Pumpkin Scones for My Camden

It has been cold and rainy this weekend, Steve is at drill, and the boys and I are hunkered down here at home, as Camden has been running a fever for three days now, poor boy. Times like these make me want to be in the kitchen, making food for my boys. Camden hasn't had much of an appetite, but I thought I would make some pumpkin scones for him in hopes of getting him to eat something. Pumpkin scones are his favorite, and we use to be able to get them year-round at Starbucks, until sometime last year, when the powers that be decided they would be a seasonal item. That, along with the fact that they aren't cheap, prompted me to attempt to whip some up that he would like just as much. I have made scones many times before, and it always bugs me how they spread all over the place and sometimes come out in weird shapes. I have always wanted a Nordicware scone pan, but they are too pricey for me. Imagine my luck the other day when I found one at my local thrift store. The price? $2.65 - - much more to my liking than the $39.99 retail price. Score! I give the pan 5 stars...the scones came out perfectly, and they came out of the pan easily. The recipe I used came from Taste of Home, and can be found here.

Autumn

It has been quite some time since I have been here. I hinted (ad-nauseum) that I had lost interest in writing here, and I had - - it didn't feel like fun anymore. The whole reason I started writing this blog was to chronicle our every day life so I would be able to look back and remember all of those moments that get lost in the shuffle of time. I have been missing that, so, for myself, I am going to try again. Life has continued to get busier and busier, the older the boys get, and sometimes it seems as though it is hard to remember much of anything!

October was a rough month for us, from start to finish. I love Halloween but I have to say that I was quite happy to see the month come to a close. We are starting November in style, with fever and sore throats! Camden is spending today "laying low" and I am hopeful that by tomorrow he will be back to feeling well. I have been fighting some sort of cold all week that refuses to amount to much of anything, other than being annoying. This morning, Griffin is saying his throat hurts as well. Hmmm.

I am having a bunch of trouble with Blogger this morning, but I really don't know if it is Blogger, or the laptop I am borrowing...it is very, very slow. Anyway I had typed up a good three paragraphs, which promptly disappeared, so I will have to save that for another day. Bummer.

Scout is new to our family since joining us as a 6-week old puppy in July. She is a handful, but I am confident that once she is an adult, she will calm down and be a great pup. We are already noticing her mellowing out a little. "A little" being the key words there.

Smoothie Experimentation

This weekend has been a bit of a bust. Steve returned from Cambodia Friday evening - - we were so happy to see him! Unfortunately, he had to get up at 4:00 the next morning, and leave for drill weekend (about 3.5 hours from home). Also, I woke up in the middle of the night, running a fever and experiencing chills and body aches...ugh! It seems that the horrid cold/virus that has been going around finally caught up with me. Of course it happens on a drill weekend! Luckily, my boys are awesome, and they have been very good for me. Camden tends to worry when I am sick, so I have to try to act completely normal, even if I just want to suck my thumb and whimper. I can tell you that it was a challenge, yesterday! So here we are on day two, and with any luck, Steve will be home in about 8 hours. Hooray!

 

I have not felt like eating much the last couple of days, so smoothies seemed like the perfect solution. I had been dabbling in them a bit, before getting sick, after reading this post on my friend Jen's blog, and also just from a nutritional standpoint. I have had some significant digestive issues for the past few years, which were complicated a little more when I had my gallbladder removed a couple of years ago. Anyway, fruits and veggies are particularly difficult, so I rarely eat them. I was recently reflecting on my diet and kind of realized that it lacks nutritional value for the most part, and I need to figure that out. I did a bunch of reading and found that blended fruits and veggies might be a way to get what I need, so I have been trying out some smoothies.

 

I was inspired by Jen's green smoothie, but was a little afraid of the spinach. Not because of the flavor, but because roughage and I do not get along. At all. Anyway, the green smoothie I made contained frozen pineapple, frozen mango, frozen banana, a bit of vanilla soy milk, a dab of vanilla extract, a drizzle of agave nectar, and frozen spinach. I Googled frozen vs. fresh spinach and found that frozen is just fine to use. Plus, it costs less and I don't have to worry about it going bad. This smoothie was absolutely delicious.

 

This is my smoothie from this morning - - frozen organic strawberries, frozen banana, vanilla soy milk, and a couple of heaping spoonfuls of vanilla Greek yogurt. This is definitely my favorite right now.

 

I have also tried a peanut butter, banana, and soy milk smoothie. If you like peanut butter and banana, you will like it. The flavor is very mild. I think next time I will substitute some of the soy milk with Greek yogurt for a thicker result.

 

Does anyone else drink smoothies? What are your favorite combinations?

