Pretend play

Ben & Maddie have been doing a lot more pretend play lately (which is fabulous!). On Sunday Ben asked me to take out the closet (where I hide the extra toys), the "pizza set." Somehow he had remembered the Melissa & Doug wooden pizza set that they haven't played with in months and months! So I took it out, along with the other wooden play food. The two of them went crazy, "cooking" and then setting up their little table with food, plates and tea and then sitting down together to eat. It was one of the most civilized things I've seen them do in awhile!

This morning they wanted to do that even before TV, which is unheard of! So I got a few pictures...

From 2011-10-25

From 2011-10-25

From 2011-10-25

The latest words....

Ben and Maddie are talking up a storm these days and the funny things that come out are endless. Unfortunately, I'm not doing such a good job documenting them. But I'm going to try harder!

The latest comes from Maddie. When one of us tells her that she can't do something, she goes running to the other parent (who might be just a couple feet away and within earshot of the original "no") and she puts on this whiny voice and says, "Mommy says...." and repeats whatever the first parent said.

So for example, the other day I was home from work and I thought it would be fun to take them to a drop-in ECFE class that we've been wanting to try. So I was telling them that we were going to go to school, and they were both so excited. Then I remembered that it was MEA week and thought I better check the schedule -- and of course, all classes were cancelled this week. So I had to tell Maddie, "school is closed. we can't go."

Jamey was sitting right there and Maddie turned to him and said, "Mommy says school is closed. We can't go," with her full pout face on and the saddest eyes ever!

It's pretty dang hard to not laugh when she does this. It's just too cute!

Pumpkin muffins

These are the most delicious (and easy!) muffins. I tweaked by adding brown sugar and cinnamon on the top before baking.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/easy-pumpkin-muffins/detail.aspx

Goodbye to Lindsey

Today we went to Hastings to join the Beissel family say another goodbye to Lindsey, who is heading to Dubai to teach English.

The kids had fun, including playing in the leaves with Lindsey:

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-08

Before we left I took a couple pictures of Ben, including this one where he was hugging his lovey:

From 2011-10-08

From 2011-10-08

Girls and kids weekend

Jamey was at the cabin this past weekend for his semi-annual "man weekend" -- this time to take out the dock and boat. This might be the last year of taking out this particular dock, though. The wooden structure, built by my father, is hitting the end of its life. It either needs a major remodeling or a replacement. We're leaning toward replacing it with an aluminum roll-in dock that would require much, much less maintenance. The trick is coming up with the money to buy it!

I stayed home with the kids and our friend Sonya and her daughter Clara came and stayed with us all day Saturday, Saturday night and half of Sunday. The highlight was going to Aamodt's Apple Farm in Stillwater on Sunday morning. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and there were so many things to do.

They have a tractor/trike area (John Deere trikes and ride-on "tractors") for little kids. Then there was the "train" like ride behind a tractor. They have little "cars" made out of metal barrels that are all hooked together and pulled behind a tractor. Then there was a hay ride behind an even bigger tractor. And the hay maze (a very simple one) designed for kids. I think the three kids ran around in there 8 or 9 times. They lost Ben one time, though, and I had to go hunting for him. Luckily he wasn't upset!

We bought apples and had a picnic lunch, and by noon the kids were pretty much wiped out. Ben and Maddie were so wound up, though, that they had a hard time falling asleep for nap!

Sorry no pictures. I didn't feel like hauling the big camera around and it was all I could manage to keep my two kids in my sights.

Kids' sneaky chili

Tonight I experimented by merging a couple different recipes to make chili that might appeal to the kids. Both of them ate it! Ben, especially gobbled it down.
I used a variety of beans (basically what I had in the house); you could probably use just about any beans. This has 1 more can of beans than usual, so it's less soup and more casserole -- which is easier for little ones to eat.

Here's the recipe:

2 pounds ground beef
1 can black beans
1 can mild chili beans
1 can great northern beans
2 cans stewed tomatoes (DelMonte "regular")
chopped yellow onion (or onion powder)
garlic salt
pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 package McCormick chili seasoning (regular)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
6 to 8 tablespoons green puree (sneaky chef cookbook)

Brown 2 pounds of ground beef and onion (unless using onion powder)
Drain off fat
Add garlic salt, pepper (and if necessary, onion powder)
Transfer to soup pot
Add remaining ingredients and stir
Cook over medium low heat for 50 minutes or longer, then allow to simmer

Optional serving ideas: serve over brown rice and/or with shredded cheese


Green Puree recipe (can make ahead and freeze into portions)
3 tbs Water (3 Tbs)
1 cup Peas, Green Frozen
2 cups broccoli florets
2 Cups Spinach Leaves, Raw
To prepare in the microwave:
1. Place the broccoli and spinach in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with water, and microwave on high for 8 to 10 minutes, until very tender.
2. Add peas for last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain.
3. Place the vegetables in the bowl of your food processor along with 2 tablespoons of water.
4. Puree on high until as smooth as possible. Stop occasionally to push the contents to the bottom.
5. If necessary, use another tablespoon of water to smooth out the puree.

Haircut day=picture day!

Ben & Maddie both got haircuts today, so we prodded them into some pictures. Pretty darn tough to get them together in one shot, but Jamey managed to do it:

From 2011-09-08

From 2011-09-08

From 2011-09-08

From 2011-09-08

From 2011-09-08

Labor Day weekend 2011

Here are some misc pics from this weekend:

From 2011-09-05

Watching the fire in the fire pit:

From 2011-09-05

From 2011-09-05

From 2011-09-05

From 2011-09-05

We've got wheels!

I came across a garage sale in Spooner yesterdays and saw this Power Wheels jeep out there. Bargained her down a bit since it's very much on the "used" side. But the kids don't notice one bit. It'll be great for them to ride around here at the cabin next summer. Right now, they barely have the pedal figured out. Haven't yet mastered steering.

Labor Day weekend already?!

How is it possible that it's the end of summer? It seems like Memorial Day was just a couple weeks ago. Wow.

The weather has turned colder at the cabin -- not exactly swimming weather anymore -- but the mosquitoes are still enjoying a banner summer feasting on all of us. It's been brutal being outside the last few weeks.

We came up last night and today we had a low-key morning, then spent the afternoon (after nap) with our friends, Sonya, Kevin and their daughter Clara.

I got a few pictures of them dancing to "Teenage Dream" (Maddie's favorite song) as it played on the iPad tonight....

Here's Maddie's "signature" dance move:

From 2011-09-03

From 2011-09-03

Ben wasn't much into dancing. He was eating a snack and here he's petting one of the dogs..

From 2011-09-03

Maddie and Clara took turns wearing the can coolers on their arms:

From 2011-09-03

From 2011-09-03

From 2011-09-03

From 2011-09-03