Are you eating local?

If you live in WI and are trying to eat local foods, I encourage you to sign up for the challenge taking place during the week of Sept 5. There are resources on the website if you need more ideas =) Most people I know are close to a Farmers' Market and try to get there every now and then...in our area I know of about 5! I could go to one almost every day of the week...anyway, I thought I'd pass this on. I'm signed up so I hope to post about our progress this coming week. Stay tuned!

A cucumber kingdom!

So I have 10 cukes (all named Larry!) and more are on the way - HELP! We don't like cuke salad or pickles. Aside from giving them away to the neighbors, is there any way to freeze/store them and make them last longer? Basically we eat them raw and we can't eat them fast enough. I HATE throwing away produce, not to mention produce I paid for in the CSA box. Any ideas??
PS - and this blog is not dead. It suffers from narcolepsy. Your patience will be rewarded w/a slew of posts once our regular school routine starts. Thank you!

Big Man on Campus!

Happy Birthday Moses!I cannot believe you are 3 already. You are an amazing gift from God! You make me smile when you shout praise songs, you make me laugh when you dance (just like your daddy!) and you make me melt when you flash the I love you sign. You've met every goal we had for you...now you're going to pre-preschool and it's weird to think of bringing in some supplies for your class, being a volunteer mom and going on field trips. We can't wait until you bring home your first project and explain it to us! We always said God had big plans for you but I don't think we'll ever be able to know just how big. Today I remember how I was scared to first hold you (even though I've held sooo many babies in my life!) and I thought I would hurt you. You were so tiny and I didn't know why God chose me to care for you. But now I know...your daddy and I helped you grow strong and big but you helped us learn to trust in and depend on God in more ways than ever before. We love you, peanutter!

Now go party! But, uh, if you're going to fall asleep early, how about you try to get upstairs to your bed instead of crashing on your dad? He loved that but I was the one who got stuck carrying your long-legged self upstairs...!

Catch up!

I don't know if I ever will...But there are so many things to talk about!!
DW got his cast off. So now he wears a black boot. He says it's way better than the cast! He's walking more especially since we returned the wheel chair! He's still working on finding the balance of how much is too much though. It's still swollen and it will be for a while I'm sure. But overall he's much happier that he can take the boot off at night and stuff.
Before we left for the family reunion, I made fruit leather in the dehydrator. I had lots of blueberries and raspberries, some strawberries and well, I threw in some eggplant! As soon as I offered it to Mo, he started eating it like it was going out of style!! He loved it. I had to cut him off after a while b/c I wasn't sure if it was going to be too excessive in the fiber dept. Anyway - I think I'll make it again.
Let's see, what else is new? DW's classroom is finally looking manageable. Not done, but it looks like we have some order. I was limping along to help him today - I got a huge thorn thing in my foot during the family reunion! Not fun. So we are a sight, limping, trying to use office chairs to move stuff around...yeah...
We're all looking forward to the last few days of summer. We'll be doing a few local things over Labor Day, like going to the county fair and camping in the backyard =) More thoughtful posts coming soon...

Oh blast! More cast!

So DW's appt. to get the cast off was canceled. We don't know why - there was just a message on the machine when we got home. It was supposed to come off tomorrow at 9am, just in time for the Wilke family reunion! He's not happy. He's sick of crutches. I'm sick of being the servant! The good news is that we had another appt w/the state adoption lady today and next up is our individual interviews. This is way easier than the foster care stuff, but that's b/c we did the FC stuff already...they could just read their notes! Not only that but the house is relatively clean...too bad that doesn't cheer my hot hubby up! Normally it would so I'm feeling a little gypped. But hopefully we can find out more about this cast appt in the morning and we can adjust our plans. We'll keep you posted!

I don't sting!

Even though I have been as busy as a bee, I promise I don't sting! We've been enjoying summer. That means we are doing a whole lotta fun stuff and not much work. Anyway - school starts soon so that means we make valiant attempts to climb back up onto the routine truck! We got a call today about respite care for one day for 3 kids, ages 2.5, 1.5 and 8 weeks but it's a day we already have plans! I left a message for the SW that if they absolutely cannot find someone for the day we can change our plans...I wanted to add, "Don't stop calling!!" but since I couldn't control the desperate tone in my voice I figured it would be better to just say, "Bye - hope to talk to you soon!" Yeah. Both sound lame. Other than that, I don't have too much to talk about. We've been having fun though. DW gets the cast off in 2 days! He's WAAAAY excited about that...I'm sure he'll post something soon. In the meantime I get to brag about my Olympic-sized forearms! HAHA!

