Cleopatra, The Crocodile and The Kitties

This weekend was Trunk or Treat at my work. . . my kids were really looking forward to it. . . 

I. . .[yawn]. . . was. . . [stretch]. . . happy. . .[rubbing my sand paper eyes]. . . 

to get up after working all night and get them dressed and head out.

Introducing. . .Cleopatra and the Nile Crocodile. . .

Cleopatra

I used to be a crafty mommy and make Morgan's costumes, 

but one year Andrew was just 3 weeks old. . .

didn't make one. . .

the next year I was still exhausted. . .

didn't make one. . .

the next I had just moved approximately 3,000 miles. . .

didn't make one. . . 

this year my sewing machine is still in storage. . .

didn't make one either. . .

Ohhhhh, the cuteness! It kills me!

To further my self-imposed guilt for not being a super mom. . .this is Andrew's costume from last year. . .He found it at Grandma's. He loved it again. It still fit. . . .bad mom. Bad mom. BAD mom! There I have chastised myself and I am over it. . .to be fair, though, he called himself a dinosaur last year. This year he called himself a crocodile. . .so in his mind it is a different costume, right? Right?

She loves the cape :)

Now to introduce. . . . Dexter. 

This little guy showed up in our neighborhood a few weeks ago. No home has yet been found for him, so if he is still around in January he will officially become a barn cat. . .I named him Dexter, because, well, he looks like a Dexter. 

Watch out, Dex!

 You have a crocodile on your tail!

Where there is Dexter, there is. . .

Dipstick. . .this is Dexter's brother, and the kitty that sealed the deal. He is the friendliest cat you ever met. When he sees a people, he turns his purr on and climbs into your lap. 

My hubby named him Dipstick because he is all black except for a tiny white tip on his tail. . . .

So we have another barn cat. . .a black cat. . .just in time for Halloween!

Now that we  have the introductions out of the way, we can head off to Trunk or Treat!

My boys surveying their kingdom. . .

They scored plenty of goodies!!!

And went home very happy. . .

Although, I think they might have gotten bit by something along the way. . .

3 Birthdays, 3 Three Year Olds, 3 Cards

From Sept 13, 2010 to Oct 14, 2010 my parent's number of grandchildren doubled. . .from 4 to 8. . . yep 4 babies were born within 31 days. . .my sister being the over achiever and having twins. . . she also one-up-ed me and had them 9 weeks early. . .I was supposed to be first (stomp!). . .

Just kidding, Sis! I was just very grateful that her tiny babies were well taken care of and have grown into wonderful healthy children. Who cares what order they arrived! I had my big bundle next and my sister-in-law rounded out the "quads" by giving my brother another little boy.

Needless to say family gatherings have and will forever be much more. . .shall we say, "interesting". . . if not loud. . .the first time they were all together there were 4 two year olds. . .

I am still trying to recover. . .

Last month I started in on making cards for their Birthdays. . .

 First the twins. . .

Then my brother's little man. . .

Happy Birthday, Little One's!!!! You bring so much joy to our lives!!!

And, no, I didn't make my own son a card. . .I am a bad mom like that. . .

Just a houseplant. . .

Once there was a houseplant that lived in my childhood home. I am not sure when it  arrived or from where it came, but I just always remember it being there. When I went away to college and got my first apartment somehow it ended up with me. I don't remember the circumstances of that either. . .perhaps my mom was just ready for a change. Anyway, fast forward a few years and you would find that same houseplant stuffed into the back seat of my car as I followed my husband of ten days on a trek across the US on our way to start our new life together in sunny Southern California. My houseplant soon became a patio plant due to it's enormous size (and the fact that it could live outside year round where we were). It followed us to each of the places we called home during our 11 years there. While looking for pictures today I found it's leaves as the backdrop for many of  our life events. . .the remodeling of our first home, pregnancy pictures from when Morgan lived in my tummy, birthday parties on the patio, visits with family, beloved pets now gone. . . it was also there to witness the removal of Andrew's comb-over/mullet when he was two months old. . . 

The houseplant that was a piece of my past became a part of my present. . . 

A steward of my memories.

 When we started packing up (now two summers ago) to head back East we soon realized that our houseplant. .  which was now a small tree. . .was too large to make the initial trip. The husband promised to get it onto his trailer when he made the final trek out in the fall. Unfortunately, his move took place later than we had hoped and we realized that the trip through the cold would probably kill our faithful friend. What some of you might not know is that my husband has a green thumb the size of Texas. . . tucked safely beside him in the front seat of his truck was a little box that contained four little pots each with a cutting from our plant. During the winter and spring and summer at my mom's in WV we watched as each of the cuttings died leaf by leaf. . .all but one. . . Every day we inspected it, checked it for water, called to each other to "come look!" when we saw a new leaf sprouting. .  . .

