Tuesday 30 September 2014

Q-tip Painting



The other day Tanner & I did some Q-tip painting. He really enjoyed it. I did one with him so he could kind of copy me. I have a couple of other fall projects for him yet.

Ashley

Friday 26 September 2014

Keepsake Recipes

A couple of weeks ago I stopped at my Grandma's for a sporadic visit while Tanner was in Nursery School. We got talking about canning and whatnot and I asked her if she had a recipe for Beet Jelly. I have a row of beets and the only reason I planted them is to use the beet leaves for soup...LOL. I remembered my Mom making Beet Jelly when I was growing up so I it might be a good way to use up these beets. (Well my Hubby informs me that he loves pickled beets but no one makes them anymore....after six years of marriage, I still don't know everything about him!! ;)) Anyways, Grandma dug out her little recipe box full of typewritten recipes. While she was digging for the Beet Jelly recipe she found other recipes that she thought I might like...One or two of them actually come from her Mom, so my Great-Grandma. Here they are:







As she handed them to me I snapped pictures of them with my phone. Much easier than writing them out! So once she got through them all and I handed them back she says oh you weren't interested in any of them? I laughed and said, Oh Yes! I took pictures of the cards with my phone! She laughed, shaking her head, well isn't that handy. lol.

Anyways, I was gald she shared these with me. I'm sure she doesn't realize it's very special to me!

Have a great day! We did finally finish that field of canola but we are having a heck of a time plugging both combines....Not fun! I'm on supper duty this weekend.

Ashley

Wednesday 24 September 2014

A Trip to the Winnipeg Zoo



 They have done a fantastic job with the Journey to Churchill.

 Unfortunately there was nothing swimming in here but it looked pretty neat.



 This is the skeleton of a beluga whale.
 These things just crack me up!

 So cute!
 To scale sized skeleton of a bowhead whale.

 Hudson the polar bear.


 A bear trap. This was set up in the 'Town of Churchill'.

 The tigers put on a really good show. They have a much bigger enclosure since the last time we were there (2 yrs ago). They were fighting in their pond and it was really neat.

 There is a picture of my Dad with either my sister or myself on his shoulders at the Zoo from years ago...I should look for it.
 She loves her horsey rides. She clucks and spurs and the whole bit!

 The kangaroos were new there. They were in a big space with some emus. We were allowed to go right in a see them. Pretty neat.
Emus are the second largest bird in the world with the Ostrich being the largest. (at least twice the emus size)

This was a very spontaneous, spur of the moment trip, last Sunday. We had rain the day before and we knew there was no combining going to be done. So I said that instead of sitting at home and grumbling about the weather we should go do something. This is something I had really wanted to do this summer with the kids and I'm glad we got there. In fact, I would say Fall is the best time to go. This is the most animals we've seen out and about there and probably because it was typical cool Fall weather. The kids really enjoyed themselves. They did have the tunnel closed where you can see the bears swimming around in the water but they also had a 10% discount because of that. Compared to the Calgary Zoo, I do think they have a ways to go to make it comparable when they are almost charging the same amount to get in. But still worth our afternoon.

Have a wonderful day!

Ashley

Friday 19 September 2014

I'm telling you, put meatballs in the freezer!

We can finally say we have two field combined under our belt! One oat field and one barley field. We had hoped to move onto canola today but as I was typing this it was raining once again! This time my mother-in-law operated the new to us combine with my Hubby in the other one. Uncle Bob was trucking and my father-in-law 'trying' to swath oats. They are tough to deal with this year as they are flat as a board. We also had a neighbor down baling straw for us.

SO of my wheels start turning. What are we going to have for supper today?? I had put a perogy/farmer sausage casserole in the slow cooker at lunch time for us. (at that point I was not sure how the day was going to turn out) But it would not be enough for everyone and wouldn't suit my father-in-law as he has Celiac. The other day I put a couple pounds of meatballs in the freezer. Just in case! Well I just pulled them out, cooked some rice and s/s sauce, corn for a veg and sliced fresh tomatoes. If my mother-in-law or sister-in-law are reading this I'm sure they are laughing at me. I just can't stop talking about how happy I was with myself to have been a little more prepared and organized for once! lol. There I was with a full spread of food on the table and I'm pretty sure I did not spend a whole hour preparing it. I will be using my freezer more often. Why have I not done this before! ha ha. Ok, I'm done now.

I forgot to mention how pleased my hubby was with me because I spoke for a new bed for Tanner that I seen for sale online. Just 15 minutes away. So Ali and I left at about 5:30 last night to go get it. That's another reason I was so pleased with myself. I got the bed and had supper ready by the time everyone walked in the door around 7:30-8pm. Then because they love me sooooo much, him and his Dad carried it in and even set it up after we had supper. ;)

We have a sick little girl on our hands, she did not sleep well last night for being completely plugged up. I thought she was a little warm this morning too but it might have just been because she just got out of her warm bed. She has been picking fights all day long with everyone! So I'm glad it's Friday and the weekend is just around the corner.

Ashley


Wednesday 17 September 2014

Tired, but for a good reason!




