The Modern Prairie

2010-09-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

Matt here finishing up a quiet and relaxing four day labor-day weekend at home with the family. heading back to work with a busy week of travel. Thoughts of excited anticipation and uncertainty filling our minds, yet no one can foresee the future so it's best not to dwell there. So instead, here's the recent past.. Summer 2010 for the Horn's of Marshall in a stream of non chronological ordered sentence fragments..

Hosting our families at Debra and Jaspers b-days celebrations
Sowing seeds on the front porch giving life to our garden
Mika and Jasper's first real experience of loss as they say goodbye to Nado
(happy bonus) Nimba's affection rating with Mika skyrockets
RenFest, the Currie Train Museum and Pipestone during a great week with Grandpa John (see montage)
Parks, bikes and scooters with a few skinned knees
A family summer vacation to Omaha and the Zoo exceeded our expectations
Twin Cities for the 4th o July fireworks followed by 2 hours in a parking lot waiting to traffic to unjam.
A decent harvest of heirloom tomatoes
20+ jars of various tomato sauces canned
swimming lessons.
Getting ready for Kindergarten and preschool.
The Perfect Luchbox..

Surely there's was more but those were the standout moments from our past few months.

Summer always make me acutely aware of the passage of time. That feeling of having to get it all in before the winter months can be taxing. I guess it was good 'timing' then to watch The Time Travelers Wife. The film focus's on the sadness and grandeur of life and the mystery of time. A familiar plot I find myself in each time I contemplate my past and the future lives of our amazing kids.. Our first lifetime enduring memories are formed during these years so I find myself striving to recreate the same memorable moments I had as a 4-6 yearold. Blanket forts, saving the princess, bike adventures etc..(to future kids, Did it work?)

ugh..My role as a speck in time always becomes so apparent during blog entries - no real point to this other than to thoughtfully address the future audiences of these pages. The internal optimist in me knows it all turns out wonderful.

(posted by: Matt logged in as Debra)

Yummy Pizza

2010-08-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

I make my own pizza crusts now since I'm gluten free due to migraines and they are good but sometimes you just need something new. The kids LOVE quinoa, so I was thinking a quinoa crust pizza would be good, but they don't love red sauce so I was planning on topping with just cheese but Matt added a cream sauce which was good since it would have been dry without it. We also topped with asparagus, fresh mozzarella, cherve cheese, fresh oregano (from the garden) and fresh tomatoes. Although it took some coaxing for the kids to eat it, they did and I think with a couple more tries they'll love it more. It was the cream sauce that threw them, but this pizza was delicious. The sauce was a combination of shallots, garlic, white wine, parmesean, cream and gluten-free flour. The crust was quinoa cooked with vegetable stock and then mixed with two eggs, a bit more of the GF flour and made into the crust in a non-stick skillet and then flipped and topped and finished off under the broiler.

2010-07-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

So Debra's HD is bursting at the seams and unable to hold any more content. This means no fancy photo-shopped triptych's or Illustrator montages in this months update. Just the natural untouched photos from the past couple of months of our summer out on the prairie. Above, sunsets out the backdoor and Princess Mika with a bouquet of squash blossoms from this mornings trip to the farmers market (soon to be had at dinner in the form of squash blossom quesadillas)

The garden is doing quite despite the 40mph+ force winds from the last half dozen thunderstorms. We have a dozen various varietals of heirloom tomatoes all beginning to bear fruit. A rapidly expanding pumpkin patch (with blossom below), herbs, hot peppers and some cantaloupe. See below:

The kids think the pumpkin plants are alive when they see the tendrils reaching out and spiraling around anything they can find (click on the photos to enlarge)

May Day! MAY DAY!!!

2010-05-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

This May Day update brought to you by Flora, the Roman Goddess of flowers!

Husband Matt here, (who hasn't contributed to the family blog in months) deciding to post some of the images of the kids, Easter eggs and our garden seedlings as we continue the transition from frigid winter to balmy Spring. May gets my vote as the most dynamic and transitionally jarring month in respects to food, produce and cuisine. Highlighted by precious, short seasonal specialties like Morels, ramps, fiddle heads and Fava, spring always reminds me why I love food and cooking.

Tie-dye Easter Eggs, planting our seeds on the front steps in late March and the result 6 weeks later.. all ready for to be transplanted to the garden. about 10 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, variety of hot peppers, melon, herbs etc..

I often wonder if the writings, pictures and short clips from this blog will survive and be handed down as some sort of digital heirloom to future generations of the Horn family... Will Jasper's grand kids read (or merely access the file via a brain interface) these words a century from now and remark at how primitive our lives must of been? I hope they do. Just a few blips of archived time to remind them of how life once was...

Awesome Giveaway

2010-04-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I need to post something about me. I have lots of projects around thea house post-worthy but just need to get to it. In the meantime, check out this giveaway over at I Have A Notion. They have buckets of giveaways right now, but the big one--the one I'd like to win the most is an AccuQuilt, which cuts your fabric exactly for you so your pieces are all the same size.

They also have a great store.

Valentine Mail Bag--Tutorial!

2010-02-11T08:12:00.000-08:00

So I've never written a tutorial and I'm no expert sewer, in fact, I'm not very precise so please bear with me. When I saw this mail bag online it was unavailable, from a large retailer, so I thought I could make it and gave it a try. I think I did a good job recreating it.

First, you'll need to cut all your pieces. I'm using a quilting weight red for the front and a heavy weight canvas stripe for my lining and applique and straps which I happened to have on hand.

Two pieces 7.5 by 16.5 inches for the back that wraps around to create the front flap. (This measurement is .5 inches less than mine, as I felt it was a little long). It doesn't show it in this photo, but you should also round your corners on this piece and the front. See later photos. I just used about a 2.5" diameter circle and marked it on the back of the piece and with the front and back together I cut them both at the same time.

Two pieces 7.5 x 9 inches for the front. It doesn't show it in this photo, but you should also round your corners on this piece and the back. See later photos. I just used about a 2.5" diameter circle and marked it on the back of the piece with them together and cut them both at the same time.

Two pieces 4 x 17 inches for the straps (since I've made the bag, my daughter has been wearing the bag, as a backpack, instead of hanging it. So if you anticipate your child doing this, you could make your straps longer as 17" is a little tight for my 5 year old)

Two pieces 2.5 x 22.5 for the sides (I also put interfacing on my quilt weight piece so that the bag would have some stability)

With some steam a seam or iron on interfacing attached cut a heart and the word MAIL, you'll also need some rick-rack and I used two sets of dot hook and loop tape (velcroe)

Now lets make the straps. I made them just as you would make bias tape or quilt binding. Iron them down the center horizontally and then press each side towards the center seam again. Now refold and press once more. Also unfold the end and press in about a half inch and press again so all raw edges are encased. I also hand sewed a hook and tape dot on one edge so that it could be undone to fit on our chairs. This isn't entirely necessary depending on your chairs. Ours are wide and if I hadn't done this, they wouldn't have hung well. Now sew all the way around your straps doing and edge seam.

Time to applique. Lets get one thing straight--I'm in not good at this, so don't judge me! On the back piece, (the larger one) using what will be the front of the fabric find the middle and place your heart right side up and pin in place. Now applique that on with a small zig zag stitch and also applique a key hole. Do the same for the word MAIL on the smaller piece which is the front of the mail bag. This will be at the bottom but leave room for the seam. I put it about 3/4 up from the bottom. Once you've finished your applique, put the two main pieces and the side piece with the lining pieces right sides together. Notice how my corners are rounded now. Now we are ready to put in the rick rack and sew these together.

I marked a line on each side at 9" from the non-heart side. Then starting at that mark start pining in your rick-rack right next to your edge. It shouldn't be peeking out at all. Just leave the tail out at the beginning and the end. Wrap around and pin around the corners as best you can and as you are sewing make sure you keep the rickrack even with the edges of your lining and front fabric and stitch all the way around the pieces with a 1/4" stitch (backstitching at the beginning and end) leaving about a 3-4" opening for turning.

