Fabulous Food Friday

I've made this a few times this summer and it's so good made with all the herbs in my garden.

Salmon with Herbs

1 10 oz salmon fillet
2 T butter
1 T fresh lemon (or lime) juice
2 T minced parsley
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t paprika
1/2 t pepper
3-4 sprigs rosemary, minced
3-4 sprigs thyme, minced

Place salmon on foil-lined cookie sheet. Spread butter on both sides of salmon. Sprinkle on lemon juice. In a small bowl mix herbs and spices and sprinkle on salmon.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

It's that time of year...Back to school

Wow this summer went by so fast. I can hardly believe school starts next Tuesday. Today was orientation at Zander's preschool and Natalie's school had a special time for incoming first graders to come and meet their new teacher.


We actually just found out who her teacher was last week. So you can imagine all the moms were on the phone trying to figure out which kids from kindergarten would be in their new first grade class. It was fun to talk to all the moms again and catch up with them all, but I still hadn't heard from one person who had the same teacher as Natalie. Her best friend Sarah was out of town when the notice came in the mail, so we were on pins and needles until they came home. As it turns out, they will be in the same class together along with their good friend Madison.

This was such good news...but I was still unsure about their teacher. Being new to the school last year, I don't really know much about the other teachers, so I was just hoping and praying that her teacher would be the nice, loving kind of first grade teacher I remember having. I called around to my other friends who have older kids and no one had anything bad to say, so I felt much better. Then today when we walked into Natalie's new class and met her teacher I couldn't have been happier. She is the nicest lady and will be perfect for Natalie.

Even on the ride to the school Natalie was not looking forward to going into a new class. When her new teacher asked her "Are you excited to be coming back to school?" Natalie said "no." I explained Natalie's anxieties and the teacher really made Natalie feel at home. We also got to find her cubbie and her own desk (table shared with 4 others) with a place for all her school supplies. We turned our school supplies in today, so this morning I quickly altered this clipboard for Natalie to bring today.

We didn't bring her gym shoes today because we are still practicing how to tie shoes. I began showing Natalie how to tie her shoes this afternoon...it's been on my list of things to do this summer (and I waited until the last minute)...and within a half an hour, she figured it out! I was so proud of her because I still remember how hard it was to learn.

Natalie was so excited to see her friends again. We even went into other first grade classrooms to see where her other friends would be sitting.

Picture of the Day 08-30

Here is a photo from last weekend's camping trip. Natalie and Zander got to help aunt Katy feed a deer at the Prineville Reservoir.

It's Caterday!

Our friend Chris came up with another great idea last night. He suggested perhaps that I could also do a blog about our cat, Harley...Instead I am introducing what could become a regular feature at Ernstopia...

Happy Caterday!

Stay tuned next week for more Catatude!

Fabulous Food Friday

We have blackberries growing on both sides of our road, so once a week the whole family takes a walk to pick berries. Last week I made 6 containers of blackberry jam. Today it was blackberry crisp...here is the recipe:


Blackberry Crisp
4-5 Cups Blackberries
2 T sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cup flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup coconut (or chopped nuts)

I doubled this recipe and made it in a large lasagna dish. Basically berries go into the dish first. Sprinkle the 2 T sugar on top. Then in another bowl combine the remaining dry ingredients (excepts the coconut/chopped nuts). Cut in butter until mixture resembles crumbs. Add coconut/nuts and sprinkle on top of berries. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Hayen's Birthday Party

Here are some photos from Hayen's party...

Here he is opening presents. He got so many fun toys and cute clothes. Thanks everyone!

Here he is about to blow out the candles on his cake. Tami got a much better picture of him blowing out the candles. Tami...could you email me that photo (hi res)? (Tami helped me stack and frost this great cake!!!)

There are many more photos on my paper capers blog.

Help me decide

I was thinking of starting a new pary blog to post party ideas on... I have a poll on my Paper Capers blog. Please vote and tell me what you think...then I will post my pics from Hayden's Birthday party last weekend.

Our little baby Hayden is growing up...

