Things I've Learned Today

Tomorrow we leave on vacation for 5 days. We will be staying 2 nights at the Geiser Grand Hotel in Baker City, Oregon and then we will drive to Idaho to visit our friends CJ and Cathy in Nampa.

While I was going about my day packing and getting ready for the trip, I discovered many things, all of which I will now share with you.

1. Even though you are careful not to eat the crust, you can still gain weight eating apple pie. Thanks Katy, it was worth it!
2. Yellow boots are not just for little boys to wear on rainy days. Apparently they also make good bowls from which you can eat Rice Crispies. And all this time I was using a bowl from the cupboards. Who knew? When asked about his boot-bowl, Zander replied "Mom, isn't it neat?"
3. It IS possible to pack your suitcases the night before.
4. When trying to compose a cute photo for Hayden's 1st birthday thank you cards, it is a good idea to use warm water.
5. Be patient when lighting the BBQ. There is a good chance you may loose all the hair on your forearm.
6. Burnt arm hair really stinks!
Talk to you when we get back!

Picture of the Day 8/28

Can you smell this?

Our wisteria are blooming for the third time since May and they are just beautiful! It grows up and around the back patio and makes a great shady spot to sit out of the summer sun. The fragrance is so yummy! Just thought I would share our little piece of heaven.

In a bit of a Pickle

Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers...
Today was pickle day for the Rieker family. Everyone met at Uncle Skip and Aunt Nancy's house in Canby to make the Rieker family pickle recipe. It was a fun experience for the whole family.

(Click picture to enlarge)

Prepping for pickles. Uncle Ken and Uncle David washed and sorted all the cucumbers and dill thoroughly while Aunt Mavis cut up garlic from Ken and Helen's garden.

Using the Rieker family recipe as a guide, Aunt Nancy and Aunt Helen carefully add just the right amount of spices to the canning jars. Everyone took turns packing the pickling cucumbers in. The kids enjoyed helping Grandma "flutter." After the cucumers were packed in tight, water is added, along with a grape leaf to ensure the brine covers the cucumbers turning them into pickles. We still have to agitate the jars for 3 days and let them sit for a month, but in the end we will have 15 jars of pickles! Sandwich anyone?

How'd ya like them Apples?

Today we spent the day at Dan's Uncle Skip and Aunt Nancy's house in Canby for the annual Rieker pickle party. To get the festivities going, we harvested apples for the organic, homemade apple cider. Yummy!

(Click photos to enlarge)
First the apples had to be washed, sorted and cut. If you look close, you can see the Willamette River behind me. Not a bad view on a sunny day!

Then the cut apples were put into the cider mill where we all got to turn the crank to make the pulp.

Next Uncle Skip put the pulp into the cider press and ooala...apple cider. The apple cider went into the blue bucket then it all got strained through the chessescloth. As you can see, Zander is already testing the first batch of cider. It was a hit!

Fabulous Food Friday

After having dinner at our friend's house last night, I was driving home at around 8:30 pm and all of a sudden it dawned on me - it's dark outside! It is that time of the summer when it gets dark earlier and earlier. It's also been considerably colder in the morning and evenings, so I guess summer is bidding us farewell for one more year.

In years past, when I have planted my vegetable garden, this is the time of year when the produce is still coming on strong. Usually if you have zucchini in your garden you have it coming out your ears and you have probably had your fair share of zucchini bread too. If you have zucchini piling up at your house and your neighbors are looking at you funny when you approach them with yet another zucchini in your hand, you may be wondering "what else are those little green squash are good for?" Keep reading.

Today is the first of what I hope to be a continued feature in my blog called Fabulous Food Friday. As a mother of 3 young children, I am always on the prowl for things to make for dinner that my kids will eat. The recipe that I am going to share today is not one of them! However, it is delicious and everyone I serve it to loves it. As infants, my kids loved it. I would serve it to them ground up in a baby food grinder, but as they grew older their palates changed and they developed a fondness for all things peanut butter and jelly.

So without further ado, here is the recipe:

Zucchini Bake
1 lg onion, finely chopped
3 cup zucchini, thinly sliced
3 T butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 t. salt
1/8 t pepper
1/2 t dry mustard
1 cup Swiss cheese, grated

Saute onion and zucchini in butter until soft. Combine remaining ingredietns. Place zucchini in a casserole dish and pour sauce over top. Sprinkle Swiss cheese on top and bake at 350 decrees for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Quick, I need some help!

