Bountiful Harvest

"Hmmm, Mom. I don't know about this carrot from your garden. It's fine for me, but you and dad are going to starve! Is this really the only carrot you grew?"

And that's how my garden is going. I was so excited to have one this year, but quickly learned how much time they take, and mine was just a small plot! The weeds really 'grew like weeds' and I didn't take enough time to work on it. Maybe next year! Until then, thank you Onkel Willi (and anyone else willing) for sharing your produce and thank you to the growers at the farmer's market!

Dirt & Mosquitos

Claire and I ventured outstide on Friday. We don't often play outside (usually we just take walks). I know I need to take her out for fresh air and just to spend time in nature, and my excuse is a bad one - that we've got to lather up with sunscreen and that she'll get all dirty. I told you it was a back excuse! ;)

So like I said, on Friday, we 'played' outside in the grass. I plopped her down in the shade and started to pick weeds (there are a lot!). She took an interest in the rock bed next to her and began to bring them up to her mouth, one by one. Each time, I'd try to stop her. Inevitably though, she got a little dirt in her mouth. Then, I noticed a big monster mosquito on her nose. I swatted it away, but by this time I was rethinking playing outside.

Moral of the story:
We need to start going outside more often...a little dirt and mosquitos never hurt anyone!

Daddy Post!

You read the title correctly, its time for a post on the blog from Dad.

You (the reader) are about to be taken on a literal adventure, think of it like a flight - please observe the no-smoking sign and prepare to fasten your seatbelts

Strap in.

Where do I begin? I suppose I can summarize the events which have been going on in our lives over the last few days/weeks: Claire is now 11 months old, it is crazy to think that its been almost a year since she was dropped on our doorstep by a stork. A stork which was almost a week late (doesn't the stork association understand how "due-dates" work?) Actually, now that I think about it, that stork which dropped Claire on the doorstep looked a little bewildered, maybe he got lost and thats why Claire showed up almost a week late. Or maybe because of the slow economy the stork association had layoffs and were behind in their deliveries. It's a mystery, an unsolved mystery at that.

Either way, the little tyke showed up on August 1st, 2009. Which was really quite fortunate, because she got to be born in August, which everyone knows is the best month to be born in. Whats that reader? You didn't know August was the best month to be born in? Well, let me educate you.

August - also known as "Auguste" by a small part of southeastern France - is the month in which probably the most important people in history were born in. For example - Thomas Edison (guy who invented the glass, airless sphere with a small wire wound inside of it - aka, the light blub) was born in August.

Another great American icon - Hulk Hogan - was born on August 11. Wow. I dont know how you can even put into words how important this person is to America. I mean, the guy's theme song is "I am a real american." There's no argument to this fact. Here is the link to the song on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj7izIKF-Oo&feature=related

Also Kobe Bryant, probably one of the most dominat NBA players ever was born in August. Maybe you have heard of him, he just won another champoinship a few weeks ago.

So, what does this have to do with Claire? Everything. We have just learned that Claire will be a hybrid of Thomas Edison, Hulk Hogan and Kobe Bryant. So she will be an amazing athelete, incredibly smart (probably invent something, like world peace or something important) and if we are lucky, she will be a real american - just like Hulk Hogan.

Now on to other thoughts. I want you to think of a a key resource of the earth - water. It can be used for good - like hydration, boating, showering and in the winter - ice hockey. But it can also be a deadly foe. This is the water we encoutered a few weeks ago - the evil kind. Water invaded our basement and damaged our newly installed (2 years ago) finished basement flooring. It had to all be pulled up and is now in the process of being replaced by an experienced contractor - me.

Claire is moving, she is pretty quick too. She really enjoys crawling and anytime she can get close to an object taller than herself she stands up on it. She really likes to stand up and has gotten to the point of letting go and standing by herself without support for 30 seconds and longer. Lauren says she attempted to move a leg forward the other day and fell over. Wow, if she starts walking soon then I think measures will need to be taken to protect the house from Claire (or is it to protect Claire from the house? I am never sure).

We went home to Mason City over the weekend. It was the 4th of July, if you are not aware of what this holiday means, then maybe you need to watch the youtube link I posted a few lines above again (see hulk hogan section). What did we do? Well, if you are patient I will tell you.

The weekend consisted of visiting lots of relatives. Almost all of them. Laurens family from Germany (the motherland) was in town. They were over at Lauren's parents house on Sunday night for a great feast of pizza. What kind of pizza? All kinds. 5 different topping combinations, including, but not limited to, hawaiian, pepperoni, combo, and two other pizzas with veggies on them (one with white sauce). After the relatives departed for the night we watched the fireworks on TV.

This morning (Monday, July 5th) we watched the parade in Clear Lake. This is a grand parade, it lasts almost 2 hours. There were many excellent floats and plently of candy to go around. I even saw a few people I knew, including our friend Jeff who gave us a good helping of frutie tooties. After the parade we went to Lori's house in Clear Lake for some of the most american food you can find - thats right - KFC. After the feast we conversed, took a walk, and around 4pm we left for home. Its good to be back home, and I am not looking forward to work in the morning. But who really gets excited for work anyways? Santa Claus - thats who. His job is awesome, he works one day a year and they takes the other 364 days off for vacation to rest up for the next time he has to work.

