Where the Wild Birds Sing

Swinging in the grapevine swing,
Laughing where the wild birds sing -
Oh, to be a boy
With a heart full of joy,
Swinging in the grapevine swing! 

The Grapevine Swing by Samuel Minturn Peck

A Beautiful Face on a Fall Day

Here are some snap shots I took of a friend of ours. Enjoy!

The Long Awaited Playroom Pictures

Finally, here are the pictures of the playroom.

The bookshelf: Isabel said "Mom, all the books are out of the boxes!" We had a rubbermaid tote, and a few baskets around the house filled with books, which are all in this bookshelf.

The new art table: This has been so many things in our house since we got married, but this is by far, my favorite. The kids have been playing "Animal Doctor." They usually have animals spread out with the doctor's kit for operations and such.

The kitchen area: Before the lovely little bookshelf, there was a big cupboard that got shoved full of plastic food and 'tea party' dishes from Isabel's birthday number 2. I'm so glad that the kids can see what their looking for. Truman's been a culinary genius, making all kinds of treats, namely imaginary cookies. They are delicious.

The kitchen:
Here is our real kitchen! Exit mismatched chairs, enter these awesome new-to-us chairs! I love how our little house is set up now. Nesting always feels good to me.

Have a beautiful day!

Weekend Update

We had an amazing weekend, one where everything got done and we were not over-booked. I’m not sure how this happened but I want to replicate it.

On Saturday, we went to the farmer’s market with tons of breads, goodies and jam. Next week will be the last for the season. I’m a little sad to have this season ending-- but having Saturday morning time, is such a treasure.

A sneak peek of the kids bedroom: 

We napped then I proceeded to tackle the kid’s playroom. It too hours and my ‘helpers’ were um, quite helpful. These photos need a whole post, look for it tonight!!!

After this project was completed (at 8 p.m.) and after all the kids were showered and jammied up. We decided to leave the house for an unexpected adventure— we ended up in Sioux City for a little treat. And on the way home, Eric and I got a few quiet minutes to sip our cherry-limeades, with two content babes asleep in the backseat.

On Sunday after church, we went to lunch at our friend’s farm. We made homemade calzones, so delicious.

We had a loaf of apple cinnamon bread-- not gooey quickbread, but a yeast dough made made with apple cider as it’s base liquid instead of water. Yum! Eric made it into the most wonderful bread pudding, from Paula Deen’s recipe. Friends, I was a tad skeptical, but o my. I could have polished off the whole thing with a pot of coffee.

We picked the near-end of our garden. We still have peppers, pumpkins and tomatillos that are holding on for another week or two.

During nap time on Sunday, I got the rest of my housework done, and the laundry all folded and put away. I was a cleaning machine. It feels so good to have the whole house in working order!

How was your weekend?

Odds and Ends

Some good news, day two went much better! Their little room is so cozy. It seems like they’ve always been like this.

I really like that our bedtime routine became more cohesive just by proximity. No longer are we stretched between two rooms, with books and songs, hugs and kisses then our prayers. Each kid gets to choose a song, two each. I used to sing a string of songs, about eight, all the same songs, every night. I like the variety and the number four much better.

We all end our night together, which makes a great full circle moment for the day. And brings everything back together. We talk a little bit about what tomorrow brings and what we have to look forward to. 

We sing the old hymn At the Cross, which my grandma sings in Spanish and English (and now I do too).  To hear Isabel’s little voice singing, ‘where I first saw the light... And the burden of my heart rolled away.” It’s makes me think I’m doing something right.

:::::::::

Ahhh... On to what’s ahead for the weekend: 

I will be at the farmer’s market, come visit! Eric made five kinds of delicious jam and preserves— a loaf of bread and a jar of jam could make your weekend! Done!

Wendy and I are furiously crafting for a craft fair in October, more info coming soon! I'm going to be a knitting/sewing fool for three plus weeks!

Wendy and I are also participating in the Vintage Swap 2009 hosted by Heather. I am so excited about this! I can’t wait to figure out who my swap partner is. 

Yesterday marked the end of the 30 days of happiness, thank you bluebirdbaby for hosting it. You can find all my posts here (:

Jayne and I are going to bake apple pies and pumpkin pies until we’re stuffed to the gills this weekend. I should start making coffee (decaf) now.

And I want to get my house back into shape. I think I have a lot of tasks ahead! Done!

Anything exciting happening for you this weekend?

30 Days of Happiness: Not being lonely

(Day 30) If you ask Isabel she’ll tell you what’s been going on in our house lately. “MY room is becoming the PLAYROOM!” and “Trube and I are going to sleep in the same room so we don’t have to be lonely anymore!”