Do the same for the front piece and the side piece again leaving openings for turning. Turn and press all pieces and you should have something like this! You don't need to worry about finishing the holes that you left for turning as they will get closed up when sewing the pieces together.

Next sew the side piece to the front piece that says mail on it. Pin it first so that you make sure it is even and matches up nice. I used an edge stitch here and found it easier to stitch with the side facing me as opposed to the front piece. Sew carefully around the corners to avoid puckering. Pressing it flat with my finger as I sewed it worked well for me.

Next pin the straps to the back piece the longer one, slightly under where the rickrack begins. Make sure they are even with each other and sew them on with a X and a square. Maybe you can do a better job than I did. You can also sew your spouse piece of hook and loop tape on at this point as well which would probably be easier than at the end like I did.

Now sew the back to the side, making sure to pin first so that it all matches up well and is even. Again I found it easier to work with the side facing up on the sewing machine.

For the mail slot I marked about a 3.5-4" line and made a narrow rectangle on the top closer to the back of the bag to make sure the mail would go in the bag and just stitched an tight zig zag applique stitch and started a hole with my seam ripper and then cut carefully within the narrow box I had made.

I used some iron on letters I got at Michaels for her name and simply followed the instructions but you could embroider it on at the beginning before you stitch the lining and front together if you are good at that type of thing as well. I think a magnetic purse clasp would be nice as well for the flap but I didn't have two laying around and I have to make two of these so I for went that. I may add a button to the front flap since that is cheaper and my kids need to practice buttons anyway.

Rocky Ledge Bars

2010-01-13T21:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, so these are almost a staple in our house. I make them often. Everyone loves them. I did make a small change however. The caramel gets a bit too chewy in them so toffee chips work better for us. The kids don't like the chewy bits and I'm not a big caramel fan anyway. Even Matt who loves caramel prefers the toffee, I think it adds that extra bit of saltiness. Anyway they are pretty easy and they make everyone happy. I found that the white chocolate chips are mostly partially hydrogenated.... bla bla bla stuff, so I buy white chocolate baking bars and chop them up. The ingredients actually list white coco first. Also I do not line the pan with parchment. What a waste! I butter and spray with pam, they come out just fine. Yum! These bars are yummy--try them for yourself. Photo from Marthastewart.com. Find the recipe here.

Sledding

2010-01-12T20:18:00.000-08:00

We took this video in St. Paul right before Christmas during the big blizzard. Jasper wasn't prompted at all, we think it's pretty cute. It's on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlwdRnTVlQs

Sweet Dreams Quilt

2009-12-02T14:56:00.001-08:00

So this is Mikas' quilt, her birthday was Saturday. It's small, about 38" square. I used almost scraps entirely. The only purchased fabrics were the white, the brown floral, the binding and the minky. I had never done a paper piecing before and the center is done with four and then sewn together. After I did that I really didn't have any clue what I was going to do next. I saw some perfect castle fabric but it isn't due out till January so I decided I should just make castles. That was paper pieced as well. It really was a labor of love since those pieces are small and labor intensive! All in all I do think it turned out great and she does love it. I had never done a star block either so it was all new to me. Perfect quilt to learn on though since any mistakes are minor and a 5 year old is happy regardless.

Pagemaps Kit Creations contest

2009-10-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

I did this layout based on a pagemaps sketch. I love this photo of the kids. It's from December 2007, but I just did this layout last Friday! I enlarged the cute little deer to make the embroidery. It is really helping me to do it on paper. I may even try fabric one of these days. :)

Bubble boy at the fair

2009-09-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

This was the best ride ever! Combined two of the kids favorite things—mermaids and bubbles! This shot was too funny not to post. Mika is distracted looking at the turning mermaid in the center of the ride. Fun at the Minnesota State Fair.

Canning, canning, canning!

2009-09-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

I think I'm up to 30 pints of marinara sauce now. Three batches. We have no more tomatoes though, so I should be done unless I decide to make some more apple butter. I only did one small batch of that so far but tomorrow we go to the apple orchard again with our play group. Uh oh!

First day of Preschool!

2009-09-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

So we've started preschool and it will take some time to get in the groove, especially since it's just two days a week. They like it but it does wear them out since the class is late for Jasper but it was all we could get. We get home at 3:15 or so and then he takes a nap till about 5! Some adjusting time is needed but all in all they are both happy, just tired and a bit whiney at times. Jasper is doing SO well with the potty, which makes me a happy mom! Thank goodness the diaper fairy came and took all his diapers away about 10 days before school. He really did wonders!

Market Skirt

2009-08-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

I made this cute skirt for Mika out of scraps from Linkon's quilt and the white was some super cheap fabric I picked up at Walmart. I had to double it so it wouldn't be see through. The pocket called for a cute button, but Mika hasn't gotten over her fear of buttons yet, so no button on this skirt! I only did one pocket so you could see more of the cute Blast Off fabric. It was a perfect skirt for her brothers birthday, since I didn't get a photo of them all that day, I took this one the other day at the park. Kind of goofy, but at least you can see her whole outfit! Find the tutorial here.

Matt hanging with the Celebrities

2009-08-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Long ago before Matt and I met, he worked at Cooks on Crocus Hill teaching cooking classes. Some of the classes were co-taught with Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods. Andrew featured Matt on his blog last week, read it all here! How cool is that?

Treasured Items

2009-08-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

We went back to my hometown recently for my 20th high school reunion. It was a nice time. The kids had fun swimming in the hotel pool with us and I got to see lots of old friends. One other benefit was stopping in to see my step-grandmother, Pearl. My grandmother died 1982 and my grandfather in 1992 but many of their things are still in the house and Pearl still keeps it pretty much as it was. Unfortunately she was ill and we didn't get to stay and chat long but Matt and I did manage to bring my grandmothers' old treadle sewing machine downstairs and out to our van and now it has found a place in our spare room. We're calling it the vintage room. Pearl also gave me one of the quilts my mother and grandmother made and finished when they were alive so that means so much to me. I love the quilt. The colors and style fit in the room very nicely. It took quite awhile to clean up the machine and table but it was well worth it and it just needs a new belt or I may be able to fix it. The vintage sewing manual has arrived from ebay as the one that was in it had been damaged in a flood long ago. The machine also housed lots of other goodies including two unopened satin blanket bindings and an item we don't know what it is. So if anyone has any ideas, let me know! On a sewing blog, they've suggested that it is a pin frog used for flower arranging which it does look like, Alana and just can't figure out why it was in the sewing table. So now I think our guest room is almost complete. I just need to find our create some artwork. Our chaise is thanks to Wendy and it works perfectly in the room too. Want to come and visit?

Cookies--Week 4 and 5

2009-08-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I kind of failed on my Lemon Squares review. After searching the MSLiving page, I couldn't find the recipe for the lemon squares that I made out of the cookie book but she has plenty of other lemon bar/square recipes. Matt liked them lots, but I had a couple and that was enough to satisfy my craving. I guess I'm not much of lemon "bar" type of person. They are VERY lemony. Super lemony. Matt loves lemonade and can drink it everyday, twice a day. That is too much for me and if I'm making a bar or cookie, I'd like to indulge in it twice a day but didn't want to with the lemon bars. The kids only liked the crust. Not too surprising. I had him take the pan to work. It came back empty. This recipe also called to line the pan completely in parchment and the butter to lift the bars out which I did not do and the bars came out just fine with a sharp knife so make sure you make them in a glass pan so you don't scratch a metal one.

