My New Little Friend

Today I was doing some laundry outside.  I finally got this great new drying rack and I was hanging some clothes up to dry in the sunshine today.  (I SO miss the sunshine in the winter!)  To my left, by the fence, I noticed something moving.  He stopped, I stopped and we just stared at each other for awhile.  "Hey, Little Guy!" and then he was gone under the fence.  Evan saw him last year when he was mowing, and I've seen the hole in the ground that is his home, but I've never seen him around.

Two loads of laundry and room for a third!  I love this thing!

Caden's Post

I got sick at school and my mom is making me do crappy homework.  i would help the earth by picking up trash on the ground.

we make food instead of buying stuff without chemicals.

we grow food.

Caden and Abby in the driveway.

Mount Union Nature Center.

I have to make this a quick post today because I have lots of kid stuff going on.  I have Ellie's Kindergarten Music Program in 45 minutes and I just got home from Caden's 2nd grade field trip, but since it was so cool, I wanted to post it here before I forget.



We went to the Mount Union Nature Center last summer and hiked a few trails (aka got lost) but this field trip was really cool because it gave us a whole overview of the center.  We checked out the animals in the barn, went to the bird watching tower, saw turtles in the pond, pumped water from a well, maneuvered the labyrinth, and I nursed Olivia in the bird observation room and noticed all the little kid play things that wasn't really included on the tour for 2nd graders.  Last time we went I noticed that there are kits you can take from the Nature Center that have you doing little nature treasure hunt things.  My kids LOVE Nana treasure hunts so I'm sure they'd love this too.  I'll add a few pics from the trip too, but I just wanted to remind all you Stark Countians that this is a really cool  little nature get away close to home.

Outdoors!

Ahhh, springtime! We had such a nice weekend outside! Caden was mad of course because we pulled him away from the computer, but it was worth the complaining for the outside time he got.

Friday night we all went to a movie--at the drive-in! We got there an hour early and still had to park halfway back! The kids had never been before and it had been a LONG time since Evan and I had gone. We set up on our tumbling mat with blankets outside beside the car, but it was too hard to hear and it got chilly so we all ended up in the van--Evan, Ellie and Vince in the passenger's seat, Olivia and I in the driver's seat and Caden hovering between the two--good thing we have a van with all that seating!  All the kids made it the whole way through the movie (except Olivia) and had their fill of popcorn.  Not only was it fun, a little different and semi-outside, but it was WAY less expensive than taking them all to a traditional theater.  Plus, we got the added bonus of watching someone back into a car right before the movie started!  Take THAT stadium seating!

Camped out in front of the van before the movie started.

Recipe Friday:Linguine with Artichokes and Leeks

I made this one last night for dinner--so good!  It was really fast and came together easily.

Linguine with Artichokes and Leeks

Ingredients
1 lb dry linguine or fettuccine
2 medium leeks (white and light green parts only, rinsed)
2 12 oz jars artichoke hearts, packed in oil, drained
3 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
3 tsp salt (I only added 1 1/2)
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 C grated parmesan (omit to make this a plant-based meal)

Cook the past according to the package directions.  Meanwhile, half the leeks, rinse well and slice into 1/2 in pieces.  Saute the leeks in the olive oil over medium-low heat until they're tender, but not brown. Remove leeks from pan and set aside.  Roughly chop the artichoke hearts and add to the pan, sauté for about 3 minutes.  Return the leeks to the pan, add the remaining ingredients and toss with the pasta.  Serve warm.

Bonus Recipe Day: Peanut Noodles With Broccoli

I've been reading a lot of cook books, and last week and of course I'm reading Michael Pollan's Cooked! so I have food on the brain.  I made this quick dish last Saturday when we were putting down mulch.  The kids liked it because of the "fun" rice noodles.  I added steak for Evan to make it a meat dish, but as it is, it's a fast and easy plant-based meal. Make sure you mince the ginger very fine--poor Vince hit a piece that I didn't mince too well and it was a little spicy.  I got this recipe from the Forks Over Knives Cookbook.  Ironically, it's the cookbook that I checked out from the library that earned me a free pizza!

The 100 Challenge

As I said before, I've been going to our library a lot.  It's becoming a Monday thing.  After I get everything done here at home (right!) we head over to the library in the afternoon to return and check out new stuff.  It sounds pleasant, but I need to get a new routine.  I somehow manage to pick the time when both kids fall asleep in the car.  Olivia never does get a good afternoon nap and Vince wakes up angry, hating the library and me.  I'm still going to do it though.  It's good for him and the few embarrassing screaming kid is worth the library time.  Our library (which is the North Canton Public Library.  I get this "our library" thing from my mom, who used to work in the Children's department and still refers to the library as "work" even though she's been retired for over 3 years.)  is having an Explore The World thing (for lack of a better word--really any other word would have been better, but I just found Olivia chewing on an orange marker so I'm a little frazzled writing this).  Each month the library explores the world of...something different.