34 weeks

As of tomorrow I am 34 weeks - what do you think? Do I look 34 weeks or 40? Everyone around here seems to come up to me and ask if I'm ready to go deliver any day. I guess I look very large this time! I can tell you that I feel huge. I'm happy to know that our sweet little man is growing big and strong!

I was rubbing my tummy this afternoon and I clearly felt his perfect little spine! I got so excited to know how my little man was snuggled in there! We are still unsure of his name, and I am thinking I like the idea of seeing him and then having us name him. It has been a very hot summer, but I am trying to enjoy the remainder of my time with him squirming around in my tummy and with sweet little wild thing, Adison!

Bit of a scary picture in my pj's, but I had a sec, and Adi was occupied!

Pickle Post

Ok, I'm sure you're all getting sick of seeing my pickle posts, but this is going to be the ultimate pickle post! It seems like no one makes pickles the way our grandparents and great grandparents used to. So I am going to list out all the recipes I have made this season so they are all in one place and I can go back and reference them for years to come. We love pickles here at our house and they honestly don't last that long.

Some quick notes:
I don't "process" any of these pickles, and I usually get them to self seal with the use of a hot jar and hot brine.

When you are planting your cucumbers make sure to plant about 5 - 6 dill plants if you are wanting to can dill pickles throughout the season. I would also recommend not planting them near the cucumbers (they get choked out by those crazy vines).

I always grow my vines up a trellis for easy harvest.

As you pick them keep them in a big pot of water in the fridge to keep them crisp.

After you have filled your jars and sealed them well flip them over to give good contact with the lid to allow them to self seal easier.

Ice or Celery Pickles
Great Grandma Angela Russell-Ahern's recipe (my mom's dad's mother)

• Soak 3-4 inch cukes (sliced in quarters lengthwise) in ice water over night
  
• Boil together and cool 1 qt of vinegar, 1 cup of sugar, and 1/2 cup canning salt
• In the morning pack jars with sliced onions on the bottom cukes, celery, a few more onion slices on the top and then the cool brine and seal

*** I heat my jars with boiling water and fill them with veg and then top them off with HOT brine, seal, and flip over to hopefully self seal.

Dill Pickles
Grandma Mildred Koster's recipe (my dad's mom)

• 6 cups water (preferably well water)
• 2 cups vinegar
• 1/2 cup pickling salt
• 1/2 tsp alum (personal preference here - she never used alum for my dad b/c he liked them not as crisp) I don't really think the alum crisps them up that much.
• Bring the above to a boil
• Fill HOT jars with 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves garlic, the blooms of fresh dill, a pinch of red pepper for quart jars. Fill with brine, seal, and flip over

*** I use 4 or 5 cloves of garlic a lot of dill and some kind of hot pepper sliced open to expose the ribs and seeds.

Sweet Cucumber Pickles
Mom Pat Koster's recipe

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups white vinegar
• 1/4 cup canning salt
• 3/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp mustard seed
• 3/4 tsp celery seed
• Boil first six ingredients only until boiling point is reached
• 2 medium onions sliced thin
• 6 cukes
• Pour over cukes and onions which have been sliced and put in layers. Store in the fridge - good after one week.
  

Refrigerator or Ice Cream Bucket Pickles
Aunt Kris's recipe (my dad's sister)

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup canning salt
• 1 tsp alum (optional)
• 1 pint white vinegar
  
• 3 pints distilled water (I used well)
• Boil above ingredients
• 1st put dill, onion sliced, 5 hot peppers (I used Serranos this year), 8 cloves of smashed garlic, pack diced rounds of pickles tight, pour liquid into the bucket then leave the lid off for 3 days at room temp, cover, refrigerate, and enjoy.

*** I made them just as the recipe calls for and they were GREAT. I also just made some that I canned and refrigerated that I have not tried yet. I like to try and can and self seal them so you can enjoy them through the winter. I'll make any updates necessary after I try them.

