Activities

This blog entry is dated back, as, well, I got too far behind! So those of you who get my posts emailed, please don't worry about the date!

Here's just a couple of pics of around the time Dad and Mom Hendrickson were here for a weekend. The first is of cutie Leanna--of course! The second is of the hay baling crew. We needed hay for our cow and calf, and got the opportunity to use a baler to do some small squares ourselves. The crew had a lot of fun! And we did have a good time with Dad and Mom here. Some of the group went canoeing one morning, we spent a day with our booth at Organic Valley's Kickapoo Country Fair advertising for the business, and had lots of time just visiting!

LOTS of accomplishments for my little tribe!

Well, for starters, yesterday Jaron came home from the shop ALL excited to be riding his big boy bike--without training wheels!!! He's been practicing madly in hope of winning the priviledge soon, and Jere finally decided he was ready. He can't yet get started on his own, but he can ride quite well for a beginner I think!

Also yesterday, Eliott kept his underwear dry all morning--a very happy first! His diaper was also dry after his nap, and he kept dry till late afternoon when I was out picking the fresh corn for supper. Not sure if he was out looking for me for some help or if he just forgot. . . The definiate improvement has continued to today. Though he did wet once, he put all his logs in the potty, which is something he really hasn't done before either! So that's exciting.

And sweet cupcake Leanna poked her first tooth in yesterday as well! You can just barely feel it poking through, but it's most surely there.

Wow, our little folks are growing up!

Culinary exploits

Have you ever heard of grilled flatbread? I saw a recipe for it in a magazine we just got, and HAD to try it! It didn't quite turn out like the pictures--of course--but wow, the flavor was outstanding! It was SOOO good! Even today, now that it's cold, it's still good. But next time I think I won't cook them all at once--I'll stick the extra dough in the fridge for the next day. 8 12" breads was WAY too much--I think we ate all of 2! But then, I had one for breakfast, and we'll eat them as sandwiches for lunch. Anyway, last night I did almost everything we ate on the grill. Ham steak (locally grown and smoked), fresh corn on the cob right out of the garden, flatbread, and fresh blueberry pie. YUM! I think we all overate to one degree or another!

Basic Grilled Flatbread

1 t yeast

1 T honey

2 c warm water

1 T baking powder

2 t salt

1/2 c plain yogurt (I used home-made sour cream that didn't turn out real well!)

5 c unbleached flour

Oil

Stir yeast and honey into warm water and let sit for 5 minutes till it starts to foam. Pour water into the bowl of a heavy mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add BP, salt, and yogurt. Turn on the machine to med. (I would imagine you could do it by hand too, but the dough is SUPER sticky and my Kitchen Aid really did a good job.) Gradulally add the flour. Knead with a dough hook 5 min., until the dough is smooth and elastic. Grease or flour a section of the counter and turn the blob of dough out onto it. Grease the bowl and return the dough to it, turning to coat with oil. (I found it easier to pour a little more oil on top once it was in the bowl and spread it around with my fingers as the dough is so soft and sticky.) Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place till double in size, about 2 hours. When ready to grill, preheat a gas grill on medium for 10 min with the lid down, or prepare a medium-hot charcoal fire (red coals covered with gray ash). (We have a gas grill, but I think they would have turned out nicer over charcoal or wood--as most things do!) While the grill is heating, divide the dough into 8 pieces. (Ideally, set up a work space or table right by the grill--almost a necessity, and something I'll actually make an effort to do next time as they tended to burn while I was inside rolling out the next one!) On a (well) floured surface, pat a piece of dough into a circle, then use a roling pin to roll it into an even round 10-12" in diameter. (It seemed like the ones I rolled out a little on the smaller side and thus thicker turned out better--make sure it's an even thickness!) Spritz or brush one side lightly with oil and put it on the grill, oiled side down, over low direct heat until lightly browned and puffy, but not burned, 1-2 min. Flip the flatbread and cook it 30 sec-1 min ore, until brown spots appear. Remove to a platter and repeat with remainder. (I covered the finished ones with a cloth to keep them warmer.) These are EVER so yummy with just a little butter spread on them! Or I actually liked them quite well without anything else too.

