Winnie 7 months

7 months:
15 pounds
27 inches
can babble, scream, and "talk"
loves to eat
rolls everywhere and is starting to army crawl
tripod sit for short periods
loves her bath, and nursing before bed
sleeps in her own room
reaches for people she wants
throws her pacifier when she is mad

Nigel's 5th birthday !

So Daddy had a work dinner on Nigel's birthday, so we started the celebration the night before! We had pizza and went to Despicable Me 3. Then on his actual birthday we had donuts for breakfast and for lunch we had Lunchables and cake and opened presents. He wanted a Ninja Turtle cake which we ordered from BIG G.

Brothers and Sisters made him cards

He got a Ninja Turtle dump truck

Legos from Grandma Angie

gift card from Grandpa Vincent

Walkie Talkies from Grandpa and Grandma Stubblefield

And the best of all......an actual TRACTOR from us. He loves it. It drives over all terrain, has a great battery life and even a little wagon/cart to haul stuff in (or your little brother).

Cub Scouts Fire Department Tour

Asher's cub scout troop toured the Fire Department in Tiffin on Saturday, Nigel's birthday. It was cool to see the equipment and climb in the big trucks!

Asher Golf

Asher went to golf camp this past week. He loved it. He struggles to hit the ball far because he tends to chip it, but he loves the game.

Nigel 5 years old

Little boys' bunk bed

After loads of consideration, we put Winnie in the library and got rid of some furniture, and purchased short bunk beds for the boys. We had them custom made and they finally arrived in time for Nigel's birthday.

Winnifred 6 months (pictures taken 6-25-07)

Instant Pot: Vegetable broth

One of my favorite things is to have lots of broth/stock around for cooking meats, starters for soups etc. Today I will start with vegetable broth. So easy!

What you need:
1. A bag full of old veggie scraps (Josh keeps a Ziploc freezer gallon bag in freezer and whenever we cut up veggies we add the scraps to it. For example, onion rinds, carrot tops or peels, potato peels etc.  You are ready to make broth when the bag is full! side note:don't put tomato pieces in it. They just get soggy and yucky).
2. 8 cups of water

It is that easy!
Dump the full bag of scraps in the pot plus 8 cups of water, set valve to pressurize and put soup button! Let the pot do its magic!

When the pot is finished, we let it cool and then we strain it and throw the scraps away!
Then we pour it into giant ice cube trays and put back in freezer (the trays are silicone that make 2 inch thick ice cubes, purchased on Amazon).

When they are completely frozen we pop them out and store in a Ziploc baggie in freezer. Then when you need to make soup you can add as many cubes as you need! (Each cube is approx 1/4 cup).

Instant Pot: Yogurt

It's no secret that I love my Instant Pot, so I am going to start posting some recipes on the blog for others to try.
First up, a family favorite: yogurt!
Now it has taken me a while to perfect this recipe as well as find a taste we like without being full of sugar, so here goes:

Ingredients:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup boiling water
2 cups heavy cream
1 whole carton of fair life milk, I use 2%
1 small self serving of FAGE plain yogurt, or half the small carton. (about 3 heaping tablespoons)

Steps:
1. pour in sweet milk and boiling water into pot. whisk until completely incorporated.
2. whisk in heavy cream.
3. pour in milk. stir.
4. drop in FAGE yogurt, whisk until milk is somewhat smooth.
5. put pot in instant pot. push yogurt button. make sure the display says 10:00. If not press yogurt button or + button to get to correct settings. The machine will beep and then start to count up. 00:01 etc
6. When yogurt is complete (10 hours) display reads YOGURT. I then let it sit for about an 1 hour in machine and then move it to refrigerator overnight.

We serve the next morning with berries and gluten free granola. YUM!

(pictures to come)

Scout Jamboree

Tristan left Sunday night for Scout Jamboree in West Virginia. He will be gone for two weeks!

County Fair

Tristan did extemporaneous speech. He did an excellent job but he was just a few seconds short of state qualifications. (you get the topic for your speech 30 minutes before you speak. It has to be 4 minutes in length).



Melina, Laney, Laurie and Nigel danced on the stage.









Melina showed Luna and won 1st place Obedience, 1st place Showmanship, 1st place overall, Best of show.



Mara played her violin in the talent show, blue ribbon. (not a state qualifier because she is only a junior, they said to come back next year and play again).





We saw all the animals. Giddy keep saying """ahhh, Tute !"



And we rode the carnival rides.





Asher worked the hardest volunteering in the food booths and presentation halls. It was a great couple of days!

Tristan 4H reporter/ day in Des Moines

Thursday Tristan went to Des Moines to learn about news reporting, film, videography etc. He went to classes at WHO TV, I heart Radio and IPTV with staff from ISU and about a dozen 4H kids from around the state. He will be reporting at the state fair on August 15 and 16.
It was a super hot day so the kids and I kept busy with a Walmart shopping trip, Monkey Joe's, lunch at McDonalds, a trip Homemakers for a cookie and new beds, and finally the Union park rocket slide, carousel and splash pad. It was a LONG and very busy day!

Winnie 6 months

I can tripod sit for short periods. I sleep through the night in my own bed. I eat three meals a day. I can touch and play with my toes. I love chew beads. I say ""mamma, and babababa" and I like to play with my spider toy. My favorite time of day is bath, lotion and nursing.