Spicy Dill Pickles

A couple of years ago I decided to try my hand at making pickles. Since I had never made them before I decided that I needed to stick with refrigerator pickles (not the kind you have to can) and I only made a small batch out of fear they would be terrible (they have to sit for a week, you can't taste as you go.)

When I cracked open that first jar I realized I should have made a lot more! They actually tasted like pickles (I seriously doubted my pickling abilities) and they were so good! They remind me of Claussen pickles, which happen to be the only ones I really care for, and they are so simple and inexpensive to make.

After waiting too late in the season to get cucumbers last year I was determined not to do the same thing this year. I stopped by a house in town where an old man sits out in his drive way selling vegetables from his garden and bought eight pounds of cucumbers. A little fresh dill and some Thai chilies and I was ready to pickle!

Poire Belle Helene

Pears, pears, and more pears! My husband just shakes his head as I continue to haul home more fruit but I can't resist. It's free, not treated with any chemicals, and my kids get to go pick it and see where their food comes from- how can you lose?

I made pear sauce, spiced pear butter, and now I'm working on baked goods starting with: Poire Belle Helene cupcakes. It is based off the french desert which is pears served with ice cream and covered in chocolate sauce.

This recipe is from a cook book my sister gave me called Cupcakes Galore. It is actually the first recipe I've tried from this book and has made me excited to try more!

My Life is a Bad Country Song

After a fun-filled weekend the jump back into the day-to-day is proving to be trying. The house is in a state of disarray as we're getting ready for our garage sale Saturday and neither of our children have gotten enough sleep. The kitchen is filled with apples, pears, and cucumbers and an enormous amount of dishes and I can do nothing with any of them because we can't use our sink until it gets fixed. 

To add more into the mix I decided that getting our bed off the floor was number one priority (seriously, been doing the bachelor pad style for far too long!) so I sent Andy off to Home Depot to get supplies to fix our bed frame and get it put together. 

After starting a little rearranging and reorganizing in the midst of a two year old's melt down, Marinn woke up and needed to be fed. A kiss from Andy as he walked out the door and then a knock on the front door. The plumber came.

I had a baby nursing, one crying hysterically just out of sight, and a maze of produce to walk through to lead him to the problem. As I passed a mirror I noticed a puff clinging to my still damp, messy hair. Lovely. All I could think of was the lyrics to a terrible country song about some guy coming to fix something at a lady's house and her kids are screaming and the guy tells her she's going to miss this. In my reality the guy told me he was glad he was past that stage (his daughter is 18) which doesn't exactly equivalate to the song, but close enough! 

Mondays suck, bring on tomorrow!

You're Gonna Miss This

Trace Adkins

Five years later there's a plumberWorkin' on the water heaterDog's barkin', phone's ringin'One kid's cryin' and one kid's screamin'And she keeps apologizin'

He says, “They don't bother meI've got two babies of my ownOne's thirty-six, one's twenty-three”Huh, it's hard to believe

But you're gonna miss thisYou're gonna want this backYou're gonna wish these daysHadn't gone by so fast

These are some good timesSo take a good look aroundYou may not know it nowBut you're gonna miss this

Weekend Bliss

Like most people, I enjoy the weekend. Usually it doesn't vary much from the rest of the week (since we have two small children), but every once in a while we have an eventful one like this weekend. I must say. it was particularly good!


Saturday we made the long drive out to Odessa Missouri to pick pears and apples (thank you Bob and Ginger!) with some of our favorite people; Lindsey, Emery, and Adelynn.

Our 'helpers' mostly took bites out of the fruit before retiring and playing in the sprinkler, but that gave Lindsey and I plenty of time to daydream about our future houses (with an orchard and gardens of course!)

We got a little sweaty hauling in our load since the temperature was 100+ but it was worth it!

I Have No Self Control

Why do I do this to myself??
I know I have no self control.
I know that every time those little heads hit the pillow and I finally get a chance to sit down and kick my feet up I get myself into trouble.
It's something about the late nights, house to myself until the husband get home, the temptation is too great...