That’s right, last night we moved both kids into the same room. We decided that the kids should have to share a room. We want them to learn how to respect space, and the other person. If you are quiet everyone gets sleep, if you’re disruptive, someone wakes up. We just want to raise considerate human beings, even at this age. And so we embark on a change, I’m sure.

Both kids have slept with us on and off since birth, Isabel much more than Truman. So having her a little farther away is an adjustment for all of us.

Last night, the first night of the whole experiment, she had an accident (for the first time in weeks...) and then when Truman woke up, because of her crying. He thought it was morning time (at almost one a.m.). It took about two and a half hours to convince him that it was not time for the lights to be on and to play with toys.

So we’re all learning. But Truman’s smaller sized room fits two cribs (one’s converted to a toddler bed for Izzo), a little table, a rocking chair and the changing table. It’s quite sweet. We got done with it so close to beditme last night I didn’t have a chance to snap photos. And the playroom now fits our desk with filing and computer, and the long awaited art table!

Actually the whole house is undergoing a shuffling of sorts. When I’m all finished, I’ll shoot some video or take a bunch of photos so you can see!

Hope your day is wonderful, and that you feel more awake than I do right now! (:

*I've never really posted without a photo, so this one is from our trip to Chicago...

30 Days of Happiness: Fall Party

 Tonight was our fall party, the kids were excited when I got home (from an outing with some co workers! So fun!). And they were very ready to start our little celebration.

With Dad they had already painted pictures, walked to play at the park and picked apples in the back yard.

We made a garland of pumpkins, acorns, leaves cut out of cardstock and natural paper. Then the kids colored them while they ate dad's homemade chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream and watched a Barney about autumn (yikes, I'm not a Barney fan, but it was Truman's turn to choose a show on Youtube)-- not much coloring got done.

On Monday night, the kids painted pumpkins with a dear friend, so tonight we made them sweet little tags. I love the idea of decorating pumpkins, with little ones painting is so much easier than carving!  We did this last year too and Isabel remembered!

Etsy Update

We've swept out the cobwebs and given the shop a seasonal refresh, Wendy's made some new and adorable tote bags just in time for Halloween!

So stop on by and check it out!

(If your reading this on Reader, you might want to hop over today, we have a new blog banner!)

30 Days of Happiness: Autumn Begins

Autum Begins is what it says on my calendar, and I would concur. For the first year that I can remember, it seems like autum is actually here.

It's chilly and the leaves are falling, I can't wait to take our dog out on a walk. It makes me so excited for the change of season.

Tonight we're having a fall party, just our little family. We're going to make a fall banner, do some coloring and go on a nature walk. We'll draw in our jounals what we see (or we'll see if that happens!).

I'll give you the update tomorrow!

30 Days of Happiness: Leaves Turning

          (day 27)

I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house.

So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

30 Days of Happiness: Pumpkin Spice Lattes

(Day 26) It is starting to look like fall, the leaves are changing, the soybeans are yellowing, the grass is browning and the kids wore their sneakers to the park. I'm sure I've said this before, but this season leaves me nesting, cleaning, cooking, canning, knitting...

And drinking dreamy warm drinks.

I do like me a good Starbucks once in a while, but after a conversation about coffee shops this evening, I was craving a pumpkin spice latte. Starbucks is 45 minutes away, and I don't have a tank of gas and three bucks to blow. I thought I'd make one.

Lattes are in four parts--you know, syrup, espresso, steamed milk, and foam.

I had three of the four, I needed some syrup. I used my basic vanilla syrup recipe, then I made used a quick infusion method for the pumpkin spice syrup.

     Vanilla Syrup
     3/4 cup Sugar
     3/4 cup Water
     1 tbsp vanilla
     Bring to a boil until sugar dissolves. Add 1 tbsp vanilla.

    Pumpkin Spice Syrup
    1 Batch Vanilla Syrup
    2 tsp ground cinnamon
    1/2 tsp of ground or some whole cloves
    1/2 tsp ground ginger
    1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
    1/2 of pumpkin pie spice (redundant maybe, but I think it adds something)
    Dash of allspice
    Boil together for 5 minutes. Line a funnel or strainer with a coffee filter.  Store out of direct sunlight in a glass jar, or in the fridge.

Use about 2 tbls of syrup (more or less to personal taste). And this is good in just coffee with a little milk too. You can use it as your sweetener. If you want it more Starbucks-y tasting, I'd use more, top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. 

I'm thinking this would be a good substitute in for sugar in our Microwave Hot Chocolate Recipe. Though I haven't tried it yet.