For those who haven't been around Hayden much the past month, he has gone through an amazing transformation...and I'm not just talking about his haircut. He has started talking...a lot. He uses new words all the time and is always repeating what his brother and sister are saying. It is really very cute.

Here are a few of his most used words/phrases:
Truck, train, I did it, NO, mommy, daddy, me, not wooking (not working), find it, fass (fast), ginkees (binky), book, read, money, bubbles, ball, fafful (waffle), drink, theys (thanks), pweese (please) cannies (candy), up, bite, Lalee (Natalie), Derder (Zander), anan (Hayden), didee (kitty), show, aside (outside), wook (look), again, watch, bad baby, leoleo (cereal), cheese, nak (snack), cookie, some, red, ite-nin (lightning {McQueen}), Pooh, Oody (Woody), Dessy (Jessie), moo, a-dun (all done), a-skeerd (I'm scared), booooo, fun, a-fun (that's fun), one, two, free (3), four, five, shoe, on, hurts, shirt, pants, baper (diaper), apple, nana (banana), socks, eye, nose, mouth, fingr (finger), teeth, tongue, bed, moon, tar (star)...

Now that he can communicate, my grumpy toddler has turned into a sweet boy AT LAST!!! He no longer answers every single question you ask him with "NO." We have gone days without him pouting or crying! (I swear, he cried at least once a day for the first 2 years of his life...no joke!) He has learned the benefits of using the words "please" and "thank you" (something I thought would never happen.) He smiles a whole lot more and loves to tell you just what he wants. Hayden also loves to show you things and likes nothing more than get your attention by saying "look" or "watch" as he slides down the slide, or when pointing to his truck.

Hayden has finally grasped the art of cooperation and when asked to lay down so I can change his diaper he does, right away, whereas before he would run in the other direction! I think I am finally enjoying him...he was SO stubborn for so long ...I am hoping and praying that he got all of it out of his system and now we can have fun with him.

He is a very quick learner and has an a great instinct and self-motivation, much more than the older two at this age. When he gets even the slightest hint that we are going somewhere, he runs and finds 2 shoes (they may be his or Natalie's or Zander's and not always a matching pair) and begs me to put them on.

I can already tell he is going to be athletic. When given anything resembling a club or a bat he will immediately try and swing it towards any given ball in the near vicinity (meanwhile we have to give detailed instructions to his older siblings on what to do). One day I was picking up Zander from preschool and we were playing on the playground and he just marched himself up to the slide and down he went, no help from mommy was requested or required...he was very capable thank you very much.

Hayden is also very artistic! Here is a painting he made for me on my birthday...he used fingernail polish and carpet to convey emotion in this abstract original. This is one of 2 paintings on display in our master bathroom!

Just under a month ago, we took the rails off his crib and turned it into a toddler bed. Boy has he enjoyed this freedom. For the first couple weeks he would hop in bed and lay there...then we would find him up wandering around for about a half an hour, put him back to bed only to find him up again. Then he would just fall asleep wherever he landed...

Here he is sleeping in his big boy bed.



Here you see Hayden can even fall sound asleep on the stairs.
Even now as I type this post, he has walked in to see me (after being put back to bed at least 3 times.) Now his is laying down on the floor beneath my desk!!!

Here is a photo I took yesterday during his nap. As you can see, he is just a few inches from the comforts of his bed...yet he prefers to sleep on the floor. (you can also see the blue blanket on his bed thatI made for his birthday.)

Last Saturday we celebrated Hayden's birthday with a truck/train/car themed party. I will be posting these photos soon! At his 2 year check up he was in the 95th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight. Tall and slender, just like his dad!

New Look

I have been trying to get this blogskin to work for a very long time. I finally figured it out, but I had to revert to the "classic" version of Blogger, which basically means I am very limited to how I can customize the look of my blog. I am working on re-entering my links section in HTML...

So what do you think of the new Ernstopia...Do you like it or should I revert back?

Edited to Add: Although I really liked the feel of the other blogskin, it left me feeling claustrophobic...so I switched back. Thanks for all your feedback.

