Strawberry Time

The last time I picked strawberries was in 1984, at the end of my 7th grade year.  I wanted to earn some money so I signed up to pick Hood Strawberries on Sauvie Island.  It was hard work, I only lasted a week bending over rows and rows of strawberry plants.  

After that week of picking I said I would never do it again.  I would rather pay a bit more and buy them picked.

I kept that promise till a month ago when I decided to not only pick strawberries, but to take the boys. This time I was much older with tired knees and two cuties going in different directions.

A friend let me know of a local strawberry patch that had yummy berries.  Just after breakfast we got dressed to pick berries with our friends.  It was a  lovely spring morning with sunshine, blue sky and a slight breeze.

Keeping the boys occupied while picking wasn't too hard.  They made discoveries on their own that kept them busy.  Cutie O just ate the berries off the vines instead of putting them in the bucket.  And Cutie E was more interested in dumping the full bucket of picked berries on to the ground or playing with the field flag markers.  

As the morning wore on their attention to the field became more about riding the green tractor again.  That's when I knew it was time to go.  

How do you get 2 buckets with 23 pounds of berries and two little boys from the field to the tractor, up the stairs and seated for our ride.  GREAT QUESTION.

ANSWER:  Cutie O on my left hip, carrying one bucket in my left hand while holding Cutie E's hand and bucket with my right hand.  I'm sure I looked like a chaotic mess.

By the time we got to the cash register I didn't have any strength in my arms or hands to hold the boys.  That is when this Gammy is grateful for the love of rocks.  The boys found fun in playing with all the rocks in the shaded area near the register.

As soon as we got home we started washing and capping the berries for jam.  Both of the boys mashed, stirred and held jars as Gammy filled them with freezer jam.  The kitchen filled with smells of strawberry jam and homemade bread to go with dinner.

We had a wonderful morning at the strawberry patch but our afternoon naps were a great end to a busy morning in the fields.   

Georgia Peaches

WOW!

I had no idea what we were missing till two weeks ago when we bought 50 pounds of Georgia Peaches.

We have been enjoying every yummy recipe I can find to use our them.

The boys and I started by making peach cobbler.  I have 2 recipes, one that I use when camping.  It is so simple.  Pour in a can or two of peaches into a cast iron skillet, dump in a yellow cake mix and bake over the fire.

My other favorite cobbler recipe is great no matter what your fruit is.  The crust makes this cobbler the best. Crush up "Nilla Wafers" and mix with butter and sugar.  Place the crumble topping over your fresh peach slices and bake.  It is best when served warm from the oven with homemade vanilla ice cream.

We also made some peach puree for Cutie O.  He is now enjoying puree's and about to taste fruit for the first time.  Grammy has the peaches ready.

Sean suggested I dry some peaches in the food dehydrator.  It took a long time to dry the peach slices, but they were so tasty.  I added them to my granola this morning for breakfast.  

Holly thought it would be fun to try making peach jam.  Agree!  While the pealing and chopping took a bit of time I was eager to taste homemade peach jam.  Unfortunately it did not set.  I have 4 pint jars of chunky peach syrup.  This might be better on pancakes.

After 3 days in the kitchen with peaches, pits, peals and slices I was worn out.  But it was so worth it!

Snack Time

 Holly and I are trying really hard to make sure Cutie E's meals and snacks are healthy.  We also want to expand his taste buds, so we have been introducing foods that I never thought of when I had littles.  

In January my mother in-law gave me a gift card to Amazon for my birthday.  I ordered a small food dehydrator so I could extend the life of farm fresh fruits and veggies.  I finally broke it out of the box!

Cutie E and I tried our new dehydrator to make apple chips.  It was so easy.  I expected it to be more complicated, but it wasn't.  My only mistake was that I sliced too many apples.  No biggie, those extra slices will be added to tonights salad.

While I pealed, sliced and arranged the apples on the mesh trays, Cutie E mixed a few slices on his own while grabbing some to sample.  I stacked the trays, set the temperature, the cook time and pressed start.

Five hours later these yummy apple chip slices were ready for snacking.  The jar was full, but each of us had to sample at least 1 slice.   They passed the real test, they are even toddler approved.

I loved this cooking activity.  Easy prep, cook and clean up.

Now, to brag about this little machine.  It is light weight, easy to use, easy to clean and super affordable.  The only drawback may be that it can only dry 2-3 apples at a time.  Honestly, that is all I need, but if you are a serious dehydrator you might want something bigger.  I included a link below to the exact machine I ordered if you are interested.

Magic Mill Food Dehydrator

Tippy Toes

 He did it!  

Cutie E has discovered that standing on his tippy toes can get him what he wants when it is just out of reach.  His favorite things to grab are cell phones and tv remotes.  Nothing is Safe!

Cooking is one of our favorite things to do together.  If Cutie E hears the mixer he starts jabbering and comes right to the kitchen.  He knows Grammy is going to make something yummy.  Actually I don't think he cares about the food, he likes to watch the mixer go.