I'm going to take my latte and go get some knitting accomplished. After all-- my dears, this is fall.

*I've edited the recipe for stronger tasting syrup. 

30 Days of Happiness:: Chicago Cupcake Caper

(Day 23) I read this post about a cupcake crawl and I wanted to try some of these great bakeries— We had five bakeries picked out, but we were so full after two... We’ll have to save the others for our next trip!

So with map in hand, we headed off to Southport Grocery and Cafe for their chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with sugary butter cream. We added a latte to the ticket and found a little table and chairs out front of Anthropologie, for our little date.

The cake was really good, but the butter cream was light but seemed too sugary for my liking-- but it was delicious. I just may try their peach hand pies next time!

we made a quick stop at Wrigley field, Eric was so excited!

Sweet Mandy B’s wasn't much farther from there. The bakery was in a great neighborhood for walking— historic buildings and cute shops all around. It took a little walking from the train stop, but not much.

We got a dozen mini cupcakes, banana chocolate chip, vanilla and carrot cake. For Papa’s birthday, we brought home two vanilla cupcakes with butter cream.

These cupcakes were good, o my. We saved them until after dinner, we couldn't fathom having cupcakes for brunch and snack.

We finished off the evening at Gino's East with our friends I had never had Chicago pizza before, this was such a treat.

30 Days of Happiness:: Wicker Park

 

(Day 22) This is my favorite day in Chicago, we got up earlier and headed out to Wicker Park. Thanks to Chelsea from lady I swear by all flowers for the suggestion!

Right after getting off the train, we stumbled into a beautiful farmer's market.

For a smaller market, there were so many beautiful people with fresh fruit, cheese, homemade and canned salsas and pickles.



Look at these raspberries and eggplants. They were begging me to make dinner (and dessert!).



Beautiful flowers.



Our final stop before getting back on to the train was at Myopic books, it was packed with lovely, lovely books and tons of happy shoppers. I could spend years there just exploring.



*I had to skip a lot of days for this 30 days. I hope you understand. I am feeling much better and I'm working on balancing life, work, childrens, puppy, husband and all the things that were left undone while I was away (hospital and mentally). For now the house needs a good scrubbing, the laundry needs some doing, my kids (and husband) need some loving, the dog needs playing and walking. Everyone, even me, needs Mommy Back.

Here's the story...

This is how I've been spending my last few days, tea in hand on the couch or sleeping. Wednesday night, I got unexpectedly ill with a stomach virus and landed my self with a two day stay in our lovely community's hospital.

So I've been spending the weekend and today, napping and drinking tea. I finally had the energy last night to pick up my knitting. It's been one of those weeks.

Tomorrow, I try again to get to work, hoping to be able to stay all day.

While I was a M.I.A. Mommy, Eric did a suburb job of taking care of the kids and Lucy. He made it every morning on time to Wendy's house, took the kids shopping and dog-walking, did all the dishes, laundry, dinnertime and even got everyone bathed and out of the house for church on Sunday morning. I do not deserve this man-- but I'm so grateful for him. He is wonderful (and also very tired).

I will probably be back later this week with a few marathon posts to show you our Chicago trip. Including Wicker Park and our Cupcake Caper.

Stay tuned.

(Chicago Style) 30 Days of Happiness:: Frontera Grill

(Day 10) Hello Friends,

I’ve been back in Orange City since Monday Night, I spent yesterday catching up and gaining my bearings. And now I have a few post of wonderful food and sights to share with you!
*I took my point and shoot camera with me... these aren't the best photos but you get the idea....

We arrived late on Friday to Chicago, we stayed closer to the airport, which allowed us to see a lot more of the city as we rode into the town on public transit.

After sleeping in Saturday, we found our way to Frontera Grill, owned by Chef (and James Beard foundation award winner) Rick Bayless. We decided against the two hour wait for brunch and sat up at the bar. If you want to see the soul of the restaurant, sit up at the bar— you can really get a feel for the pace and organization of a place based on their waitstaff. We were so glad we did!

Here’s what we ate:

Sopes Rancheros:  crispy corn masa boats with savory shredded beef, roasted tomatoes, avocado and homemade fresh cheese.




Enchiladas de Mole Poblano:  homemade tortillas rolled around Gunthorp free-range chicken, doused with Mexicos most famous mole; black beans.



Huevos Estilo El Bajo: two poached eggs in crispy masa boats with black beans, creamy chile poblano sauce, Mexican greens and homemade chorizo.



Mexican Mojito:  fresh-squeezed lime juice, muddled fresh mint, organic cane syrup, your choice of tequila or rum and a splash of soda.