Surprise Cookies
These were super good. Kids loved them, I loved them. Matt didn't get too many since he was traveling. I'll make some more since I didn't use all of the frosting it called for and we'll make some more in the next day or two. My first batch was a little burnt on the bottom since I kind of forgot that once you baked them for the allotted amount of time you have to top them with the half marshmallow and bake for 2 more minutes. So I recommend baking only 8 minutes and then 3-4 minutes with the marshmallow to get it a little toasty and a more developed flavor to the marshmallow, but that is probably a personal preference. I didn't cover the marshmallow completely with the frosting either so it really isn't a surprise, but that much frosting was a little overkill to me. Our neighbors liked them and the 7 year old boy thought they should be called s'mores cookies. They would just be missing the graham cracker. Martha remarks in the book that it is reminiscent of a hot chocolate. I can go with that. Also the recipe calls for whole milk and I just can't buy a half gallon of it when I'm already buying two kinds of milk--2% worked just fine. (photo taken from the Martha Stewart Cookies book)

Robot Party

2009-08-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

Jasper had a wonderful party! He loved that everyone was there to celebrate with him and was excited about his cake. His favorite part of the cake was the little bolt eyes and had to eat them and of course he loved them. They were made of almond paste and very sugary! I think we did pretty good for our first fondant cake. I searched all over the web for Robot cake inspiration but found none. There was one awesome one, that I didn't dare try recreate and it had lots of airbrushing, but don't own a $200 cake decorating airbrush set and it isn't on my list of things to get! I used plastic curtain rod molds for the arms. They held the rods in the box from Jaspers' new book "shelf", when I unpacked the rods, I thought, "hey, this might make a good robot arm!" and it worked perfectly. It was a rainy day so we ended up inside instead of at the park like planned but it was still a nice party. I wish I would have taken more photos. I was hoping to get a photo of all the kids in their robot shirts but completely forgot in all the party revelry. It was a good weekend. We especially loved having all the family and friends here. Thanks to everyone for a great weekend!

Purse on my birthday

2009-08-10T19:33:00.000-07:00

My super sweet husband gave me the day off on my birthday last week and I took the day to finish up a skirt for Mika (will post photos later) and make myself a purse. I'm super happy with how it turned out, being my first one. Next time I'll either use a heavier fabric or some interfacing. I had received this fabric in a scraps stack I ordered in hopes to use on a quilt for my sister. Sorry, I just had to use it in the purse. The print was too big for her quilt anyway. The purse pattern is free from a blog and you can find it here. It's called the Buttercup purse and you can also see many versions of it on flickr. That night after a wonderful day to myself of sewing, organizing and getting stuff done, Matt made me my requested birthday dinner of Buffalo Shrimp. Seems like an odd request, but I had them in Florida with my friend Rose years ago and loved them and it's not like we can get them here on the prairie. He made his own batter and buffalo sauce. We ate a pound and a half. Yummy!

I was sick last Monday so I didn't make cookies but I did make some Pinapple Macadamia muffins for our trip up north. They were missing something... we decided it was white chocolate chips. Then I think they'll be a winner! I did make Lemon Bars tonight and will do a review and find a link for the recipe later this week.

Propulsion and projects

2009-07-31T20:05:00.000-07:00

Matt really propelled Jasper up into the air today but boy does he love that. Getting the kids to giggle is a specialty of Matt's. Of course Mika had a turn too, but I didn't get as good of a photo. The sun was coming down so this one isn't the best either but it was too cute to pass up posting.

I had to get some photos tonight since Jasper is wearing one of my latest project, his shorts that I finished up on Wednesday. I used the robot fabric left over from Linkons' quilt and the rest is from a mens XLT button-up shirt I got at Goodwill for $3.50. I knew I could find something to use for a pair of shorts there and found the perfect shirt to transform into great looking shorts for Jasper. The pattern is from Oliver + S, it's the Sandbox Pants, but I just shortened them. I'm glad I started with cheap fabric since so much of the pattern was new to me. I did my first button holes and pockets, 4 of them! There was lots of topstitching too which was difficult to line up perfectly with all the fabric underneath, but I think I did pretty good for my first pair. Oh, and Mika is wearing the Pink Fig Girly Skirt I made for her for Christmas. So nice that they like the stuff I make for them. Makes me one happy mom.Jasper has a birthday coming up and tons of books in his room so we gave him an early birthday present today of this...I saw the photos and a tutorial on a blog. The girl who came up with the great idea actually won a $250 gift certificate to Esty for it from Apartment Therapy. It's genius—works perfectly and is much more cost effective that other book storage ideas that we had looked at but were unwilling to pay for. It was super easy as well, now I just need to make a second one as you can see the extra books sitting below. Maybe Christmas. It's just some fabric on a double curtain rod. All I had to do was, cut it out, stitch it together and make the casings for the rods.

Cookies—Week 3

2009-07-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These were a big hit with everyone in the house and the next door neighbors who the kids were playing with at the time of them coming out of the oven. Of course I brought a plate over and Mika was so happy that she could share them with all the girls next door. She also beamed as the oldest girl who is about 7 said, "wow, these are the best cookies I've ever had, you're really lucky that your mom makes such great cookies!" Mika's reply was, "I know". I consider it a big success since Mika (and Matt for that matter) doesn't typically like nuts (or bones as Matt in his youth called them) in their cookies. I did chop the nuts rather small though just for them. You can find the recipe on Martha's site here. I even took a photo of the cookies this time instead of the book.

Coconut Swirl Brownie recipe

So much cuter!

2009-07-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

Isabel is so adorable, anything would look great on her—but I just love this photo Katie took of her sweet daughter! Doesn't she look so happy?

Just Ducky!

2009-07-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

On the request of my good friend Katie, I made her daughter this cute little outfit. Hopefully all her little friends will want some too! Fabric is by Lizzy House skirt pattern from Pink Fig, like the ones I made for Mika, who was a tiny disappointed this one wasn't for her. Her dress fabric should be here soon, she'll just have to wait till the end of August for me to make it. Too many other projects ahead of it. (Stuff for Jasper's birthday). I'm excited to see little Isabel in the outfit, maybe Katie will send a pic!

Martha Stewart's Cookies Every Week

2009-07-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I decided that instead of buying prepackaged cookies, I'd make a new cookie/bar recipe each week. Hey, I don't have enough projects right? I do love to bake and I love a good cookie or bar so this benefits me as well as the family. Better to be putting good homemade sugary goodness in our bodies rather than the processed stuff I figure. Sounds good anyway. I plan to have all of these come out of the "Martha Stewart's Cookies" cookbook. I made some for the holidays and they were all good. On to the reviews!

Week 1 (last week)—Butterscotch Cashew Blondies
How much did the kids like them? Lots, both gobbled them up.
How did I like them? Thought they could have had more butterscotch chips and more toffee chips (husband agreed). They were good but not as good as Oatmeal Scotchies. It was nice to have the salty cashews in them though. I'd make again but add more chips and I'd live on the edge and not do the foil lined pan. This bugs me. Seems like a waste, next recipe calls for the same thing and they came off of the foil without a problem. Creating more trash isn't a 'good thing' if you ask me. Tune in week 3 to see if the foil lining is truly needed.

Week 2—Coconut Swirl Brownies
How much did the kids like them? Jasper likes them lots. Mika will eat a very small one. They are too rich for her.
How did I like them? I loved these. Super rich, dark and chocolatey. Maybe not quite as good as the Cooks Illustrated brownie, but good in a different way with the addition of the coconut. I love coconut though. It is swirled throughout in a sweetened condensed milk batter. Yum. These were better once cooled. Again, foil lining seems wastful.

Now we only have to decide what to make for next week. I'm craving lemon... but I'm probably in the minority.

Starting a new quilt

2009-07-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

I'm finally working on a quilt for us! It's been in the project list for awhile now and I just needed to order the fabric. Once it finally came, I was so excited and it was so beautiful, it was hard to cut, but of course I did. After getting all my pieces cut, I commandeered the living room (photographed) to see exactly how I was going to lay it out. Being a woman, I changed my mind from a hour-glass quilt to a pinwheel quilt at the last minute and was rearranging the triangles till 11 p.m. and then had to map it all out on my chart and pin them all together and label them. The next morning I started sewing. Never having sewed "prairie points" before I checked online real quick and gave it a shot. My results were not stunning. Luckily for me the women at the local quilt shop here are very helpful and sweet. She explained in great detail how to sew it and then pull a tiny bit out on the back once you've sewn it all to make it all lay flat. Yay! Success! Here is my first successful block--the other one is ok and will still be used in the quilt, it just isn't perfect. Two down, 22 to go.

