Will-isms

Ooo-eee! It's been since March for my last Will-isms post! The boy is making entirely too much sense most of the time anymore that I'm not collecting these as quickly. ;)

1) (Apr) Sophie is sitting in her high chair pushed up to the table while we're eating dinner and twisting her body to try to climb out after she finished eating. Will's always trying to mimic our parenting, so after several times of her not listening, he said "Sophie, we're just trying to protect you. You need to listen to us when we tell you to sit down."
2) (Apr) Will is already in the bath tub as I am getting a fussing Sophie into the tub too. Will already has both of the little, plastic shovels (the prized tub toys at the time) in hand and knows Sophie will probably be jealous. He says to her: "Sophie, since you're sad, do you want the yellow shovel?" After she ignores him for a moment, he presses on: "Yes? Would you?" Well I don't remember if she ever answered him, but I was feeling a moment of pride in my boy... until he finished with: "Well, I had it first" in this gentle "too bad" sort of voice.
3) (Apr) Not a "Will-ism", but a funny side note... Casey went shopping for Will & Sophie's birthday presents at a learning toys store. She found a cool interactive learning activity for Will called Hot Dots in which there are many topics to select from. The store clerk was trying to help Casey select something that would be age appropriate for a 3-4 year old and Casey kept insisting that he needed something at a 2nd grade level. :) The lady brought her games that taught colors and shapes, etc. So Casey informed the lady, "Ma'am, the other day he told me that a giraffe was diurnal... this is not going to cut..." :) Haha! She ended up selecting something with phonics.
4) (Apr) Craig comes in from grilling to say the burgers are done and Will is so excited for this dinner. He says "Daddy, I love you! I'm gonna' give you a hamburger hug!"
5) (Apr) "Mommy, when I toot... that's how I keep you away from me."
6) (Apr) Craig: "Did the Easter Bunny come to our house?"
Will: "Ya. He brought baskets and hid eggs."
Craig: "How did he get in here?"
Will: "I don't know... he's sneaky!"
7) (May) Craig was venting to me about something that was annoying him and he used the word "stupid". Will said "Daddy, don't say 'stupid'. It's not a nice word." Craig said "You're right, buddy. That was bad wasn't it?" Will told Craig, "You're not a bad person, daddy, but we don't say 'stupid'."
8) (May) On the way home from Grandpa King's birthday dinner out, I'm looking through the pictures on my camera. We took a big group picture before leaving the restaurant and I was pleased to see that Will had smiled (a little) like I asked him to. I told him, "Thank you for smiling in our picture, Will. You look really nice." Will responded, "Thank you for eating so much, mommy."
9) (June) At dinner, Will is announcing all the things he's going to do after we finish eating. And then he finishes with: "...so you're just gonna' have to deal with that." Whoa! Mouthy! I don't think he meant it the way it sounded. :)
10) (June) Will and I are discussing what we have growing in our garden. We're discussing herbs and I explain to him that they help us to flavor our food. Will says: "Ooh! I know what we should grow in our garden! We should grow ketchup!" :) I tell him ketchup doesn't just grow, it's made from tomatoes. I have since looked up a recipe for homemade ketchup for us to try.
11) (June) Daddy is telling Will he needs to take some medicine for a headache and neck ache that's been bothering him. Will said "I need to take some medicine too". Craig told him "We only take medicine if we really need to when we're sick. Are you sick?" Will said "Yes, I keep burping so much!" He really wasn't but we had just finished dinner.
12) (June) Will is playing outside with daddy while I'm in the kitchen making dinner. He runs in in a panic and tells me: "Mama! There's a spiderweb in your basil!" Haha. I'm more amused that he remembered which herb was basil!
13) (July) Will is playing with his dinosaur figurines when Craig comes downstairs one morning. Will holds one up and tells Craig: "Daddy, I know this is a parasaurolophus, but I'm gonna' pretend it's a stigamolic [sp?] 'cause I don't have one of those." :)
14) (July) Sophie is whining about something for quite awhile and Will is clearly tired of it. He says (in a tired, exasperated sort of way), "Zip it, Sophie!" We say that do the dog, sometimes.
15) (July) For awhile now, Will has corrected us whenever we say a strong negative word. AS soon as he hears it, he will say "Mama (or Daddy), it's not nice to say stupid (or ugly or hate)."
16) (July) Another common phrase out of Will is: "I have an excellent idea!" followed by whatever the said idea may be.
17) (July) Driving home from Cleveland, we are about 30 minutes from home and Will and Sophie are talking and being silly in their seats. Suddenly, Will urgently says: "Slam on the brakes! I have to go pee!" :) Craig and I about died laughing. We pulled off on a country side road and he peed on the side of the road.
18) (July) We've discussed and told our phone number to Will before but never very thoroughly tried to teach it. Randomly, while playing with a toy phone, he asks: "Mama, is our phone number (xxx) xxx-xxxx?" He was correct! And he said it so quickly and casually... I was shocked!
19) (July) Playing at our friends' camp site, I spot some little dinosaur figurines. Will is playing a game with our little friend and I'm showing Sophie the little dinosaurs and telling her their names. I'm pretty sure one is a spinosaurus, but I decide to ask Will. The thing is only about the size of my thumb and I hold it up for him to see. I ask "Is this a spinosaurus, Will?" He glances up quickly and says "yes"... then immediately, "No! That's a dimetrodon." (They look similar.) I ask him, "How do you know?" His response? "Because a spinosaurus walks on 2 legs and a dimetrodon walks on 4 legs." Sure enough, this dinosaur was walking on 4 legs. :) His memory astounds me.
20) (July) Whenever Will doesn't nap well or falls asleep late at the sitters, he's often in a whiny, grumpy sort of mood when I pick him up. Think: lots of scowling and disagreeing with everything everyone says. On this particular day, it was scorching hot outside and I'd broken a sweat just loading the kids into their car seats while wearing my work clothes. As we pull away, I cheerfully say "Wow! It's hot today! What do you say we go home and get a really big glass of ice water?" Will protests in a very whiny voice: "Noooo! I want a medium-size glass!" Of course he does. :) Stinker.