Late night snacks, you will be the death of me!
Undoing all the hard work of eating right and exercising in hopes of someday regaining that pre-baby body....

(Not to mention the fact I'll now have to come up with something else to feed Amelia for breakfast.)

Pictures: Six Month and Two and a Half Year

After taking a few deep breaths and deleting a ton of terrible pictures from the disaster of a photo shoot, I found a few that may make it into a frame. When we bought my new camera I assured Andy it meant not spending absurd amounts of money taking the girls to get their pictures done. In my head I could picture my little angels sitting patiently, posed perfectly, as I figured out how to work the camera and the angles to get the good shots. The reality is that I can only take decent pictures outside because I'm clueless on lighting and my kids would rather play and eat grass than sit still to take pictures.

Still, when I look at these sweet little faces, I gush with pride. My little grass eating girls are growing and changing right before my eyes!

Take One: Disaster

What do you get when you put together a new crawler, a tired two year old, an impatient dad and a mom with a camera? A disaster of a photo shoot, of course!

I have been dying to use my fancy new camera to take pictures of my girls. I've been using it to capture the day-to-day but I wanted frame-worthy photos so I convinced the husband to help me get some. I dressed them up and we took them to a pretty campus near our house to use as the setting for our photo shoot. How does this story end? Well kind of like this:

Spiced Pear Butter

I used the lovely pears I received earlier this month to make some delicious pear butter. I had never had pear butter before but after trying this recipe I'm hooked. I think I may even like this better than my beloved apple butter!

I knew I Needed Help When...

As I went to appointments and talked to people during my pregnancy I was excited to talk about the new daughter that would be joining us. I bragged at how great of a baby the first one was and how she was going to be a great big sister. I was anxious for her to get here, to meet her and to see how complete our family would be once we could hold her and look into her little face. I remembered the amazement I felt looking at Amelia for the first time and the awe of knowing I created this person.

And then baby number two came along. She didn't like to sleep much-so annoying. And she ate constantly- can you please just give me a break for two seconds?! Thank god she was a pacifier baby because listening to her cry- nails on a chalk board. And you know what's really enough to set you over the edge? A two year old at your feet begging for attention while you're doing any of the aforementioned things. Sleep deprivation was doing me in. It was making me irritable and my patience was shot before the sun was even up.

I vented to a good friend of mine regularly and when the story didn't change she mentioned that she struggled with postpartum depression after her child was born and thought maybe I needed to talk to the midwifes. I listened to her tell me she wish she had talked to somebody about it and quickly wrote her off. Just because she had issues didn't mean that I did. I wasn't sad and crying all the time, I was tired and stressed out. I had two kids, clearly I just underestimated how hard it would be. But then every time something little would make me so irrationally angry I would think- Maybe there is something wrong with me. I never used to be an angry person. Maybe this second pregnancy made me crazy. I remember watching a show once where a lady was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after her pregnancy. Oh god, am I bipolar?! 

Ready to self-diagnose I googled bipolar disorder and postpartum depression. I read a bit and decided I wasn't bipolar and I wasn't sad so I determined I was just a mom. A mom who made a terrible decision having a second child because clearly it was too much work for me. I went on about my daily routine, dreading the days Andy would have to work and leave me alone with the girls, knowing that I would get absolutely nothing done because it was just too hard. 

One night, in an attempt to distract myself from my crying children (who were obviously never going to go to bed), I started browsing a couple blogs I liked. I clicked a link to a cute picture (since I really wanted to learn photography) and it took me to the funniest blog. I spent a good hour reading posts and cracking up laughing at the things this woman was writing. It was like she was in my head. The things that I would only talk freely about in front of a few close friends she was actually committing to writing. I clicked link after link laughing, even insisting Andy listen to a few posts because it sounded so much like things I would say. And then I clicked and started reading this post. I instantly went from laughter to tears as I realized that there was really something wrong with me and that it wasn't going to go away on its own. The sleeplessness wasn't just because of the baby waking up to eat, the constant anger wasn't just the 'new me' that came from being overwhelmed, the inability to get things done wasn't because of the amount of work of taking care of two children, and the anxiety and crazy thoughts of horrible things happening to my family weren't just new mom worries. I had postpartum depression.