Does anyone know what kind of glue to use to fix this. It is a little plate from Natalie's prized tea set. She is heartbroken and all I have is super glue. I think it is porcelain. Thanks for any advice.
Alyssa

Picture of the Day 8-25

No caption today, just commentary.

What were they thinking? I think the members of the Boring tourism dept. were on crack the day they came up with this slogan! "THE" most exciting place to be?

I'm no world traveler, but I have been all over North America, from Canada to Mexico and from Oregon to New York (hi Grandma!) and a few places in between and I can say without a doubt that there are many places more exciting than Boring. That said it is a GREAT place to raise a family and I am glad that it is a quiet little community...at least until the urban growth boundary changes!

Please Help Mama Cimino

Okay I have most of this blogging thing down, I just think I need a little help to make it a little more fun... How did you get pictures up and all the extra things?? Andrea

School News

Yesterday we got a call from Natalie's new school and found out that she is now in AM Kindergarten. We were on the waiting list all summer and I was just about to go down to her school and beg them to get her in. Not only will it be better for me, as Zander will be in pre-school two days a week this year, but it will be so great for Natalie too. She wouldn't know anyone in the PM class, however, two boys from her preschool as well as one of our new neighbor girls will be in the AM class. Also, Natalie has become friends with a sweet girl named Sarah, (who is friends with her best friend Skye) and Sarah will be in Natalie's class as well. Sarah and Natalie attended the same VBS this summer and were inseperable most of the time. Natalie is pretty shy, but Sarah seems to be just her speed. I was so excited to hear the news, I just had to share.

Now that school is just around the corner, I have been doing a lot of thinking. How on earth did my little girl grow up so fast? I have mixed feelings about her going into kindergarten. I am sad because if the next five years fly by as fast as the first five did, she will be 10 in no time at all. That said, I am excited for her to experience and learn so many things. I would have loved to homeschool our kids, but this summer has taught me that I just don't have the patience. Last summer I spent time with the kids (before Hayden was born) teaching them all kinds of stuff and I loved it, but alas I just don't think homeschooling is in the cards for us. That is why I am so excited about the school we were lucky enough to move into. It is k-4th grade and is well-known for parental involvement (the good kind of involvement). Natalie and I met the teacher and visited her new class room last spring and it just seems like the perfect little environment for our kids. We went out on the playground for a while afterwards and the view was stunning. You can see Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens and probably Adams too (but I don't remember). Before our move, I had some concerns about where she would go to school. We thought about private school, but it cost so much around here, so it was such an answer to our prayers to have moved.

With Natalie going off to school soon, I decided it was time for a girls day. So after church we went out to lunch, then we got her hair cut and styled with a headband braid. Then it was off the the fabric store to buy material to make a pillowcase for her beloved pink pillow that has been loved on to the point that it has holes in it. She picked out the fabric and we were on our way to the library. I read lots of books to her and then we decided to check out this book.
All in all it was a good girls day.

Natalie's new hair-do and school clothes

Picture of the Day 8-24

My kids really are goofy aren't they!

"Okay, now say Chubby Bunny, 3 times fast!"

Now you come up with a caption!

The Playroom

It's bound to get messy again, so I thought I would post some pictures of our playroom before disaster strikes. I just spent 2 full days cleaning this room and organizing all the toys and their many, many parts. It never ceases to amaze me how many toys our kids have. Thanks to generous grandparents, aunts and uncles, and a mommy who just can't resist, we now have enough play-things to open up our own store. The fact that we have enough toys to warrant a playroom in the first place is rather troublesome to me.

Click to enlarge

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having a playroom. Before we moved here it was impossible to keep the house in order. There were always toys out...everywhere. The playroom has made it possible to see the floor in the family room again, so I love the playroom. I just think our society as a whole overindulges kids. Most houses these days are built with playrooms/bonus rooms to accommodate all the toys. Just look at the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and they have pages dedicated for organizing and storing things in your playroom.

I am the worst culprit too! Not only do I love dreaming of how much fun our kids would have with new toys, I am horrible at giving them away (to Goodwill etc.). This is in part because, there always seems to be a younger sibling coming along who could still get lots of use out of the toys. Mostly, however, it is because I am just too sentimental for my own good. Growing up, we didn't have near the amount of "stuff" that our kids do. We also never threw things away unless they were broken, and even then duct tape and super glue came along to save the day.

