Bryce Eating Update--(all he needed was a vacation!)

We took a week's vacation last week to Brad's parent's cottage and packed a week's worth of food for everyone, including Bryce. I only packed 3 days worth of clothes, however, as the cottage has a full size washer and dryer.

Why not shop while on vacation? The biggest reason is Bryce. We've slowly been converting our eating & my cooking, and thus the foods we buy, to include him. This means we have to have what we have to have. My goal for dinner each night at home and on vacation is that Bryce can eat everything that is served. We can add stuff to our meals (like sour cream on nachos) but the main dishes have to be safe for him.

This meant that I cooked up a storm before we left. It was a bit nuts but worth it in the long run. We did stop at the local Amish produce stand for some local-grown veggies and hit the farmer's market a few days later. And we ordered pizza one night from a local-owned pizza place. (and we learned that we can no longer do that--eat a meal that Bryce can't have a single part of. It was unfair to him and he truly noticed we were eating different things. I guess the past few months of making Bryce-safe meals is something he's used to!)

How did Bryce do? He did GREAT. He ate--actually ate--diced pears, a whole banana (peeled, holding onto it like his brothers do), peas and corn on the cob. He ate mashed sweet potatoes like they were going out of style. He tried cantaloupe. Basically, it was a good eating week.

We've been trying to cut back on his bottles by only giving them to him when he asks for one (ok, demands one). That meant that last week he typically had 1 or 2 bottles per day instead of 3. I think he was more hungry as we spent most of our time outside, on the boat or in the lake. I also believe that eating all of our meals together every day meant that he ate more.

So the current list of "Foods Bryce Will Eat" includes: banana, apple, grapes, peas, pears, corn on the cob, chicken, pork, corn pasta, allergy-safe pretzels/cookies, strawberries, hot dogs, sausage, bacon, carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, applesauce, garbanzo beans, black beans, rice. I think that's everything.

Not too shabby!  All he needed was a vacation to get his eating going.

Rummage Sale.

Our church has an annual rummage sale which benefits the Youth Group. The cool thing is that the kids who work get a share of the overall sales based on how many hours they worked. One not-so -cool thing is that we've spent the last 5 days wading through other people's stuff. A LOT of stuff.

Another other not so cool thing about rummaging through people's stuff is that inevitably, you find stuff you need. Well, "want" might be a better word choice. You want it because you think you need it. We donated a van-load full of stuff we didn't want (or need) any more and brought home significantly less that we did want. (need?!)

Our quirkiest purchase? A plastic Viking helmet. A big thank-you to the family that donated that gem; Hat Day at the boys' schools just got a bit more fun. Proof that you just never know what you might find that you didn't even know that you needed!

More Perennial Garden-side/backyard

One of the things causing my not so hot veggie garden to flounder is all the attention I've been paying to my perennial borders. I have more borders than I can shake a stick at (or weed) and since everyone driving down our street can see them, I feel like I need to keep them up. Or at least attempt at keeping them up.

I'll give you a partial tour of some of my beds on the south side of my house and in my back yard. 



Here's my perennial bed that just absolutely bakes during the summer-it has a southern exposure and I struggle with plants here. I've found that most things do ok with enough water. Hollyhocks do well, daisies need extra water. It's a work in progress. It really needs to become a raised bed, maybe this fall I'll rip it all out, build a raised bed and put new plants in. Hmmmm.

This is by my shed; I like the hollyhocks growing by the fencing. The daisies had a good year; this photo shows them in their decline. The black-eyed Susans are gearing up for blossom and I'm waiting on my cleome to bloom.

And just because pink is my favorite flower color, here's a nice single pink hollyhock.

Here's the black-eyed Susans waiting to open. Check out the sedum behind them--it is HUGE!  It's very happy where it is and grows to about 4' wide and 30+" tall.

A view out my doorwall. Ok, this is Bryce's view out the doorwall, but it's all my annuals and nursery perennials all lined up down one side of my deck. I divide my perennials in spring and tuck the smaller ones in my deck planters so they can grow and get regular watering and then I move them to permanent homes in the Fall. Our deck is low enough to not require a rail around it, but I like keeping the kids from the edge using plants. Next spring I'm going to paint all of my pots so they match. I'm thinking black. We'll see.

Pickles! Get Your Pickles!

We recently watched an old DVR'd episode of Good Eats and learned that the average American eats 9lbs of pickles annually.

This family is clearly NOT average.

I would guess we eat more like 12-15lbs/person annually. Well, Bryce licks 12-15 lbs, the rest of us eat them. Heck, it might even be more than that--I buy us a LOT of pickles.

And now, we're making our own!

Today, we're starting out with refrigerator pickles, with a recipe that claims that the pickles come out "just like Claussen". We'll see. We used the 5 cukes from our garden first & cut them as spears. The produce market cukes were cut into sandwich slices & spears. Next-we'll try our hand at REAL fermented dills.