It now sits on our kitchen table here in KY while we wait patiently to move to our new farm. A plant from my childhood. A piece of home I took with me to California. A promise of a new start.

It's not really JUST a houseplant, now is it?

Time to fess up. . .

Guess what we have been up to? I posted these pictures on Facebook a while back, but no one took the bait. . .

Since July 22, two days after the books came in we have been quietly minding our own business and doing school at home. Yep, you heard me! The Williams' are homeschooling this year. The decision came out of the logistics of our move. I have never had a problem with the idea of homeschooling, but I never felt like it was for us. Morgan went to public school last year (in WV) for 1st grade and did really well. Our move here has come it two stages and that would have meant two different school  systems or else a 20 min drive to and from school each way for half the year. We decided that if we went the homeschool route then we would at the very least eliminate switching schools and at best enjoy ourselves in the meantime. Well, happy to say it has been the later. Morgan will tell you that she likes it better, and every morning when the school bus drives by at 645am and comes back at 345pm I am thankful as well. . . If you know me at all, you know that this lady don't do mornings. . .unless I have worked all night. . . either way, mornings are for sleeping!!! Amen.

Since I am a crazy person and working full time right now, we went with a curriculum that has the lessons already laid out for us. I am the primary teacher, but Wayne usually takes over one day a week while I sleep off the night shift. I find that I worry less now that she is doing school at the kitchen table. I know exactly what she is learning. I know exactly what she is doing well in and what she needs to work on. I know exactly what she eats for lunch every day. . .she used to come home from school saying, "I ate A nugget and TWO carrots. Oh, and I drank my milk!" I couldn't figure out why she wasn't eating until my husband went to the birthday lunch in March. . .the kids got 30min for lunch. . .to line up, walk to the cafeteria, wait in line, find their seat, eat their food (and in my daughter's case chit-chat of course), clean up their trays, line back up and then head back to the classroom. . .if any of you have a 6 year old, you know those things don't happen quickly or smoothly. . .the end result was that she had 10-15min to get her food in. . .anyway, be being a person that thrives on knowing my family is fed and fed well, I love sitting down with her each day and sharing a meal with her.



The other thing I have loved about this school year is the simplification. We have breakfast, get dressed, have school time, play time, together time. No rushing to get to  the bus, no driving her places, no extra homework at 4pm. When schoolwork is done for the day, schoolwork is done for the day. . .the Awana verses that were always a struggle to find time for (shouldn't that be a clue when you are too busy to teach your child a Bible verse each week?) are now a part of her school day. No struggling to find time to take the kids to the library. . .it is now a part of the school week. I have found that I can even get more done in a day because I can be doing my household chores while she is working on her lessons, pausing to help her when she needs it. Andrew has even thrived having her home. When she takes her breaks he has someone to play with and is not needing as much attention from me. Bottom line is that something I thought would make my life more complicated has actually brought peace to my days off.

We plan on taking this whole thing one year at a time. Will we send her to the elementary school that is 1/2 mile from the farm? If we finish the year out as well as we started it, the answer is. . . probably not. So for now I guess I can add teacher to my resume. . .

and my sweet girl can continue to have days like these.

Getting caught up. . .

For those of you who know me, you know that I am a crafty kinda girl. . . crafty, as in making things, not crafty as in evil, "Like the fru-its of the De-vil"  (can you name that movie?). . .glad we could clear that up. . . anyway, I have been working on some random scrapbook pages in all of my free time. . .huh? What is free time, you say? It comes from living in 900sq feet, three total rooms, two bathrooms and no TV. Yeah, you heard me. We ain't got no cable. . . The result is free time to read and craft, and I am trying to enjoy it whilst I can. . . before the farm chores set in. Well, I finally collected enough of my crafty stuff to finish up a couple of pages. Here they are for your viewing pleasure!

 An Easter layout that I started in April. . .only took me 7 months to finish. . .that's good, right? Right?

Andrew's first birthday part. I have pretty much abandoned the idea of scrapbooking chronologically at this point in time. I just find paper and a design that I like, then find pictures I like with it. In Andrew's scrapbook I took my hiatus just after his delivery . . .

Pictures from last fall ant my mom's. If only we knew that she was going to be a real farm girl!!!

These pictures are from when Morgan was 3 1/2. . . she was (and is) way too cute for words!


So there you have it. I will try and keep posting things as I make them. Hopefully it will inspire someone to turn off the TV and pick up some scissors!

PS. I am well aware that I need better lighting. Thanks.

Go Fly A Kite. . .

We woke up this morning to an unusual day in this household. Morgan didn't have to do school today, I didn't have to work until tonight & Farmboy also had the day off. As is happened Morgan had gotten a kite this week and prayed last night for a windy day. . .God answer's prayers! It was W.I.N.D.Y.

