Corn on the Cob

This is my favorite.

Every kid needs pictures of the first time they have corn on the cob right? James loved it. It took him a min. of watching mom and dad to see what exactly he was supposed to be doing, but then he caught on and was very pleased with himself and the corn.
Yesterday we went out to Mom and Dad's house to plant the garden. My yard is too shady to have a garden here, not that I haven't tried. I missed it so much that I begged M&D to till a plot out at the farm. It didn't take much since Dad is a little farm boy at heart and was pretty excited about it too. He works on that little garden plot all year round now picking up rocks and tilling in leaves etc. to ensure premium soil conditions. The deal is I promise to keep it weeded if they keep it watered. I win on this deal because every time I go out to weed Mom inevitably joins me out there and it only takes half the time. I am very lucky. This year Aaron and Meg will be here for the summer so there will be lots of happy hands to help. I even planted 9 brussels sprout plants just for my dear sweet brother. James is very excited about all this dirt to play in, for pictures you'll have to check out moms blog.

I recently got James some superman jammies on a garage sale for 20 cents. The cape is missing so I am going to make one for him. Its so cute, he doesn't even know who super man is but he loves them and you can tell he feels special in them. Just wait till we get the cape on him. :)

A Joyful Mother of Children

1Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
2Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.
3From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised.
4The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
5Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,
6Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth
7He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
8That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.
9He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD. Psalm 113

I have fallen in love with this Psalm. Recently a dear friend walked by me and said "you are a joyful mother of children". I knew that it was scripture but wasn't entirely familiar with the chapter, so I looked it up. I love it. It is so full of praise, just as our lives should be. When I look at my life and what the Lord has given me I almost overflow. This chapter is so full of God, its all about Him and how amazing He is. Praise! I wonder how many times the Bible uses that word?

Strawberry Pie

Ok I am shirking my many duties of the day for a minute. Last night I made the most awesome Strawberry pie ever. Its so, so much better than the traditional strawberry glaze pie. Its also very easy. Tim was in the mood to take pictures of me too so I guess that was a good thing because I think these are the first pics I have of me pregnant this time. How I managed to go eight months without having my picture taken is beyond me. I actually contemplated not posting the recipe so that it would be mine all mine but then I decided to be nice.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place a drip pan on lowest shelf to catch pie juices.
2. To Make Topping: In a medium bowl, mix until fluffy the 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup flour, butter, and nutmeg.
3. Place cleaned strawberries in a deep bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour, and cornstarch. Gently coat berries with this mixture; be careful not to crush berries.
4. Pour berries into prepared pie crust mounding them in the middle; mounding is necessary as the berries will sink as they bake. Cover berries with crumb topping and top crumbs with about 15 pea-sized blobs of butter. Wrap edges of pie crust with foil to prevent burning.
5. Bake pie in preheated oven for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and bake for an additional 40 minutes. When there are 10 minutes left of baking, sprinkle a little extra sugar over crumb topping and then finish baking.

This one is for Kryna

Potty Training

Last week I decided it was high time to start potty training James. He seemed to be ready so Mom brought over the potty chair that we three munchkins used and so it began. I am so proud of him, he started peeing in his big boy chair the very first day. It was pretty unpredictable for the first few days but now every time I take him he pees. He's even done #2 twice. I know, I know too much info but hey its big news here. He now sits on the big toilet because then he can see what is happening and flush the toilet himself. Apparently these are both big pluses. Today he told me twice that he needed to go. We have set a rewards system of three choc. chips for every time he goes potty in the big boy toilet more for # 2. Today he told me he needed to go then 5 min. later he wanted to go again so I set him up there again and he proceeded to squeeze out two drops and flush the toilet. He was very proud and ran to the kitchen for his choc. Hmmmm. It worked on me. :) Theres 9 weeks left till his sister's projected arrival, hopefully we will be pretty much done by then. If it keeps going this well I think we definitely will be.

"Aww Mom, Its embarrassing all these pictures."

Telling Daddy about what a big boy he is. This picture really brings fond memories of my little pink phone. (more on that later)

Fun In The Kitchen

Tim has a T-shirt that says "Fun in the kitchen with Betty Crocker". He got it because I love to cook and Betty Crocker was one of my nicknames at my first job (other than working for my parents) So today was fun in the kitchen with James. I have taken to pulling up a chair next to the counter and letting James stand on it and "help" whenever I am baking. He loves it. Unfortunately he shows little discretion when adding things to the batter. Also we are learning the concept that it is not a good idea to test the batter while the kitchen aid is mixing, no injuries yet. I even taught him the art of licking batter from utensils. At first he thought that they all needed to actually go into his mouth now he sticks his little tongue out and enjoys the doughy goodness. In the nursery at the church we attend on Sat. nights they have a Little Tykes kitchen set and apparently it is his favorite toy of all. They call him "miniature Rachael Ray" I'd hope for Martha Stewart but thats another subject entirely. Today we made Kryna's sugar cookies and I do recommend them.