Robot Pillow

2009-07-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting for my fabric to arrive to start sewing our quilt and a skirt for a friends daughter, but I needed to sew. So I had a pillow form and some scraps laying around and decided to make a pillow for Jasper. Of course I had to meet my nemesis again, the zipper. Thanks to googlereader, I follow many blogs and I remembered that House on Hill Road had a tutorial for such a thing. Checking my bookmarks, I quickly found it and got to work. Jasper and I are quite pleased with the results. Check it out, the zipper is hidden, yippee, success. Maybe my unnatural fears of the zipper will subside soon.

Bikes n' Kites

2009-07-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

We spent the little bit of time that it wasn't raining in the last couple days taking a quick bike ride and flying our surviving free kite from the 4th of July activities. We got a nice video clip from the camera and some cute photos, and now we are down to zero kites. Clearly we live in the prairie with lots of wind and need a real kite! As Matt says, make lemonade out of lemons (the wind). Plus as you can see by the photos the kids really love(d) the kite.

Oh, Mika is wearing a new skirt and shirt set that I made her. This is the second skirt with the Pink Fig, Girly Skirt pattern. Although she likes it, she said, "mommy, it would be better if was a dress". Dress to come soon.

4th of July

2009-07-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

Marshall puts out a pretty good day of activities we found out. They have an annual Festival of Kites and they give out 500 free kites! We went to the park, got our two kites and started flying. Ironically it was about the least windy day for months. We ALWAYS have wind. Fast forward 20 minutes to kites in the air and gusts of wind and large rain clouds coming in. Gusting wind = unruly kites ours tangled and Jaspers broke. Amazingly he was ok with it, but when the rain came down and he realized we were headed for the car and NOT the metal playground in the thunderstorm with lightening he was MAD. Matt wrestled him in the car seat--really it should be an olympic sport, Jasper is strong. We've both done it several times. Screaming child in tow, we decided to go have dinner out at a local pub that serves sandwhiches and pizza. They also have NTN and pool tables. Once we got there, we gave him the choice--calm down and go have dinner here or go home. He chose dinner here. Mainly he just didn't want to go home. 45 minute melt averted. Once inside Mika requested the NTN, we put some quarters in the back pool table and peace resumed. Ahh. After dinner we took an hour break at home and the skies had cleared and we went back to the park for a great firework show. Mika decided that fireworks are her most favorite thing in the world. "More that popovers and everything". It was a late night and we paid for it the next day with the beast in Mika. Jasper was fine. Kids! Oh, I have to include this funny photo we got at the "pub"--we took it since it was so unlike us, we don't have any toy "gunners" as the kids call them at home.

Catching Tadpoles

2009-07-02T20:28:00.000-07:00

The kids had a wonderful day at Camden State Park about a week ago. We had planned to go and the day was sunny in the morning, however the news had thunderstorm warnings out for the day. I decided to go anyway since I knew they'd be disappointed if we didn't. Packed up the lunch, the sand toys, the swimsuits and off we went. It was well worth it, the weather was perfect—warm and a bit windy, which kept the bugs away. They played in the sand and then discovered the tadpoles and went wading in the ultra cold spring-fed waters. Before long they pleaded for their swimsuits. Watching the sky I obliged and told them that if it started to rain we'd have to head home. With the giant shovel and the buckets they skillfully caught lots of tadpoles, dumping them back in when they'd get about 5 in the bucket. Working the water and the sand castle kept them busy and satisfied. I gave them the 5 minute warning and then we got dressed headed back to the car when we felt the first few drops of rain. Our picnic would have to be inside. They were ok with that. Safely back home we had our picnic lunch, a bath and snuggled in since the thunder had started and was very LOUD!

Another Pagemaps Contest

2009-06-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

I did this layout based on the sketch provided by the Pagemaps blog. The winner receives some goodies from My Little Shoebox! The sketch is super cute and worked perfectly for a day when we all went to Camden State Park. Jasper was mesmerized by the ants crawling on the tree so we snapped a photo of that and the ants. He watched lots of other bugs that day, so I thought it was an appropriate title. Matt did a great job of taking photos too!

Fathers Day Gold!

2009-06-27T11:40:00.001-07:00

We had a lovely Fathers Day celebration a day early, on Saturday instead of Sunday. Our celebration included homemade potato salad, green beans, Jamaican jerk burgers on the grill, grilled pineapple, and salted caramel ice cream. I made everything and Matt just had to grill. Yes, I even formed the burgers! I did marinate a couple of portabello mushrooms for myself. You can find the burger recipe on epicurious.com and the super yummy ice cream recipe here. The toffee bits (pictured) stayed nice and crunchy the day I made the ice cream but then melted and became all gooey the second day, so I recommend eating the ice cream the day you make it, and it was certainly worth the effort.

Simple Pleasures

2009-06-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

So about 4 times a summer the lots behind ours are harvested and baled. We took advantage of this about a month ago and got some great photos. The kids thought it was great fun when daddy put them up on the giant bale too. It's almost ready for them to harvest again and I know they'll want to go do it again. Notice Mikas new haircut? It's so much easier and she gets lots of compliments.

The Wood Quilt

2009-06-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

MyLyn picked out super cute owl fabric and these wood fabrics went perfectly with it and "boy-ed" it up the perfect amount and how could I go wrong with wood fabric for little Owen Wood? It has a minky back just like his cousin Linkin's quilt. Super soft and cuddly :) I got my inspiration from an avid quilter and sewer who blogs here. For my 4th quilt ever I'm very happy with it.

Pagemaps Basic Grey contest

2009-06-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

So there is a little Pagemaps contest going on for some sweet Basic Grey paper packs and it's been a little while since I did a layout so I got to work! I followed their wonderful sketch and came up with this layout of Jasper when he was sick on day back in February. Pardon the not-so-great photo, it has been raining all day here today so there was no chance of taking a photo outside :(

I used a Hambly overlay, Fancy Pants, Sassafras Lass and Jenni Bowlin patterned paper, Studio Calico stamps, Making Memories passport letters.

The tooth fairy cometh!

2009-04-12T20:48:00.001-07:00

I finished the tooth fairy doll just in time! Well actually a bit late, but the beast decided that she wanted her to come to our house instead of Papas which made me happy. We sent the fairy an e-mail and stated her wishes. Mikas second tooth came out on Friday on our way to the city to see Papa and some other family. She was acting sleepy and we thought she was asleep when she simply stated "here mommy, my tooth came out" and handed it to me. Goofy girl. We gave her some water and she was happy. Saturday I bought some felt at the quilt shop with my sister Alana and then promptly finished the little basket on Sunday when we got home and hung her up on the bed! Wonder what the tooth fairy will leave tonight?

Bubbled over!

2009-04-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

I finished making Mika's new dress and overall I'm pretty happy with it. I wish it was longer. I made a size 5 and as you can see, it isn't any too big for this 4 year old. I did LOTS of seam ripping in this dress. I guess it's to be expected due to my lack of sewing clothing. I probably couldn't have picked a more difficult dress pattern. It is lined entirely and has a zipper. Ugh. I didn't feel the need to embellish it with the ribbon or flowers it called for, I think it's cute without those things. I was going to just to hide the fact that the two different fabrics don't meet up perfectly in the back, but then decided that it isn't that noticible. Now I'm off to finish up her tooth fairy doll before that second tooth falls out!

