scalloped potatoes and ham...

When my brother M, his wife A, and my dad were here last week (different blog post on that later =), I asked Dad if he would make his famous/infamous (??) scalloped potatoes and ham. Now, it is the Betty Crocker recipe (with ham added), but my dad has a special touch that always makes it turn out better than anyone else who tries to make it. I have many fond memories as a child of helping my dad make this (and he would be cruel and make us 1 1/3 the recipe sometimes just so we could practice our math) in our kitchen. This is a labor intensive recipe and Dad can make this easily by himself, but it works so much better if a lot of people help. So all of us chipped in to help Dad out last week.

A favorite non-family blog of mine to follow and read is called Pioneer Woman. I won't go into everything on her blog right now, but one of the sections on her blog is about cooking and she takes detailed pictures of each step of the recipe which makes it very easy to follow. So since I had taken pictures while we were making the scalloped potatoes and ham with Dad, I thought I would do a picture how to post showing our fun.

How to make Dad's Scalloped Potatoes and Ham:

Put ingredients for white sauce in pot and stir stir stir...
(M always enjoyed this enthralling job)

Peel a bunch of potatoes
(I had forgotton to take a picture of this so A is actually posing! =)

Cube up a bunch of ham
(this is a great all natural ham from Costco that they only carry around Easter and Christmas)

Someone has to hold the fussy baby!
(S is either not sure why C is fussing or why that is his job! =)

Slice up the bunch of peeled potatoes
(Dad is super good at doing this evenly and quickly - it takes me way too long and the slices are never even and I always manage to almost cut my fingers off so he stopped letting me help do this part)

Slice up a bunch of onions
(do NOT add the clementines to the pot!)

Watch intently as a 3 yr old shows you how to layer everything in the pot...except the uber hot white sauce - an adult should do that
(G loves this part and fortunately she is 3 so she fits the bill for this job)

Save some nice big potato slices for the top layer
(ooooh, look at that potatoey, hammy, oniony goodness!)

Put in oven and watch bake for a while
(shh, don't tell, but this is actually a picture of all of them watching bunny cookies bake, not the scalloped potatoes and ham!)

Make way for the clean-up crew!
(and you really need to get out of the way, W is dangerous with a broom!)

And then enjoy!
(no pictures were taken of that because we were too busy stuffing our faces! =)

Baby C...2 months

Can you believe it? Our tiny Baby C is over 2 months old already. I sure can't! Time just flies. Everyone tells you that, and we even know that being that we have 2 older ones, but still, our little one is growing up way too fast. C is such a good baby though - God certainly knew we needed that! What a blessing, and a true joy in our lives. So here's the update on the little man:

Baby C at 2 months...

...weighs in at 14lbs 2 oz (97th percentile)
...is 24 1/4 inches tall (90th percentile)
...is still bald, but what a handsome little guy! =)

...is outgrowing his bassinet

...loves to be held while sleeping (thankfully loves his baby carriers too so momma can get something done!)

...smiles and coos and loves to watch his big sister and big brother

...loves his bouncy seat

...does not like his swing

...even though the jury may still be out on this one, we think he looks a lot like W

...acts like him too! =)

...is loved so much by his momma, dadda, big sister G and big brother W!

some catch-up...

This is some catch-up on some of the things we did the end of February and some pics to go with it.

On a Saturday S had off, after W woke up from his nap we took off for an afternoon evening out. We went to the Eastman Nature Center which is a great little nature center in the middle of the Elm Creek Park Reserve about a half hour away from us (We had told G where we were going, so when we pulled into the parking lot, she asked "Where's the nature?" Funny, since we were surrounded by trees! I think she meant "nature center." =). It has some neat interactive exhibits as well as a great kids corner with all sorts of fun nature play toys and animals. It also has live frogs, turtles and snakes (yeah, I made S look at the snakes with the kids as I have a great fear of them!), which G & W just loved. They were also doing a deer watch program while we were there and we got to observe about 8 of them pretty up close to the building. After this, we continued on to Maple Grove where we survived the first time eating out with all 3 kids at Panera. It actually went remarkably well! Shoe shopping for little W did not go as well as we left the store with all 3 kids crying, but we did get shoes at least! All in all it was a great outing for all of us.

G & W looking at a turtle

"How big is your wingspan??"

Some of the deer that came to eat the corn by the building.

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S and G have been reading Charlotte's Web together. I found this book for a quarter on a garage sale so it was on the bookshelf, and G took it down a couple weeks ago and asked S what it was about and if they could read it. S said sure completely thinking that she would lose interest 2 pages in, but she lasted a whole chapter and asked him to read another! What a big girl!

