Thursday, April 29, 2010

Flowering Bush

Headed to Lowe's yesterday morning to purchase 6 new fence posts for the garden. Since the expansion the fencing needed some reinforcing. While I was there I got distracted by the flowers, I can't wait to plant flowers in my pots. Another week or so and it should be safe to do so. I saw several carts of these bushes for sale and fell in love with the cascading white bell-shaped flowers......and I was in luck............50% off. Sweet! Only $9.99. That's a steal in my opinion. Had to have it.


"Red Head Pieris"


Isn't it adorable!?


*Veggie garden is doing well. Onions, spinach and corn already sprouting up. About 1/2 the strawberries are doing well but the broccoli is a no show so far :( Everything else could be planted in another week or so. Gotta wait till the threat of frost is over and in Ohio that's usually 1/2 through May. I can never wait that long though, I'll probably chance it next weekend. I'm a rebel like that! Ha!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Tomatillo Shrimp Enchiladas

This is a recipe I copied from a Family Circle magazine.
2 Tbs evoo
1/2 med red onion chopped
1/2 med green bell pepper
1 3/4lb shrimp
1Cup corn
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 Cup water
8 soft tortillas
1 bottle tomatillo salsa (salsa verde)
3 Tbs milk or half-n-half
1Cup mont. jack cheese

1. Chop/saute' veggies in evoo, add shimp, spices and water

2. Spread tortilla's with tomatillo sauce, fillings and roll

3. Mix rest of tomatillo sauce with milk and pour over


5.Top with cheese and bake at 375 for 15 minutes
Serve with sour cream

I thought this was VERY good (Brad hated it) It was pretty spicy though which I liked but next time I will make the tomatillo salsa myself so that I can control the heat. I have a good recipe for tomatillo sauce that I blend in the processor and top my fish tacos with........
8-10 tomatillos
1/2 red onion
1/2 jalapeno peppers
1/2 avacodo




Monday, April 26, 2010

Planted & Protected

Started working on the garden last week. We've expanded! Never did get Brad talked into raised beds, but that's ok, he really helped out alot this year. He tilled the garden up twice and it's probably doubled in size from last year. It's a nice L shape.






Brad's cousin Breanna was tearing out a bunch of strawberry plants at her new house and she was giving them away so I took 4 BIG bags full. I transplanted them into the new portion of the garden. Some of them really took off but others are looking kinda sad :( Hope they make it, would be great to have fresh strawberries. Wondering if they will have transplant shock and not produce any fruit this season. We'll see I guess!



Got 2 rows of yellow onion planted.



Also planted are 2 rows of spinach and 2 rows of Broccoli. Brad also got the fencing put up, hoping to keep the animals at bay. Also to keep Dane out, he loves to cut, dig, saw, stomp, etc (not good for the plants)



New this year is the sweet corn. Brad has planted 1 row with the intent of planting 1 row every 2 weeks to total 5 rows or so. We'll see how it does and whether we can keep the deer/coons out!






Saturday, April 24, 2010

Cooking with Dane

Welcome to Dane's Cooking Show!
Today's recipe is Black Cherry Jello Pops. Here the list of ingredients you'll need.

1 small pkg Jello (any flavor)
1 Cup boiling water
1 Cup yogurt
1/2 Cup milk





Dane chose black cherry flavor.
I was kinda rooting for Lime but hey it's Dane's show!


Stir in boiling water.


Here's the molds I bought out of One Step Ahead catalog. Seems like a good idea, you can sip the melted popsicle through the tiny straw. Hoping it minimizes the messiness.



Add the milk and stir.




Add in yogurt and stir.


Then pour into molds. This was really the only part I helped in.

These were super tasty! One problem though, I think 1 Cup yogurt is too much. When you went to pull them out of the molds the stick popped out and left the popsicle in the mold!!!!! I think they were too soft maybe. I had to work to get them out of the molds and then place them on the stick. Next time I'm using less yogurt. That better not happen everytime or I'm pitching those molds!



Saturday, April 17, 2010

A Prelude To A Kiss

A adorable and hysterical series of events happened last night while I was out. I guess it's true, when the cat's away the mice will play. Check out what Dane did by visiting my friends blog........





Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Dig! Dig! Dig!

Brad's been doing some dirt work for a friend of his who's building a barn. Many thanks for thinking of him and asking him to help out. Really needed since Brad hasn't gotten called back to work yet. Dane and I met up with him on Monday for lunch and alittle tractor riding. Ok Ok, I know Brad it's not a tractor, it's a bulldozer. Whatever :)


When we pulled up to the site and Dane saw Brad in the tractor he started giggling with excitement. We bribed him with a tractor ride for eating a good lunch. It worked he ate the whole sandwich :) Ya do whatcha gotta do.



Oh, The excitment!