Yesterday we were back at those oats again. It felt so good to get in the field and stay there till it was too tough to combine any longer. I have been itching to get out of the house and into the field for days now. Looking after extra kids day in and day out tends to make you feel house bound. So when everyone left yesterday I stole (mwahahahahahha) my Hubby's combine from him and took over. With my father-in-law in the second combine we were able to get something accomplished while the sun shone. Of course that demoted my Hubby to the trucking position. Let me tell you, trying to concentrate on driving a combine, trying to not get it plugged or wreck it in any other sort of way with a two and four year climbing the ceiling and walls in there is interesting to say the least! But I'm a mother, so multi-tasking is a piece of cake......right?;)

Once we were done, it was so nice to come home to a meal all ready for us. Big salute goes out to my slow cooker! ha ha. It has to be one the most wonderful inventions of all time.

So when my day was finally done (our kids were asking to go to bed and were out like lights) I was pooped. BUT I'm OK with being tired when we've been able to accomplish something. And that something is our crop laying out there, so that makes it a very important something.

Happy Harvesting!
Ashley

Saturday 13 September 2014

Nursery School & Back at Combining!!

 On Thursday Tanner had his first day of Nursery School! He did great and had a lot of fun. He said he wants to be a Skidsteer Driver when he grows up.
 With threat of frost the other night we went out to pick everything that would be vulnerable....let's just say I totally underestimated how many tomatoes were out there!!!! This is maybe a third... The kidlets were happy to help me!
 Ali's new obsession is wearing a toque 24/7. Except she gets them mixed up with mitts and calls it her mitt all the time. lol. At least it easier than trying to fight with her to get her to keep it on.

 We FINALLY got back to combining yesterday. We have not combined since August 17 and even then it was only two short days worth. One field of oats that we have cut is dry and ready to go so that's what we were working on last night. One field of canola is ready to combine as well. Our winter wheat is still sitting out in the field in the swath...it's pretty much a write off and very poor in grade so we won't worry about it too much till the better crop is off. Of course my hubby (glad it was him and not me) managed to plug the combine. Very badly. So while they were working on unplugging it, the kids had a blast playing in the swaths of straw. Lots of fond childhood memories came back to me of the fun we had playing on the farm as kids. The bale yard was highlight year round.




Ah, the life of a farm kid!

Have a great day and if your harvesting, stay safe and I hope you get lots done!
Ashley

Wednesday 10 September 2014

Savoring these moments

With four short months left to go in this pregnancy, there are certain things looming in our faces that should be dealt with. Things like getting this never-ending harvest in forward motion and finished, putting food in my freezer for harvest, our son going for his first day of Nursery school tomorrow morning, cleaning and decluttering parts of my house (I know your laughing as you read this - - how can she possibly have places to be decluttered when they only just moved in a little over a year ago??!! lol...you'd be surprised!), dealing with tomatoes that are in my garden (and a frost threatening any day), and the list goes on and on.

But one thing that sticks out right now is helping our daughter adjust to either going to bed on her own...or letting her Daddy go to bed with her. Because in four short months, we'll have a new member in our family and he or she will be a very demanding little person. I know that most evenings I won't always be free to go to bed with her.

But.

Lately I have realized that as much or as little as we have tried to get her to let Daddy lay with her, I really have no desire to give it up. Just yet. We have this little routine me and her. We gather her blankie and her milk, say good night to Daddy and off we go to bed. She always asks for either one or two more drinks of her milk before bed (I cut her off at two), makes sure she has 'The' precious corner of her blankie, she gives me a kiss on the lips and the cheeks, then I have to do the same to her, she snuggles right up beside me and says 'Wuv you too, Mom." And then after about 15 seconds..."Hey Mom?" "Yes?" "Wuv you too, Mom." And another 15 seconds......"Hey Mom?" "Yes?" "Where white milk go?" "It's sitting on the the floor." "Oh."

And this goes on sometimes too long some nights but usually a couple questions before she nods off and I sneak out. I do admit that most days I get frustrated at having to lay with her and there are things I would like to be doing. Whether it's cleaning up the house or maybe just being selfish and sitting on the couch with my Hubby who I haven't seen all day.

Maybe it's because with this baby coming I keep thinking of how such a short time ago Tanner was my baby, only two years old when Ali was born. (Ali will be 6-7 months older when this baby comes) He was so little and now he's starting Nursery School! Which I am totally OK with by the way. But when baby comes we will be starting another new chapter in our lives and life will pick up even more speed. So for now I think I will savor these moments with my little baby girl. She will one day soon be the one going to Nursery school and detaching herself from me.

When Daddy needs to sleep with her or she needs to sleep by herself, we will cross that bridge when we get to it. For the laundry and dishes and toys can wait on this Mommy because she needs me NOW and I know in the very near future I'll be wishing she needs me more as she detaches herself from me. Which I know will be sooner than her brother, she is a WAY more independent and strong willed than he is!

 June 27, 2012
 August 2014

So for now people, SAVOR THESE MOMENTS!

Have a great day!
Ashley