despite it being a frigid 50 this past week, we've had little outside work to do as nothing is blooming or growing. not even the weeds. fortunately so, as we've had our hands tied up with the wildlife.

this is what a perfectly good, never-before-used bee frame looks like. this is what you put into a hive box when you start a bee colony:

i missed yesterday's t-ball festivities, since i was at home waiting for the game commission to drop off a big old bear trap, but more on that later...

sawyer's three-year-old t-ball team meets indoors. thank goodness for that as it was cold and rainy again yesterday. i sent kenny and dad away with camera in hand and told him not return without a good set of pictures. i look at these pictures and want to just squeeze the little guy. how cute is he????
the three-year-olds did a lot of obstacle courses and running around. and of course sitting in circles and waiting. he learned to step with his left foot and throw with the right arm. they didn't do any catching or even hitting the ball off the tee. and he still came home saying how much fun he had.


i'm excited to join him next week. so far it's been too cold to hang out outside and "practice" with them. but i'm sure the weather is bound to break eventually and we'll be outside throwing grounders, pop-ups and hitting off our target-bought t soon enough. and...in a week, two of the boys' uncles and aunts and cousins will be in town for a week. there's bound to be lots of "uncle daniel! uncle andrew! aunt laura! aunt kara! please can you play tball with me?" 

i might even get their great grampy to throw a ball or two with them. :)

when rowan was born, kenny and i sat up at night staring at our sleeping newborn dreaming about all the adventures we'd get to take with him. we dreamed of his baptism, his first steps, meeting his future sibling, "going off to kindergarten," and all the fun sports, or arts teams he'd be a part of (his parents are of the artsy persuasion but we do know the importance and fun of being involved in sports. i was a cheerleader, afterall, so i know all about team S-P-I-R-I-T!).

tonight, rowan had his first t-ball practice. (sawyer's first practice is this saturday - stay tuned!) i thought for sure it would be canceled because it was cold and rainy. and his team is comprised of 4-5-year olds. we showed up, the rained slowed to a steady spit, and the wind kicked up a bit. the kids were all split up into teams (rowan is a marlin!) and practice started. the rain got heavier and steadier and the wind got stronger, so sawyer, adam, my mom and i headed to the car only after 10 minutes. kenny stayed with rowan who was oblivious to the rain and the cold:

...and i don't mean the salad, but i love me a good waldorf salad (even though i take all the walnuts out as i'm not a big fan).

a few months ago, i was reading a blog of a woman who had sent her girls to an in-home daycare/preschool that used the waldorf style of childraising in their daily schedule. if you don't know anything about the steiner waldorf schooling or childraising philosophy, a quick read here will fill you in. i don't subscribe to many of the teachings, but i love the overall, general feel of its earthy and earth-cycle centered approach to living.

while reading this particular blog, i was fascinated at the daily routine she described her preschooler experienced at this daycare: play with wooden toys, a bowl of steaming hot porridge for snack, outside play for 20 minutes each and every day (no matter what the weather), naptime with comfy blankets and pillows (not mats!), wholesome and hearty lunches all handmade by the daycare provider, and a full hand-written report of her child's schedule sent home each day. now that's a busy daycare provider! she had one assistant and a house-full of busy kids. and no television!

i am the first to admit that i've bought and continue to buy packaged, processed snacks to give to my kids throughout the day to keep them from "starving" or to keep the ever-present "i'm hungry!" statement to a minimum. fortunately, all three of the boys love fruit so we get a substantial amount of fruit into them on a daily basis. unfortunately, they also love sugar. white sugar and brown sugar: the two "evils" that actually can do more harm to their growing bodies than good. but i know full-well that a better and richer diet would aid in their hunger and keep them healthier than ever.

so....i'm giving them only nuts and grains for the rest of their lives.

no. i think they'd starve because i know their tastes! so i began my search for "better snacks" although if you google that you'd get nothing. i had no idea when to start because really, it's so much easier to just give them a granola bar than to make them yummy granola. i found this lovely little book:

it came in the mail this week and I already have big plans to incorporate better foods into the boys' daily routines.

this morning I made baked oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon for their mid-morning snack. it was a big hit...with Adam. it was "iffy" with Sawyer (he ate half his serving) and Rowan barely ate two bites. the recipe was from another cookbook. i will have to work up to the sugarless recipes in the waldorf snack book (the recipes are sweetened with honey, molasses and syrup).

