Momma Machine

Today is a good day. So far I've baked about 40 cookies, I used margarine instead of butter, and doubled the batch, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed, laundry, and found the time to sew the last piece of my Hallowe'en costume.

I am busting at the seams with excitement for tomorrow. After Avery's nap, we're taking the girls downtown to walk the main street where our local shops hand out candy. Not that they need the candy, I just want to take them out in their costumes. We'll also get dinner in town, so we can completely avoid a meltdown, and then bring them home. Once both girls are cozy, my good good friend, Jenna and her husband Andrew, are coming over to watch the girls while Steve and I go to a Hallowe'en house party all by ourselves!

We haven't gone out alone since our anniversary in August. Which is really sad. I feel like we need time to love each other with no babies. We have the coolest costumes, but you'll have to wait and see the pictures, when I post them because they're secret.

About being alone, I'm really feeling like I want to transition Rowan out of our bed earlier than Avery. Because it was harder to get Avery out, and I haven't slept alone with my husband since Avery was born, except our wedding night. And no, I don't want to get pregnant again. ;)

The plan is to get a crib for Rowan, and once she's asleep, put her in it. She'll be set up in our bedroom, and close by to nurse in the night. Once she's older, and sleeps through the night, then we'll move the crib to Avery's room, where they will share a bedroom. I just don't want to put her in there earlier because I'm afraid of disrupting Avery's sleep, and it's not fair to her.

I've been looking for a second hand crib for months now, and there just doesn't seem to be any, so I guess we have to buy brand new. I'd have bought a mattress brand new, but on the bright side, we'll know that it was smoke free, and didn't have any other baby pooh on it. Ha!

So, the sun is out, and after nap, we'll go out and play in the yard. Amazing what a little vitamin D can do for you! Oh, and Rowan is 6 months today. Yay! I'm waiting until tomorrow to give her her first cereal. Photo opportunity, and Daddy will want to be here.

One of Those Days

I haven't felt this way in a while. I know it's due to be woken up every hour last night, between both girls, and have been awake since 5:20 am. I was going to go to town this morning, and bring them to a park, but instead we've been home not doing much. Which is fine because Avery's not even her happy self, instead a super cranky toddler. Her bottom eye teeth are really bugging her as they come up.

I think Rowan woke up so much because she's started rolling from her tummy to back now. Yay! This means I can't leave her unseen, unless she's in a baby apparatus, like the excercauser. She's also trying really hard to get up on her knees. All getting closer to crawling.

I feel really bad that I'm being a lazy mom, and staying in so far, but I don't get a break ever, as I have NO family help around, and it's really getting to me today. It usually doesn't, so I think it's ok to feel poopy once in a while. Maybe I should go try to have a nap.

Sorry for sounding so bummy.

Pumpkin Patch

We brought the girls to a local pumpkin patch this morning. The field was a bit sparse, so I'm glad we went today and no later. We missed the heavy rain, and were feeling festive in a wee drizzling rain. Sort of a misty, spooky, Hallowe'en feeling.



On the way to the field, we towed Avery down in a wagon, which we also used to tow our pumpkin back up to the farm. Avery was not happy about not walking along beside us, as she hates strollers, car seats, and anything that stops her from being on the move.

Avery was enjoying playing in the mud mostly, and I think we were in the patch for about half an hour. When we got back up to the farm house, it was raining pretty heavily, so we didn't go out to see the goats, swans, and chickens. It was just too close to melt down time. There was a scary with scene set up by the pay table. I think it was totally cool to pick our own pumpkin, and I will definitely go back next year.

Avery didn't even flinch from this scary witch scene.

Earrings!

I took Rowan to get her ears pierced on Monday. My friend, Erin, is in town, so I had her help with the monster. She's so helpful and awesome with kids. Could be because she is a daycare supervisor. Lol.

We went to the same stuck in the 80's shop as I took Avery, where hers were pierced. They put this magic freezing cream on at 10 am, under bandaids, then you leave for 1 to 3 hours, so the baby's ears are fully frozen. We walked to the library, and we picked out 12 new cardboard books for this week. Then we walked down to my favourite restaurant, and Avery surprised me by gobbling down an egg, toast, and a bunch of fruit. I didn't think she'd be very hungry, so it was a good thing we ate!

After that, we walked back to the salon, and it was time to pierce Rowan's ears. Erin sat with Avery, and stopped her from grabbing hot curling irons and such, while I went to the back room with the lady. She took off the bandaids with no reaction, proving the ears were frozen. It was a quick procedure really, she marked the lobes with a marker, and shot the gun a couple times beside her head, on each side, to get her used to the noise. She also had a dancing and singing stuffed frog toy distracting Row, and pierced her ears. We were out within ten minutes.