Ku-plink, ku-plank, ku-plunk!

Did ya'll get that reference? If not, you absolutely must read this book:

Robert McCloskey is a literary genius and we've loved ALL the books we've read by him. We own this one and also One Morning in Maine. They're just happy books with an old-fashioned feel.

Anyway, "ku-plink, ku-plank, ku-plunk" are the sounds the blueberries make when little Sal drops them in her pail. Both kids love to say this and, though we didn't take a tin pail when Sophie and I went picking on Saturday morning, we still pretended to make that sound. :)

Originally, my plan was to go to Johnston Fruit Farms in Swanton to U-Pick blueberries, but when I called again to check on the crop, they said "the birds had eaten nearly everything in the U-Pick field" and U-Picking would not be available this year. Boo. They must have other blueberry fields though because they said ready-picked blueberries were available for purchase by the pound. Their prices are very good, so if you're just interested in buying blueberries, you should check them out. We may go there in August for peaches.

Eshleman's (where we picked cherries) also had ready-picked blueberries (as well as sweet corn, apricots, plums, etc) for sale but do not offer U-Pick for the berries. I like the people at Eshleman's so much and was contemplating driving all the way out there again to stock up on a lot of their fruits, but I really wanted the experience of U-Picking if I could find it.

I did a quick search in southeast Michigan, which is often closer than many of the other farms we've visited, and came up with Erie Orchards & Cider Mill in Erie, Michigan. They're about a 30 minute drive from us and have been in business for 35 years. When I first checked out their website, they appeared to be a very commercial farm, catering lots of family activities and events, especially in the fall. I can appreciate that and it's definitely fun in the fall, but I really didn't want to try to U-Pick amidst the madness of crowded bouncy toys and clowns and such. Know what I mean? It makes the farm seem like they care more about being commercialized than about the quality of their fruit. (I doubt we'll go to MacQueen's this year for that very reason - I've heard bad things about them from several people... not farmers. Especially with the amount of pesticides they spray.) This is NOT the case with Erie Orchards, though! The festivities are mostly just in September and October and they do a very nice job of growing quality fruit and accommodating their customers.

There's a small parking area in the front of the farm and a very cute store/market where you check in to pick up your picking containers. U-Pick blueberry prices are $2.50/# and peaches and plums are $1.50/#. (Compared to $1.40/# for U-Pick blueberries at Johnston's and $3/# for ready-picked blueberries at Eshleman's.) Their picking hours are daily from 9a-7p and Sundays from 11a-6p. After departing the store, they direct you to drive around back and follow the path and marked signs out to the blueberry picking area.
I'd carried Sophie into the store and then let her sit in the front seat for the ride out to the picking area. She thought that was so cool. P.S. - Will & daddy stayed home to "play dinosaurs" and "work on car stuff".
This is what a blueberry bush looks like. They had a whole area sort of fenced in and surrounded by netting, but the lady suggested I try picking just outside the netting because the gentleman who checked out before me found abundant picking there.

