What I am thankful for

I had the idea in my head that everyday I would post things I am thankful for, over the Thanksgiving holiday. It has been a wonderful extended weekend and I am happy to say, I did not have time to post. We had a wonderful visit with my mother-in-law Bonnie. She is leaving tomorrow morning. No matter how many times we have tried to convince her, she should stay, she has to work on Tuesday. Ah, such is life.

I am thankful for:

~my wonderful husband
~my beautiful boys




~my family (I love and miss you)
~all my friends
~sewing and knitting..I am having fun creating all kinds of things
~sunshine...we don't see it as much here in Indiana, and I am thankful every time it comes out!
~great neighbors, we have had many over the years
~every minute I spend with my husband and children
~Montessori and the excellent education my son receives
~my bike, the tag a long and bike trailer
~a handy husband, who can fix anything in the house or with the vehicles, and he makes beer and biodiesel!
~life in general, I am a very lucky person.
~(the mountains, I hope we will see them again soon..we miss them soo much!)

We got busy last night and I didn't post again, so have a safe trip home Bonnie, we love you.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Thanksgiving 2009,

Bonnie arrived safely at our house Wednesday evening. We were all very excited to see her. I made up pancake mix Wednesday afternoon so we could have yummy oatmeal, blueberry, banana pancakes on Thanksgiving morning. I found an airplane and truck mold at Kitchen Art. Everest was very surprised to see his pancakes. Needless to say, he ate just about everything.

Thanksgiving morning and afternoon was spent cooking, baking and playing in the kitchen. This is Leaf's idea of helping in the kitchen.
I know some of you are wondering what on earth crazy vegetarians eat on Thanksgiving. Well we had a wonderful feast -Spinach, chard mashed potatoes; whipped sweet potatoes with banana and honey; leaf pies; salad; cranberry sauce; salmon; and braided bread. I also made toasted coconut shortbread cookies (from Smittenkitchen.com)
I made braided oatmeal wheat bread. I have never made braided bread before. We had fun rolling the dough and playing in the left over flour. I taught Everest how to braid the bread. He was done helping after the first one, the draw of flour on the counter with a few trucks, was too much for him. He spent most of the day, playing...I mean washing.. the dishes, helping roll out dough (while really playing in the flour), and pushing Leaf around in the stock pot. And of course, playing, playing and more playing with Grami.
The leaf pies have sauteed veggies inside. Aren't they pretty? The recipe I used should have made 12 leaf pies. Ours only made 9, Everest helped roll out the dough. He did well rolling, and cutting out the shapes. When it was time to gather up the dough to roll again, somehow half of it kept ending up on the floor. Might have something to do with the playing in the flour part. Sigh...such is life when cooking with a (almost) 4 year old. We will make these again, they were fun to make and very yummy to eat. Leaf ate 2 of them!
Black Friday...We had extra veggies left over from our leaf pie filling. I added a few more veggies and black beans.....
plus some eggs and viola..... omelets! Leaf couldn't get enough of them. I thought he was going to eat Nathan's entire plate.
I got the leaf pie recipe from thepeppermillinc.com (I would link it to my page, but I haven't read how to do it yet. I am sure it is very easy, but getting the 5 minutes to read about it, hasn't happened yet).

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too.

Brown County State Park

October 2009

A few weeks ago, Nathan had off for Fall break. We decided to go camping in southern Indiana. We went to Brown County State Park, and had a wonderful time. (The park is near Bloomington and IU.) Autumn was starting to bloom and it was beautiful.


Everest and Nathan finding their own trail.Leaf and I hanging out at the water fall. Notice him pulling my hair. I got it cut, short. He can still get it, but he can't get it into his mouth as easily.
We found a cave along the trail and decided to explore for bears or moose. We have tried to explain to Everest that there are no moose in IN, but he insists there might be.
Loving the free ride.
The fire tower was the highlight of the trip for Everest. The day we arrived, it was closed because there were too many people. The second day we were there it was open and boy was Everest excited. So excited, we couldn't get a good picture of him. He wouldn't stand still long enough.
It is a long way to the top. Especially when you are carrying a baby on your back, plus a camera, hats and sweatshirts. Phew! All that climbing wore Leaf out.

Leaf

Leaf is serious about playing.

The boys will play for an hour at a time with all the different gourds we have.
This was Leaf's favorite gourd. It started to go bad, so we cut it up and played with the seeds and shell. We will plant the seed next year.
He would push it around like a car, or pretend to vacuum with it when I vacuumed.
I love this picture.
Always talking. We do not understand much yet, but he definitely has a lot to say.

Who is that kid?

After 4 years and 2 attempts at cutting his hair shorter, we finally went to a barberoli (that is what Everest calls him, from the book Mop Top). And he cut it SHORT, even though I said, leave it a little longer on top. Everest was nervous about the hair cut and having the clippers used. But he did wonderful. And he really likes it. Well I should say he likes the back. On the way home, he kept saying mama, you have to feel my hair, it's smooth and soft. I have felt his hair at least 20 times, so don't be surprised if you see him and he asks you to feel his hair. He looks VERY different. I hope that we are not in a crowd anytime soon, because I don't know that I would instantly recognize him.

I told you it was short!

We had family (well the boys and I, Nathan is on his way to Tennessee) pictures at Everest's school today. What a difficult time it is trying to find something to match all of us, without buying all new outfits. I found these sweaters at the thrift store. I have a green one with the same type of stitch so that is what we wore.
Leaf is sort of smiling. This is about the best we got all day. He is tired today. I saw 2 more teeth coming in up top. They haven't broke through yet, but they will by the weekend. That makes 6 teeth. He got his 2 bottom teeth at 7 months, then nothing else until his birthday.