Getting Ready for the Par-tay!

While the kids were at school, Matt and I were busy turning the house into an autumnal cookie paradise.  (Really that’s just fancy for saying “clean and picked up.”)

All the decorations were inspired by the invitation, which the wonderful Amy Beasley created:

Here’s my cookie table:

I found some ribbon in the perfect colors (and splurged on it) to wrap around the cookie containers.  I mostly used what I had for the containers (jars, vases, cake stand), but I also bought three jars that I knew I’d be able to use to store other ingredients and baked goods once the party was over.  I’m going to link to all the cookie recipes online.  You can just click the name of the cookie and it will take you there!

Pictured above are the white chocolate pumpkin spice cookies, peanut butter cookies (from the BHG cookbook), and Oreos (from Nabisco).

There were oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses, and no bake cookies.

And there were Sugar cookies, Snickerdoodles, and Chocolate Chip cookies.  Yummy!

Just for kicks, I included an ingredients list on the cookie labels.  I pretty much made the recipes as they are on the links, except I always subbed freshly ground whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour, and I used sucanat or turbinado for the white sugar.  And I hope it goes without saying that I would never ever ever ever use margarine.  Ever.

My mom picked up some colorful flowers to use in the décor.  I also used some pumpkins (which I plan to bake soon!) and gourds.

Amy also designed some labels for our “milk bottles” (Starbucks Frappuccino bottles).

I ordered some paper straws from Etsy in the same orange and green.

I put some ingredients in jars just for fun (sucanat, chocolate chips, wheat berries).

I printed some of our pumpkin patch pictures to hang up.

I covered the door out to the laundry room with pretty paper and put 13 pictures of James up – one for each month plus the day he was born.  I stole this idea from Amy; she always does that for her girls’ birthdays on their office door.  I love it!

More labels for the milk…

And the homemade chocolate syrup.  This stuff is good.  :)

Some yummy snacks…

A basket of napkins, which almost no one used.  My mom says people were scared of them?

I made some pom poms, which are still up.  I think they’re pretty.  :)

Dinner:  sandwiches, veggies, and fruit.  Light and yummy!

Peanut butter and homemade peach jam – yum!

I was very excited that it was, for the most part, a pretty “green” party.  There really was nothing to generate trash.  That made me happy.  :)

Pizza and Laundry

These two topics may have nothing to do with each other, except that by the end of the post, you too will be convinced of my need for pretty aprons.  :)

Matt took these (and I didn’t even tell him to!) of me making pizza the other day (ahem… week).  I’m a whole lot wee bit behind on blogging.

I used what was in the house, so we topped our pizza with a simple homemade sauce, parmesan cheese, fresh spinach, cooked/diced chicken, cooked bacon, grilled then shredded cushaw squash, and some cheddar cheese.  I’d have used mozzarella if there was any in the house.  This combo was still very tasty though!  The squash was from my grandma’s garden.  I left the sauce off of a section on one of the pizzas, instead spreading on a little olive oil.  I’m not ready for James to ingest much tomato.

Just out of the oven:  YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the first time I’d made this particular sauce, and it was amazing!  The texture and taste were VERY restaurant/take-out pizza like.  Normally my sauce isn’t so thick I think.  It was especially a hit with the hubs.

Joanna took this picture for me.  I had to ask her though  (and of course hand her the camera).

I took an old apron I had lying around and filled the pockets with my clothespins.  I read the idea somewhere, but I can’t believe it never occurred to me!  I used to just have a little purse bag filled with them and take that out.  This keeps my hands free-er and I don’t keep dropping it.

But wouldn’t I look so much cuter with some ruffles or flowers…
like this one, or this, or some of these?

:)  I’ve been browsing.  I like window shopping online.  And it’s always good to be prepared for Santa Claus.

(Is that how you spell Santa’s last name?  I can’t remember, and it totally doesn’t look right.  I had an E at the end, but I know that’s not right.  Clearly I spend a lot of time thinking about the man.)

Great Cloth Diaper Change

So I’d sort of been “hearing” (in the blogosphere) about this event coming up for Earth Day called The Great Cloth Diaper change, but hadn’t paid really close attention because I didn’t figure on there being a location close by.  (If you didn’t click over, it was an event designed to bring some awareness to cloth diapering and an attempt to set the world record for most cloth diapers changed simultaneously.)  Fortunately I was having dinner at the church with a gal who works at Merry Go Round in Kingwood on Wednesday.  She noticed James was in a cloth diaper and told me that Merry Go Round was a location for the Great Cloth Diaper Change!  I went the next day to register Natalie and Matt and James and me for the event.  :)  Yes, I’m so cool.

