Garden update

Today it was really nice and sunny out and my front raised beds are all ready to go so Loic and I did some planting.  I will have to take some pictures soon.  Loic alternated between 'helping' me, driving his digger around the yard and wearing a tomato cage....

We planted peas and radishes and took up 3/4 of one bed.  I am slightly OCD about seeds in rows (which the peas are in this year) but Loic did a pretty good job of planting his peas, phew.  We put in radish seeds as well but I just spread them out in a large square area.  We planted two types: an easter egg mix and some regular red ones.  I then covered the whole bed with a plastic cloche - I used some tomato cages on their sides to raise it up off the beds and it worked quite well.  We shall see what happens soon!  I also put in another dwarf blueberry - my front yard is beginning to look like a blueberry farm which is good considering both my kids will gladly eat their own weight in berries daily if I let them!!  I have three baby blueberry plants to move around too but haven't sorted out exactly where to put them quite yet.

The dogs had a nice time sitting in the sun today after our walk.  Loic and I were playing and the two chihuahuas sat in the sun while Tyler played with a toy.  I am ready for it to be sunny out again!  Although, the sun makes my house look really, really, really dirty :)

I shall leave off with a cute baby in the tub:

-E

Bark mulch

Today the kids and I went to the barn, like we normally do Mondays, to ride the pony and visit with our friends.  I am sad that once work starts I won't be able to do this fun Monday outing.  We will make a point of going to the barn on weekends now.

Today, I rode the pony and when I was done, we put Maelle up on the pony in front of me and she *loved* it!  She started out by grinning then after a few minutes was laughing.  My friend led the pony so all I had to do was hold Maelle in front of me :)  I don't have a picture because I was on the pony holding the baby, Erin was holding the pony, my mom was riding Jeff and the boys were off at their 'job site' aka another pile of dirt.  Not that I would have trusted them with my phone!

Before we went riding, the boys spent a good 30 minutes playing on a pile of bark mulch.  Yes, they played on a pile of bark mulch and loved it!  At one point they fell OFF of the pile and landed at my mom's feet, all wrapped up in the tarp, and while that scared me they asked to do it again (the answer was NO).

Gloves?  Check.  Hat on backwards?  Check.  Binoculars to view dinosaurs?  Check.

-E

Random iphone pics

While I sometimes think that we need to take our nice camera out more often, I am happy that my phone has a camera so that I can capture daily life.

Loic and Ezra riding Teepee on Monday

Maelle thinks blueberries are AWESOME - she yells at us from her high chair when she runs out!

This is a blurry pic but it is of Ryan sitting ON Tyler - these two are such nice boys!!

Such a big girl these days.  She is getting molars and has a bug of some sort, no fun at all.

-E

Car update (take 5) and swim class! And a recipe

My car is still leaking.   I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this point!  I am taking it in tomorrow to have it looked at in preparation for Honda to take it back next week....for the fourth time?  At least the dent in the bumper and side of the car is gone!!

Tonight was Loic's third swim class.  There were two kids in his first class and since then it has only been him.  His teacher is great and tonight he was so very proud of the fact that he dunked his head under the water and wasn't upset.  They swim, play games and end the class in the hot tub :)  It is pretty darn adorable.  He was so so pleased with himself tonight!  Oh and yes, he does talk her ear off the entire 30 minutes.  And he points at things and asks close to 100 questions.  Adorable.

I made a roast chicken on Tuesday night and with the leftovers made a new recipe last night (I also made a big pot of chicken stock with the leftover carcass).  I found the recipe I adapted on the Pioneer Woman site: Pioneer Woman Chicken Pasta

The Pioneer Woman started out with raw chicken breast and she cooked it but I figured my leftover roast chicken would work just as well.  I also added in peas to make it slightly healthier.

Here is what I used:

-leftover roast chicken (just under half a left over chicken)
- 2 tablespoons of butter
-3 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup white wine + 1/4 cup of chicken stock (the pioneer used 3/4 cup of wine but I only had a 1/2 cup of white so I added stock)
- 1/2 cup of cream (I used half and half)
- 3/4 cup of parmesan cheese
- a lot of fresh parsley, chopped
- about 2 cups of frozen peas
-salt and pepper

It was super easy.  I melted the butter, sauteed the minced garlic for a minute, added in the wine/stock and cooked that down for a few minutes.  Then I added in the cream and whisked it all around for another few minutes.  Then I added the diced cooked chicken, the peas, the parsley and the parmesan.  Once the peas were warm I added in 454g (one box) of cooked bow tie pasta.  I mixed it all around and we ate dinner!  It was quick and really tasty.   Oh I added salt and pepper before serving.

Enjoy!

-E

Stylin'

Last night I walked up the Jess' house with Tyler after the kids went to bed.  It was pouring out so I wore my stylish rain hat.  Jess offered to walk me part way home and she wore her own matching rain hat:

Stylin' Ladies

While Jody mocked us, I know she was just totally jealous of our awesome hats.  Right Jody?!

-E

Garlic and car update (#4)

Here is a pic I took today of my baby garlic:

Planted October 2012

Grow Garlic grow!!  I can't wait to see what it produces by July.

In other news, my car is (still) at the shop.  Honda actually did a good job last Monday of listening to my concerns and they took the car for 4 days to actually fix the leak, free of charge.  I did have to take Rob with me to help make my point, but whatever.  Then, on Thursday, Rob got a phone call from Honda.  On Thursday, a delivery truck backed into my car while it was on the lot at Honda.  It damaged the rear bumper, light and body panel.....good times.

After the damage happened, Honda rented me a courtesy car (free of charge to me) and they are having my car fixed (also free of charge).  Who knows when I will get my car back now?!  At least the leak is fixed?!? :)

-E

11 months old

Maelle is 11 months old today.  Where oh where did my baby go?

Ack she is so darn cute

-E