Uncle Carl's Camp

Last week Clara stayed with Grandma and Grandpa so as to attend Uncle Carl's Camp at Kauffman Museum. She also played with her cousins and friends from kindergarten, spent a day shopping and movie watching with Grandma Verna and was generally spoiled with several trips out for ice cream. Needless to say, she had a most wonderful week!

Father's Day

As a child I remember going to the park for a picnic with my grandparents on Father's Day and being dropped off at Camp Mennonscah as an older child.

Today we went to church and went swimming and cooked curry for supper, a typical day for us.

Clara presented Damian with a jar of homemade jam she made while staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house last week.

Anniversary Weekend

Yesterday Damian and I celebrated 11 years of marriage!

Spontaneous Visit

We were preparing this week to meet my parents half way in OK City when I got a call that said "what if we came to TX and brought Catia with us?" We were excited to have Grandma and Grandpa and cousin Catia come for a short visit. The reason was for Clara to ride back to KS to attend Uncle Carl's Camp at Kaffman Musuem beginning tomorrow. It just so happened that Catia's other Grandma (Ita as we call her) was in town to transition her dog to Aunt Vanessa's house. So we, of course had to eat and get together. This moring we packed the 2 girls into the van with Grandma and Grandpa for the trek back to KS. They were so excited. It was a little difficult for Ollie to understand everything, but in the end he did really well.

Severe weather

We had some seriously severe weather last night and all morning long. Finally now it has moved away and is sunny. Another day of this and the water around our apartments would be really scary. Already it is very high. You can see the trees are submerged. We were awaken this morning to our deafeningly loud fire alarms sounding due to lightening. Actually, Damian was already up and I was awake in bed hearing the loud thunder and pouring rain. Clara was scared about the tornado warnings last night and then the weather this morning. We went out this morning and ran errands anyway. I HAD to go to the post office and buy cat food, no delaying any longer. My tomato plants were whipped around, but I think with some more structure they'll be okay.

SALE at Prairie Path (my etsy shop)

My sale has already begun.

You will receive 25% off all vintage and receive a free gift with the purchase of a handmade item.

This is good, really good!

Clara is reading library books to Ollie and Isabel. We signed up for the public library summer reading program so Clara has incentive to keep reading. We've made charts of what they are reading and they receive prizes from the library.

Chocolate ice cream kisses. She really knows how to pucker!

Vegan Planet

The cookbook Vegan Planet is starting to become a favorite of mine. We don't actually own it , but have checked it out at the library several times. Recently I made a broccoli stir-fry recipe from this book and really loved it. We ate it as a main dish with brown rice. Here's the recipe: Sesame-Broccoli Stir-Fry 1 large head broccoli 3 T. toasted sesame oil 3 T. tamari or other soy sauce 2 T. hoisin sauce 1/4 c. sesame seeds, toasted (I think you could easily get by with half this amount.) 1 T. peanut oil 1/2 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into matchsticks 2 cloves garlic, minced 1. Cut the broccoli into small florets and peel and thinly slice the stems. Steam the broccoli until barely tender, about 3 minutes. Rinse under cold water to set the color and stop the cooking process, then drain and set aside. 2. In a small bowl, combine the sesame oil, tamari, hoisin, and sesame seeds and set aside. 3. Heat the peanut oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the bell pepper and garlic and stir-fry to soften slightly, about 1 minute. Add the broccoli and sauce and stir-fry, coating the vegetables with the sauce, until the vegetables are cooked to the desired doneness, about 3 minutes. Serve hot. What I really like about this cookbook is that it stresses the importance of protein in a vegan diet. I'm constantly trying to find ways of getting protein sources (other than dairy) into Clara since she is vegetarian. Ollie is pretty much the opposite and I struggle more to get enough vegetables in him.

Does froggy like lentils?

Isabel:

loud slurp "Ummmmm" "Ossy"..."Oop"

Translation:

loud slurp

"Yummm" "Froggy"..."Soup"

Isabel was pretending that her frog was eating her lentils.

I don't know if froggy likes lentils, but Isabel sure does.