I tried to upload a video of the ride but it was taking too long and I don't have the patience this morning. (That doesn't bode well for the rest of the day!)


*On another note, I just saw a bird eating off one of the birdfeeder's Dane made!! Finally! I was thinking the coons would get to them first.



.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

A Messy Mess

I came up with the idea to do a craft project Saturday morning and asked my mom if she wanted to help. I thought Dane would really enjoy making peanut butter/bird seed coated pine cones for the birds.

He did a great job. He took the job of painting the pine cones with peanut butter very seriously!



He also did alittle quality control on the peanut butter. Don't want the birds to get sick ya know :)


Rolling the pinecones in birdseed.



Examining the work


We hung them in some trees around Momo's house and took some home to hang in ours. I hope the birds like them, but truthfully they haven't touched them yet :(

Hmmmmm, wonder why?






Saturday, April 10, 2010

I Heart Bubbles

Easter Sunday's weather was so nice and warm. I had gotten Dane these cute little plaid shorts to wear to church and I'd been so nervous that it was going to be too chilly to wear them. We went to church that morning and since we'd done our family get togethers the day before we got to just hang out together and enjoy the day.




Dane loves bubbles but who doesn't. Good fun :)




As usual Dane is having a blast chasing the dog, poor Zoey. I get the best smile pictures out of him when he's in torture mode, here he's chasing her with the bubble wand.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Hello Gorgeous

My favorite tree bloomed a few days ago! Not really sure what kind of tree it is, but it explodes with these little clusters of pink flowers and smells sweet. Bugs must like it too, the tree just buzzes with energy as they swarm around the flowers.








Tuesday, April 6, 2010

All is well..........I hope

Dane had his Dr. appt today. I had to work so Brad went. I hate that. Not Brad going, but me not being able to be there and hear from the horses mouth.

It went pretty well I think. The Dr. thinks Dane is having episodes of pediatric benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). Basically, just like the adult version. They listened to his heart 2x and it sounds perfect and he doesn't believe in any sort of way that it had anything to do with that. He also mentioned that if it had anything to do with his brain it would be occuring more often, and also involve more things like.....coordination, learning, etc and it doesn't. Not even close. Dane is way advanced for his age in almost all levels.



I'm calling myself cautiously optimistic right now. I'm still keeping a close eye on him. We were told that if it happens again to call in and they will give us a referral to Childrens Hospital for more testing on his ears.



On a lighter note, here's a couple pics of Dane while we were at the Zoo last friday.




Can you believe how big he is!?!
No way does this kid look like a 2 year old!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter

Happy Easter!!!


Happy 4th Birthday to my niece Claire! Love you so much.




We had a Easter/birthday bash on Saturday.
Here's Dane and The Easter Bunny aka Grandpa Longshore :)


Dane hunting eggs






Later, We went over to The Peterson's for Easter dinner.
Here's Breanna (nina) and Dane blowing bubbles.




Dane had a strange little episode at the Easter egg hunt. This is the 2nd time something like this has happened so we're alittle concerned. Brad will be taking Dane to the Dr. this week to talk to him about it, but here's what happened. Dane was fine, running around, laughing, hunting eggs and then we saw him bend down to pick up a egg and he fell over. He couldn't get back up, he would get to his knees and then fall over again. As Brad got closer he could tell something wasn't right as Dane again face planted in the grass. When Brad got over to him Dane said "I'm spinning." and Brad said Dane's eyes were darting all over like he was dizzy. Brad picked him up and carried him into the garage where we got him something to drink and held him for awhile. He was pale, cold and clammy to the touch. He never did have a fever. The whole thing probably lasted 20 minutes or so. It was scary but he was fine afterwards. He fell asleep on the way home and slept for about 2 hours. Brad and I checked on him every 10 minutes during the nap and he woke up acting like his normal self.



Any thoughts on what would have caused that to happen?

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Fun in the "Bud"

I may have mentioned this before but Dane calls mud "Bud". I have no idea why. He can say words that begin with Mm just fine, but not the word mud. It's so cute to hear him talk about getting all "buddy" :)



I knew that this may be problem from the start. We have a small "pond" (mud hole) that only fills up if we get ALOT of rain or 30" of melting snow. Needless to say, it's full right now. Zoey led Dane out there yest (which I'm certain she did on purpose) and he followed her right in. He loved every minute of it! Luckily he had on the rainboots I'd bought him the weekend prior. He stomped and splashed and I just clicked away. He was soooooo happy.



Look at that smile! :)






and then of course he had to pee.......


Well, It's a good thing we live in the country. The bad thing about this mud hole is never being able to just leave Dane outside to run inside real fast. Seems like a good spot for a child to drown. Going to have to keep my eye on him till he understands and speaking of which, I ran inside to throw some laundry in and when I got back out, Dane was soaking wet from the knees down! Oh, Geez.