In one year, we’ve made a big leap. The kids are 3 and 5 this summer and we officially have some wiggle room in the afternoons for some fun time and/or a few skipped naps for the first time in about 5 years. That feels so so good and opens up a whole new world of options. I’m sure a lot of these are doubled up on the past lists, but I’m not in the mood to cross-reference a Summer Fun List, so let’s not worry about doubles, k?

The 2012 Summer Fun List

Go to the Zoo (or a few!)

eat ice cream

make popsicles

make lemonade

grow sunflowers as tall as we possibly can

plant veggies in the garden and watch them grow

go to a baseball game

go to an amusement park

play mini-golf

go on a lot of picnics

play in the pool in the backyard. a lot.

visit as many state parks as possible

hike.hike.hike.

grow some massive tomatoes and some teeny tiny tomatoes

Camp!

stay up late to catch lightning bugs (I swear that’s the correct spelling – I even researched!)

work on lots of messy art projects

go berry picking

make ice cream

see a movie outside

go fishing

play in a creek

have a bubble blowing extravaganza

make our own sprinkler

go to a water park

swim in a lake

go to farmer’s markets. a lot.

visit roadside produce stands

grow flowers and have them always in the house

go for early morning and late evening walks

make an obstacle course in the backyard

make water balloons

eat a meal of only corn

What’s on your list this year??

On our way to Market this morning, I remembered a comment a friend left a little while ago.  She said,’Why does “a trip to market” sound so much better than “going to the grocery store?” ‘ and it occurred to me that I haven’t talked about our Farmer’s Markets around here in a while and that a lot of you might just think that I mean the grocery store, too.

It’s one of those things that you take for granted – “I’m going to Market” around here really means our downtown Central Market.  So I decided to get out my old phone and take some pictures while we were there to show you what it actually is when I say we “went to market.”  There’s also another market near our house that we frequent and both are sort of hard to describe. They both have actual permanent buildings. They both have permanent stands and stand-holders. So they’re sort of different in the sense that they’re not pop-up-under-tents-on-the-street-once-a-week Farmer’s Markets. They also both have a variety of stand-holders that aren’t entirely limited to just farmers and food vendors and they’re certainly not all idyllic organic romanticized loveliness. There are big stands with produce retailers that get stuff straight off of trucks, most likely in Philadelphia, at wholesale prices and sell at retail at these markets. At one there are also tons of flea-market type stands with random crap.There are tons of stand with baked goods, too.  Lancaster County may have a ton of farms and produce, but they surely also know how to do a whole lot of lard-laden baked goods around here.

But there are also amazing organic stands and local farmers and artisans sell produce, cheese, honey, bread, flowers – you name it.  If I were focused, I could easily do all of my grocery shopping at these two markets.  But, I’m not.  It would take a lot more planning and I haven’t been very good at that.  In the summer we’ll likely go even more and we’ll also have tons of great roadside produce stands around that also range from huge to tiny and I always love to stop at the tiny stands in front of peoples’ houses (Karen, if I knew where you lived, I’d SO come and get some rhubarb and see all of the amazing furniture you’ve been working on!)

Are there markets like this near you? Or great Farmer’s Markets?

I wanted to make oatmeal cookies the other day because I got a bug up my skirt about having cookies in a cookie jar, but I realized that I didn’t have any rolled oats.  I have massive quantities of steel cut oats, though, and I wondered if I could actually use them in cookies.  I figured them might result in pucks that would crack a tooth, but figured it was worth a google. Turns out, it’s no problem! I followed this recipe loosely and changed things a bit.  The steel cut oats work no problem – they don’t need to be soaked or pre-cooked or anything complicated. The result is a cookie with a tiny bit of bite to it – just enough to seem almost nutty. I like little cookies, so I based the cooking time on cookies made with about 1 tablespoon of dough, if you like them bigger just extend the cookie time a bit.

Steel Cut Oat and Cranberry Cookies

6 Tablespoons butter(room temp)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup plain applesauce

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups steel cut oats

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup dried cranberries

- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

- Beat the heck out of the butter in the mix. Then beat it some more. Then add in the sugars. Once the butter and sugar are blended, add the applesauce, egg and vanilla and beat a bunch more until it’s all creamy.

- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cranberries.

- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a bit at a time until it’s all incorporated.

- Refrigerate the dough for a good chunk of time.

- Spoon dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets in tablespoon-ish sized balls.

- Baked for 8-10 minutes until edges just start to look brown.

