Warm Lemonade

Have I ever mentioned that Poppy loves warm drinks? Even if it is 100 degrees outside (not that we would know since we have only been up to the mid nineties this summer) she will beg for me to warm up her lemonade. I try to give her the room temperature variety and although she may drink it (because she is thirsty) she will stop mid drink and ask me to warm it up until I have procrastinated long enough that she has finished off.

Oscar went through a phase of always having to have warm milk...In fact I recall one time leaving his sippy cup on the dashboard of the car during a road trip just trying to get it warm enough that he would consume it.

Where do these kids come from??? It always seems amazing to me all of the little quirks and tendencies that seem to be nature rather than nurture.

For about the past three weeks I have been experiencing the more unpleasant physical changes that take place when a little tiny baby begins to develop in my uterus and rake havoc on the rest of my physical being. I'm appalled and amazed that something so tiny can make such a HUGE difference.

I tend to be like cool lemonade...full of energy and direction. Zesty, sweet, and full of refreshing goodness. Alas, I'm now about as dull as warm lemonade. All of the wonderful thigns I live to eat have suddenly hit the black list of nausea and the food on teh good list is the worst food you can think of. In fact, this veggitarian has found herself on more tahn one occasion, devouring a bag of jerky, crackers, ect... before she even makes it to the checkstand. Toast is my bitter/sweet companion. Bitter becasue I hate, hate shocving it down my throat, but love that it seems to magically subdue the nausea.

I suppose the point of this whole post isn't just to complain about the whole pregnancy process (which I'm sure I will do more of), but to ackowledge all of those women who have large families in spite of morning sickness!!! How in the world do they do it? I only have two kids and there are seriously days where they seems like a dozen.

I know I'm whimpy...but seriously to all of those amazing moms out there I have to say "Way to GO"!!

One of the big things that I have noticed about this pregnancy is the return of anticipation. Anticipation of the day when my illness subsides. Anticipation of a new little baby to snuggle, squeeze and enjoy. Anticipation of the day when I can excercise at a normal capacity. Anticipation of seeing my two kids sweetly geeting a new baby into our family. And lastly the great anticipation of seeing my great husband holding a coddling an infant. He does it so well and it melts my heart to think of it.

I'm very excited to have a new baby and it was even more exciting to hear it's sweet little heartbeat this past week. There is just somethign about that racing heartbeat that reassures me that truly THIS is what life is all about. Soon, the illness will end (I'm curretnly considering accupuncture) and soon there will be a new baby and soon my kids will have grown and my life will be routine (becasue I love a good routine) and I will be grateful that I had this oppertunity to assist God in a beautiful creation.

For now, I will be warm lemonade, and that is ok. I will wake up each morning and be the best mom I can be and will be eternally grateful for my good kids, my amazingly helpful hubby and a suport group who truly care.

Catching up...

The Fix...Poppy's new cut reminds me of the lovely 70's haircuts. It does blend a bit better but knowing her Edge family hair genetics...I'm afraid it will be quite some time before we see the sight of golden locks. On a side note, I"m not really surprised that she cut her hair. Evey time we cut Oscars hair she says she wants to buzz her's off too. Crazy girl.

In Spokane last Saturday while at the Riverfront park, Poppy was giving Rick and i some big fish stories...this is her in action. She is so animated!
Big Boy news in the edge house: Oscar earned his new bike! It even has gears!!! I am constantly amazed at how far and fast this boy can ride. Monday when riding to meet Rick from work (6mi round trip) he says "Mom but I wanted to go for a real LONG ride..."

He seems to never tire...he even can climb our entire hill (which is no easy feat) and has mastered going to and from our house to school...for those of you who have been here, you know what kind of hills he has to climb to get there.

I love that he loves his bike so much. The only hard part is that he wants to do it every waking minute. Here he is just before the purchase...can you see the look of anticipation and annoyance at his mother trying to get the last shot of him on the green fire bike?

Lastly (but certainly not a comprehensive catch up) we got our first tomatoes from the garden this past week. Ummmm....nothing quite like a fresh homegrown tomato.
Other things harvested: Beets, Basil, lettuce, spinach, and strawberries.

Right of passage...

Pick your own flower farm venture...notice the sweet little girl with pretty flowing hair...

She must have decided she wants to look a bit more like Vanilla Ice! The very next morning...The unfixable...I guess we will just have to endure a few months of re-growing... short of buzzing her hair.

Pay it Forward...

I was the lucky recipient of this good mail from Traci (who happens to be the wife of my cousin, in case you were wondering). I was quick enough to be one of the recipients of Traci's"pay it forward" Blogg-activity.
Lucky for you (at least the first three persons to leave a comment) I will be paying it forward to you too.
Here's the game...You leave a comment (the first three) and I will be mailing you a good mail package with something of my choosing. You then get to pay it forward to three other people...get it! Lots of fun.

Thanks Traci for the fun package of goodies. It is always so nice to get a package in the mail.

Would you be worried?

If the woman (me) who is charge of your Relief Society camp out dinner is the ward vegetarian??? Especially considering she is making Dutch oven chicken?

As of tomorrow evening I will be feeding the masses and sleeping out with the Poppy...Should be fun.

Rick tonight made the comment..."I can't believe you are in charge of it ALL!"
Just goes to show what a horrible deligator I am!
Here's to a busy day.

Princesses...

Today while Poppy was NOT napping she came out of her room to ask me to untangle her necklace. I said, "Oh, I thought you were supposed to be sleeping?"
Poppy-"Well, Mom the Princesses keep waking me up."