Raspberry Chocolate Tartlet with Raspberry Ice Cream

Needless to say, we didn’t need another meal for the rest of the day. I was full up to the gills, but o my, what a feast! What a fiesta!


:::::::: Special Thanks to Alicia for taking good care of you all (and for all of you taking good care of her) while I was gone!

Posts will be about chicago for most of this week. So be prepared!

30 Days of Happiness:: Purpose

If you believe in what you are doing. Then let nothing stand in your way. The best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. 

   -- Dale Carnegie

(Day 9) Last week Mary posted a tidbit about purpose and questioning. What are we here for? What is God’s larger purpose for us? Weren’t we put on this earth to do more?

I know these questions have plagued my mind lately. Is this a generational craze or a sign of the changing times? Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer. I can only speak to what has been happening for me lately.

I get the pleasure of working next to Mary daily and while we convene daily in each other’s cubicles to chat about life, we often find ourselves coming back to the questions above. We both feel this boiling urge inside to do more and be more for our families, friends and our earth. I feel as if God as answered my prayer with inconspicuous little blessings, signs and quotes and has begun pointing me in the right direction.

All of these blessings have made me take a step back in my life recently and have truly helped me discover my passion. I believe that it is without a doubt… junking! Huh? You ask?

But it is for so many more reasons than the fact that it’s a fun, creative outlet. Junking gives my partner Jamie Rae and I the ability to do well for our earth (keeping junk out of our landfills), for our families (teaching her adorable two girls the joy and freedom of crafting as well as following our passion), for others (reasonably priced super-cute home décor!) and most of all for our own strength and confidence. Armed with this newfound confidence and strength, I find myself able to help others through trying times in their lives. Could it be possible? Is it my purpose to speak and connect to others through…junk?! I’m still working on that answer.

A thought to take with you:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." 

-- Mark Twain

Make waves friends. Make waves!

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in a world they’ve been given than explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact – it’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration – it’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing. 

-- adidas commercial

Have you discovered your passion? If you were blessed tomorrow and your dreams became a reality, what would you do?

::::::::

A big thanks to Mary for letting me be her guest blogger while she’s on her fantastic anniversary trip to Chicago! 

I appreciate you.

DinnerTime, Again? Bounty of Zucchini

Hello friends! I’m Alicia from Rae Rae Sisters. I currently reside in Sheldon, a small town in Northwest Iowa and have the pleasure of working with Mary on a daily basis. When I am not at work, I can often be found at local auctions, garage sales and second hand stores looking for my next project.

Staying busy is no problem for me and my husband, (and we don’t even have children yet!) so easy and quick meals with few ingredients tend to be our pace.

It just so happened that we found ourselves with an abundance of zucchini this year. We haven’t started our own garden yet, but the generosity of our friends supplied us many fresh fruits and vegetables, especially zucchini. After multiple loaves of zucchini bread, zucchini cake and zucchini muffins…we were burnt out on the idea of more bread.

Enter Melinda…an old friend who came to the rescue with this super-delicious, super easy zucchini casserole recipe!
(You can even make up a couple casseroles and freeze them for use on one of those busy nights.)

Chicken Zucchini Casserole

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup shredded carrots
5 tbsp melted butter, divided
8oz carton sour cream (Can substitute 8oz plain yogurt)
1 can cream of chicken soup (Can substitute low sodium cream of chicken soup)
1.5 chicken breasts, cooked and cut up
2 medium (or one large) zucchini, cubed
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup seasoned whole croutons
1-1/2 cup seasoned crushed croutons

Saute onion and carrots in 2 tbsp melted butter.
Boil cubed zucchini in salted water until slightly tender.

In a large bowl, mix together sour cream, cream of chicken soup, chicken breast.
Add sautéed mixture and drained zucchini and stir well.
Add 1/2 cup seasoned whole croutons and stir all together.

Spread in greased (with butter) 9x9 inch casserole dish.

Top with:
1-1/2 cup crushed croutons (spread over top of casserole and drizzle 3 tbsp melted butter over croutons).

Bake at 350 for approximately 40 minutes

Enjoy!

Image from sxc.hu

Guest Blogger: Meet Alicia

Alicia Rae is a dear friend, and one of my cube-neighbors at work. In the daytime she’s a Marketing Manager for a Fortune500 company, but in her spare time, she’s a avid junker, crafter, auction go-er, blog gawker and all around etsy guru. Her recently opened etsy store, the Rae Rae Sisters (with her business partner, Jamie Rae) is already creating a blogger buzz. She’s shares little home in Iowa with her cutey-pie husband, Travis and their puppy, Jada.