Time Warp

Roy has recently taken to getting himself up onto the roof of our house, and then claiming that he has no idea how to get back down. Here, he can be seen sticking his tongue out at me, when I told him he was on his own.

It has been a long time, and a lot has happened. I would love to catch up, but I wouldn't even know where to start. The school year has ended and I think the boys and I have been breathing a sigh of relief for the past week. Maybe it has been mostly me. This past school year was very challenging for me, as a mom. The pace was frenetic at times, and it was fraught with many obstacles. I am proud of my boys. They both faced some tough times this year, but they came out better for them. They also racked up a lot of accomplishments. They are both wonderful students and hard workers. I love them both more than life itself and as hard as the past few months have been, I would do it a million times over.

Steve has been in Cambodia for the past few weeks and will be back in Idaho tomorrow. We are all missing him and wanting him back home with us.

We recently lost one of our chickens. Stella died very suddenly one morning, and I suppose we will never know what happened/why she died. We have added two new girls to our flock - - Lucy and Lola are approximately 14 weeks old, and are currently finding their place. My older hens are pretty docile, but are still keeping the younger girls on a short leash.

Our bunny is doing great. I just love her. When she moved in with us, her cage sat in our living room so that she could get use to the sounds of our house and of our voices. That was over three months ago, and she is still in the living room. Kiara is a very social bunny, and I think we are afraid she will be too lonely anywhere else. Even Steve, who doesn't really possess that warm-and-fuzzy gene when it comes to animals, has said as much. I can also report that Kiara has a strange affinity for Steve. Why is it that animals are drawn to the person who could take them or leave them? I don't get it! 

Lots of fun things happening for us this summer. 4-H camps, swimming lessons, the Cherry Festival, the Gem County Fair, among other things. I am happy to have my boys home with me. Here's to summer!

Saturday - 9:44 a.m.

 

Workout complete and second cup of coffee in the works

Sorted laundry waiting to be washed

Girls squawking in the yard

This one is under the weather

 



This one is busy, cashing in his allotted video game time

 

And this one is busy looking cute, because she cannot help herself.

Kiara the Bunny

 

Most of you know by now that Kiara the Bunny joined our family back on February 15th. She arrived in grand style via courier, traveling from her former home in Los Angeles, California, to our home here in Idaho. She belonged to a childhood friend of mine and his late wife, and she was clearly loved beyond measure. In my last post I kind of ranted against Facebook, but I do have to make note here, that Kiara and how she came to live with us is just one of the many blessings that Facebook has bestowed upon me. So, no, Facebook isn't all bad, is it?

 

I was told that Kiara is between 5 and 6 years old, so I would say she is probably elderly, for a bunny. She seems to think that she is a cat. She is extremely social and loves to be talked to. She is very tame, is easy to pick up, and loves to hop around the living room. She is litter box-trained, so she is a very clean girl. She does live in a cage, however, and she has a play pen that she spends most of her time in. We are still in the process of getting to know her, but we do know that she is a nice addition to the family, and we just love her. As you can see in the second picture, she is a pretty round, so we are working on getting a few pounds off her.

 

Roy and Smokey still do not know what they think about her. I think she would like them to play with her, but Roy is mostly scared of her, and Smokey is a little more curious than I'd like her to be. I think they are all just trying to get to know each other.

 

 I feel really lucky that my friend entrusted her to me. I really hope we are caring for her in the way that he hoped we would. We sure do love her!

Facebook Killed My Blog

It finally dawned on me the other day that Facebook killed my blog. I am constantly wondering why I don't write here like I use to, and I really think that is a big reason why. Facebook is quick, easy, and convenient, while sitting down to organize my thoughts isn't. Also, when I post something to Facebook, I feel silly coming here and talking about the same thing.

The thing is, I started this blog for myself, a long time ago, before Griffin was even born. It was a great way for me to keep track of memories. I love to look back on old posts I wrote - - a lot of it I already have forgotten about.

I have been feeling really conflicted about Facebook lately. I am pretty sure I won't be deleting my account, but I am going to be making a concerted effort to spend less time there. I think as a stay-at-home mom, it has been an easy way for me to feel "connected" to the outside world, especially when the days get long and the weather makes life isolating. But, how connected are we really, on Facebook? I love seeing pictures that people post, and there are definitely certain people who always make me laugh. That part makes me happy. However, sometimes it all feels like a downer for a whole bunch of reasons. It has been feeling like that a lot lately.

I have missed a whole bunch of milestones over the past few months...no record of them because I didn't take the time to sit down here and write about them. So, less Facebooking, more Blogging.