Old out, new in

In the interest of school supplies, we decided we needed some place to put them. . . And with a bigger table entering the picture in the kitchen, we felt it was time to give the chest freezer the boot. So, here is a picture of the beginning of the process. . . emptying the thing.

And moving it out the door. Thanks for the help, Micah!

Moving the new cabinet in. Thanks for the help, Eliott!

Trying out the new drawers--the drawer space in the kitchen MORE than doubled with this addition! Hooray!

And the final product--the new cabinet and countertop. There's enough room along the right side to slide the bigger school things--a tri-fold display board and whiteboard, in a couple of the drawers are school supplies, and the books and prize box are behind the doors--with leftover space for some kitchen things! Oh, and lest you wonder what we did with the freezer, we put it on our covered back deck. Not quite as convenient, but we're glad for the extra space inside!

Random photos

A welcome T-storm heading our way!

Jaron giving Leanna rides on the swing we have hanging from the clothesline pole. She totally loves it!

Eliott "helping" water some trees. Well, more like, "I'm gonna get us wet, Daddy!"

My BIG helpers!

Well, I think it's about time I brag on my big helpers! With our first "real" school year coming up (Jaron will be doing K5 work, and will hopefully be reading simple words by the end of the school year!) and our boys getting bigger we felt like it was time to include Jaron, at least, into some "bigger" chores. He gets paid with "prize money", which he can use to "buy" fun objects from the prize box, though I hardly think he needs that incentive. He just loves the chance to do "big people" work! They both make their beds, and feed the dogs and cats daily. Jaron washes the breakfast dishes, and Eliott rinses the supper dishes. Once a week Jaron cleans his bedroom, and another day in the week he cleans the bathroom. Of course it's pretty basic stuff, with mild cleaners, and so far I've been supervising pretty closely. It takes more time, of course, than doing it myself, but I feel it's well worth the time spent! In a year or two he'll be doing it on his own more or less and should be saving me time. We're all very excited about the new chores and the prizes, as well as the start of school next week. I hope to post some more pictures soon, maybe even today, but we'll see what time allows!

Vacuuming the bedroom floor.

Cleaning the bathroom sink (with some extra help!)

Re-arranging

Well, we'e been doing some re-arranging in our house. It's been a BIG job! The first priority was to move Leanna into a room of her own. She was getting to be a light enough sleeper that we couldn't walk through our bedroom while she was sleeping lest she wake up. Which was not a good thing when she went to bed before we did at night, or I needed to run in after a hanger or something while she napped. So we cleared out the storage room of all except the big shelves where my canned goods are stored and the changing table/dresser, painted the ceiling, put up a new light fixture, and moved her in! She was NOT at all happy about the change for the first couple of times I laid her down, but she's already accepted it and is going down nicely as usual.

Leanna's new room

The still-storage part of Leanna's new room!

We inherited a couple new dressers while in MN helping my folks with their rummage sale. We plan to sell our bedroom set in order to have room for these other dressers, as a few pieces in the set are not meeting our needs for maximum storage capacity per square foot of floor space taken up. So in the midst of moving Leanna out of our room, we also moved our big chest of drawers out and brought a family heirloom in to replace it. Plus the book shelves and desk from the storage room was transferred to our room to make room for the crib. It was a job getting it all arranged, but in the midst of it all our bedroom got a thorough cleaning which it badly needed! So, now it's time to get all the odds and ends into new spots, or just dispose of it, which is getting to be a bit of a challenge. Plus there are some thing that never went back to their places in the kitchen and living room after the remodel project (which isn't quite done yet either!) and that must be worked at too.