I dont know how to post pictures, but I hope to amend this post with some.

I found this song the other day, I really enjoy it. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HoDRbZvOcM

98 cents

Blueberries, die blaubeeren, el arandano!




Whatever you call them, they're delicious! At 98 cents a pint, they're a steal. I came home last night with five pints. Yes, 5. Minutes later, four were in the fridge and one was rinsed and ready to eat. Matt asked me if it was really healthy to eat a whole pint, to which I replied "healthier than a pint of ice cream." 24 hours after purchase, there are two pints left.

Claire LOVES blueberries! For breakfast, we whipped up some blueberry pancakes. These were delicious. I love buttermilk pancakes, but these were a nice change. The orange juice in the recipe made them so sweet that they didn't need a thing - no butter, no syrup. I'd highly recommend trying the recipe! As you can see from the picture, we enjoyed them thoroughly. Claire's tongue, tooth, fingers, and parts of her legs were stained blue from all the blueberries.

She also had blueberries and 'Puffs' for a snack this afternoon. There was no monkey business during this meal (i.e. dropping food on the floor - opps!), blueberry after blueberry went straight into Claire's mouth. She, Sadie, and I finished another pint.

Blueberry Pancakes -http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=222282

Anniversary Date Night

Matt and I had a fabulous 4th anniversary last Thursday, June 24th. This last year together has brought so many changes. As all new parents, Matt and I have obviously had less time for just each other. However, I think that parenting together has deepened our relationship. Someone once said watching your husband as a father makes you fall deeper in love with him; I'd have to agree. (Matt would think this is too romantic, but what can I do!?) I praise God that he's blessed our marriage so abundantly!

We had a great evening out. Omi was in town and watched Claire while we went to try out a new restaurant. We told our server that we don't get out much (which we talked about changing - once every several months is not enough!) and that we'd be there a while. He graciously told us to stay as long as we'd like. The service he provided was excellent! We started with drinks. Matt had some sort of beer (I think from a local brewery) and I had champagne with raspberry liquer. Yum! We then ordered a cheese flight and charcuterie (meat plate...lol). After some great conversation, we put in our dinner order. Matt had a sandwich with pork tenderloin, proscuitto, and some other form of pork, and I ordered Canadian walleye with capers, with sides of roasted asparagus and ridiculously delicious whipped mashed potatoes. (I don't even want to know how much butter was in them!) We stayed at the restaurant for almost two hours. It was so fun and relaxing!

Tower of Yogurt

As I've posted before, Claire really likes to empty out Mama's cupboards. We decided to put all those yogurt containers to good use this past Tuesday evening while Daddy was gone. I knew there was a reason we've washed and saved them all - they're a cheap toy! I took a video for him so that he didn't miss out. :)

A few details to notice:

1. Claire looks back at me before she knocks the tower over. As I was building it, she kept trying to get at it and I kept telling her "not yet." So either A. - she's a good girl looking for Mommy's approval before she knocks it over OR B. - she's being a little stinker and seeing my reaction to her about to knock it over. You decide.


2. These yogurt cups are rolling back to her. I keep asking her if she can knock over the other tower that's still standing, but she knows what happens with tower - they fall over. The yogurt cups, however, she's intrigued by. Her prior experience tells her that usuallly things don't roll back to you when you roll them away. These cups are different. Smart girl. ;)
   
3. The cute little curls on the back of Claire's head.
   
4. Bonus Points: What flavor of yogurt do I eat most often? ;)

Ok, Plan B. The video is too large to post. So here are a few pictures instead - two before and one after.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye...

Like a big pizza pie, that's amore!



Claire is quite the little helper in the kitchen. She likes to crawl around, stand up holding on to my legs, and clean out the cupboards while I'm cooking or cleaning up. Luckily she's still okay with just the tupperware cupboard. If she opens another one, I just pick her up and move her over to the approved cupboard. I know this will not always be the case when her curiosity gets the best of her.



Last Thursday, she helped Mommy make pizza. I have this delicious and simple recipe for Whole Wheat Pizza Dough from scratch. We topped one side with pepperoni and mozzerella and the other with fresh baby bella mushrooms, zucchini, and feta! Can you guess which side was for Claire and I and which side was for Daddy? :)




As we were ready to put the pizza in the oven, the chef and sous chef wanted a picture. As you can see, the sous chef decided to stick her little tootsies in the pizza because the texture just looked too good not to feel! (This first picture is actually a reenactment, we weren't fast enough to capture it on film the first time!)




Of course all good chefs and sous chefs check up on their dish while it's baking! Be sure not to open the oven door and let the heat escape if you don't need to though. :)




We really enjoyed this meal! (So much so in fact that we made pizza again on the weekend.) As you can see, Claire prefers her pizza over even the grapes on her tray. You might also note the cup without the sippy lid. She's getting good at drinking from a cup, although sometimes she has a little trouble with the flow, so we only fill it a little bit for each drink. She'll also take anything that resembles a cup (like a plastic yogurt container) and 'drink' out of it while she's playing! So fun! :)