i'm glad we're coming up on fresh fruit season. they can eat berries and melons all day long if we let them. we'll be eating a lot more local and fresh foods over the summer and i'd love to keep that up throughout the fall and winter. we'll see how well i keep to the DAILY baking and cooking regimen (i have homemade chicken stock simmering on the stovetop now!), and how well their already spoiled taste buds accept a healthier approach to fueling their (and our!) bodies.

the boys have been asking about visiting their grandma and grandpa lately. so a few weeks ago, rowan called them up and told them that they were on their way. fortunately, he made the plans to visit on the same weekend that our state's homeschooling convention was taking place just half an hour away from grandma and grandpa's house, so we all drove out there last week, dropped the kids off with grandma and grandpa and had ourselves a mini-vacation!

the morning we left for the convention, the weather turned cold and raining. we got lost on the way, but eventually made our way into the exhibit hall, only 20 minutes later than we had intended. we were wet and cold, but excited to get our hands on the curriculum we've been looking at online for the past several months, and find some more fun gadgets to use as teaching tools. for the two days we were there, we walked up and down the aisles several times, chatted to countless moms and dads who are currently home-educating their children, found some really great stuff, walked out of some really bad presentations, but were overall encouraged, overwhelmed, and excited. we've toured a local montessori school and will look into the public kindergarten, and another private one for comparison. so far, homeschooling has been our favorite option (it's FUN!), but we're exhausting all our options while we still can.

here we are filling out the evaluation form:

ten points to those who can correctly identify that quote. (and some major props from kenny.)

we've tilled 3 1/2 rows and are trying to figure out which plants and seeds to put where. i'm planning on making salsa a lot this summer. because i've come to realize i just don't like store-bought, jarred salsa. the fresh stuff is definitely the way to go. the only problem is...i don't have a recipe for homemade salsa. i can look up recipes in books and online, but first i'd like to check with friends and family and even strangers who have made salsa before and love their salsa recipes. even if you didn't love your recipe, we all have different tastes...so send it any way. for instance, you may like your salsa hot and spicy while i like mine with a lot of juice and cilantro. send 'em on over, please!

now onto more bees!  i was the one to don the bee-suit today. our good friend buzz came over to mark our queen...in other words, paint her red so we can spot her right away next time we go open the hive and play with the bees.

kenny took out the empty queen cage from the hives yesterday!



when the bees are shipped to you, they separate the queen from the workers by sending her in her own cage. she and the worker bees eat their way through a sugar cork at the end of the cage. this way, the workerbees have time to accept her without harming her. once she is free, the workers do their thing to feed her and produce more workers with her.

the following picture shows the beginnings of some comb that the bees made since they arrived last week (this was on the side of the queen cage). the orange and brown bits are pure pollen (different colors from different plants!) and smell like a big fat bouquet of flowers (strong!). you may even notice a bit of raw honey between the pollen.

back in 1985, my family was fortunate to spend 6 months in oxford, england. i was only 12 years old, so the grandeur and beauty (and nook-and-cranny pubs) weren't really noticed by me until i went back to visit several times, several years later. i remember my mom being the only one in the house to wake up before dawn on may morning and walk downtown (we lived a short 5 or 10 minute walk from magdelen university) and enjoy may morning; welcoming spring to oxford.

since then, every may 1, i wake up and wonder how the choir sounded atop magdelen tower, and whether or not they had rain or snow, or warm weather. i don't know why it's stuck with me so much, as i never experienced a may day celebration.

so to acknowledge may day (which, i know, was yesterday), i'm sharing a recipe we had for dinner last night. it was a hit because our pickiest eater (rowan) ate two helpings. something that happens extremely rarely. i only say it was a hit, and not a huge hit, because kenny was fond of it, but didn't rave about it. when i asked him if he liked it, i knew the moment he paused before saying, "yeah...." that his answer meant, "i'll eat it again if forced to you make it, but please let's not put this in the heavy meal rotation." if he interupted my question with a hearty, "MMMMMMmmmm", then i know to put that meal in the heavy rotation.

the meal was a vegetarian one, and i could live solely on a vegetarian diet (with a few steaks thrown in every once in a while). this is why i find it challenging to cook for a family of five very different tastes. i know i'm not alone in this as the "head chef" of the house. most kids are picky eaters, and a lot of couples have different tastes. fortunately, kenny and have have many of the same tastes, but enough differing that i find it necessary to use "the old standbys" all too often.

i'm trying to break this pattern this spring and summer. with the addition of the One Local Summer meal a week, I'm also going to pitch all the old recipes (well, okay, not all of them...because they are tried and true!) and find new, fresh ideas.

our first review is of Lemon Asparagus Pasta (from Simply in Season, the Spring section).