While making cookies I grabbed a kitchen chair for him to stand on.  He is getting too heavy to hold for very long and he's too squirmy to sit on the counter.  I put him in front of the mixer so he could watch.  Apparently he has been watching me push buttons and rotate dials.  Every time I turned on the mixer he would adjust the dial so it would go faster.  Then he would stand on his tippy toes to watch the dough mix.  

Today he stood on his tippy toes, climbed on a kitchen chair and stood on his toes again to be closer to the action.  His dad was removing wallpaper.

Now I am shopping for a child safe stool.

Cooking With Cutie E

Every time I smell wheat bread baking I am immediately transported to my childhood.  That deep, earthy, honey smell reminds me of my mom.  She showed love for others through her baking and cooking.  I always knew we were loved when she gave us a slice of warm wheat bread with melting butter or warm chocolate chip cookies out of the oven with cold milk.  It was her way of giving a warm snuggly hug.

When our children were small I included them in my baking and cooking days.  Each of them enjoy cooking, sharing recipes and trying many of my mom's recipes.  I loved that we share a love for cooking and baking.

Now that I am not teaching, I started planning foods I wanted to try cooking.  On the top of that list was to make Cutie E's baby food.  In the early fall Holly and I visited many farmers markets gathering fresh fruits and vegetables.  The goal was to use produce fresh from a farm and introduce him to variety of foods.  

I already owned Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld and had tried many of the recipes years ago.  This time I was cooking for a soon to be toddler not school aged children and I wanted to make sure I was introducing foods at appropriate times.  Holly purchased Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel, it was a huge help with timing, combinations and how to prepare fruits, veggies and meats.

Needless to say I spent a lot of time in the kitchen.  By October Cutie E had his own freezer stocked with all types of fruit and veggies.  This made my heart so happy.

Much of my cooking had to wait till Cutie E was napping, it was too hard to cook and take care of a six month old.  Of course the days I decided to cook or bake were the days he decided to take short naps.  those were the days I'd put him in his activity center  and set it in the kitchen with me.  What I was not prepared for was Cutie E's interest in what I was doing.  He wanted to watch the mixer or see what was on the stove.  Now, he wants to sit on the counter while I cook or bake.  He gets his own set of utensils to play with while Grammy uses her's.  He watches the mixer mix cookie dough, or the yeast to rise.

So far we have made his puree's (he does let us know which ones he doesn't like 😂😝),  many batches of cookies, breakfast muffins, wheat bread and so much more.  I can see us cooking together, sharing great memories of making yummy food whether it is family favorites or discovering new recipes together.  

Pops

 One of the benefits of living in a multigenerational home is being with family every day and watching my husband interact with our grandson.

Sean was a wonderful father.  He played with the kids, involved them in every project from the time they could walk, he read books, stories, Harry Potter and even books for school with them.  He coached their sports teams, cheered them on at every event and was always a shoulder of love and support.

When our oldest was born he quickly nicknamed her “Bubba”.  A tiny dainty baby girl got a very masculine football kind of name.  It drove my mom crazy.  This same dad learned how to put on Barbie shoes and dress Polly Pockets.  He was the kind of dad that loved the things she did.

I have two favorite memories of Harrison and Sean.  One year for Christmas Sean got a workbench for the garage.  Sean had to put it together and his little man was right by his side with his plastic manly tools helping.  That workbench made the move with us.  The other memory was the winter the two of them painted the basketball key with the free throw line in the street so they could play ball together.  They spent many hours at that hoop.

When Marissa arrived he had the dad thing down, but this little sweet pea cried every time the daddy voice got loud.  He learned to talk a little softer and be a little gentler.  One evening after work she was laying on her sister's bed among all the stuffed animals and dolls.  He walked into the room, knelt by the bed and  talked to her in his very quiet voice.  This was the first time she smiled.   These two love books, movies and “crappy fast food”.  It became their thing when she was in high school.

Now Sean is known as Pops.  In just ten months I have seen him grow into being the best grandpa.  When he isn’t traveling for work you can find him in the office editing pictures.  He is always ready and willing to help me with Cutie E.  These two have their own routine.  Mornings include music time together.  They listen to music, sing Disney songs and turn the desktop into their own drum set.   Last week he texted me that he had “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” from the Lion King soundtrack running in his head.  This happens to be one of E’s favorite songs.  Some evenings you will find them head butting or rough housing on the floor.  

Cutie E loves his Pops, he looks for him each morning as we walk by the office and will crawl down the hall to find him.  He has even started calling for him when goes down stairs and closes the baby gate.  If I’m having difficulty getting E to eat, Sean can get him to laugh, smile and open his mouth.  He is the little bit of magic Grammy doesn’t have.

It is wonderful to watch my husband love this new role and embrace it every day.  I love him even more for the love and fun he brings to our family.  All of our grands are so lucky that he is their Pops.