me what was wrong, and not knowing how to explain everything so that she could understand, I simply said, “Grown up stuff.” It seemed to suffice, and we moved on with our day, but I have cried many times for them. I wish I lived closer, so that I could be there to support them. The thing that breaks my heart every time I think about it is what my aunt posted on facebook. “I rocked my baby girl today and we wept together.” I can only imagine how difficult it would be to watch my girls go through something so trying.

Memorial Day Tribute

FamilyAs I write, someone is setting off fireworks, which is cool, considering that it’s Memorial Day weekend. We just finished a wonderful evening with family, remembering those we love, who are no longer with us. Earlier in the day, we visited the burial site of my granddad. I have his ham radio call sign, and I think of him often. I do believe he is my guardian angel. At the site, we commented on how well and healthy he feels to all of us, and we marveled that my grandparents were born in the roaring 20s and grew up during WWII.

Lizzy with FlowersMy girls have never met my granddad, because he died when I was still in elementary school. But our oldest understood that we were going to see great grandpapa, and was thrilled to bring him some flowers that she helped me pick. Upon setting up the flowers at our relatives sites, she proceeded to upright the flowers that had blown over at other sites. She is entering a new phase of understanding and caring that gives me extreme pleasure to see. Our youngest is still too young to grasp the general idea, but she knew that she was with family, and was completely at ease.

AdorableAfter we chatted and pulled a few weeds, we had a picnic dinner at my house. Since my grandmother will be ninety this year, we stayed in, rather than finding a park. We had our standard hamburgers, potato salad, and chips, with cookies and my grandmother’s ginger bread, one of my favorites, for dessert. Lettuce, radishes, and broccoli were provided from my garden. Then we enjoyed the BBC version of Sense and Sensibility, which although long, was just what we needed to relax for the evening.

I am so grateful for my family. They are absolutely fantastic, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. My grandmother has always been an avid reader, and passed that down through my mother to me. My mother has guided me on my path through life always. Because of her guidance, I have the most wonderful husband anyone could ask for, and I am learning how to be the kind of wife and mother that I want to be.

Pruning Tomatoes

I wanted to post this yesterday, but then I realized that I hadn’t introduced my tomatoes, and I definitely wanted to do that, so I saved this until today. Our tomatoes are about 1-1 1/2 feet tall right now, so I decided to prune them a little. It’s really easy to do, and I’m glad that I’m starting them this young, because the “wound” that is created is small enough to not cause problems, and the suckers are really easy to pick.

SuckersPruning is definitely scary the first year around, but if you educate yourself and then trust that you won’t pick off good, strong, fruit bearing stems, it’s not so bad. Some people like to prune their tomatoes to only one main stem, and others like to have a few main stems. It really is up to you. Just know that pruning creates bigger, stronger, tastier tomatoes, so even just a little to start with will be beneficial.

I’m not going to go into the details of how to prune, because this You Tube video does way better than I ever could. Plus, the accent is fun to listen to. I just wanted to get fellow gardeners thinking about it.

Tomato Plants!

Our tomato plants have been in the ground for almost two weeks now, because the weather was unusually warm for this time of year. Even with the recent cold spell just last week, it was still warm enough that none of our plants needed covering, particularly our tender tomato plants. While I was only planning on eight tomato plants this year, which is way more than enough for our little family, my supplier, who just lives down the street, was very generous and provided us with two extras for free. Since I don’t have room for them in my yard yet, they are in the biggest pots I can spare until we find space for them.

Sweet Pea Opalka

To make space for the eight that are actually in the ground, my amazing husband pulled up all the grass three feet out from the house along the West wall. It was no small task to be sure, but I am so grateful he did it, because it looks amazing, and is a perfect spot for growing tomatoes. We choose the West wall, because it gets tons of sun in the afternoon and evening. Tomatoes need warm roots and plenty of sun for photosynthesis.

West Wall

So, let me introduce you to our tomato plants. First, we have a Sun Sugar and a Golden Rave. The Sun Sugar is a cherry tomato that tastes like candy in tomato form. The Golden Rave is a paste tomato, which means it as more flesh than juice. Like the name says, it’s going to be a golden color, and it will be the shape of a Roma.

Sun Sugar and Golden Rave

Next in line, we have a Paul Robison, which is a black tomato, and a Monica, which is another paste tomato and essentially a Roma.

Paul Robison and Monica

Then we have a Hamson. I am super excited about this one, because it was designed specifically to do well in Utah. It can be whole packed, which means canned as a whole tomato, instead of sliced or diced. The Caspian Pink is a large Russian tomato that is pink!

Hamson and Caspian Pink

And, finally, we have a Black Krim, another black tomato, and another Sun Sugar. We have been called crazy for having two Sun Sugars, because one plant produces a lot, but I now they will all be eaten.

