Hunting 2011

Okay, I just got super frustrated. I ALMOST finished this post, Live Writer crashed, and nothing was saved. So irritating. I sat down to try and re-type what I had written, found that to be too irritating, so this time I will be doing the short version. And saving periodically. Here it is:

Justin hunts. His family hunts. He goes hunting with his family. I used to go. I had a baby. Now I don’t. No bed. No showers. Fear of no sleep for baby. Justin calls me a baby. Decided to go. Had dream of bear mauling. Got scared. Went anyway. Thad loved it. Slept great. Justin right. Shoot.

Notice that there are no pictures of me. That is because I didn’t shower all weekend. Not my finest hour. No one saw any shootable bucks while we were there, but after we went home, Justin’s uncle got a forked horn. Justin went back up the next weekend and got a nice 3x4, which got him about 35 lbs of meat when it was all cut up. Last time he got a buck, I was actually pregnant with Thad. I helped him cut it up, and in the process realized that there were ticks all over the dear, one of which had crawled on to my shirt. This year, I took a pass on Lyme Disease and let my sister help Justin instead. Anyway, Justin’s sister soon blew them all out of the water by getting her first buck, a big 4x5. Impressive.

Weekend Update

We’re in the throes of fall. I love it! Could do with a little more rain, but the 50-60 degree temps are treating me right. College football is in full swing, and by far my favorite sport to watch. For the last 3 years we have gotten season tickets for the Oregon Ducks (Go Ducks!). This weekend is an away game, as well as my father-in-law’s 60th birthday. I have to say that while I enjoy going to games, which is a super fun atmosphere and experience, I also love away games that I watch from the comfort of my own home. In part, because of the FOOD!

The in-laws are coming up for the weekend, and Justin will BBQ a delicious pork-rib dinner for the birthday boy. I will also be baking him a chocolate cake, as well as preparing yet-to-be-determined side dishes for dinner. Likely some version of potatoes, bread and salad. He’s old…he likes the classics :)

Since we will have people over for FIL’s birthday, as well as the football game, I am planning on making snack foods as well. Some fun items on my food agenda include a few Halloween-specific desserts:

These Candy Corn Sugar Cookies look delicious and easy, you just make the dough, separate into 3 bowls and add food coloring to 2, smash it into a bread pan, chill it and slice it. Bam. Cute.

I will be making these Mini Caramel Apples. I LOVE caramel apples, but my biggest issue with them is too much apple, not enough caramel. (Yes, I realize I’m not 12, but really, how often do you eat a caramel apple, might as well enjoy it). I am going to do a couple of variations of theses. I have caramel candies to dip in, and also some Reses peanut butter chips. I’ll then dip that delicious concoction into mini chocolate chips, crushed peanuts or sprinkles.

I even have a black girl living in my house to eat the Mini Caramel Apples. (Not the one in the picture, a different one). But that’s another story. I also need to get a melon baller for the apples, as I have been told that my Pampered Chef cookie scooper is not sharp enough to go through an apple, and that I will break it if I even try.

I was also planning to make Jalapeno Pepperjack Scones again, but I am re-thinking the Jalapeno use, and I think I am going to make these Poppers instead. I actually prefer the scones, but will do the poppers since they seem to please the masses at football games.

Maybe if I am a super awesome person, I will document my cooking endeavors with a picture. Don’t hold your breath.

House Update

The last 2 summers, Justin worked his hiney off finishing everything in our backyard. The nice part of that is that we spent a lot of time outside. This summer he mostly worked on in-house projects. Painting most of the interior, new floors, and new molding. The result is awesome, but we both feel like we didn’t really do a lot outside this summer, and now our chance is gone! Not everything is finished completely, he still has a little trim painting to do, and we have really haven’t hung anything back up on the walls yet, but for the most part, all the big stuff is done. My biggest issue with this house has always been the nasty, nasty floors. Linoleum in the kitchen, dirty carpet from the front door to the back door…all of which now lives at the dump.

Front Room:

 

Family Room:

Kitchen:

Like I said, everything is not done yet. A few pieces of furniture need to be purchased. We are going to get a computer hutch for the front room, which will go on the wall across from the couch. Those 70’s-tastic bar stools need to be traded out for something a little more up to date. But, everything is at least clean and functional at this point. So even though a lot of the summer was spent indoors, totally worth it.

Thaddeus Lee Crossland, 18 months

Where, oh where, does the time go? Summer has flown by, all of a sudden it is gray and raining outside, and my baby is a walking and talking little boy. Probably about time to post an update on life.

So as of September 30, Thad is a year and a half old. We don’t go in for his checkup until next Wednesday, so I’m not sure on his stats yet. I’m going to throw out a guess that he is about 29lbs and 2 ft, 9in tall. We’ll see how close I am.

He walks (obviously), forward AND backward, he runs, he attempts to jump (and gets zero air). He can make a plethora of animal noises: Moo, oink (which is really a snort), baa, who who, hee haw, hisss, cock-a-doodle-doo, an elephant noise of some sort, etc. I asked Justin the other day how many words he though Thad knew, his guess was 20. Really, Justin? That’s way off. I would say more like 50-60. Maybe only 20 if you are talking about words other people would understand. (Assuming you wouldn’t recognize things like “coff-coff” as wash cloth, but come on people, that’s not that hard to figure out). He most definitely has mastered the word “no”, but will only nod his head for yes, he refuses to say the actual word.

He loves books, trains, cars, animals, chasing the cats, especially Penny who is always elusive, climbing, and anything to do with the computer. He throws some serious fits, yes, occasionally in public. Sometimes the fit includes hitting me in the face…not embarrassing at all. We are working on that. For the most part, he is a really good boy, who is very sweet and happy. He gives great kisses and hugs, his favorite is to hug mommy and daddy at the some time, an arm around each neck.

He is a great sleeper, bedtime starts at 7:30 with a bath, then PJs while daddy sings Old McDonald (“eee eye eee eye”) or Wheels on the Bus (“roun roun”). Then he and I sit in his chair and drink a cup of milk cuddled up with his blanket that he calls “B”. I always sing him You are My Sunshine, which I have sung him even from back in our nursing days. He sleeps until around 7:00 or so, usually through the night. Occasionally he wakes up and cries, but usually because he has wiggled out of his blanket, and just needs to be covered back up. He is officially down to one nap per day, usually around 11:00, and always between 2 and 3 hours.

He is eating big people food with the exception of pureed veggies still. Kid doesn’t have a ton of teeth yet, and has a hard time chewing some things, which doesn’t stop him from trying to swallow them whole, so I am hesitant to give him too many veggie chunks quite yet. He loves all types of fruit, cheese and bread. We have the hardest time with meat and his veggies, but in general, he is a good eater, no too many battles.

I still battle with the confidence of feeling like how I am handling him is the best way. Mostly noted during fits or times of ignoring what I am asking him to do. But, overall, I feel like we aren’t messing him up too bad. He gets a lot of love and attention and seems happy. I guess we’re doing ok.