Baby Quilt

2009-03-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

So I made my second quilt ever (this one is for Linkon) and I'm improving. Certainly learning with each new quilt which is good. On this quilt I did sashing and the squares were much smaller which didn't leave room for error. When I realized this I kind of freaked out and started to make my seam allowance smaller which would be ok if I did it consistently but I didn't, therefore the squares aren't all lined up. Oh well. My top stiching however, is SO much better. I think it's fabulous! Also, since it is only 36" square I decided to hand bind it which looks much nicer, but did take awhile for me to get the hang of it. I'll do it again, especially when the minky fabric is the back since I wouldn't want to run that through the machine, but I'm not sure if I'd do it on a large quilt. I spent about 4 hours doing the hand binding. I just did it when Mika goes to bed and needs someone in the living room watching tv so it wasn't really a chore! :)

Snuggling in the quilt

2009-03-06T12:06:00.000-08:00

I snapped this photo today right before we read books at nap time. Despite some of the troubles I had with the quilt and the small flaws, I am just in love with it. It's the first quilt I've ever made, so I shouldn't expect it to be perfect anyway. Love was certainly sewn into each stitch. I've told Jasper who has just started to be a bit fearful at night that the quilt is special and the robots in it can fight of any monsters or ghosts. Can't hurt! Both kids really enjoy the quilt and Mika is asking what I'll make her now. A dress pattern has already been purchased and fabric is on the way! Who knew I'd like sewing this much. I really hated it in high school! Here are a few more photos. I really like the stripes on the back too!

Spring is springing!

2009-03-05T19:59:00.001-08:00

Two weeks ago Matt and the kids started a bunch of seeds in our spare room and they have already sprouted. The kids are pretty excited about it. Since it's pretty cold in that room, we have a space heater and I purchased some tarps and put them up so it kind of looks like we're doing some sort of illegal activity down stairs. Matt reassured our neighbor when she saw her at the gym in case she sees a glowing light on down there. I have a few more plants to start over the weekend. Maybe some annuals and some small space cantaloupe for sure. Had to throw in our photos of the space! I think I did a good job on the tarp wall to isolate the heat and Matt and the kids did a great job planting!

Next post--photos of the finished quilt! Yipee! I'm so thrilled with how it turned out and I snapped some photos today, but I'd like to get some with Jasper snuggling in it.

More Jamaica Photos

2009-01-26T08:42:00.001-08:00

So I just thought I'd add a couple of photos. Matt on the beach with the kids. Jasper playing with the snorkel equipment and all 17 of us at a reception at the Great House on the plantation that we stayed. Our wonderful staff and Mika doing her best mermaid impression.

"Take a deep breath.....Inhale the surroundings....and exhale the stress..." Jamaica, 2009

2009-01-24T20:14:00.000-08:00

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

I going to open this post with a sincere thank you to my big sister for such an amazing week. You've provided us with such a perfect model of giving, I can only hope that one day I may bestow such a gift to another.

Take a deep breath.....Inhale the surroundings....and exhale the stress...

And thus began our long awaited and much anticipated Jamaican vacation.

That being said.. statistically on the top 100 list of most stressful experiences in life.. vacation comes in at #42.. smack in the middle of 'Christmas' (#43) and 'Change in Eating Habits' (#41) .. which ironically enough, were both played a major role in said vacation. Now, I'm fairly confident the author of that list never factored in the "international, post 9/11, holiday travel with a 2 and 4 year old" multiplier in his/her highly scientific stress study.. In doing so, my math has 'vacation' being promoted into the top twenty...somewhere betweeeeeen... foreclosure and pregnancy.

OK, so I fabricated a little comical drama for the lead in to make the obligatory vacation blog post a bit more fresh.. sue me. Honestly though, Mika and Jasper did great. They slept amazingly well considering they had to share a hard as granite day bed cushion, were in strange surroundings, and were relentlessly serenaded by tree frogs throughout the night.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. We spent a week at the Eight Rivers Villa, Prospect Plantation near Ocho Rios (click on the link, go to "The Villas" and chose "Eight Rivers". )
360 video below

A truly visceral experience in the sense that the week evoked an elemental level of relaxation unlike any vacation I've been on. It may of been the thick prehistoric like jungle surrounding, the sound of the surf, the smell of good food, or the feeling of never wanting... But what made it really special was that we were there with family. (my side at least! ... poor wife). The Horn's of Marshall, my sister, my brother and is family and my dad. Along with Bob (My sister's beau) and his family...14 of us in all.

Is it possible to get too relaxed? I don't know.. all I can say is I felt as if I had been lobotomized the entire first week back at work.

The villas, (there were 2 actually) came fully staffed with cooks, maids and rum punch toting butlers. But the sweet old ladies of the kitchen were something special.. "There are hundreds of languages in the world, but a smile speaks them all" best sums up Lorna and Madge. ( I can't believe I didn't get a picture of them.../palm to forehead x 10) They cooked from their hearts and smiled from their souls. Angels of cheer.

Ahh hell, I could go on for pages relating all the experiences of the week but I think I just let the pictures tell you the rest of the story.

(click on each to enlarge)

Homemade gifts

2009-01-10T19:47:00.001-08:00

Well I spent a bunch of time this year making gifts. Matt jokes that my poor little sewing machine has been sitting there for 6 years barely seeing the light of day and then WHAM! out of no where it gets the beating of a lifetime! True. I've gone through spools of thread. What am I doing sewing? It's crazy--and I want to do more. I haven't scrap booked in ages. I will again. Just have to what is pushing my creative button at the moment, right? People ask me if I have some fancy machine, but it's just the basic Sears Kenmore one. The nice thing is, is that my sister has the same exact one so if we have problems we can call each other up and try to figure stuff out. Now one of us just has to tackle the zipper. It's a handed down fear. I even have a site bookmarked on how to do them easily so at least I know we're not the only ones with the fear. Now that I think of our zipper fear and Mikas button fears, maybe this family has some obscure fear of notions. Ha! Just joking, my sister and I only fear sewing zippers whereas my dear daughter fears buttons on clothing. Ok, tangent. Pictured here are some of the gifts I made. I did a reverse applique on the t-shirt (but didn't make the shirt) and I made 2 skirts, just one smaller for a friend, 3 total fish games, and 3 crayon/colored pencil rolls. I also made a stocking with embroidery but didn't photograph it since I finished it as we drove to Minneapolis. Oh, I also made 4 tote-able towels but I guess I forgot to photograph those. Now I just need to finish the quilt. (Special thanks to http://littlemunchkins.blogspot.com/ for the crayon roll tutorial!)

SnowBot 1.0

2008-12-20T11:30:00.000-08:00

Updated below! (most recent on bottom)

What do you do when the snowplow throws Titanic-berg-esque blocks of compressed snow onto your driveway? (2 times in 2 days in fact..) You make a 7' snowman! .... (then realize it looks more like a robot and tell your kids that was the goal all along.) Of course this being Marshall, I received confused expressions from a couple of rubberneckin' drive-by's.. But at the end of the day I have a Snowbot in the middle of my driveway and they don't! so HA ! hmm.. middle...DOH!

Sorry for the landscape viewing - no rotate option on Blogger it seems. So either park your left ear on your shoulder or tilt your monitor and enjoy the cuteness that is Mika.

(hint..It's a video.. so click on the triangle to play)

Sunday Morning - Dec 14th update

Saturday was beautiful but all through last night and this morning there's been 20-35mph winds gusts. Surely at some point in the night the fragile and top heavy Snowbot would have toppled. But low and behold! the winds have merely 'bent' him backwards into some sort of pre-limbo pose. Ya.. it's a slow news day ;-) but I'm having fun playing with the still cameras video features so just click below!

Friday Afternoon - December 19th update

(click on pictures to enlarge)

Snowflake..

the slowest limbo-ing snowbot in history

... ( I guarantee I'm the first person to type that sentence...)

