Front Door

So I am thinking about changing the color of our front door. Everytime I leave our house, or return to our house, I think, "the front door is SO boring." It needs a punch of color. What do you think? Here is the current front door (all I have is last Halloween's picture):

So you can see we have a black door and off-white siding. The shutters are also black.

I like a red door, but I just don't know.

Is that too expected and traditional?

What about this green door? I really kind of like it.

I don't think I like yellow. Wouldn't it look too bumble bee-ish with our black shutters?

Any suggestions?

Pics from the Camera Phone

You know how you end up with a random

selection of photos on your camera phone?

Well, I thought I'd share a few with you.

Dec 11, 2009, 11:57 am

Molly, while we are in the waiting room to see the doctor.

May 16, 2010, 2:05 pm

Molly, at a local park.

Aug 7, 2009, 9:39am

Molly's toes

Apr 26, 2010, 6:44pm

Just hanging out on the couch.

Jan 1, 2010, 5:23pm

A not so happy Emmett at Walmart

May 15, 2010, 9:08am

Emmett at his first swim lesson

Mar 2, 2010, 6:33am

Sunrise on I-40 on the way to work.

Hope you enjoyed the "snapshot" of some of my days.

Catching up. Soapbox.

A lot has been going on lately.

Here is the nutshell version to catch us up to date:

Early last week. Work. Uneventful. Husband leaves for long weekend to go camping. Laundry. Clean. Juggle kids. Emmett haircut. Molly walking. Emmett's first swim lesson. Grandparents come to town. Good visit. Emmett sad for them go. Husband comes home. Groceries. Small festival. Monday.

Now that you know what I have been up to, here are my recent recurring thoughts that I am not sure what to do with.

How do we get more people to breastfeed? How do you go about changing a culture's attitude and willingness toward this topic? Fear? Do we need a "Formula, Inc." documentary? Education? More grassroots organizations? Political agendas? Celebrity trend? What will it take?

And how did we get here so seemingly easy over the past 100 years? Did you know that formula was invented in the late 1800's, and wasn't really starting to be commercially available until the 1920's, but by the early 1970's over 75% of babies were being fed formula. I find this astounding. Centuries and centuries of humans successfully reared on the intended food for babies, breastmilk. But in less than 50 years, a huge conversion had taken place. Why was it so easily embraced? Mothers were told that those who could afford it would feed their babies formula, and not be bothered by that troublesome breastfeeding. Could this huge transformation have taken place based mostly on perceived status? How sad.

Did you further know that even today, all the components of breastmilk are unknown? With all our science and technology, we can't even reproduce this ever-adjusting perfect food. What will it take for mothers to treasure this gift? And for them to do all they can to provide this for their baby?

What is your thought?

Babies movie

I went to see the Babies movie this weekend. Very cool. It shows the first year of life for 4 babies from the US, Namibia, Japan, and Mongolia. It was interesting to see the differences of culture, but more so the similarities of the babies. I liked seeing some breastfeeding. One thing we didn't see was nighttime with the babies. I would have liked to see the differences in how sleeping arrangements and waking at night were dealt with in the different families. There was no dialog in the film, just music and I thought that was just right. It really didn't need it. Just watching the babies was perfect.

Busy week, Mother's Day

Well, it's been a busy week. Husband was away for work all this week so I had the kids on my own for a few days, until my MIL came and stayed for a few days. Molly had a fever on Tuesday so I had to leave work early to pick her up and then had to stay home with her on Wednesday as well. Wednesday night my MIL came and was a great help, and Emmett really enjoyed having her to play with. Hubbie got home last night, and then I had to work today. So, haven't had a lot of blog time.

But, after work today I came home to a lovely drawing by Emmett, flowers, and delicious meal of steak, asparagus, mashed potatoes and rolls. YUM! A happy mother's day surprise, and it was so nice! And tomorrow, off to see the Babies movie.

The veggie garden survived it's first week. I hope to get out tomorrow to take pictures.

Cutie pies and strawberry rhubarb pies

Fruit pie:

The pie mentioned in the previous post? Awesome! I couldn't wait too long, so I cut into it when it was still warm. It was pretty runny, but very tasty. But, after a nite in the refrigerator, it has set up pretty well and the second piece was also very tasty! I used the Grandma's Strawberry Rhubarb pie recipe. I wasn't sure about the cinnamon and vanilla, but it worked. Oh, and I didn't make the crust. Pillsbury does such a nice job at that, I just didn't see the point.

Cutie pies:

Even though they are an awful lot of work, I really do enjoy Molly and Emmett's ages right now. Molly is just so sweet with her cheeks, baby talk, first steps and big grins. Emmett is just so interesting with his questions, affection, insights and art. He can be such a good little helper and it is nice to see the world through his eyes.

(No time for pics today of the garden. Soon. )

Locally Produced

See Molly's t-shirt? That was the theme of this weekend!

We went to Whitted Bowers farm in Cedar Grove, north of Hillsborough on Saturday morning and picked lovely organic strawberries. 12 lbs of them!

Then it was strawberry jam time! We used about 4lbs of strawberries and made 12 jars of jam. We couldn't remember the recipe we used last year, so we used a different recipe this year. It is tasty, but has a lot of sugar, so it is very sweet, but also very nice and spreadable.

Mashing the strawberries and mixing in the sugar.

Getting it to temperature and proper consistency.

Filling the jars.

And we made a strawberry rhubarb pie. In fact, it is still cooling as we speak.

I'll let you know how it is!

We also got the veggies planted in the garden today. Look for next post to hear more!