If you've contemplated taking kids to any sort of U-Pick farm for fun this summer, blueberries are the way to go! They're low to the ground, easy to pick, don't have prickers, not nearly as delicate as strawberries and raspberries and they're so much less messy! The smaller, bite-size pieces don't leave juice dripping everywhere.

We brought the hand wipes as usual and Sophie insisted on carrying them around, but they weren't really even needed. She could very easily identify "only the blue ones" that were ripe and ready to eat. This next picture is actually false advertising (though cute with the blueberry in mid-fall) because she probably only contributed three blueberries to our take-home picking. :)

Also take note of Michigan's sandy soil in the above picture! Plan on kicking off shoes before getting back in the car if you pick in Michigan.

I have to say: sun-warmed blueberries, fresh off the bush are just beyond-words better than store bought! They have been my favorite fruit to eat while picking, though in the heat of this day I tried to fill up my quarts as fast as possible. So only a small handful went in my mouth. That is encouraged, by the way... to eat while you pick. :) The best ones are at the center of the bush so you really need a good reach to get in and grab the jackpot. Also, squat down and look up into the bush because many can be hidden by leaves. They're easy to pull off, even several at a time.

Our team work went like this: Sophie ate everything she picked and got our moneys worth by filling her belly... while I picked four delicious quarts to take home. She sang to me while we picked, played hide-and-seek in the bushes and frequently wiped her hands and arms with the wipes she was toting because they were "dirty". They weren't. :)

Sophie stuck with me for the first two quarts and then sat in the air-conditioned car watching Letter Factory for the second two quarts, which went much faster. It was just so hot. I had sweat dripping into my eyes (eww) and was starting to feel light-headed by the time I finished. The air in the car and a handful of berries instantly zapped me back to life once I called it quits. Thank goodness for water bottles! Don't forget those!

My picking totaled a little over 6# and cost me a little over $13. My goal is to use these up this week and go back for more to freeze and store.

Before leaving, I checked out the market. They sell all sorts of jams and jellies, fresh picked produce and deliciously homemade donuts and apple fritters. I took home three of the fritters for dessert. :) Craig was pleased.

They also have their own cider mill and big glass window for guests to watch the process in the fall. Can't wait to come back for that. And on their website, they boast a special "cider slush" to enjoy with a fresh fritter when you visit in the fall. Yum!!!

This place is not far from my work, so I think another solo picking evening is in the works this week for me. Happy girl. :)

Just Like Dad

I took these pictures one evening after work and I just love them. Sophie sat down and tried to pose herself just like daddy with arms crossed the same. I loved watching her look up at him and then down at herself to make sure they matched. My mom has a picture like this of my dad and Taylor splitting a peanut butter sandwich on our porch and making a silly face when Taylor was probably Sophie's age. I just adore watching my kids try to be like their daddy.

And just a couple more of the kids loving on their dad...

I love my family.

More of What We've Read

Before we left for our weekend in Cleveland, I made a library trip to pick up books that related to our plans for the weekend. The kids "read" them on the drive there and back and also in the hotel during down time. I knew we'd be checking out the dinosaur exhibit and that they had models of the T.Rex and Triceratops on display. I also knew the museum had a Little Builders/construction exhibit that the kids would enjoy. And finally, zoo books to go along with our zoo trip!

Here are the ones I selected.

All four of the above books are just general, non-fiction, dino facts. They were Will's favorites.

These books by Ian Whybrow were also cute. We'd read the one about Harry taking the dinos to school before and now Will has decided he would like a blue bucket to keep all his dinosaur figurines in too. The dinosaurs he got for his birthday from Nana are still stored in the box they came in (which was like a large shoebox). In 2009, when we were putting together Will's big boy room, I bought him one of these blue, galvanized buckets to store his blocks in. (I had it labeled too.) So now it will be cute to add a second bucket labeled "Dinosaurs" for easier storage than a shoebox. Great idea, Will!

This book by Paul Stickland was a cute counting book that Sophie enjoyed:

I borrowed this non-fiction book by the author of the Magic Tree House series, Mary Pope Osborne, and Will has renewed his interest in MTH. We'll probably try to jump back into the series where we left off soon. I think it was book #16 or so?

Both of these books were cute. The Roadwork book (by Sally Sutton) was very detailed and interesting with fabulous illustrations. And The Grumpy Dump Truck (by Brie Spangler) was a good one about the way we treat others.