The last five days have been.. well.. gravity defying.. additionally, The local paparazzi have been relentless in their coverage. Yes, Snowflake made front page news in the Marshall Independent newspaper. (See video below)

I'm baffled at what's keeping his 30+lb head on. This morning my truck nearly did what 5 days of strong winds and gravity could not, as I nearly clipped Snowflake's cold cranium with my driver side mirror.

Not really much else to say about this.

Before.... and 5 days later.....

New Scrapbook Page

2008-12-18T20:06:00.000-08:00

Although I've done many pages since my last slide show post, I just wanted to post this one quickly since I spent a bunch of time on it and I like it so much. Since the surgery, it was more comfortable to sit on the couch or in bed, so I did loads of stitching on this layout and it reminds me of all the crafting my mom did. Also, since our family photo is the main focus of the page it really makes Matt and I think about how much we miss our moms. Since both of us lost our moms in October and it's breast cancer awareness month it really drives it home for us as well. (They both died of cancer, my mom had breast cancer) The thing I know that we really miss is them seeing the kids and vice-versa.

Anyway, here is the layout which is based on the October pagemaps sketch. I stitched the bird and the circle around it. If you click the photo, you can see an enlarged view. Thanks for looking!

Quilt update!

2008-12-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

I've been working diligently to finish Jasper's quilt by Christmas. I don't know yet if I'll meet the deadline with other looming projects but I'm getting closer, especially considering it's my first quilt and I started around November 15th. Anyway here are a couple of photos since I now have the entire top done. Special thanks go out to Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studio for assisting me in not only choosing fabric but also for posting a great tutorial of how to piece a wonky log cabin quilt on her blog. Check out her blog, her quilts are fabulous! Now I just need to quickly piece the back and learn how to top stitch the whole thing and finally do the binding. I plan on practicing the top stitching (meandering) on some squares I didn't like and making a very small 6 square lap quilt.

Mika's 4th B-day Bash !

2008-12-06T08:15:00.000-08:00

On Nov. 28th 4 years ago, Debra and I began driving 90 minutes to Olivia MN, Corn Capital of (MN, the Midwest... the World?) and home to the only water-birthing facility in Southwestern MN. She delivered our first little bundle of spark-a-tude 5 hours later and what a little doll she has grown up to be! (Mika not Debra... not saying my wife isn't a doll.. k, nevermind). Which brings us to her 4th b-day party held at Auntie Wendy's beautiful new Bloomington home.
Have to give planning and execution credits to Debra for yet another fabulously creative b-day celebration. Food = Butterfly cupcakes with licorice antennae and white chocolate pretzel wings (anyone else humming Lucy in the sky with diamonds ?)... Quiche, Raspberry French toast Strata, and of course crunchy oven-roasted, applewood smoked bacon bacon ~yummy~ other pic's in this post include an arms length self portrait including brother Jeff and a brooding Jasper sporting the duel fingers in mouth look. Fun was had by all!

The Beast and the Replicator

2008-11-13T05:59:00.000-08:00

So Jasper does ALMOST every thing Mika does. She says it, he says it. She does it he does it. It only gets complicated when she tells him how she wants him to play such as, "Buddy, you and I can both be mermaids, I'll be the purple one and you can be the green one." He doesn't want to play that, disagrees and a fight ensues. Other fights are over toys. Anyway, on to the funny point of this post. Every now and the we have some funny Mika-isms. Two happened on this Tuesday. Jasper decided he wanted to sit on the potty (like Mika) so, of course, I let him. He sat, Mika and I tried to read some books. Mika interrupted, "Mommy, Jasper has a peanut, why does he have a peanut?" Oh my gosh! I had to try so hard not to laugh too much! We've never called it a peanut, its typically a penis. So I corrected and told her boys have a penis, which she knows. This was all around lunch time.

Later after Matt got home and after we had had had dinner but were still at the table, Mika had another question. "Mommy remember that day we were at the snow sled store and the girl had a necklace on her teeth, why do people were a necklace on thier teeth?" Snowsled store? Necklace on teeth? WTF!? Matt and I looked at each other and then it hit me. "Oh, you mean braces! People have to wear those so their teeth get nice and straight. Mommy wore them for 2 years." Mika replied, "well, I don't want to wear them". Typical. At least it was funny!

Renaissance Festival

2008-11-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

Mika's all time favorite part of the summer/fall is the Renaissance Festival, of course she calls it the CASTLE PLACE! This year was no exception. Her only downfall this year was the privy. She was very frightened of the blue water and everything in it. I told her not to look in right away when she started too, but her curiosity got the better of her. She always checks toilets out before sitting down anyway. She won't go on the automatic ones either. Both Matt and I tried a few times to take her in to no avail. Regardless, she did very well and "held it" from the time we got there, around 9:30 a.m., till around 2 p.m. when we returned to St. Paul. She and Jasper went on a few rides, saw the animals and snakes, watched a parade, watched in awe at the paper mill water wheel and the fire dancer, and even made some magic wands. The day was a success! (click image to see larger!)

Fair--Part III

2008-10-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

Poor Mika was so tired by the time we sat down and had a late lunch. Not even excited about guacamole, one of her favorites. Papa and Jasper in the chicken barn, Mika with Chole in the wagon and me enjoying some cookies!

Fair--Part II

2008-10-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

So if you didn't guess already, here are the answers to the fair food...
1. Fudge Puppies, Belgian waffles on a stick, dipped in chocolate, topped with whipped cream
2. Cheese curds
3. Corn dog
4. Sweet Martha's Chocolate chip cookies
5. Pecan Caramel cinnamon roll
6. Scottish egg
7. Sweet potato chips
8. Buffalo shrimp kabob

Although you can't tell in the photos, Jasper LOVED the rides. We had been to the Schwans picnic and they had the blow up jumpy things and they had a slide one that he went on over and over, as much as we let him, which was lots. Due to that, he didn't quite get the concept that you couldn't just go on the rides repeatedly, which did make him sad. Especially the slide. As Mika said, "The rides weren't my favorite". She liked the slide lots but would only go on that and the ferris wheel which she did NOT like. It was too loud. She would be fine if they made no noise. Hence why she love the man-driven rides at the Renissance. (Photos to come from that soon). We went to the fair with Papa, and the Gerber family including Mikes mom, all the kids (and adults) had a good time!

Name that Fair Food!

2008-10-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we are a little delayed in the fair postings but here is the first of two. Can you guess what these foods are? Check back in a day or two for the answers and to see other photos from the fair.

Saturday Morning Snuggles

2008-10-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Mika and Jasper doing all they can to take their moms mind off her post surgery aches and pains. Pic within a pic background makes for a complete impromptu family photo.

Anyways, as you can see below... Debra has put on her happy face despite her pain and discomfort ;-)

Overlaying smiley face is actually a wrought iron sculpture in the foreground found during a trip to the Holmburgs Apple Orchard earlier this month. In retrospect.. a 40 minute trip down a bumpy farm road just days after surgery probably wasn't the best choice of activities.

So, A jar apple butter, a bag of honey crisps, and 3 pumpkins later we were heading back to Marshall. Ignoring our apathetic GPS, we decided it was best to return via an alternate PAVED route.

Caption Contest !

2008-10-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

OK....No.. we didn't hang our beloved child from the nearest tree nor has Mika been studying under David Blaine.

It's simple the result of loads of natural light, a 1/2500 sec shutter speed and our fearless leaper, caught in mid flight. Regardless it made for an interesting composition ripe for a humorous caption..

So add yours below and the wittiest entry will receive an AMAZING FREE GIFT !

(12.1 meg pixel - click to enlarge)

Wordle Renaissance tease!