Any day now we'll be harvesting buckets of green beans and cucumbers, in addition to the zucchini and red beets and cherry tomatoes we're already eating. We can dig potatoes, carrots, and garlic any time. The corn has tasseled and the muskmelon is started to show some netting on 6-7 inch fruits, with the watermelon close behind in size. Bell peppers aren't quite ready yet, but the jalapenos are, and the tomatoes are starting to get an orange hue to them. Of course the peas are done--and plowed under. Lettuce is also finished for the heat of the summer, but I soon want to plant some more for a fall crop. Summers meals are always SO yummy and healthy! Oh yes, we got a box of peaches too. We're eating a lot of them fresh, plus I froze some and made pie with some. Thankfully I didn't need to can any this year as peach prices are high. But I can hardly wait for the blueberries to come in!!! That's my favorite time of all. A whole 10 lb box of blueberries, and we can eat as many as we want fresh before they need to go into the freezer to await blueberry pancakes and blueberry cheesecake and all sorts of other goodies.

We decided to start feeding Leanna a few solids, ever so little and ever so slowly, but Jere started it the other day feeding her his fresh piece of peach and she absolutely devoured it. So I tried siting her in her chair and feeding her little pieces of peach to help keep her occupied the other day. It kept her occupied alright, but I don't think she actually got any inside that time!

So that's the story of our lives for the moment. Seems everywhere we look there's more things coming up we need to do or be at or help with, so there's no fear at all we'll be bored. :-) But God is good, and I wouldn't trade life with my little family for anything!!!!

New additions!

The two new kitties, Skeeter and Scooter, that we picked up at Mom and Dad Hendricksons.

And the new calf, born this morning! A little bull.

This really isn't a new addition, but here is the wall hanging Jere made from his lovely local red cedar, and woodburned our names and wedding date into it. Since somehow we never had anything with our names and the date before!

Obviously, we have a working camera again. In an attempt to resurrect the old one, we bought a non-working one off ebay for parts. In the process of swapping parts, Jere decided to stick a battery in the new one, and it came on! All we can think of is that there was just a loose connection inside that he must have jiggled just right taking the cover off. I'm SO glad to be able to shoot pictures again!!!!

The second phase of our camping trip--Michigan's U. P.

After leaving the island and canoeing through the rain to get back to the landing, we had a decision to make. Do we keep going, as we weren't far from the U. P. where Jere had told me he wanted to take me back when we were newly married or do we get scared off with the rain predicted and go home? We decided to push on, and are SO glad we did! It did rain a little at the campsite in the evening and through the night, but then it was so bright and sunny and beautiful till we left Monday morning. It was a little bit of culture shock, though, to leave a remote campsite in the wilderness and show up at a snazzy state park where everyone had these big fancy campers and stared when they saw us actually cooking over the fire! :-) But we just enjoyed ourselves and let them think whatever thay wanted to.

We were right on the shore of Lake Superior!

Our campsite after the rain tarp was taken down.

WHAT in the WORLD?!!!

(PS It's mounted, not alive.)

Sunday evening after a hike we went down to the water's edge to watch the sunset. It was lovely!

And this is one of the last pictures from our camera. . . After shooting the sunset I went to open a pack of those glow in the dark sticks for the boys to carry on our way back to camp. One of them had broken open in the package and whatever liquid they use in them spilled out right onto my skirt and camera sitting in my lap before I even realized anything was up. The camera was left in the truck then, and I didn't notice till today when I went to take a picture of three big turkeys standing on our driveway looking at our cat that that despite carefully wiping all the liquid I could from the camera when the accident happened, it evidently got inside somehow and quite effectively glued the lens shut. So I'm in a bit of panic now, without any camera at all! And anyone who knows what a shutterbug I am knows that would be a VERY sad situation. So now, what to do about that? This camera was supposed to last at least 5 more years!

Family camping--Turtle Flambeau Flowage

On June 23 we went on a camping trip organized by Jere's sister Lisa and her husband Jon. Jere's 3 single sisters and Jon's youngest brother were also along.  Here are some of the pictures of our adventure!

Getting the canoes packed for the ride--we camped on an island about 1 1/2 hours from the landing.

The children as I found them when I woke up the first morning!

We had a wonderful time!