Tuesday, March 19, 2013

In no particular order...

Arrrggg...
Gettin' some love from Christmas present 1: Summers' Family, lots o' use, I'm telling you!
 
and Christmas Present 2: Uncle Brett & Aunt Kim & Tyler...squish city!
 I luv me some carrots
 Quick, it's sorta warm...run to the park & play amidst the sprinkling water falling from the sky :)

The process of our Lacto-fermented salsa
 Kefir hanging in the dish towel for 24 hrs so the whey can drip out (same can be done with yogurt). Ohmyohmy, it made the most AMAZING cream cheese once all the whey had dripped out. I made 2 batches, one that was totally creamy, nothing added, mild flavored & one a little firmer, stronger flavor & then mixed it with chives. Both were a big hit! 
 Pretty colors. Imagine how it smells...
 Half a cup of whey is all that's need to activate the salt and lactic acid. Translation=no water bath canning, it has tons of good bacteria for the flora of your gut AND it lasts for 8 months+ in a cool location (all the sites I read said, "You'll KNOW when it's gone bad...")
See the bubbles? That's the good stuff at work :)

I had a "Crunchy Gals Night" at my house where we watched the documentary "Food Matters" & ate healthy food the ladies were kind enough to bring: homemade yogurt, chocolate cake (coconut sugar only!), sweet potato seasoned Kale chips (I wanted to eat them ALL! So much better than the olive oil/salt variety), pear/berry cobbler sweetened with maple syrup, my cheeses on Sourdough, chips/salsa. It was all food I could eat daily and still feel awesome--my kind of party! Why did I not take a picture, why?

 Tony felt inspired to have a campout. In our living room. In a tent. The boys wrote this agreement we all had to sign with a 'gray blood oath' (pencil) so we would know what things were and were not allowed and to hold us all accountable. For example, no lights could be turned on the entire night. Only candles. We had to have fun, cuddle, sleep well, and so on...it was a beautiful document. We made homemade grahams to put chocolate and bananas/pb on and we had an incredible shadow puppet show put on by the boys. Then we all tried to sleep. Tony & I snuck off to our beds around 6am since we took the sun's arrival as an official 'release' from our sworn duties.
 Friend Preston is now an 11 yr-old scout, but since his Dad is the boys' Webelos leader he was able to join in the festivities of the Blue & Gold for awhile. The boys were even kind enough to save him his desired kinds of cakes (of which there were many) once he had to scoot off to his activity.
 The fire cake.
 These 3 darlings come to my house every week for piano lessons while their Mom is at class and we have all sorts of fun. They were so kind in assisting me to the car with my 20 jugs...talk about expediting the process!
 The cutest assembly line you've ever seen...Jyson---not pictured :( brought the Sam's Club food in from the car & would put it on the table. Then Rhett would pick it up & carry it to Ari, who would then turn around & put it through the 'portal' window into the kitchen. They stuck it out the entire time!
Sunshine babies
 This picture just does not do it justice and the next few days it got so much worse...we have these solid wood benches at our table & they are pretty top-heavy. Ari pushed one & it landed on her foot. It was so sad! She sure got lots of lovin', but boy did it bruise up.
 After leaving my long-lasting little clover in Idaho when we moved 3 1/2 yrs ago, I decided St Patrick's Day was the perfect occasion to welcome one back into our home (& my only purchase for the shelf :). So many sweet flowers!
 This says it all.
 Green, white, and burlap. What could be happier?
 And this is what greets our guest in the little entry.
 Gotta love Pinterest and free printables.

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