And finally, some really good zoo books:

When Lulu Went to the Zoo by Andy Ellis

Charlie at the Zoo by Marcus Pfister
The View at the Zoo by Kathleen Long Bostrom

The View at the Zoo was my favorite. At first you don't realize it, but the book is actually about the animals view of YOU! It's really funny then when you read it a second time with that realization. Humorous illustrations.

What's For Dinner? Week 3

{July 16-22}

This week, I'm signing up for the extended season for our vegetable share program. It picks up where our summer share ends and lasts for six weeks till about Thanksgiving. So I'm thinking lots of root vegetables, winter squashes, broccoli & cauliflower, radishes, turnips, etc. And, gosh darn it, I am going to try brussel sprouts again after an awful incident as a child. :) (My brother threw up on his plate while eating them - eww.) They can't be that bad, right? And I have been pleasantly surprised with every new thing I've tried so far. I'm pretty sure brussel sprouts are in season in the fall. It will be $96 for the six week, extended season, split share (one bag - $16/wk - same as summer) and double that if you wanted the standard share (two bags). We have plenty with just the one bag.

I love reading about the happenings on the farm in the weekly newsletter. A couple weeks ago, they wrote about how John makes his rounds with a bag of marshmallows when sweet corn season begins. He sprinkles them around is specific areas to detract the raccoons from eating the sweet corn. Apparently raccoons are suckers for marshmallows. And what a genius way to protect your crops without pesticides! They also suggested using starchy pasta or potato cooking water to feed house plants with. After boiling, just let the water cool down and use it to water your plants! The water contains nutrients that the plants will love. Genius!

Here's a look at Week #7 in our summer share, which I picked up on July 12th. Shauna, you were right! Those green stalks were leeks! I guess my clues kind of gave it away pretty easily... :)

In this bag are: radishes (the reddish-white roots with greens attached on the left there), 4 tomatoes + 1 green tomato (which turned red later), lettuce, broccoli, 3 leeks, 2 each zucchini and yellow squash, bunch of basil, and small red potatoes. You can also see another pint of red raspberries as a bonus to help make up for the smaller bags early in the season. I can't wait to sign up for the fruit share next year!

At the start of this program, I really didn't notice a big change in our grocery bill like I thought I would and it made me a little nervous about the financial value of these bags if I was still spending the same on our weekly groceries. But now there is a significant difference! A couple weeks ago, Craig spent only $50 for the items we needed! Compared to our normal ~$125. (Remember, our "groceries" include ALL household items in addition to food, and occasionally diapers as well.) Now granted, this did not include our meat/poultry since we've been shopping at Andersons for that, but we've also reduced the amount of meat we use I think.

Amy, you asked why we're not buying meat at the regular grocery store and the main reason is just because I'm inclined to trust a local butcher over a large chain grocery store in regards to where and how the animals were raised. I'm still looking into finding local farms that raise their own animals for meat. In fact, I'm planning to visit one in Defiance this weekend that I got in contact with over the winter and have been wanting to check out. And Riehm Farm (who we purchased our CSA from) also raises hormone and antibiotic free beef so we may go that route. We have friends that raise beef cows that we are considering as well. However, much like this in-advance purchase of the vegetable shares, it's a lot of money up front to purchase meat in large quantity like is typically done when buying local like that. In the mean time, House of Meats at Andersons is helpful for buying what we need right now and that's it. The cost is not always cheaper, though they offer lots more deals with slight bulk purchases.

One other side note in regards to grocery store chains. I have always been a Meijer shopper. Years ago, I did actually compare prices for many things and found Meijer to be cheaper. But even more importantly, Meijer (though a large chain) is still pretty local to the midwest (Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky) compared to a national chain like Kroger. In Meijer's weekly ads, they've been putting little segments in their produce section about local farms that supply fruits and vegetables to their stores. And I've read on other farms websites about how they've been supplying to Meijers for years. So I've just been paying close attention to the packaging when shopping for produce to see if it says where it's grown. There's a lot coming from Michigan, which is nice. But most things just say "grown in the USA" or "product of Mexico" or something like that. So it's hard to tell. I don't forbid things that are never grown locally (i.e. citrus, avocados, etc.) but when given the choice, I try to always choose local.

Okay, so here's what was on our menu this week...

I've been looking for things to use the basil in, since I'm growing my own basil as well (Riehm's looks much bigger and more beautiful than mine, though). I made the pesto a couple weeks ago to serve with pasta and I used pesto again this week, which you'll see further down. I'm not doing too much heavy Italian this summer (where basil is typically abundant) because it's just too hot. I'm dreaming of some Caprese salads pretty soon, though!