Asian noodle salad, Pioneer Woman style

Last night for dinner we had this yummy Asian noodle salad. It was really delicious. I used Udon noodles rather than linguine because I didn't have any. I think it was probrably better with the Udon (a little more authentic?).
Here is the recipe...the best part is that you only have to cook the noodles. Nice cool dinner.

Asian Noodle Salad
adapted from Jamie Oliver, from The Pioneer Woman blog.

Download Printable Recipe: Asian Noodle Salad

SALAD INGREDIENTS:

1 packages linguine noodles, cooked, rinsed, and cooled

1/2 to 1 head sliced Napa cabbage
1/2 to 1 head sliced purple cabbage
1/2 to 1 bag baby spinach
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin
1 orange bell pepper, sliced thin (if available)
1 small bag bean sprouts (also called “mung bean sprouts”)
3 sliced scallions
3 peeled, sliced cucumbers (I didn’t have a cucumber for the photos above, but they’re yummy in the salad)
LOTS of chopped cilantro—up to one bunch
1 can whole cashews, lightly toasted in skillet (again, I didn’t have them for the photos, but have used them before and they’re…sublime.)

DRESSING:

Juice of 1 lime
8 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 hot peppers or jalapenos, chopped
More chopped cilantro—LOTS

Mix together salad ingredients. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Mix with tongs or hands and serve on platter.
*Dressing keeps up to three days before serving, WITHOUT cilantro.

Strawberry Season

These pretty beauties came from our lovely garden. There was even enough to make a bit of this...
Ummmm....Yummy strawberry jam. You can let your mouth drool over this tasty goodness!
Lastly, speaking of lovely RED things...I found these beauties down in one of my boxes from my younger years. Funny thing is, they were not even mine (Mine were the brown tri-color, ugly variety). Nope they were my sister Verena's. The best part is that the have hardly any prescription at all, therefore I believe they were a fashion statement of sorts! Yeah...good stuff! How do you think I look? Besides the fact that they take up most of my face.

Easy picnic meal

Last night for our FHE outing I found a delicious recipe in my Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cook book, which I might also add is one of my favorite cook books.
The recipe is Pan Bagnat (or literally means "bathed bread" in French).

Pan Bagnat

1 baguette or other thin loaf of French bread ( I used some yummy crusty bread)
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/4 cup olive oil (or what you decide to use)
1 tomato, thinly sliced
1 cucumber thinly sliced
1.2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sliced olives black or Calamata
salt/pepper

Other optional ingredients:
Provolone cheese
2 hard boiled eggs
1 red or green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup of capers
1 cup artichoke hearts, sliced into quarters
1/2 cup pesto
herbs such as basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram

Slice bread in half lengthwise, open loaf and spread garlic on one of the cut sides. Drizzle olive oil on both sides. Layer ingredients on one half of the bread. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Close the loaf, and wrap tightly in saran wrap. Weight the full length of the bread with a heavy book (or with a baking tray topped with bricks, a 25 pound weight, a toddler, or whatever you can find for 1-3 hours.
(It even mentioned that if you are taking it on a picnic put the loaf UNDER the cooler.)

I didn't take a picture but belive me it was delicious...and the best part was that it could get squished. The kids even seemed to enjoy it.

I pre-mixed oliveoil, garlic scapes, onion, balsamic vinegar, and parmesean cheese, ann my fresh herbs (basil, oregano, and thyme) all together and then smeared the soncotion onto both sides of the brad before putting all of the other ingredients in. It seemed easier and it turned out delicious.

It was quick, delicious and require NO COOKING!
Good eats for a summer evening.

Out and about town

(Weekly ride to the Farmer's Market in Moscow)

This summer has been a summer dedicated to more biking. You may or may not know that I had a hip issue that still isn't quite back to normal. Therefore, this summer I have determined to make it a bike about town summer.
Oscar is a camp on his little bike and despite the fact that he has a single speed, tiny chain ring, he peddles that little bike about town. It is about 2-3 miles each time we ride down into town and we have lately been doing it pretty much daily. That doesn't even count the miles he rides behind mom and dad's bike. (I think Saturday he rode 20 miles behind my bike and then an additional 3 on his own!) This boy was born to ride!
We are looking into possibly getting him on a bike with gears. It shure would help him out with our big hill we live on.
Currently we try to set a goal each time we ride our hill. We count the Lampposts. So far he has made it to lamppost #4. Lampost #6 is almost at the top. Somedays are better than others, especially depending on how much he has worn himself out at the pool.
The other day he and I were riding down our hill (it was 97 degrees outside) and I thought to myself, wow it dosen't even feel that hot out here. The bikes really create more wind and it makes riding around town much more comfortable than riding in a hot car!
Poppy on the other hand is quite content to ride behind me in the trailer. Here is a picture of her priming in front of the mirror.
The other day while she was screaming in the store, one of my spinning students saw us. Yesterday in my class she commented on how well behaved Oscar was...and that Poppy sure seems to be feisty...Yeah I think so.
Sunday we spent the afternoon reading some books and enjoying some Jello in the back yard.
FHE @ The pool. What better place to hang out as a family than at the pool.
Not to mention that dad make a great fish friend. Oscar loves to be a fish too. He even goes off the high dive (which I belive is 12 feet).

I lvoe being a mom to my two cute kids. This summer seems to be super full of fun activities and things to do that it seems we are all exhausted by the end of the day.
Today we opted to hang out at home and catch up on some house work...I think I woudl rather be out playing.