Moving in the Right Direction

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a crawler!

Tonight, in the midst of chaos and in the middle of the worlds messiest floor, my baby started crawling! We knew this was coming for a little while now, Marinn is quite the over-achiever. (I think she is trying to catch up to big sister.) She rolled over at two months, sat on her own at 4 months, got her first tooth at 4 months, and earlier this month started signing for milk. She is never content to sit still and has been worming her way around the house for a while by scooting backwards, spinning circles, and rolling around. More recently she started rocking up onto her knees and sitting herself up. Andy and I have been joking that she would start crawling and we wouldn't know it because we've been stalking watching her, waiting for it to happen. (Over compensating for doing things different the second time around?) And then it did! Those chubby knees lifted off the floor and she actually moved forward!

The Perfect Pancakes

I have a love affair with pancakes. Stack 'em high, cover them in butter and syrup, and I'm powerless against them.

I grew up eating Bisquick pancakes and I loved how fluffy and flavorful they were, even without syrup. The down side was that once you opened the bag you had to use it quickly to get the same results. Also, it wasn't something I always had in the pantry (not to mention the fact it's a little pricey.)  

So after having a pancake-loving toddler join the club I set out to find the perfect recipe.

I browsed recipes and made many batches of mediocre pancakes. I joked with Amelia that it was like the story of The Three Little Bears and that we had to find the one that was "just right." And that is what we did! 

It's Nothing a Glass of Wine and a Hot Bath Won't Fix

Raising children is exhausting. I'm sure my parents (who were crazy enough to have four kids in four years) are answering aloud, "Yeah it is!" as they read this. It's not that I was oblivious to this going into this whole parenthood thing, I think I just painted a prettier picture of it in my head.

I particularly hate the husbands work schedule at the moment because it leaves me to fight the bedtime battle alone. No matter what the day is like for us, bedtime is never easy. Something about being tired brings out this wild, loud side to Amelia where as Marinn cries and wants to cuddle quietly. See the dilemma? So... at least it's not unfair because neither of them gets what they want? (Go with it- It makes me feel better to tell myself this.)

We all usually hold it together through the cleaning up of toys and the running of the bath water but, after that, all bets are off. There are never enough hands to wrangler a toddler, wash faces, stuff pacifiers into crying mouths, dress them, or carry them to bed. By the time they are both tucked into bed, showered with kisses, and sang to we are all exhausted.

On a good night we only go through the process once but most days we do it a few times. (Teething babies, potty training toddlers, any other excuse one can come up with to get out of bed...) Nights like tonight, where we stay gone all day and come home right before bedtime, are especially fun. Tears started the second we hit our porch and didn't stop until they both finally gave into exhaustion and fell asleep.

I hate when we end such a good day that way, it leaves me physically and emotionally drained. Thankfully there is something to ease pain of a rough night: a hot bath and a glass of wine!

Why Didn't You Tell Me?

My hair is falling out. Lots of it. It's on the floor, in the brush, the tub, everywhere. I'm not completely convinced there isn't a huge bald spot people aren't telling me about to spare my feelings. And it was getting so long...

Turns out it's just one things on a long list of top-secret postpartum issues women experience. I kind of get it- say too much and no one will ever reproduce, but really? What about being well informed? Shouldn't someone who loves cares about likes you share such things so you can weigh the pros and cons?

I'm quite convinced that the things I have experienced during and after my pregnancies would be a great deterrent for teenage pregnancies. Who needs Teen Mom, let me share some stories!

Hair loss would seem like nothing compared to some things I could share, but it's still sad none the less. Rumor has it my hair will be back to normal by time Marinn is one. Let the count down commence:

The Best Things in Life are Free

I am giddy with excitement over this gift I received from a friend today!
"What is it?" you ask.
Why 50 pounds of deliciously ripe pears, of course!

