Summertime

Well, it has been beautiful summery weather here lately, and the boys have been loving being outside.  I have been trying to grow vegetables (in containers), and am stewing about what to do about the mole situation in our yard, before I try planting anything in the ground.  Darn all this wildlife in the Pacific Northwest  (although I have not seen Chip the Giant Raccoon stroll the backyard recently).

Andrew continues "The Great Yard Project",  clearing the junipers, holly, ivy and other various random and challenging items (trellises, pots, stumps, and large pieces of logs) from the side and back area of the yard.  Maybe someday we'll have it done.  :)

Liam has been teaching Caleb how to do gymnastics...

Outlet Shopping...or Returning

On a recent trip to the outlets to return a few things from my Portland trip...  Although the price and varieties have increased on these bad boys, it was a fun flashback of the three-horse carousel in front of Kmart when I was a kid.  *sigh*  To be young again.  :)

Outdoor Fun

A beautiful day for playing in the sprinklers...

Nap Time with Dad

Another Anniversary

One year ago today, Andrew and I were making our way through airports with mountains of luggage, carseats, stroller, and boys in tow.  People passing smirked at us as though we were the parents who seemed unable to pack light and felt like we had to take everything on our "trip"...not realizing that we weren't just going on vacation, but were actually moving our whole life.  

I still remember the woman at the ticket counter in Burbank telling us that my suitcase was over the weight limit by a few pounds, and then asking if we would like to take something out.  Um...where exactly did she want us to put it, I kept wondering?  We were maxed out in bags, weight, everything and I just wanted to laugh.  I said there was nowhere to put it, and was there some kind of fee we could pay?  She responded in a very serious tone with an expression on her face that made me certain she was going to tell me the fee was $150 or more and said "It's $25."  I almost laughed out loud again, and told her that was fine, we would pay it.

I think my favorite part of the experience, though, was all of us, including Caleb (who was 7 months old at the time) getting wanded down at security because something on the stroller had set off the machine.  The stroller couldn't fit in the scanner so they had to wipe it down and scan the cloth and apparently, we came up with Nitro-glycerides, or something...can't say that remember exactly.  I do, however, remember the security manager coming up to talk to us after we were all cleared, and telling us what had come up on the handles of the stroller and then telling us that it was a pretty common ingredient in a lot of lotions and hand soaps, etc.  Again, me with the slightly bitter laughter bubbling up...  The funniest part is that they were not going to let Andrew or I hold either of the boys when they were going to be wanded.  Hilarious!  Finally, realizing that it was a ridiculous request to expect a frightened 2 year old to stand still away from both his parents while some serious-faced stranger waved something around his body, and that a 7 month old baby HAD to be held if you wanted to wand him...well, let's just say, they decided it would be okay if Andrew and I participated.  Good times.  :)

The flight was uneventful, getting everything to the rental was fine, picking up our keys to the apartment and finding the place, in the heart of Chinatown all went relatively well without incident (that I remember at least).  We were exhausted and hungry and I was feeling considerably displaced.  The next few days were a whirlwind of house-hunting, finding our house, making an offer, and signing the preliminary papers all within 5 days.  Crazy!  Happy 1-year Anniversary, Seattle!

It's amazing to think how fast the time has gone by, and how the boys have grown since then...here are some favorites from our apartment.  They loved hanging out in the low window and watching the buses go by.

Tagged

Okay, so my friend, Kelly, tagged me (admittedly a while ago), but since I did not have access to my photos yet (lack of computer), I couldn't post anything.  I am supposed to post the sixth picture from the sixth folder in my photo library.  I don't have my photos organized into folders like that (just a mass library of them in iPhoto), so I am improvising.  I closed my eyes, scrolled down and randomly chose a picture.  And here is what I landed on:

One of my many experimental shots testing out different depths of field with my camera.  I like that this angle makes him look like he still has the chubby cheeks he had as a baby.  Like these:

Your Wallet or Your Waist

So, after dropping the Liams (mine and his friend, also named Liam) at Joy School, heading to the YMCA for a nice long workout, then picking the boys up again and dropping Friend Liam off at his house, the boys and I were starving and Liam was clamouring for chicken nuggets (we had driven past a McDonald's on the way to Friend Liam's house).  By this point, Caleb was done being in the car and crying and whining and we were right next to Burger King so I decided to stop.  Okay, so I'm a drive-thru junkie, whatever.  Contemplating the fact that I had just finished working out, I rationalized that I could order a grilled chicken sandwich with little or no sauce and not feel guilty or gross after eating it, and then I looked at the menu board.  Their most basic chicken sandwich was 3 times the cost of a regular cheeseburger....3 times!  It appeared as though my choice was my wallet or my waist.  