I'm so happy I have all of my family recipes in once place now so we can enjoy them for many more years to come!!!!

Dog days of summer

We have been going outside after dinner for Adi to play around for a little bit. I have been filling up her water table or pool every night, but all she wants to do is pick tomatoes. It is nice having such an enthusiastic little helper in the garden, but she sometimes gets a little to excited and picks a green one or two. She know that she can only pick the red ones, but her excitement gets the best of her some of the time. My garden is doing pretty well this year, but being eight and a half months pregnant takes a little bit of the enjoyment out of it!

This lasted a minute or two



She'd pick all night long if I let her!

Adison Turns 2

Two years old!!! I can't believe our little baby is getting so big so fast. I thought I would jot a couple things down about what she is up to right now and how great of a little two year old she is. This is mainly for us to remember!

She is a huge bundle of energy and is a very active little thing.
She talks, and talks, and talks a lot.
I would definitely call her a little dare devil and risk taker.
She takes a long time to fall asleep at night (and is still in her crib).
She is officially potty trained through the day. I'll be training her soon through the night when the baby arrives and I am up anyway.
It's so funny now that she is getting older she is enjoying being held and she has suckered daddy into rocking her a little bit before bed. I don't know if she is just sensing that there is a change coming soon or what.
She loves her babies, feeding them, and tools.
Overall, she is a very happy and active toddler and we are madly in love with her!!!

Happy Birthday Cake Adi! (this is what she says when she is wishing someone a Happy Birthday)



I took videos of the Grandparents gifts, so I have no pictures - sorry.

Summer Shutdown 2011

It's back to work for Brandon today, but we had a really nice week with him off. We really didn't do much, except for little things around here. It has been pretty darn hot and I am getting bigger and bigger, so that meant indoor activities. We spent time as a family so what could be better then that?!

Children's Museum






Adi loves riding the "round and round"


Build-a-bear


Of all the things we did - this was probably the BIGGEST hit. Bran took her up to the park almost every night before bath to swing and slide. She is just in love with swinging!! We had to have popsicles every night as well. These are what summer nights are made of!

Happy Birthday Cake ADI

Last night we had Adi's 2nd birthday party! Adi was so excited to have her party and her friends over. She was having a blast and bouncing off the walls all evening. It really hit me how much older she is getting. She is such a fun little bundle of energy. We couldn't be more blessed to have her as our daughter.

Her pretty little garden party cake.

She did a great job blowing out all her candles.

Taste testing before we took it to get cut.

The three of us!

Loving the trampoline!

Opening her presents

Ben and Adi were running wild!

PICKLES like Milly made!

My cucumbers vines are going CRAZY this year. I'm sure all this rain has helped!!! I made a different variation on my grandma Milly's dill pickles this year, and then I made some refrigerator pickles (kind of like bread and butter) this year. Brandon is a big fan of sweet pickles. I got the recipe from my Aunt Kris. Aunt Kris, is this your recipe or grandma's? I'll post recipes and pictures of my vines from this year later (mainly for my benefit)! Enjoy the HOT summer with delicious crunchy home made pickles!

Rainbows

Last night we went to a little neighborhood get together here in Haubstadt with a guy Brandon works with. Even though Adi is teething and has been pretty miserable the last couple days we had a pretty good time. She got to swim, eat popsicles, watch a parade, and we even made it to watch the fireworks (aka rainbows). It definitely felt summery and patriotic. I love our little town!

Swimming in the pool

Taking a little break from running all around

Watching the little parade

Look at that sweet, hot face

Daddy and Adi enjoying popsicle number 2

The three of us waiting for fireworks to begin

We were watching fireworks and by this time the dress was off. She was getting pretty miserable so I let her get nakey. You can see Bran's black eye in this picture given to him by his daughter a couple days ago. They smacked teeth and eye lid. It looks like Bran was in a pretty serious fight!