Taste test

(You might want to scroll down and read a post titled "Don't open that!" for an intro to this cake...)
Ummmmmmmmm.....
I have no idea if this is what it's supposed to taste like, but whatever! Warm chocolate cake....ummmmm.....oh and that whole butter and flour the pan thing? WOW. No traces of cake in the pan so far!! Brilliant. And the zucchini is not too noticeable. I think next time I might grate it up smaller. I just used the cheese shredder and a few times I think I got a piece of skin that didn't break up too much. No complaints! Ummmmmm.....

Now what??

If I double the recipe do I double the bake time? After the required time it still looks WET in the middle...I'm adding half more of the required time....

Don't open that!!

I did it. I made a cake from scratch. I used real cocoa. DARK cocoa. I buttered and floured the pan. I used a knife when measuring ingredients. The recipe sounded so good I doubled it b/c when it's called Death-by-Chocolate-anything, there MUST be twice as much!! So now I wait. And sweat. And fret. Did it matter that I missed an ingredient and tossed it in towards the end? Did I flour the pan too much? Too little? Did I fold the zucchini in properly? It's not like paper after all. Did my substitutions ( sugar honey, oil applesauce) affect the way it would turn out? Since I doubled it, I half expect to open the oven and have this huge cake come creeping out like in that episode** of I Love Lucy (best show ever, btw!). ACK!!! This is why I avoid cooking at all costs! Too many variables, most of which are my fault!! All I can say is there had better be enough chocolate in there to cover all my mistakes!
(I know, it's Friday and I'm calling this a Make It Monday post, but I haven't made anything in a while and we'll be gone Monday, so...consider me early =)!)
**PS - it was season 1 episode 25 in case you were wondering!

SLIDE

Here are the pics!
It was a long way up...Mo held my hand and walked real S.L.O.W. He kept saying, "This is a long way up, Momma!" Yup, it is...

At the bottom, he immediately wanted to go back up! That's my boy!

Simple Pleasures - Sunday

Packer people party and play ptogether!! (The p is silent...until I find a p word that means the same thing!)

One of the best things about our family is that we all like sports! Moses has been brainwashed to love Brett Favre, Ryan Braun, Bucky Badger and tolerate the Bucks. We play sports, we watch sports and we get decked out in sports T-shirts =) The first big date Dave and I went on was to a Badgers' game...It's a simple pleasure that God has joined us together based on our interests. Both Dave and I are/were teachers, we like sports, we like music, we want a lot of kids...I know, if I make the list any longer I will make you gag! But we celebrate our differences too - I like HOT HOT HOT weather and Dave doesn't like to sweat! I like to finish the particular topic of conversation and Dave didn't get the nickname Tangent Boy for staying on topic. I am wound up pretty tight and Dave goes w/the flow. Nay, he lives for spontaneity! Having a kid is wild - we see how our interests influence him and how our personality traits become evident! Some good, some not so good...we're all pretty stubborn! Anyway - hope your family can celebrate the simple pleasure of things you share!

Simple Pleasures - Saturday

This one is not that simple...and I'm sorry it's late, but there were a bunch of pics to choose from!

This is why I love the state fair!!

Apple Cider Donuts. See, I don't like cream, so I don't like cream puffs. I'm weird, ok? So for me the highlight is an apple cider donut! That's pretty simple frugal! I'll take a 75 cent treat over a $3.50 mess any day!

I also like brown jersey and swiss cows, not the black and white kind. Oh - and I like the red pigs. ALL pigs are adorable but the red ones are the best!! (Sorry for the blurry photo...I guess DW wanted to to get a great shot of me and the pig and got so excited he was shaking...or something...!)

The other thing I really loved was the HUGE slide! Moses and I were practically airborne! I'm still working on getting the pic uploaded since my parents took it.

I also love the pig races and baby animals barn...what do you like about the state fair?

My boyfriend's back!!

FINALLY!!!
It's 4 real!!
Thank you Roger Goodell...
(Totally old picture, and I'm sure I've used it before but the expression on our faces is perfect to demonstrate our sheer JOY tonight!! We're watching the 'breaking news' right now and Moses keeps yelling, "There's MY PACKERS!! There they are!! That's my Brett Favre!!")
(PS yes I labeled this post a holiday. Much more exciting than his retirement!! It's "Brett Favre is AWESOME day" and there is dancing in the streets and everyone is celebrating merrily...)

Busy with bubbles

I said I had more photos and now that I figured out this slideshow thing, I guess I'm addicted =)

Simple Pleasures - Friday

BUBBLES! We've had posts about bubbles before...we made these bubbles ourselves and used hangers to make huge ones this time. I have soooo many cool photos but I will have to post them tomorrow. For now - I'm actually in a picture =)

Simple Pleasures - Thursday

Don't lie - you love getting mail too! We hardly get any real mail these days, but still. Thursday we actually got a huge teaching catalog, which I used to love. I never bought more than posters, but I stole tons of their ideas! I should really cancel that now, especially since we don't teach that subject and it's just a waste of paper! Ah well, there was something in the box!