While I appreciate that fast food

 places are making efforts to offer some healthier options for those of us whose children don't want frozen chicken nuggets from home but "the real kind", it's very frustrating that that "healthier food" costs so much.  Not that it is surprising...I have long fought the battle of "the budget versus the bulge", recognizing that o

ften, the healthiest foods are often not the cheapest (does anyone want to talk about the price of Ramen versus the price of...well, anything else).  I know, I know, it would have been cheaper and healthier all-around to just go home and make some lunch.  But I didn't...whatever.  

Anyway, it frustrated me as I sat in the drive-thru deciding what to eat.  I won't bother telling you what I ended up ordering, but suffice it to say that next time, I will just have to pack a tuna-fish sandwich before I leave home.

Adventures in Wheat

So, today I went to the Dry Pack Cannery in my continued quest to amass large quantities of dry food to be consumed in the event of the apocalypse.  Covered in the dust from Flour, Fruit Drink Mix, and Powdered Milk, I left feeling quite satisfied with my work and my acquisition of supplies. 

In preparation for this event, I have been recently contemplating how to use wheat.  Just plain old hard wheat.  In the past I have not really considered wheat a great option for food storage for us personally (mostly because I figured I would never get my kids to eat it), but after recent conversations with my sisters and some other friends, I have been inspired to look for more and more ways to use wheat.  So yesterday, I found several recipes online and starting experimenting with some wheat that I had already.  You're right, Cindy, wheat blender pancakes rock!  (OK, my words, not yours).  They were so tasty and the boys LOVED them...although that might have more to do with syrup than the pancakes themselves, but at the very least they didn't spit them out and continued to ask for more.  I guess that just means I need to make sure and have brown sugar and such to make mom's syrup (in the afore-mentioned post-apocalyptic scenario where I cannot buy syrup at the grocery store, of course).  But I digress.  I've seen several different recipes, and I will have to try a few more, but here is the recipe that I found that I liked:

1 Cup Whole Wheat

1 1/2 Cups Milk

1/2 Vegetable Oil

1 Egg

3 tsp Baking Powder

2 TBLS Sugar

1 tsp salt

And now that I am looking at it, I realize I only used 3 teaspoons of sugar instead of 3 TBLS (apparently I cannot read, but whatever), and that seemed sweet enough, so I think I will stick to that.

I also tried making cracked wheat cereal like my Grandma Wahlquist used to make.  I used my Ultimate Chopper (food processor) to chop the wheat up coarsely and then added it to boiling water and salt and simmered it a long time (just like you said, Mom).  I think I need to keep trying.  :(  The fresh cream from the farm might have had something to do with why Grandma's was so good, and since I don't have a cow...  :)  Oh well.

Anyway, those have been my adventures in wheat.  Other ideas that I have recently heard and am ready to try:  Cooked wheat (crock-potted overnight) in Oatmeal, Spaghetti Sauce, Hamburger, etc.  Wish me luck!

Photo Flashback

Well, We finally got our new computer and I can access all my photos again!  Yea!!  So, I have been sorting through and cleaning out the unbelievable masses of photos that I have taken in the time that Andrew and I have known each other and have had a great time flashing back.  Liam's cheeks were so big, I had forgotten how round his face was.  And the 4th of July parade at Mom & Dad's...well, who can forget that.  :)  Good times!

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

Okay, so the clovers might be a little much, but I thought it being St. Patrick's Day soon and all that I needed to embrace my Irish Buckley/MacGuire roots and style the blog up right. :) Don't worry, Andrew, it will be subtle and masculine again soon enough.

This past week has been pretty busy. My sisters were here to visit (which was so fun!), I taught Joy School this week (not as much fun), went visiting teaching, then hosted a baby shower for a friend. I know, I know, it doesn't really sound like that much stuff, but I am finding that I am less organized than I used to be, and the addition of small children to the mix cause everything to take a little longer...at least for me, anyway. Anyway, it was a good full week, but I'm glad it's over (except for the sisters' visit).

These were the flowers I got for the baby shower (Baby Lily and Mommy Rose). I love flowers.