Black Krim and Sun Sugar

The tomatoes in pots are a Sweet Pea, a tiny cherry tomato, and an Opalka, a large paste tomato.

Chicken Squash Stir Fry

Chicken Squash Stir FryA friend asked me once what my go-to meal was, and I said, “stir fry.” We don’t eat rice with ours to cut back on grains, but feel free to add it if you want. This is my newest stir fry creation, and it is fabulous. Just a note, I don’t measure stuff. If I want more carrots, I add more carrots. If I want less zucchini, I only cut one zucchini. I salt to taste always, and sometimes I don’t add pepper to this dish. The only ingredient that I’m a stickler on is the garlic powder. It is what makes this dish divine. Without it, this would just be another average stir fry, but with too much of it, this would not be palatable. So, just a light dusting of garlic powder, and you’ll be set.

And, lastly, that lettuce came from my garden! Oh and it is super delicious. Watering everyday has really enhanced the flavor. I hope everybody’s gardens provide them with such deliciousness.

Chicken Squash Stir Fry

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Yield: Serves 6 people

Ingredients

  • 2-4 T butter
  • 6 chicken tenders
  • 2-3 carrots, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 yellow squash, diced
  • 1-2 zucchini, diced
  • 1/2-1 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. pepper
  • 1/8 t. garlic powder

Instructions

  1. In a large frying pan, heat butter over medium heat.
  2. Add chicken, turning occasionally to cook evenly, and salting.
  3. Cut chicken into small slices using cooking scissors.
  4. Add carrots, and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Add onion, yellow squash, and zucchini, and cook until tender. About ten more minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste and garlic powder. Cook about five more minutes.
http://kstuff.net/chicken-squash-stir-fry/

Plant Protection Barriers

We live very close to a mountain. So close, in fact, that deer wander our neighborhood. It’s a bit of an adrenaline rush to watch deer racing up your street and through the vacant lot at the top. So, on top of bugs and birds, we also have to protect our garden from the deer. They love to eat my tulips. Combine that with having two kids, and I am thoroughly deprived of their beauty. They, also, love to eat strawberry plants! Thankfully the few plants that were nibbled on recovered, but I wasn’t about to chance loosing twelve strawberry plants. So, we built protective barriers to put around our garden boxes. The instructions that we followed came from The New Square Foot Gardening book, and proved to be very simple and very light. We can move the barriers whenever we need to access the plants, and we can water right through them so that we aren’t constantly moving them.

Making Covers more zip ties

 

To make them, we used 1″x2″x8′ boards, cut down to the sizes we needed, 1 1/2″ screws, 2′ wide chicken wire and 4′ wide chicken wire, a staple gun, and zip ties. For the strawberries, we needed a 2’x4′ cover, so we cut the boards accordingly and screwed them together. Then we stapled a 4’x4′ piece of chicken wire on one of the 4′ sides, and stapled a 2’x 8′ piece around the other three sides. We folded the 4’x4′ piece in half to form the top of the enclosure, and then zip tied all the edges together. Leah enjoyed handing us the zip ties, sometimes one at a time, and sometimes all at once.

zip ties Baby Trap

We cut off the extra part of the zip ties, so they wouldn’t get in the way when gardening, and for aesthetics. And, we discovered that these make great baby traps. Even the trapped enjoyed playing in it.

Adorable Cutie

My Birthday

I had a birthday recently, and as part of the celebration, I went to the Piano Guys release party for their second CD. They are all such fantastic guys. I got to compliment Steve on Berlin, which I love, and found out that he was actually nervous about the response he would get. It’s hard for me to picture him being nervous, but it helps him seem more like a real person. When I told him that it was my birthday, he insisted that they all sing to me. This is the video we got of it.

Reading to my Kids

I am obsessed with learning. It is one of my very favorite things to do. I am the kid that loved going to school, was frequently teacher’s pet, and was thrown for a loop when I stopped going to school. I read non-fiction now more than fiction, because my desire to know has surpassed what fiction can provide. I desire, every day, to share the passion of knowledge with my children. With both of them being younger than pre-school age, my initial idea of them learning by me teaching specific things at specific times had to be scrapped to make way for how kids really learn. I can’t spend hours and hours with them going over reading, writing, and arithmetic. Simply because they can’t sit there for that long.

The one thing that I can do, which breaks the boundaries between parent and teacher, is reading to them. Reading to your kids creates the perfect setting for bonding time, while still allowing you to teach them on an academic level. From the parenting side of things, you get cuddle time, a chance to provide one-on-one attention, and a break from the stresses of everyday life. From the teaching side of things, you are teaching them whatever it is that you are reading about, how to properly use a book, and language skills. It’s perfect, because they don’t even realize that they’re learning something, because they’re so caught up in getting attention from you.