Mamma and Pop offered to watch Joanna (since she is neither a diaper-wearing baby nor a diaper-changing adult), and she LOVED having a “date” at their house for a couple of hours.

Matt and I showed up with our little ones at 10:30 Saturday morning (yes, we skipped egg hunting at the church for this) to sign in.

Here is Matt with Natalie’s diaper, which was approved.  :)

Natalie did pretty good in that little store not touching everything in sight.

She did have a puppy snuggle though.  :)

We registered, got our goodie bags, and had a little snack at Merry Go Round, but the diaper changing event was held next door at Kids in Action, since they have a big ol’ honkin room for changing diapers (or wait, maybe it’s for kids’ parties and stuff).

Before the event – Natalie took this whole thing in stride.  Having a four year old as well, sometimes I forget that two year olds just don’t ask so many questions.  :)

You know what’s so cool about this?  All these babies and toddlers are wearing cloth diapers.  That makes me happy.

Natalie in ready position!

James, in his fresh diaper!

A cute snuggle pic with Daddy, back at Merry Go Round.

I believe there were 28 baby/parent pairs there.  I think that’s great!

Look at what was in my goody bag!!  Some teas, some creams, a hair bow, a couple of nursing things, and a sample of rockin’ green diaper detergent – my favorite!  There was also a t-shirt.  Matt also got a bag, so I got two of all these goodies.  :)

Anybody nursing to getting ready to nurse that would like one of those reminder bracelets?  ‘Cause I don’t need two.  (I really don’t need one either, though I might hang on to it…)

And the two people least likely to win a door prize both won door prizes.  :)  An econobum (prefold and cover) and a super cute little fuzzy cloth diaper that I cannot wait to try on James!!

Oh the photo shoot we’ll be a-having!

I mean, isn’t he the cutest thing ever?!!

He is quite the rolling machine these days.  My girls both rolled around a bit, but I don’t remember either actually using rolling as a mode of transportation.  He can absolutely control the rolling, but I’m not sure he can actually control his direction so much yet.  He is usually pretty happy about where he ends up though.  :)

Here he is trying to unlock the secrets of Mamma and Pop’s DVD player:

Funny thing – earlier I heard Joanna say “Mom, come quick, James is about to be losed! (aka lost, to those of us who’ve been using this wacky grammar system a long time)”  I walk over and James is right up against this dresser I have just as you walk into the living room from the front entry.  It’s a good six inches off the floor, and she thought he was just going to roll right under!  I don’t think he could, but I will likely vacuum under there tomorrow.  :)

Let’s Talk about Food… some more. :)

We recently switched from unsalted to salted butter.  Not because I found us lacking salt in our diet (far from it!), but because of something I didn’t know.  Unsalted butter isn’t just butter (well, cream).  Most available brands also have “natural flavorings.”  And since I don’t know what that is, I’m sticking with salt.  I know what salt is.  There are some brands that are just cream, but I don’t they’re quite as available.

One of my favorite blogs to read, www.heavenlyhomemakers.com, is often writing about her food orders from Azure Standard, a co-op.  They didn’t deliver here though (they’re way north), even though I was excited about a lot of the things they sold.  As of 2011 though, they now have a line that comes way down here!  There’s a tiny extra charge on top of the price of the food, but I’ll take it!  The main reason I’m so excited is because they have wheat berries.  You just can’t get whole wheat berries around here!  I want to grind my own flour so badly.  But the cost of shipping the berries has just been too cost prohibitive.  I don’t mind spending a little more, because I know this flour will be divine, but I just can’t justify doubling or more our cost of whole wheat flour.  Plus I’m going to have to buy a grain mill.  And that is no small price.  I am so looking forward to the investment though, and I’m saving up!  So not only does Azure Standard now deliver to our neck of the woods, the closest drop point is literally up the road in Porter.  Wahoo!  They deliver every four weeks it looks like and you must meet an individual minimum order amount ($50) and a minimum amount for the drop.  I’m so excited to place my first order by March 8th to be delivered March 15th!  I will of course post when it happens.  My plan is to order some wheat, some apples, and maybe some unsalted butter.  :)  I might throw a few other things in as well.

I just joined a CSA.  What’s a CSA, you ask?  (Well, some of you may not ask, you may know!)  It stands for Community Sponsored Agriculture.  And basically you pay a membership fee to a local farm who supplies you with a share of their fresh produce weekly or so.  You get what you get, so it will be a fun challenge to cook and eat things we may never have tried before!  I found this one through www.localharvest.org.  It’s up in Cleveland, and they have a delivery in Kingwood weekly!  I can’t recommend it of course until we actually try it, so I’ll update when that happens.  It looks like it will be March-May, and we’ve subscribed to the every other week option (five deliveries in a ten week period).  I don’t know that it will really save us money on food, but I love that the produce is local, and while not certified organic, it’s close.