-

Nothing fancy, but having stuff all over the fridge makes me crazy. Molding, a few nails, some bulldog clips. We could paint them, but we’re lazy and just wanted to get it all up. Inspired by my friend Molly – she has them in her house with thumbtacks to move the art, etc. and I’ve liked them forever, so we got all crazy and made some of our own.

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It’s March! And we’re getting to where we want to be. One more month until some major changes around here in a whole lot of areas.

Taking away: Going to work, having to bring diapers everywhere we go, time spent driving and away from home, Computer screen time (time wasted on the internet, time spent reading so many blogs,) spending in ways beyond most necessities, eating out, the tv(at least for the kids and me during the day), my diet soda addiction

Adding: So much more water, more family dinners, being able to put my kids to bed every night again, reading more books, more photography, gardening, so many more flowers than I planted last year, hours and hours outside, moving my body more every single day, more cleaning, more cooking and learning to cook well, growing enough food to have some to preserve or preserving from the amazing amounts of produce available locally, more park and picnic time with friends

Things we all say every so often. I’m working on it and really looking forward to spring and summer. A lot.

p.s. The Apartment Therapy Homies are here! This list is amazing, just in case you need any new blogs to read! Also, I’m on there if you want to throw an extra vote into the hat!

There are so many things I want to talk about.  How it feels like we’re moving slowly and that feels good.  How pork chops breaded with corn flake crumbs and baked are amazing.  How I love the Pepperidge Farms whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread toasted with some whipped cream cheese. How both of my kids decided to completely stop napping which means double the messes, none of the recovery time and killed my 2ish hours in the afternoon to be productive or relax(depending on the day) and also happens to be my most common time to sit and blog(hence the lack of post s lately.)  How moving my kids into the bigger of our two bedrooms is revolutionizing my world and theirs. How I’ve been focusing a lot on getting our new little bedrooms to come together now with a teensy budget and a few cheap DIY projects. How I turned on my digital camera and realized that I hadn’t even used it in two weeks. How shooting film lately and barely editing and not staring at a computer screen makes me so happy that I could sing and if you’ve even remotely considered the same, get this book to go along with your journey! How I watched an episode of Downton Abbey accidentally on Saturday night when I should have been going to bed and now I can’t get enough. How little girl braids make me so very happy. How it feels good when everything feels chaotic and I can’t keep up with cleaning my house to just bag up the excess and keep sending it to Salvation Army – I still can’t get over all of the stuff we have, even after we’ve gotten rid of tons and tons in the past months. How I got to visit preschool for the day last week and I cannot believe how much girl dynamics are already apparent, even at 4 years old and a bunch who are all immensely smart and bright and kind.

But I just can’t seem to get my footing , so hang on please, ok? We’ll figure out a new normal soon enough.  I always go back and forth when it feels like this with blogging. Whether to just skip posting and do massive posts once a week or to just pop in a bit with a picture or two here and there and a few bits of words. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer, but I do need to figure out and stumble around a bit with getting into a new routine all around.

p.s. Any favorite Etsy stores for wall art? I have a few pieces in mind and I have lots favorited(is that a word?), but while I’m hunting I’d love any suggestions and I promise to share in an upcoming post!

“It sounds simple: go outside, step into the quiet, if just for a few minutes, and see what rises to the surface. But we can’t do that! It’s almost Christmas! We must do that. It’s almost Christmas. ” -Emily at Chatting at the Sky

It was all there. The ubiquitous family dynamics annoying everyone. Kids fighting over toys and overwhelmed. Bickering as we got ready for people to come over and not-so-kind looks shot like daggers. Stress and energy zap from the endless stream of events and prep. But the best parts -the bits I want to hold closer to me amongst the things that will never change and that I cannot control:
The quiet in the church as I sat alone in the pew saving seats early
The little boy closest to the microphone belting out Silent Night in off-key perfection that had me grinning
The beautiful manger and the altar covered in a tower of poinsettias
My little one’s excitement to wear a fancy dress
The creamiest Blue Cheese and yummy Smoked Gouda and Linzer Torte cookies
Slow present opening that thankfully didn’t feel at all like a shark feeding frenzy
A nap in the afternoon
Knit mittens lined in fleece that my dad picked perfectly for me
A little guy in his new tool belt and pajamas, hammer in hand all day long
Snuggling under the covers with her long after she fell asleep on my way to bed

It was good, but I’m also glad that it’s over – I always am, it’s all just too much.