The reviewers:
Kenny, adult: meat and potatoes with flare for indian, thai, and cheap chinese food.
Liz, adult: pasta, rice, veggies and sauce, with a flare for indian, thai, and mediterranean.
Rowan, 4 1/2: depends on the day or his mood, with a flare for cold cereal, or indian.
Sawyer, 3 1/2: if it's food, he'll eat it.
Adam, 1 1/2: if it's green, he won't touch it. in fact, when offered any vegetable, he gags. loves fruits and bread.

The recipe:
Lemon Asparagus Pasta

8 oz. angel hair
2 1/2 cups asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
1 T. butter
1/2 cup green onions
1 1/2 t. lemon peel
3 T lemon juice
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 T. fresh dill
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Cook asparagus in boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Add angel hair. When pasta is done, drain both the asparagus and pasta.

While pasta cooks, melt butter in large frypan over medium heat. Add green onions and lemon peel and saute 1 minute. Add lemon juice and cook until liquid is almost evaporated.

Beat together milk and eggs. Add with pasta and asparagus to pan with green onions. Cook over low heat until milk mixture is lsightly thick, about 4 minutes. Do not boil.

Stir in dill, salt, and nutmeg. Serve immediately.

****

Kenny's rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Liz's rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Rowan's rating: two plates= 5 out of 5 stars
Sawyer's rating: He had a sore throat, so he didn't eat much.
Adam's rating: He threw a piece of aspargus at me. How dare I even try?

we're thisclose to getting the plans for our summer garden in. we've extended it by several feet this year and we're still planning which plants and seeds go where.

it's also that time of year to sign up for a very cool summer challenge - one local summer. so all you foodies and gardeners out there...go sign yourselves up and start planning! i'm already thinking of the local farm stands i'll visit and the recipes we'll be making with our own garden produce.

we recently cheated and bought strawberries at the grocery store...but the boys were in dire need of something other than apples and pears - our winter fruits of choice. i'm eager to get to the local berry farm and pick all the berries we can eat. we got a little sick of strawberries last year with the amount that we picked that i still haven't used the ones that we froze! there is just something so perfect about a warm, sweet freshly picked strawberry that one frozen 10 months ago can't match.

bear with me (ha! another pun!) as the site may change it's look from time to time. we're trying to launch a spring look for smithical (because i'm a fashion designer and all) and we're working out color and print kinks. i'm not quite happy with it, but my graphic designer husband has a full-time job that takes him away from MY honey-do list. if only i shared his graphic design and computing knowledge. i'm just a lackey with a loud voice....

• sawyer calls his stuffed frog, "booby." i have no idea where he came up with it, but they have crazy names for a lot of their animals...this one just stuck. funny.
• when we're listening to music in the car and it's turned down low, sawyer's way of asking us to turn it up is, "can you please low it up?"
• rowan still says, "todeger" when he means "together."
• adam is our first child that babbles. he has his very own language and way of speaking and it's clearly intonations that hears from our speaking. he does have many words, and repeats very clearly words that we say to him. but he chooses his babble talk over actual words all the time. for now, i'm not worried. if he's still doing this in a year...i'll begin to worry. i'm trying awfully hard not to talk for him. he is "the baby" afterall!
  
• the boys love our cat, greymalkin. they call her "pet" and follow her obsessively around the house, creating sleep ares for her (piles of blankets) and go through periods where they want to feed her 10 times a day. grey has had a lot of illnesses recently, and she's coming up on her 17th birthday. we're worried how they'll take her passing on.
• art time: how long does it last with other people's kids? we do painting, sketching and gluing (we had a bad moment with scissors the other day...sawyer's sworn them off after a small, but nasty, cut he got last week) and all of the art times last about 7 minutes. all that set up and clean up for 7 minutes worth of art? i know this is typical and generally it doesn't bother me...but i'd like it to last longer. eventually. to make the clean up worth it! i'll reintroduce more kid-friendly scissors to sawyer soon and then bring him back to his other scissors when i know he's over his new cutting phobia.
• speaking of art time, we made some lovely felt crowns last week. i still need to sew the elastic on them and i think these ones will be a proto-type to a better felted (real wool) crown we'll make later. hopefully when their cousins ramona and astrid visit later this spring. BUT...my sewing machine broke. and my other one? it's extremely fussy. i'm in need of a new one and i can't decide whether i will spring for a good one now (with tax return money) or save for 6 months and get a cheapo one now? advice?