Oh Hail No, Part 2

2 hail storms in one summer?  I don’t even remember that as a kid.  It’s been a wild summer for weather here, that’s for sure.  I had hoped to see more mild summer days and spend some time on walks or in the backyard with the baby.  But the heat and wild storms kept us indoors much of the summer.  Plus I have a baby that didn’t care much for her car seat/stroller and by the time we got the Moby Wrap, she had created herself a schedule and didn’t like missing her big morning nap.  Oh well.  It was a blessing to just be able to spend so much time with her.

On to the storm: It hit late Sunday afternoon, but didn’t last long, maybe 10-15 minutes.  Enough to do some damage to the garden.  I have some young pumpkins and squash that are now pock-marked, but should survive.  I have some hearty tomatoes that are still growing, turning red and waiting for the next delicious thing to become.

 

As quickly as the storm arrived, it disappeared, leaving behind a cloudless blue sky.

And a little girl wanting to go on a bike ride.

Chatting with Grandpa

Tonight, while online, I started chatting with my Dad. Jessie decided she had enough of playing alone, so I picked her up and turned on the video chat (the laptop has a built in web cam).  Grandpa was thrilled to see Jessie.  Maggie had to talk to Grandpa and spent most of the time telling him all about “Open Season 2" which she was watching.  Rocky took a picture of us on his cell phone. I’m so happy that we are alive today with the technology to allow my girls to be able to see and talk to their Grandparents in ways I was never able to.  It also makes me happy that things like Facebook, blogs, cell phones with photo-taking ability, heck, even the internet, didn’t exist when I was in high school/college.

Just me & my girls

Maggie decided she wanted to stay home with Jessie & me today. She hasn't asked to stay home with us very much this summer (very much to my surprise) and as it's my last week at home, I couldn't say no. We didn't have anything planned and I wasn't sure what to do with her all day. I asked what she wanted for breakfast: pancakes. So, we made pancakes. She watched "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", Spanish language version. We went to Lake Elmo and enjoyed the water. After lunch, I told Maggie she had to have some quiet time (she didn't get any yesterday and ended up falling asleep early and getting up VERY early). So I got her set with SpongeBob on her ipod and sent her to her room. Even though it wasn't a punishment, she acted like it was and found many excuses to come downstairs. My favorite was when she told me about the story she wrote that she wanted me to read to her:

There was a beautiful dalmatian who was rescued from the mean butterflies by the beautiful horse.

I know there's more to the story, but it got lost in the translation. I finally let her come downstairs and have quiet time on the couch, well, after she told me "but Mommy (and she never calls me Mommy), if I have quiet time upstairs, I will be all alone and no one will be with me. And I might get lonely." She saw maybe 5 minutes of "Phineas and Ferb" before falling into a nap.

Jessie just enjoyed hanging out. She took a looong nap this morning and just hung out the rest of the day, being her usual happy baby self. She's 12 weeks now. It is so hard to believe she is already 3 months old and almost in daycare. Our new normal will start in just a few weeks. Fall is almost here which means football, chili, small group and Sunday School. It will be nice to get back into a routine. And daily shower . . .

Jessie's 2 month appointment was last week. She weighs 11 lbs 11 oz and is right around the 50th percentile for weight, length and head circumference. She's a bit on the short side, but aren't we all. Dr. Sorenson was pleased with her growth and talked to us about helping Jessie get to sleep on her own. I think once she starts daycare, we'll work on it. I'm lazy and prefer her in my bed at night simply because I can more readily feed her and not get out of bed several times. Jessie does well with settling herself during naps and even at night sometimes, so we may have better luck with her than we did with Maggie. As I'm currently in bed with BOTH girls and my husband is in Maggie's room.

Of course she’s happy, she’s at Luccock!

 Another beautiful weekend at Luccock Park Camp.  We arrived late afternoon Friday August 20th. It was a bit warm, but not even close to the heat in Billings. 

As expected, it was a wonderful weekend.  Maggie & Rocky fished and met a black bear, we hiked to the  falls, I got to read a little bit in my “Amazing Grace” book, Jessie got lots of attention and enjoyed the breeze on her tongue.  Most of the weekend was filled with free time.  We had campfires each night, and smores each night.  Sunday morning, a retired Bozeman pastor held a worship service and talked about baptism.  It was a moving service in which we were all blessed again and Jessie got a little informal baptism – Rocky & Maggie missed that part as about halfway through Maggie decided she needed to see the water again.

2 things really stick out from the weekend:  1. Someone commented that Jessie is a happy baby.  Brenden Miller heard and remarked: “Of course she’s happy, she’s at Luccock.”  2.  Maggie did not want to leave.

  There is just something about being up in the mountains that renews my soul and strengthens my faith. 

Maggie & the garden

I’ve blogged a lot about the garden.  Last weekend, I took Maggie’s art board outside and she decided to draw a picture of the garden.  She drew the sunflowers, sun and herself.  She asked me to draw the grass and tomatoes, though the tomatoes also look like strawberries.

Tomato Soup

Maggie LOVES tomato soup.  They have it quite a bit at daycare and when we put tomatoes in the garden, she talked a lot about being able to MAKE tomato soup.  So, yesterday, we/I did.  I ended up using a couple of cans of tomatoes as we didn’t quite have enough from the garden (I think we’ll plant a few more next year).  I got a recipe from my dad and mixed it up with a few others I found – his recipe is from the hospital he works at, so it makes quite a bit more than I wanted to make.  And because I enjoy reading food blogs, I thought I’d do the same with the tomato soup:

In this recipe I used:

2 lbs fresh tomatoes (I did not peel or seed the tomatoes.  In the future I might seed them as I did end up with a few seeds in the finished soup)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 medium onion diced
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium carrot diced
1 medium stalk celery diced
3 T butter
1 T olive oil
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chicken stock
Fresh basil and thyme
2 cups milk
Salt & pepper to taste

Melt butter & olive oil.  Saute onion, garlic, celery & carrots for 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes and cook 5 minutes.  Add flour and cook 5 more minutes.  Add chicken stock and herbs.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

I used an old stock pot and despite the butter & olive oil still ended up with a burnt mess on the bottom of the pot.  I ended up throwing it out, though it’s not really a loss because I hadn’t used that pot since moving into the house.Strain the soup to remove solids.  I used a strainer and potato masher to get all the tomato-y goodness out.  It was quite messy.

Return soup to pot and add milk, salt and pepper.  Simmer on low until it reaches your heat preference.  After heating, I let the soup cool and froze in quart sized baggies.  I got 4 baggies out of this soup.  To reheat after freezing, let the soup defrost enough to get out of the baggie.  Can be reheated on stove top or in crock pot.

We had soup & grilled cheese for supper tonight.  A little strange on a 90+ degree day, but not so strange for a lazy supper!  I had planned to take a photo of the soup with the sandwich, but I had polished it off before I had a chance.  Rocky had chicken noodle.

I will have another food post soon: Cilantro Chicken!