This cookie recipe was in the July issue of Bon Appetit magazine:

Lemon-Lime Basil Shortbread Cookies.

We constantly have lemons and limes in our crisper this summer for all the different recipes I'm making and I've always been intrigued with using basil in sweet recipes. It is sweet, after all! I've made a homemade lemonade with a basil simple syrup before (yum!!), and I put basil in that strawberry and lemon soda I made back in June. Lemon and basil just pair very well together. So this sounded interesting! Plus, I never knew I liked shortbread quite as much until I tried these! Hmm... could it be all the butter it calls for to achieve that crisp, rich texture? :)
Once again, my food processor worked like a dream to make this dough. I use that machine for ALL pastries or doughs anymore that require "cutting in butter" or shortening. They turned out delicious!

I mentioned that on Saturday we had our friends over for dinner. I didn't take pictures (I always feel a little weird taking pictures of food in front of guests... they'd probably think 'Jeesh, Ashley, it wasn't that good!'), but we had steak on the grill, twice baked potatoes, kale avocado salad, corn on the cob and strawberry shortcake.

Then Sunday, we had pizza for Craig's dad's birthday.

So, on Monday, I used one of my zucchinis to make these Summer Tuna Cakes. The recipe is somewhere back on my blog, but basically you could just shred a zucchini and pat dry as best you can and add it to your favorite tuna patty recipe.

On Tuesday, I used more of our CSA broccoli and this week's radishes to serve a simple garden salad along side our main dish.

The main dish was a new recipe from our CSA newsletter: Leek & Zucchini Pasta... and it was delicious!

3 cups of Rotini pasta (I used whole wheat)

2 medium leeks, cleaned

1 medium zucchini, julienned (I julienned half and shredded half for a varied texture)
2 tbsp oil

1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup dry white wine, optional

1 tsp tarragon (I didn't have any, so I used a little thyme and a little Italian seasoning)

1/2 tsp salt

Discard, the stalky green part of leeks and slice the white part once lengthwise and then thinly crosswise. In a large frying pan, heat oil over med-high heat. Saute leeks, mushrooms and zucchini for 5 mins. Add wine and simmer another 5 mins. Stir in cream, tarragon and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer until slightly thickened. (All the veggies reduce quite a bit!) Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and serve with sauce over top.

Remember the pesto I made a couple weeks ago?

Well, on Wednesday, I served it in the form of Basil Pesto Pizza - another recipe from my newsletter and probably my favorite meal this week!

I made my own crust (with all white flour per Craig's pickiness), then topped it with pesto and layered on the suggested veggies, leaving out the kalamata olives in the recipe. The olives would have doomed any chances of acceptance this dish had at my table. ;) Though I may add them for myself next time. You could really use any veggies you like, but I followed the recipes suggestions for tomato, broccoli, sweet bell pepper and red onion. It only suggested a very little sprinkling of Parmesan but I added maybe a half cup of mozzarella as well. Just my preference. It was FANTASTIC! And the oil from the pesto really made the crust taste even better. Craig said it was my best crust ever!

On Thursday after work, I picked up the kids and my mom, along with my giant Le Creuset dish filled with ready-to-bake pasta and we drove to my grandparents home to take them dinner for grandma's belated birthday. (Craig was in Ann Arbor for a seminar that day and then he volunteered to do the grocery shopping that evening while I was gone.) Grandma spent a long weekend in Florida with my mom and Aunt Shirley over her birthday, so I called to set up a dinner date when she returned.

For dinner, I made a favorite recipe of mine from Williams-Sonoma called Baked Penne with Corn, Zucchini and Basil. I've made this lots of times and loved it every time. This was the first time I used corn fresh from the cob, though. (Before, I'd always just substituted frozen.) So I got to try out my handy dandy new Pampered Chef tool (from a party back in, like, December?) that shaves the corn kernels from the cobs. I know a knife is not really difficult but I do really like this tool and I thought it might be helpful for summer salads, salsas and such.

CSA tomatoes, onion and zucchini (plus a little extra purchased from the Farmers Market), fresh sweet corn, basil and oregano, Parmesan, mozzarella, and dried red pepper flake, salt & pepper.

Sauteed zucchini and corn.

The beginnings of a fresh "sauce" thickened with tomato paste and reduced with white wine.

Toss all together with cooked Penne and bake!

The red pepper flake makes the dish. Gives it a nice kick. This is not at all bland.

I also brought some fruit and my mom brought some corn muffins.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Friday was definitely a leftover day... along with lunches all weekend. Lots of food! Happy bellies!