With our children’s young age, we prefer to buy books, rather than check them out from the library. So, then it becomes a matter of having enough books to keep them interested, while still saving money. As far as keeping them interested, they’re at a point in life where reading the same book over and over again is completely acceptable. We could probably get away with only having ten books, but then I’d probably get bored, so we have close to 50 children’s books. Anyone who’s been to their local bookstore can attest that children’s books are not cheap, so we have only ever bought a few there, and about as many have been given to us.

The bulk of our children’s books come from the dollar store or the dollar section of stores. My favorite place to buy books for my girls is at the dollar section in Target. You can buy whole sets for under $5, and spend hours reading them over and over again. Plus they are made out of material more durable than paper, so kids can read them by themselves if they feel inclined. Another place that I have found children’s books for a very good price is yard sales. We have gotten primo books for $.25 each, and walked away almost doubling our collection.

Reading is fun, and reading while cuddling with your children is even more fun. You can make up random voices for all the characters, and your child will copy you. Together, you can pick out a favorite section to memorize and have it as an inside joke. And, you can relax, knowing that you are teaching your child in a way that is conducive to them enjoying learning.

My Dream Come True

GirlsThese two girls are my dream come true. Ever since I was twelve, I have wanted to be a mom, and then when I became a mom, I was blown away by how difficult and exhausting it is. But, precious moments, that sometimes only last mere seconds, like this picture, are what make being a mom completely worth it.

This picture was taken, by me, at the tree house at Disneyland. Getting them to sit still, together was nearly impossible. I didn’t even think I had succeeded in capturing this kind of cuteness until after the trip when I was going through all the pictures.

I love getting pictures of them together, because you can see how similar they really are. Being the mom, I see all the little details that make them different, and who they are, but it’s fun to see that my girls look like sisters. The thing that stands out the most to me is their amazing, blue eyes. Neither my husband nor I have blue eyes, so it’s fun to see the blue from our family’s be passed on. Especially such a beautiful, intense blue.

2013 Garden Update

We’ve been working on our garden since March, and since we already had two square foot garden boxes in place, I was able to plant as soon as the ground defrosted. It’s been about a month and a half, and we have fantastic lettuce, onions, and radishes on their way to becoming a delicious salad. The swish chard and carrots are taking their time, because I didn’t sprout them before I planted, but they are still coming. I’m trying out red and green cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower this year. These are wonderful for a spring crop, because they can be snowed on and still survive. It’s almost like they do better the colder it is.

Cabbage and Such Lettuce

We’re ripping up grass by the side of the house to make way for more garden boxes. This house came with far too much grass (a.k.a. dandelion field) and I’m trying to find ways to get rid of some of it, so that my poor husband doesn’t have so much to mow. I planted strawberries in these new boxes, in hopes that these plants will survive a few years, and I won’t just rip them out when all the other annuals are dead. Sadly, the deer like strawberry plants and ate the leaves off of some of my precious plants. We’re currently working on a way to keep them protected from the deer, while still getting enough sun and water. The upside to having cooler weather is that I don’t feel totally weird when I cover my boxes with sheets to keep the deer from eating them.

Strawberry Plants Potato Plant

And, in some pots, until we clear out the weeds from the space we intend to plant them in, are some thornless raspberries. We put them in the larger pots, because they were becoming too big for the pots we bought them in. Plus, they’re able to take advantage of the fantastic Mel’s mix we surrounded them with. And, in the other pots are potatoes! What? Potatoes in a pot? Yeah, I’ve no idea if it will work, but they’re growing, and I have a fun blue variety in there.

Raspberry Plant Jonathan Apple Tree

Some of our friends have enough land to plant their own little mini orchard, and in the spirit of having fruit in your backyard, we bought our first fruit tree! Yes, just one, compared to their twelve, but it was all we could afford at the moment, and the only tree I was sure I wanted. We got a Jonathan Apple tree. These are by far my favorite apples ever, with a wonderful tart flavor, and perfect for whatever you want to do with them. We won’t be getting any fruit off of the tree for another three to five years, but it will be wonderful when we do.

In our future, we’re planning to rip out three feet of grass along the entire west side of our house. We’re going to plant eight tomato plants there, and I am super excited for it. We are getting many different varieties this year, some for canning, some for saucing, and most for eating. Since I’m new to canning, I’m sure I’ll even end up freezing a lot of them. We’re getting our plants from here. The guy who grows them lives just down the street, and it’s been really fun to watch them grow from seeds. I, also, have enough weeds cleared for another square foot garden box, and will soon have space for a second.