I titled these posts “What we do” because we live an interesting life full of random moments that I love to take pictures of. These posts are a glimpse of the things that go on in our house on a normal day. Here is Elora trying on a prototype of a goggle Chris’ company is making right now! We often have random products and prototypes around the house that the kids like to play with. They are huge Virtue fans.
When we were driving to St. George we saw this leaf insect on the windshield. The kids love bugs and were excited to see it. I felt bad that we were driving in a place where we really couldn’t stop to remove the bug. I don’t even know where it came from because it appeared over an hour into our drive. That is one tough bug.
Here is the bug again crawling up the windshield and looking at me. Elora was really upset and wanted to stop so we could put it on some plants, but it was tough finding a place to pull over on the road we were on. He crawled up the windshield, disappeared onto the top of the car, and presumable flew or was blown away.
I love this store in St. George. We have seen it many times and thought it was a strange combination of stuff. The actual name of the store is “Your Family Still Matters”. Well, we finally had occasion to go there because Oliver started violin lessons and his teacher recommended this store to get a violin for him.
Here is Oliver trying out his violin to see if it is the right size. Isn’t that the most adorable thing you have ever seen???? I don’t know why, I just think Oliver with his tiny violin is so cute, and he is SO excited.
James likes to open the bottom drawer in the kitchen where I keep the Tupperware. On this day, Marion decided she didn’t want him getting into the drawer so she was holding it closed with her feet and making her brother cry. Like any good mother, I took some pictures because I thought it was funny.
So James crawled over to me and started hiding under my legs and popping out to play peek-a-boo. He is so cute. I love this little guy.
I can’t get enough of his sweet happy face.
Marion decided to come crawl under my legs and play too. Seriously, these kids are just so funny and I feel so blessed to have them in my life.
And who can resist this sweet little face? Marion is a little punk and super feisty, but when she wants to she pulls out her cute happy smile and then we all adore her.
Oliver wanted to play his violin as soon as we got home, so for a few days he would just pull it out and play (and sometimes he would pretend it is a cello and play that way). He likes to have concerts and play for us and bow at the end of his performance.
James now likes to use forks and spoons, although he usually waves them around in the air and eats with his other hand. And we also put him in cute pink bibs left over from when Marion was a baby. Elora likes to pick those ones out because they are so pretty.
Our garden produced tons of tomatoes, so I have been making lots of tomato soup. It is SO good and SO easy – cut up tons of veggies and place on a cookie sheet. spray with olive oil, sprinkle with lots of garlic and kosher salt and pepper. Roast until soft, then blend up in the Vitamix blender. We have about 9 bags of it in the freezer and today I did the same thing as a base for spaghetti sauce. Yum! I love gardening! And am so grateful for all the food we were blessed with this year. Goodness knows it is a blessing, because we really don’t know that much about gardening…
I made these for a dinner at church. It was my first time making puff pastry from scratch and it really might be worth it to buy it at the store – it was a lot of work. But it tasted really good. And I learned how to make whipping cream that won’t fall flat – add some vanilla pudding mix and a little bit of xanthan gum (because we are weird and actually have xanthan gum at our house). The filling was so yummy. In Austria they have a version of these called Schaumrolle and we have been wanting to make them. We have special metal rollers that we cook the dough on. But our filling was WAY better than the Austrian one. The best part of my night? When my friend Chris came in and said, “It looks just like Europe!” Silly I know, but since I associate these with Austria, it was fun to have someone say that.
James now opens the bottom drawer and sits in it. Then he throws everything onto the floor, stands up with his arms in the air, and grunts until you pick him up. We pick up all the buckets, and then REPEAT!
Elora always wants to help cook, so Chris taught her how to make scrambled eggs the other morning. She was so excited, and so proud. I can’t believe she is so grown up. I need to remember that she isn’t so little anymore and let her help more often!
And after the kids go to bed, this is what Chris and I do – Enjoy French hot chocolate and pastries!
This little guy is smart and stays up until the chocolate comes out!
Marion LOVES gardening. Really. She cried the first day after our garden froze when I told her we didn’t have anything left to pick because now it is too cold. She would come to me with her bucket everyday and ask if I would work in the garden with her. She would proudly pick zucchinis and say, “James E Boo eats the zucchini!” (because she won’t try it). Then she would help find all the red tomatoes and green beans. I will miss this now that it is fall. We have tilled everything except the carrots, so now she begs to dig up carrots every day even though we have a whole bucket full in the kitchen…
We caught a grasshopper one day and she was so excited. She loves bugs too.
She really wanted to hold it. I am not sure why kids always open their mouth when they are trying to concentrate… the grasshopper kept hopping away from her.
James also loved the garden and would come dig with his little shovel while I picked food. Elora liked to help too and often refers to the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper – if you are not familiar, look up Aesop’s fables – Ant and the Grasshopper. It is a story about being prepared for winter and working when it is time to work.
One day Elora was helping Chris pick green beans and Oliver wouldn’t help so Elora said, “I am an ant. Oliver is a grasshopper!” At which point Oliver whined that he was an ant too and started helping pick beans. Realistically? Elora really is an ant (she likes to talk about how we are storing food for the winter or in case there is a famine and she takes it very seriously) and Oliver always says, “I just want to play!”
When they grow up I guess they will have to be neighbors and Oliver will need to hope that Elora is very generous! Seriously though, we are so proud of all our kids for helping with some of the hard chores that we have here in the country and I am grateful for the chance to teach them about hard work.
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