My husband, on the other hand could, in one fell-swoop, eliminate most of them and would do so with a huge smile on his face. I have pulled things out of the Goodwill box on numerous occasions because they were pieces that belonged to some toy or game.

Don't even get me started on toys with small parts. For now the boxes and boxes and boxes of Legos from Uncle Andy are in storage until my kids are older and better at picking up after themselves.

Which brings me to ask the question "How do YOU get your kids to clean up after themselves?" I am in the process of creating a system that I am hoping will help our kids learn to put their toys away. I am basing it after the public library check out (old-school style) and this system. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Once I have implemented this "system" I intend to go around the house each evening and inspect for toys. Any toy left out will be put in "jail" for a month (or maybe a couple weeks??). When the month is up, they will have to "pay" me to get the toy back.

By the way, the above question is not a rhetorical one. I would love to hear how you get your kids to pick up their things. Well, I better go...I am predicting that Hurricane Natalie is about to strike, followed by Tropical Storm Zander. Wish me luck!

Picture of the Day 8-23

As I was straightening up the playroom, Natalie and Zander discovered the latex gloves I had gotten out for painting.
So here is my caption:
"Months after their move to the country, the Ernst kids began growing mutant chicken appendages."

Your turn. If you have not already read the comments from the previous "Pictures of the Day," you should, they are super silly!

Welcome to the Country

Welcome to the Country. Since moving to Boring, I have heard this phrase more times than I can count. Usually people use this phrase with a hint of sarcasm after I mention something unusual or just plain bothersome. For example, we have been dealing with ants in our house. Not just in the kitchen, but in the bathroom, the bedrooms and in the couch. They are even coming out of our showerhead. Tiny, little nuisances. They are harmless, sure, but I don't want to share my home with them. As I discuss my discouragement with friends and family they respond to me with a rousing "Welcome to the Country!" Usually with a smile on their face as if to say 'tough luck girl, they come with the territory.'

When we first moved here in early May, "Welcome to the country" was a welcome change. It meant that we were living somewhere new and beautiful, with bunnies hopping in our yard, clean air, wide-open spaces and bright stars at night. We now live where our neighbors own horses and the birds wake us in the morning rather than the sound of cars outside.

Then in June "welcome to the country" meant, your grass and tree allergies are 10 times worse out here, deer are eating your roses and you have a drowned mole in your pool.

By the time July rolled around I was beginning to adjust and the city mouse in me was more at ease in the country. Even so, every time I would drive into town I could feel my whole body just relax. For me this was familiar and friendly. I liked seeing people out and about on foot and bike. I miss my beloved shopping in close proximity (although Dan is glad we are not so close to Target now!) Did I mention restaurants...so many more choices. Once I am back home I forget all about those things I missed while in town. Our place is so beautiful and peaceful. Often at night I just wander around the yard, trying to get my head around it all. Once at dusk I was doing just that when...What's that! Oh, a snake has just slithered across my foot! AAGGHHHH!!! "Welcome to the Country."

Now we are nearing the end of August and I am still experiencing new aspects of living in the country. A couple days ago while cleaning up in the back yard, I came across what must be the biggest beehive I have ever seen...No, I'm not talking about a hairdo! Take a look for yourself.


This is home to a zillion buzzing, flying insects called Bald Faced Hornets. (For your reference, this hive is bigger than Dan's head.) Boy was I ever glad to see them in our yard, and just feet away from the kids' play structure too. We are a lucky bunch! So needless to say, the kids won't be playing back there until we can get it removed.

Just yesterday, as I was painting the walls in Natalie's room, a bird flew in and landed on her bed. Hayden and I had fun chasing it around for a while until it finally found its way back out the window. New experiences are not rare around here. Surely these things happen no matter where you live, but one thing I know is, things are sure different out here...IN THE COUNTRY!

Picture of the Day 8-22

Just like yesterday, let's come up with captions for the photo of the day:

"Will someone please tell my daddy, that if he really wants to get the job as Owen Wilson's stunt double, he's going to have to cut his hair!"

Now it's your turn.

Picture of the Day 8-21

Here is what may be the funniest picture of Aaron, Alexis and a horse that I have ever taken. So let's all come up with funny words or titles for this photo. I'll go first:
"Oh yea, Hoss, that's the spot. Keep scratching right there...ooooh, it feels sooo good!"
Now it's your turn!

Have fun!

Okay, so I finally decided to go for it! I am now a blogger. After months of debating, I am jumping in. You guys are in for an earful, cause I have a lot to share!