We had a lazy morning and then found ourselves driving through some back roads in search of an orchard that we found out does not exist. We decided to make a stop at the farm to try and fly Morgan's kite, and joy upon joy, I actually had the camera with me. I finally captured a picture from my favorite spot on the farm (and if it is the same spot I think. . .I am pretty sure my dad declared he wanted to be buried there. . .). This is the view from the towering oak tree standing by itself on the hill.



The wind was so perfect that all we had to do is unwrap the kite and it was in the air.

           

I then got to enjoy exploring the farm and taking pictures of my precious son. . .



and my Farmboy. . .




F.Y.I. . .the above picture is not posed. . .he is just cool like that. . .and he is mine.

My sweet girl was beyond excited to have a kite in the air. I don't know what it is about kites, but she has always romanticized the notion. I do believe it lived up to her expectations!



I was drawn again to the coolness. . .




I finally convinced the girl to give up the kite so I could snap a few shots of the kids enjoying their great outdoors.

           

           


My subjects then decided that they had better things to do, so I set off an a walk. There has been a running joke between Farmboy and I about the ponds on our farm. We saw the main pond when we looked at the house for the first time in January. In August (after we had owned the farm for 4 months) we were walking up to the old cattle barn and discovered another pond. We knew that there was a third pond, but neither of us had seen it until last week when Farmboy came home and told me that he had found it. When I asked him where it was he informed me that I must find it for myself. . .

Found it!!!!



After I went back and bragged about how observant I was to find a small body of water shimmering in a field I was overcome by the hay bales and decided to try my hand at artistry. . .

                   





This unexpected day ended up being more beautiful than I could have imagined and made even better surrounded my loves. . .

                 

Leftovers. . .

Don't know about any other family, but in our house no one is too fond of leftovers. Sure there are somethings that taste better the second day. . .chili, spaghetti sauce, casserole. . . but for the most part I make it my mission to not end up with those pesky dishes in the fridge that start to go green. . .and not in an environmentally friendly way. So, when I made a pot roast the other night I decided to come up with an alternative meal for that great hunk o' meat I had sitting in the fridge. . . 

First lets start with the pot roast:

Day 1

1 2-3lb beef pot roast
2 tbsp oil
garlic salt and pepper

Heat a Dutch oven (or large oven proof pot) on med-high heat. Add oil. When it starts to smoke add the roast that you have seasoned liberally with the garlic salt and pepper. Brown on all sides til you have a nice crust (about 4 min per side).

3/4 cup water
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce ( a nickle to anyone that can say that right)
1 tsp beef bouillon granules
1 tsp dried basil

Mix these together and pour over the browned roast. Cover your pot and put in an oven at 350 for 1 hour.

4 large carrots sliced in chunks
1 medium onion cut into wedges
2 stalks celery bias cut
2 large cloves garlic minced

Add the veggies to the pot, recover and cook for another 1 hour, or until tender (I think I cooked mine for 1 1/2)

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups juice from roast

Once roast is done remove it and the veggies from the pan. Skim fat the broth off if necessary. You should have about 1 1/2 cups. If not just add enough water to equal. Bring broth to a boil. Mix flour and water together til you have no lumps (no one want's dough balls in their gravy. . .well, unless you are my husband, but I refuse to oblige). Pour into broth and stir often until it returns to a boil & thickens. Now you have gravy.

*note: We prefer to have mashed potatoes with this, but if you like to have your potatoes in the dish, just cut up a couple of them and add to the pot with the other veggies in the veggie step.

I served my meal with mashed potatoes & fresh rolls (as in I made the dough, let it rise and baked them)

It was finished and it was good.

Day 2

So now what to do with all the leftover stuff. . .I had roast, veggies, potatoes and gravy. . . I decided to make a modified version of shepherd's pie!

I found this recipe on Epicurios  that served as my inspiration : http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shepherds-Pie-240224

Since most of my stuff was already cooked this is how I modified it.

2 cups beef diced into 3/4 inch cubes
1 cup leftover gravy
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 Tbsp dried parsley
Leftover veggies cut up into smaller pieces
3-4 C mashed potatoes

Mix all these ingredients together in a skillet and heat through til bubbling. Place in a casserole dish then cover with mashed potatoes . . .I had to make more since we didn't have enough leftover. . .

4 med potatoes
6 Tbsp butter
1/4- 1/2 C milk

Peel and cut potatoes into chunks, place in pot and cover with water. Add salt. Boil til fork tender. Drain and mash in a mixer with butter and enough milk to make them light and fluffy.

Use a fork to make a crosshatch pattern on top of the potatoes.

Place casserole dish into preheated  375 degree oven for 30 min or until top is golden. Serve with steamed peas.

The results were a tooootally different meal that actually tasted better than the pot roast the day before. We still had roast left over, but we made use of it for lunch as sandwiches. I will definitely be making this "progressive dinner" again!

PS. next time I make this I will remember to take pictures. . .