I'll be slaving away in the kitchen for the next few days trying to get all these beauties processed and I am so excited! I had no idea that I would like preparing and canning things as much as I do. It was almost three years ago that I tried my first attempt at apple butter. The year after it was blueberry apple butter so this year why not pear butter?? (And of course pear sauce for the little ladies!)

Winston's First Birthday

I'm delayed in posting this, but I still wanted to share with you some pictures from our fun-filled day celebrating my nephew Winston's first birthday. He was such a cute cowboy and his grandma made the most amazing stick horses for the kids to take home as favors. The heat held off and it was the perfect weather to spend the afternoon on 'the farm' (aka my dad's backyard.) I ate too many hot dogs and peanuts and washed it down with bottled rootbeer -so good! I couldn't resist making the girls cowgirl outfits and Amelia ended up with a dress (rather than the skirt I made for the occasion) because she insisted she needed a dress. Marinn got a shirt to go with her jean shorts. All the kids looked so cute it their boots! (Courtesy of Grandma Chris who didn't get to come up for the occasion.) Happy birthday Winston!

My Thrift Store Finds

Aside from the trip the husband and I made in preparation for the White Trash Birthday Bash, it had been at least a year since I stepped foot in a thrift store. I used to go fairly frequently and when I was stick-thin, fresh out of high school I had the most amazing luck at one particular place with finding brand new clothes with tags still on them. I don't look for clothes anymore but I do keep my eye out for the cool finds.

When we went in search of our party attire I found a glass jar that I thought I wanted to get for our pickles. It was amazing. It was big and pretty and... had the wrong lid and was over priced. I passed it up, but have been dreaming of it ever since. Especially since it's almost time to make some pickles! So today I loaded the girls up and headed out in search of the perfect jars.

Not only did I find the most amazing jars, but I also found some cool bottles to make dressing in and a set of eight sundae dishes. (Something I had been wanting for a certain girls third birthday.) I was especially pleased with my finds when I looked up the jars in search of lids and found that they're selling for around $10 each and I paid $4 for all of them! I do have the task of finding some lids before I can fill them up with tasty pickles but I have a few ideas in mind!

Welcome to Summer

Summer has made it's appearance in Kansas and it's not tip-toeing around either. Last week was full of days of the temperature reaching 100+ and this week isn't looking any cooler. The majority of our time has been spent inside, hiding out from the brutal heat and watching entirely too much TV.

Although this worked out last week the reality is, we can't hide forever.  So I broke out the kiddie pool, froze up some watermelon popsicles, slathered on the sunscreen and we ventured out to burn off some of that pent-up two year old energy. We even pushed talked Daddy into getting in the pool when he got home! 

Are those not the cutest rolls you have ever seen??

It was actually so hot outside that the water in the pool was warm a half hour after we filled it. We dumped a 20 pound bag of ice in to cool it off. It lasted maybe 2 minutes before it was completely melted. Good grief! 

The Joys of Parenting: The Bathroom is No Longer Your Own

I often tell my husband how much I envy his ability to use the bathroom without guests. I, on the other hand, do not have such a luxury. I don't know when it happened exactly, but these days it seems like every time I turn on the light it draws Amelia in like a moth to a flame. Since we are in the process of potty training I don't demand she leave, but rather encourage her to sit on her potty. Even so, she usually she just stands there cheering and clapping. It's uncomfortable having a cheer section. Maybe that's why she's doing it?

It hit an all time low today when I had to sit Marinn at my feet to keep her from her usual 'you put me down, how dare you!' hysteria. I had a baby at my feet and a two year old standing in the doorway (propping the door open of course) and she was holding something in her hand. What is that? Wait, is that my phone? Are you talking to someone on my phone??!? Her little voice rang out and I knew.... "Mommy's going potty. Good job Mommy! Good job!"

And so.... I find myself daydreaming of a lovely master bathroom with a soaking tub, a huge vanity and a giant lock on the door accompanied by a 'do not disturb' sign. 

Even after the kids are in bed at night I have company. Nothing like looking over to see four sets of eyes watching you.