Summer Blooms

These sunflowers came as a tall surprise in my garden. I think they must be over 8 feet tall!

So many different colors...

These lilies are so fragrant.
I transplanted a bunch of them last fall and to my surprise, they came back!!!

The butterfly bush near our pool smells exactly like fresh honeycomb. I love walking under it...except there are so many bees buzzing around it. Yes this hydrangea really is that color. I tried growing a pink hydrangea in Troutdale, but it turned back to blue...there is something in the soil out here that plants just thrive on.

Zander strikes again!

Oh, the things they say!

I was listening to the older kids play in the other room and they were deep in conversation when Zander says:

"Natawee, everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes people say you are not cute...when, actually, you are cute. See, they made a mistake!"

Natalie: "You can say THAT again!"

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We are trying to get Zander to use both sides of the paper when drawing pictures. I was just telling him that if you use both sides you can save trees, because trees are used to make paper. He responded by saying:

"Okay, you can cut down the trees now, that way we can have a lot of paper...and don't forget to use the BIG knife."

Dramatic!

Do you see it? I found the word DRAMATIC while playing Boggle yesterday. Start at the bottom right corner, go up to the top then cut diagonal down to the bottom left corner. It gave me a whopping 7 points!!! Do you think this extra 7 points helped me beat Dan?....

NO!

Those of you who are avid gardeners should probably turn away now...

(Dad, Sharon, Scott...I am warning you, this is not for the faint of heart).
Okay, I warned you...
Here is a view of my "Garden of Weedin" after I spent about 2 hours pulling weeds Saturday.

This is a better angle, at least now you can find the leeks and tomatoes!

So my dream of having a beautifully designed garden kind of fell short...well, let's just say I have already asked Dan to shoot me if I attempt to plant a garden next year. Something happens to me in the middle of winter, I get these wild ideas and plans for a garden...then spring comes and I have been cooped up for so long inside that the idea of a garden and all the work that it takes to tend to one sound GREAT!!! So I march myself over to the local garden center and buy everything I need to plant. I carefully plot my garden in a very nifty shape...no dull rows for this gardener! Now I have a garden.

It even gets watered daily, for well... about a month. Then school gets out for the summer, we go on vacation, play dates with friends, camping, gymnastics, swim lessons, birthday parties, pool parties...on and on and before you know it... the summer has gone by and I have not spent much time tending to my garden. I turn the sprinkler on once in a while for good measure, but pay no attention to the massive amount of weeds encroaching on my plants...In fact I couldn't even see my sprinkler through the jungle of weeds...just saw the water shooting up from beneath the tall over-grown leaves.

Weeds aren't the only problem. You see, these gigantic volunteer sunflower plants just showed up one day, along with volunteer pumpkins, tomatillos and California poppies. They pretty much crowded out everything the weeds didn't get to...if you see my herbs, can you tell them that help is on the way!

Would you like a tour? Would you?...come along...


My herbs are here somewhere near the obelisk. Zander planted this Zinnia plant on a field trip last spring. Zinnias are one of my favorite summer flowers. The purple flower is from an eggplant bush, followed up by a photo of an eggplant growing on the vine.




Pumpkin flower; green pumpkin has a ways to go before it turns orange;
mini Jack-be-little pumpkins



Tomatillos (for making salsa verde); Zander's cherry tomato plant; green tomatoes, still not red yet; green bell pepper (this is the first time I have successfully grown a pepper that actually looks like a pepper!


Ah yes...my cabbage patch. I thought I might have a problem with the bunnies snacking on this part of the garden. They got all my strawberries and left the cabbage to the slugs! Yuck! A few cucumbers I have yet to pick along with some jalapenos.

Here is an artichoke which I am hoping will get bigger; what's left of our broccoli (it was sooo good a few months ago; and then we have grapes. We have a grape vine near the garden that has attached itself to everything growing within the vicinity, so now I have to try and untangle all the vines and give this bad boy a trim!

We have a lot of pairs on our tree, I just hope the bugs leave them alone until they are ready to eat. Well, there you have it...my garden. Better luck next time! At least we are able to get some produce from our garden this year.