2008-09-27T17:31:00.000-07:00

So we went to the renaissance today and the kids had lots of fun despite little sleep the night before. They rarely get much sleep the first night at papas house, but we risked it and went today anyway. Of course we took loads of photos which will follow. But since we're here in St. Paul for a couple days, so I'm not sure when that will be. Anyway, I found this cool word art generator on the scrapbook site I frequent (scrapbook.com) and thought I'd share it and the art I made with all the stuff from today. Here is the site.
art created by wordle.net

Jasper turns 2

2008-09-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well is was a big event in our household and we had lots of guest which makes us all happy around here. We were especially delighted to have both Alana and Wendy stay with their significant others! It was wonderful to have Joel and Bob here, of course it was kind of crazy so we can't wait to have everyone back to visit one couple at a time so we can devote more time to them. They'll have to come soon before the snow drifts cover the highways leading to our home. Nancy, Bear, and Papa were flown in by uncle Jeffy so that was quick and easy for them. OK, on to the birthday activities!

Matt made super yummy (so I'm told) fried chicken which was served picnic style and I made buckets of potato salad. We also had some fruit and pb & j's for the kids. Of course I have to mention the dirt cake, which in the dump truck seemed to amaze and confuse Jasper all at once! The look on his face seemed to say, "Can I eat it? Do I play with it or in it?" He did almost roll the truck off the table at one point! Seeing his face and his sisters made all the work worth it. It was a joy to have so many of our family and friends gathered and we are truly lucky and blessed to be surrounded with such love.

(click collage photo to enlarge)

Family Photo

2008-08-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Click on photo to enlarge.

OK, I'm way behind on posts. I need to put photos from Jaspers birthday party up, but instead, I'm doing a quick post with a couple of photos from a family photo shoot at Camden State Park today. Matt did a fabulous job of taking photos and I took a few cute ones as well. As anyone with two little beastlings can tell you, it is a complete miracle that we got a family photo and we only took 2 shots. (Utilizing a tripod and our camera with a timer.) It was past their nap time and Jasper only wanted to play in the stream and Mika only wanted to play in the park. Overall it was a very successful day!

Photo note: Jasper was looking at the ants on the tree very closely in the first photo therefore, I felt it important to include the macro photo of them!

Decorating by Debra

2008-08-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

Since I painted the living room, which was about 2 months after we moved in, I felt as though something was missing on the tv wall. Over the weekend we finally remedied that problem. I came up with a design and Matt checked out the proxima from work and we penciled in the design on Friday night and I painted it in on Saturday morning. We are super happy with the outcome!

Now I have to do Jaspers' wall. My plan is to paint tracks and cars to match the not yet bought Pottery Barn Kids bedding. I've looked all over for other car bedding but it is all I have found that is graphic and not "cute". It will go great on his new twin big boy bed from Ikea he got for his birthday. Land of Nod also has some cool traffic signs I'd like to get or replicate sometime in the future.

Even longer overdue update - by Matt

2008-07-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

Quickly and without really thinking, I snapped a picture of my crisp, new ACF Certified Executive Chef certificate that arrived today. Upon review, I noticed I had unconsciously produced a collage like composition that incorporated the beautiful smiling faces of my wife and children.

The picture above illustrates the forces that motivate me to a better person in life and to excel at what I do so that I may have the means to make their lives better. It's at times like this, when I zoom out and see the bigger picture, I feel infinitesimal small yet enormously proud at the same time.

OK, enough of the Hubristic postings! What else is new at H.O.M.E you ask ?

Well since I suck at transitions and I'm to tired to form complete sentences, I'll wrap up this update via bullet points.

Mika ends day 1 of no naps. Mommy drinks Bailys from a tumbler.

Debra's hand made scrapbookin' table has been installed in the basement and actually looks pretty spiffy! Google 'Mise en place' and you see this picture now:

After several moments of excessive rubbing, Debra realizes that the dirt spot on Jaspers face is actually a new mole.
According to Babycenter.com Jaz will be 6' 6" tall (if we keep feeding him)

Matt (random switch to 3rd person) has joined the social networking bandwagon via Facebook and is shocked to find a group named "People named Matt Horn" with 12 members. (not kidding go look!)

During the making of breakfast a wide eyed, panic stricken Mika looks at the egg in her hand and says, "HURRY UP DADDY, IT'S ABOUT TO HATCH!!"

Matt loses 45 minutes of productive time at work today snickering at Cake Wrecks

Long overdue update

2008-04-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

So we were just getting over the flu here and it was "crazy medical week". First on Tuesday or Wednesday, I think (this was way back on April 1 or 2) our sister-in-law had to have an apendectomy. Of course it was emergency, as I think all of them are. Hers was starting to tear though so she was in a bit longer and had to take lots of antibiotics afterwards and thats never fun. Then I got news that someone very close to me was out of cancer remission which made me very sad. The third and final blow came on Friday. Bob (Matt's dad) had fallen while walking a very large dog on some ice and hit his head about a month prior to Friday. His head was finally hurting so badly that he went to the ER. He had a large sub-dura hematoma and had to have brain surgery to drain it. You just don't expect that call. He had surgery that night and we went to see him on Saturday afternoon. He was still in ICU, but they did let Mika in to see him for a little bit, which was nice since we had just drove 3 hours and she couldn't understand why she wouldn't be able to. We got to see him again the next day and he was in a different room so both kids got to hang out with him. Most of their questions were about the stuff in the room. They thought papa just looked like any patient in a hospital. I guess its good that we watch "House" and "ER". He was in for about 5 or 6 days and is now home and feeling pretty good with an occasional headache that is cured by a simple tylenol. We are very thankful. Of course Matt's brother and sister were there visiting him alot as well and Wendy (sister) flew in from TX to help care for him for about a week once he returned home. Wishing everyone good health!

Ax the Max

2008-04-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

Family
Mika has always had wonderful language skills. She spoke in sentences early and had many words. She is typically very polite and almost always remembers to ask to be excused from the dining room table. However, sometimes she likes to imitate her favorite cartoon characters. Lately (for about a month) this has been Max, from the show Max and Ruby. It's a cute show and teaches some good lessons, but Max is the little brother and talks in one word sentences (faster! faster!) and it is the same word throughout the episode. Mika thinks its funny to talk like this and just shouts out one word over and over like Max and it is very annoying. I told her, "Mika, you are like Ruby, the big sister. You are a big girl and not a little baby like Jasper. You know how to talk like a big girl and if you keep talking to us like Max, we won't let you watch him any more." It has been a couple of days, since I told her this, and she hasn't stopped. There was no Max watching today. There are plenty of other good full sentence structured shows they can watch and luckily it's getting nice outside! It's just like when we had to ban Caillou.

Food
Tonight we had quinoa cakes with a tomato and zucchini ragu. Also from epicurious, but it called for eggplant and we just had that so we switched it up. It also had you cook the quinoa in water which seemed bland and I used half veggie stock and we spiced up the ragu as well. It was good. The cakes have a nutty flavor and Mika did a good job eating them. Jasper didn't have any as they weren't done by his early dinner time.

Head
Ok, but its starting to hurt, better go to bed!

On the mend

2008-04-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

Family
We are all better now and we all ate a real dinner tonight! Yipee!

Food
We had a recipe from Epicurious.com. It was Lemon gnocchi with spinach and peas. It was a good, springy meal. The kids did pretty good, of course we had to bribe them. They are still getting used to the grown up food. Mika claims, "I don't like dinner, I just like lunch". Luckily the Easter bunny brought lots of goodies to bribe with. Jasper still doesn't quite get that concept so I have to hold a teddy graham in one hand and the real bite in the other and he knows he gets the teddy if he eats the real food. Once he realized this technique he didn't like mixing the flavors and started stockpiling his teddies. It was hilarious! I don't blame him, I wouldn't have wanted that flavor combination. But I think it showed great restraint and forethought!

Head
Good today!