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Hee hee! This picture is my favorite! W is nursing a babydoll! I am nursing baby C a lot during the day, and G likes to do everything that momma does so she often sits and nurses a babydoll too. Well, W likes to do everything that G and momma do so here ya go! =) G emphatically informed him that "Boys can't nurse!!!" but I told them that he could sure pretend to.

~~~

Gma B had been up to help us out a couple of days. The kids had a lot of fun, we got a number of things done, and momma got a couple of naps in too which was wonderful. Thanks Gma B!

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We had a nice day towards the end of February so we all bundled up and went outside for a while!

.ceb. .photography.

Auntie C came and took some pictures of the kids last month that I am finally getting around to posting. Beautiful photography. Beautiful kids (I know we are biased, but look at them! =). I am so happy she does this for us - thank you auntie C!

CTB - 5 weeks old
WJB - 20 months old
GAB - 3 1/2 years old
(picture at the end of all 3 was a good as we could get of them together!)

grandma quilt

My Gma K is incredibly talented. She is especially talented in quilting, sewing, knitting and crocheting. Growing up, we would receive Christmas presents from her and they would most always be something made by her - an ornament, a blanket, a sweater or dress. I loved all the things we got from her and cherish those that I still have to this day, but none are more special than the quilts and blankets we received (and I am sure my brothers and cousins would agree!), which we called grandma quilts. My favorite being my ballerina quilt that was used until it was worn thin! I still have it though, and look forward to giving it to G when she is a little older.

After S and I got married, we lived in married student housing that was poorly built. It was on a northern windy corner too so with the midwestern winters we needed a better blanket on our bed than the super worn one that was on my bed in 8th grade! We found a couple of good flat sheets and asked Gma if she would tie us a quilt with them. She of course was more than happy too and put a double batting in the quilt so it was extra cozy for us! And oh it is such a cozy grandma quilt! On cold days that we would hit the alarm clock for an extra snooze or two and just snuggle in the warmth under the quilt, we would kiddingly blame the grandma quilt for making us late to work or school!

Fast-forward 6 years and 2 kids plus one on the way later. We needed a new bed and were able to purchase a bigger sized one to hold us and kids when necessary, and our gma quilt still worked, but was small for our bigger bed, especially on the nights when the little ones were in the bed with us. I started to look for flat sheets that I liked to ask Gma to make us another tie quilt, but I wasn't able to find anything. Then after talking to Gma, she offered to piece a quilt top for us if we found material that we liked, then tie it! I was so excited! Unfortunately, our local quilt shop was closing. Fortunately they had an extreme sale on their fabric and I was able to get a lot of fabric for the quilt at a great price!

Gma K brought along our finished quilt when she came up to our house for Christmas this year. We have had my family Christmas by our place for the past few years and Gma has been able to come with my folks. It is so much fun to have her with at our place for Christmas, and I hope that we can continue that tradition in upcoming years! Gma likes to name all her quilts and ours is called "Nine by Nine."




I love my Gma K dearly. She is a beautiful, smart, strong, talented lady that loves the Lord and her family and I look up her to in so many ways. We love spending time with her when we can (which isn't often enough!), and enjoy being able to keep in contact through technology - gma being pretty saavy with her computer. Our kids call her "Nanna" and I love how they say it - when they see her or pictures of her and asked who that is, it isn't a calm reply of "Nanna", it is more a happy cheer of "NANNA!" And now Gma K has made each of our kids their own grandma quilt (or nanna quilt =) and they love them just like the rest of us love our grandma quilts.

I think one of the reasons that we love our grandma quilts so much is not just the quality of quilting or how beautiful they are, but because they were made by Gma K or Nanna and we know how much love went into making them and any other thing that she makes for us as well. I love telling people "my grandma made that" when asked about different things that we have that she has made, not only because we are proud of the items, but because we love Gma K so much and thoroughly enjoy having her handiwork around us.

Thank you so much, Gma, for our new grandma quilt. It is not only beautiful, it keeps us warm and cozy, and we think about you every time we look at it or snuggle underneath it. We love you so much!

gotta be pink

You know the problem with making homemade applesauce that is a wonderful shade of hot pink?

W thinks applesauce only comes in pink.

He refused and threw a fit when I gave him a fancy-dancy organic applesauce cup (which I thought was a treat). He kept crying "no applesauce! no applesauce!" and when I took it away thinking he didn't want it, he would cry and ask for applesauce! I thought I was going crazy until I took out the homemade stuff from the fridge and he got a huge smile on his face through his tears and points and shouts "APPLESAUCE!" So he wasn't telling me he didn't want applesauce, he was telling me the fancy white stuff I was trying to feed him was NOT applesauce.