The composting is coming along.  I love dumping garbage in my back yard.  :)  I had Matt mulch up some leaves with the mower for me so I can add them to my pile as I need to.  I’m a very “lazy composter.”  I’m just kind of letting it happen.  Hopefully in a year or so, this stuff will be really good dirt!

Digging

I have spent the last two days outside in the yard and the three days before that taking care of an extra kiddo.  All this to say my house is a PIT!  :)  Matt left this evening on the Men’s Retreat until Sunday, so it’s just us girls (and James of course!).  I have a feeling we’ll end up outside a little tomorrow, but I’m going to try to stay in some and do some homemakery things.  We have family birthdays to celebrate on Sunday, and it would be nice to not think about the house and just enjoy ourselves!

This past week was our third with Mr. Ray, and we’re getting on very well, I think!  We had him for three days in a row this week, and I could really feel everybody getting into the groove.  It’s funny, but the days that I have all four are actually smoother than the days when I just have the boys.  Ray LOVES the girls, but finds James awfully boring and kind of intrusive.  :)  I’m really looking forward to getting more and more into the groove with him.

Thursday was a treat for me as Ray was at home with his momma, and my girls were at school.  It was just James and me!  My mom was off as well, and we went to Sams with her new membership.  Mostly I took notes :) but I grabbed a few things, and James got a good Moby nap in.

That afternoon, Natalie’s wonderful teacher stopped by to drop of something we’d left at school (dirty diapers!).  Wasn’t that so sweet of her?!  Anyway, it was really nice outside, so we were spending some time in the front yard.

It wasn’t particularly sunny, but since James doesn’t get a lot of choice on what he looks at, I set up a colorful umbrella for him.

This child is always looking over her shoulder.  I’m a little worried she’s going to have to smack into something in order to cure her of that little habit!

So precious!!

It was a little breezy, but Natalie looks like she’s in a gale or something!

She’s so cute.

Then something came over me, and I began to garden like a fool for the next day and a half.

I didn’t take any “before” pictures mainly because they were THAT BAD, but also because I didn’t think about it before I started.

But I did find a few sort of before shots in the background of some recent pictures.  If you look at the top of this picture, you’ll see a very empty bed under our bedroom window, and the very top right shows the massive overgrowth of my killer rose vines.

The empty bed wasn’t actually empty, but it was very full of dead leaves, as you can see below!  (And underneath?  Lots of roots and plants I’m trying very hard to kill.)

My neatly pruned roses, complete with a fresh layer of pine bark mulch.

Another rose plant, and turning the corner are the new azaleas.  My mom was SO NICE to go to Lowe’s for me and pick up the plants, mulch and some pruning shears on Friday morning.  That would have been less than enjoyable with my three children, ya know?

I invited the girls out to take the “after” shots with me, but they thought we were out there to take pictures of them!

I managed to shoot around their gorgeous beauty.  :)

There are eleven little plants, and I really really hope I can keep them alive!  If I can manage not to kill them, they should be gorgeous next year!

This gardenia bush has been hanging on since we moved in (and for who knows how long before that), but I haven’t taken very good care of it.  Today I pruned it up a bit, turned the soil, and added some mulch.  We’ll see if it turns around this spring.  It’s looking sad.

And this rose plant (I call it my “Joanna Rose”) has never done well.  My grandma gave it to Joanna on her first birthday, so it really should be doing better after three years. (What?  THREE years?!)  I pruned it back, cleared out the leaves and junk, and added some mulch.  I’m vowing to keep it pruned and the area weeded.  We’ll see if it will get going this year or next.  It’s not in a super sunny spot, but I think roses are pretty resilient.  It may not thrive, but maybe it will do more than survive!

And lastly, a picture of some garbage.  :)  Look closely and you’ll see a banana peel and some coffee grounds, the first offerings for the compost!

I said lastly, but I didn’t mean it – the girls are so cute outside with the dirt and the leaves and the plants.
When I was digging my little compost hole, I pulled out an old, dead hibiscus (I think?) root clumpy thing.  Joanna “rescued” it from the discard pile and took it over to the slide structure to her “garden” underneath.  She added bits of dirt and debris to it all day.  It’s the kind of sweet that makes me want to cry, you know?

I think she’s going to be very helpful in reminding me to water the plants, not mention turning on the water and maybe even using the watering can.  I’m hoping I will keep up this desire to make my yard look presentable.  And I’m so excited about the possibility of the composting.  Wouldn’t it be cool to have some really rich soil, all while NOT throwing away garbage?!