The piercing cost $20, plus tip, and $4 for cleaning solution. I couldn't find the old bottle from Avery's ears. The great thing about piercing Rowan's ears this early in life is she won't play with them while they're healing because she doesn't know they're there. It takes about a month to heal, and I just clean the earrings during bum changes. Easy.

A Few Fall Pictures

Avery and the pooch

Daddy and his girls

Mommy and her girls

Avery stacking cups, and looking super adorable

A Thankful Re-cap.

Guess I seem to be slacking on the blog a bit. Just seems like it's hard to find any time to myself lately, without having a billion things to do. Especially with thanksgiving weekend. Holy wowzers. It's different not being the kid anymore, but the provider; it sure shows how much work my parents did for me, and gives me a new appreciation for them, and their hard work. Another good thing to be thankful for!

When we were at Superstore, a month ago, they gave us a free turkey. Now I know you're thinking, "Ew, Superstore," but they've actually been renovating ours, and it is super awesome inside. Alot of organic and wide range of wholesome products to choose from. And before that, I just bought dry goods there, and produce from the farmer's market, Thrifty's, and better yet: our garden. :)

Free turkey, cooked to perfection.

Steve being goofy, while carving the turkey.

Ok, so a forgotten free turkey was in our freezer. We actually had no plans, and I was talking to Chelsea, who has no family around either, and remembered the turkey, and asked her if they could come here for dinner. It was so perfect and spontaneous, and I LOVE spontaneity! We decided to share the work load, so I made the turkey, stuffing, and veggies, while Chels made the cranberry sauce, potatoes, AND pumpkin cheesecake. She used to work in bakeries, so you know the dessert was amazing!

Just look at our scrumptious dessert!

I'd never made a turkey before, but have made a fair share of roasted chickens, and I think it wasn't much different. I also had the help from my sister in law, who gave me the full run down, step by step on how to make Steve's mom's stuffing, gravy, and fixing that turkey up. I am glad for her help, and it was so delicious!

Yes this spread shot has no veggies, they weren't quite done cooking, but came to the table steaming hot.

Well, the whole dinner turned out beautifully. Avery didn't like anything but the asparagus and potatoes. I thought to myself, "That seems backwards; wouldn't a kid want everything but the veggies?" After dinner and a quick clean-up (I'm obsessive about cleaning up as I cook, so there's little to do later), we had tea and cheesecake, and watched a National Geographic show on moose. What strange animals, only one province away, yet I'm really unfamiliar with them. I mean they're friggin huge and scary as hell, but I'm trying to think of them in a Canadian way.

And so to wrap the festivities up, I'm really thankful for Steve, and we drive each other crazy, but he's really a great guy. I'm thankful for my friends, I have a few very close ones who uplift and fill my days with pure love and joy.I'm especially thankful for my girls, they've given me the greatest purpose in life.

Bison Stew

So it's not really my style to blog about food, but I've recently switched our family to organic local meats. Seeing as we live in a rural community, we're fortunate enough to have a few different farms and options close by. Steve's convinced we're getting chickens this spring. Ok, fine with eggs, bring 'em on, but meat birds, nope no way. I can't handle that unless someone else is paid to do the meatifying work.

Anyways, yesterday I made a little stew up, with the help of my slow cooker. I love putting it on the low setting, for super tender meat that falls apart. I used local bison. I should've taken a picture. Oops. I felt proud to feed my family this festive fall stew.

So here's the yummy stew recipe, made with local orgainc bison and everything else was from our garden except the canned tomatoes because I haven't canned ours yet:

-1 lb stew bison (or regular beef stew meat)
-1/3 cup flour
-S+P
-2 tbsp olive oil
-2 cloves minced garlic
-1 medium onion, chopped
-2 cups cubed acorn squash (sub for potatoes, if you don't have squash)
-2 cups trimmed green beans
-2 cups chopped carrots
-3/4 cup chopped cabbage
- 1 14 ounce can tomatoes with juices
- 2 cups beef broth

-In bag or bowl, mix flour with salt and pepper. Coat meat with mixture. Over mid-low heat, add olive oil to pan, once ready add the coated meat. Fry until browned, and put in slow cooker. Add everything else except broth. You want to add the broth last so the liquid sits about two inches under the vegetables and meat; otherwise, the stew is soup.