Garden Visitors---

Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies. This is an adorable young bunny, taking a snooze in the sunshine with a full belly from eating all of MY plants. He's cute, but he grows up into:

THIS full grown rabbit. This guy seems to live next door. He's a voracious eater and he can go munch on someone else's garden. And honestly, they just aren't as adorable as the baby bunnies.

Here's a cardinal on our feeder. Love these guys!

And finally, a baby robin. He lives in a nest on the next-door-neighbors' eavestrough.

Perennial Garden

June 9

June 23

July 12

Time to think about re-arranging this bed. This was nicely spaced when planted but is now a tad crammed. I think this Fall I'll leave the asters where they are (upper left corner of photo) but thin out the hostas and the lavendar in between them. The pot with the variety of "stuff" will get an overhaul, too. I think I'll move it and let this be just bed ground-level perennials.

Garden Update-Early July

It's sad. Really sad. The garden just isn't cooperating this year. Here's what's been picked thus far:

Asparagus: 4lbs consumed, likely 3-4 more lbs left in the garden. (Brad is the sole harvester/eater of the asparagus. Next Spring, I'll take over harvesting & blanch and freeze him some.)
Peas: 1 meal worth (for family of 5). Epic fail-my fault-bad trellis.
Onions: 3 pulled as green onions/scallions. 50 are in flower currently.
Chives: I cut some here, I cut some there. I have plenty to use if I want more.
Cilantro: 1 small handful--BUNNIES. 'nuf said.
Strawberries: 8lbs total.
Cucumbers: 0 (I counted 8 on 1 plant thus far---lots of blooms)
Tomatoes: 0 (lots coming!)
Broccoli: 0 BUNNIES!
Dill: 0 (I just don't know where it went! I'm guessing rabbits)
Green Beans: 0 (lots and lots of flowers!)
Garlic: 0. This one is a bummer-Brad mistakenly thought my cleverly placed garlic was grass & pulled it. (I had planted it along the very edge of a bed, probably 25 cloves' worth.)

I'm a little frustrated with the vegetable garden. I have to battle a LOT of weeds and grass infiltrating the beds and paths. I'm thinking we'll have to rip everything out this Fall, leaving only the strawberries and asparagus and rework the paths and beds.

I hoping the cukes, beans, tomatoes and beans will make up for the other lost crops. There's still a chance that the 3 remaining broccoli plants will pull through and produce this fall. We'll see.

Random.

The boys' school has 3 rules.

1. Respect for self.
2.  Respect for the environment
3.  Respect for others.

Those rules, while broad, do cover pretty much every situation that occurs at a school. The kids get a "think about it" form they have to fill out where they write what they did, what they should've done instead, and how they'll do it differently next time. I got one of those in junior high, although then it was called "getting sent to the Planning Room" and you had to write a "Plan."  I was actually an aide in The Planning Room when I got sent to The Planning Room-I was sent from Band and I'm sure I was just flappin' my jaws nonstop. But I digress.

I try to use those 3 rules for the incidents that come up around here. It really works, especially because the boys really get along well with each other. Bryce is 2, so the only rules he has are that he can't wander the neighborhood and he has to wear a hat when it's sunny. Well, there's probably more, but those are my biggies currently.

The few rules we've instated around here, however, range from normal to just plain random.

1) No Wii/DS on school nights. We're just mean that way.
2) Wedgies and wet willies can only be done at home, and NEVER while at church. Self-explanatory.
3) NO SPONGEBOB (or any other shows like that). Fairly Odd Parents are okay.
4) No rhyming at dinner. Because it always turns into rhyming of bodily functions.
5) No math at dinner. Some part of my day needs to be math-free.
6) No recitation of Pi at ANY meal. I don't care how many digits you've memorized.
7) No use of the phrase "old school" until you've graduated college.
8) No shoes worn in the house. That's just plain practical.
9) Nobody touches Mom's flowers, garden or watering wand. Ever.
10) No jeans worn to Sunday AM church services. Hey, I had to wear skirts to Luther League. Quit whining .
11) The word "random" is verboten!


There. Those are rules just like at your house, right?

The Last Day!

It's here! The boys are now in 7th and 2nd grades. Here's a photo of the happy duo on the LAST DAY of school.

Plastic Lace and Pony Beads.

Brett had Cub Scout Day Camp last week. Well, Brett and I and Brad had Cub Scout Day Camp last week. Day Camp is close, inexpensive, fun and a nice way to knock off a LOT of requirements for each Cub rank.

There is a downside, however.

Crafts.

I'm not really a crafty person. Yes, I scrapbook. Yes, I garden. But honestly, my scrapbooking is more of a formula than an art. And gardening? Well, seriously, that's just genetic.

The crafts at Day Camp were (lucky for me) thought up and presented by someone else. They were very cute (like a little pull-back car made of a styrofoam bowl) and practical (like a nifty little bird feeder). But several involved plastic lace and pony beads. I just don't have the patience for that stuff. The plastic lace is impossible for 7 year old boys to tie properly and pony beads end up all over the ground. Boys cry. Den leaders who aren't crafty get frustrated.

But the boys (my boy especially) love Day Camp so that makes it worth it to me.