Virus #7

2008-04-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Family
So its been awhile since I posted due to the stupid stomach flu! Jasper was the first hit on Saturday morning. Boy did Matt have a rude awaking when he went to get him out of his crib. Not like I had it any better having to do the laundry. Matt and Mika were hit the next day right after having Matts delicious homemade pizza. Such a bummer. (Plus more laundry, thanks goodness our sofa is covered in blankets while the kids are little--poor Mika) I felt bad thinking Matt wouldn't want pizza for awhile again, but of course men don't have the emotional connection to memories like that and he ate the pizza again 2 days later when he felt better. I was hit Sunday evening. This virus was the seventh that has hit our household and lasted about 36 hours per person. This is the only one that hit us all. I did everything imaginable to not get it, but it was relentless. Oh well. It is over with now.

Food
Sunday was the yummy pizza with dough made from scratch and then it was pretty bland. Fruit, waffles and cereal for everyone.

Head
Not too bad. Took an imitrex Friday. Saturday and Sunday were ok. I tried some tylenol but it made my tummy hurt I think, but it could have been the beginning of the bug. It been ok on Monday and Tuesday.

Woo Hooo!

2008-03-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

ME!
I finally won a contest! I enter several contests/challenges on the scrap forum I belong to and also a few blogs. I won the Method Challenge (on a blog) and found out Monday evening. I win some scrap supplies for a company called Studio Calico which you can subscribe to or order a monthly kit. There stuff is really nice so I'm very excited to receive it! I won for the Bonaire Beauty layout which the challenge was to use strung beads on your page.

FOOD
We made a yummy root veggie soup Monday night and the kids even ate it! Of course left over candy from the Easter bunny was a nice incentive as was the Peperidge Farm bread we had with it which is one of their favorites. Tuesday night we had tacos. We had them unlike normal with veggie taco 'meat' and some sauteed veggies, cheese, tomatoes and jalapenos. We made the kids eat some, which they did, again dessert served good incentive. Jasper supplemented his meal with some chicken anytizers, but he did pretty well with the tacos, just not the sauteed zucchini.

HEAD
Gheesh! Still bad. Was bad all of Monday and took imitrex. Didn't take anything Tuesday--just suffered through the day since I've been taking so much lately and know I'm rebounding. Plus all muscles are sore from the imitrex. Woke up today (Wednesday) and couldn't take it any more and took another imitrex. I know allergies are bad right now and I stayed up late working on a project and couldn't sleep due to the stupid head. Grrr!

2008-03-26T14:36:00.001-07:00

Easter!

2008-03-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

FAMILY
The kids loved Easter morning. We have never done anything in the past and what a thrill it was for them to have chocolate first thing in the morning! They didn't even care about the toy eggs we had gotten for them. The easter bunny did bring baskets and hide them and even ate the carrots we put out for them.

After the sugar rush had slightly worn off, we managed to get some breakfast in them and pack up and head over to their cousins for easter lunch. It was a big crew at that event. Nancy's parents, her brother and his family, plus all of us! There were 7 kids if you count the teens. They all had fun and love each other so much, it is really nice to see them interact and play together. After brunch we headed home to Marshall, much to Mika's dismay.

FOOD
Matt and I made focaccia and (nonsweet) Monkey Bread for the meal and various other things were made making it a wonderful brunch. There were a few frittatas, fruit, veggies, ham, sweet quick bread, key lime pie and Evelyn's delicious white chocolate coated chex mix.

HEAD
Very bad. Took an imitrex and 3 torodal. Horrible. I had to go lay down immediately upon arrival to Jeff and Nancy's. Would have went to urgent care if time had permitted and it wasn't a holiday. Ugh.

Saturday: Shopping, Parking & Eating!

2008-03-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

FAMILY
Saturday Matt planned to cook a big meal for the family. Wendy, Bob, Papa, Bear, Jeff and Nancy were all coming. He shopped that morning at Whole Foods while I watched the kids. Once he got home I was able to spend the day with Alana. We went and had lunch and then did a little shopping. Sadly the scrap store I intended to go to was out of business. We did go to Target and I got a little bit of scrap stuff along with some basics that are hard to find in Marshall. The day was riddled with parking issues! Some lots had no spaces and street parking was impossible. I guess maybe it is just that I'm not used to it anymore.

FOOD
Alana and I thought we'd eat quickly at Cafe Latte but the parking was an issue and normally we would have walked, but the sidewalks weren't shoveled yet. Therefore we ventured out of our way to Highland Grill. It was busy, but there was a table and we were sat right away. We split our two meals and I had a tomato, spinach and brie scramble and she had Jack Cakes which were buckwheat pancakes topped with blueberries, bananas, raisins, granola, peanuts and honey. It was all very yummy.

That night Matt had a first course of about 5 kinds of cheese with baugettes and olives, cured sundried tomatoes and fava beans. The main course was a roast chicken with garlic and lots of fresh herbs and root vegetables. I had a nice piece of salmon and a side of the veggies without the chicken stock. Everyone raved about it. Wendy brought a delicious mocha cheesecake from Cafe Latte. We had a very good time. Our kids ate pasta pick ups I think. Sad huh? They did have lots of fun playing with their cousin, Bear and got pretty worn out by the end of the night.

HEAD
Slightly better today. Only had to take an Imitrex.

To St. Paul we Go

2008-03-21T19:04:00.000-07:00

FAMILY
We were off to St. Paul yesterday around 5:30 on Thursday and we missed the majority of the snow, so the drive was nice and pretty uneventful. We arrived at Papa's house around 8:30 and the kids were excited to be there and were too wound up to go to bed right away and we decided that since Jasper hates his pack-n-play so much we'd put him on the trundle in Mika's room. He was ok with that till we left and he realized he could follow. We had to lay with him till he fell asleep. He still slept better in that though. Mika loved having her little brother in the room with her and was so good about his crying.

Bright and early the next morning we were off to the Mall of America. We arrived before the stores opened since Jasper decided to get up at 5:30 am. (He took a small nap before we left) We hit Barnes & Nobel and each child got a book so that made them happy. Then we took a sneak peak at the new Nickelodeon Park and they were very excited, but it wasn't open yet so we did a bit of shopping and headed back. They had lots of fun and Matt took them on a few rides and then they headed off to lunch and I went to pick up some scrapbook supplies and would meet up with them there. Jasper, in his immensely tired state, decided he didn't like that idea 15 minutes into waiting for his lunch. Once the meals arrived pulled mine down on the floor. Yikes! Luckily I arrived shortly after, quickly ate and we left!

FOOD
We ate at Twin City Grill and the service was great despite our crazy child. (Mika was an angel) I had my typical meal of salad and flat bread pizza which I love there. It was so crazy, I don't even know what Matt had. Mika had fries and a grilled cheese which she didn't eat, "I don't like American cheese, mommy." Guess we know to be more specific when ordering next time. That night we ditched our plans of McCormick & Schmick's and decided to order take out from Saji-Ya instead. We ate in at Papa's house with aunt Wendy and her friend, Bob. We had a nice time and we all love sushi. The kids even had, and liked, a little edamame.

HEAD
My head hurt alot at the Mall. Not a good place to be in an amusement park with a level 7 migraine. I took imitrex and toradol. It was bad. Of course I managed to go to the scrap store.

Make your Wet-Jet Greener

2007-12-20T12:50:00.000-08:00

So for those of you that don't know, our entire basement with the exception of the guest bedroom, is laminate. I love it--I don't have to worry about the kids spilling or anything, it's great. The only thing I hate is the wet-jet cleaner. I hate that you can't refill them and you have to throw that big plastic thing away every time. Well, guess what? You don't! You can twist off the cap with a big wrench and refill it! I just did it and I certainly don't consider myself a strong person, I think of myself as a 'girly-girl'. I used about two capfuls of pine-sol and filled the rest up with water and popped it back on and it worked perfectly. I will use half vinegar, half water with a little essential oil after I use up the pine-sol, but this is what we had and we don't have any non-fancy vinegar, go figure. I know you can make it even greener by making a few pads out of bar towels by sewing some velcro on one side and throw those in the wash instead of buying the pads, but I'm not there yet. Some people even talk (on web site) of using Always brand pads to save money since they are cheaper too but I think I'd make them first! But the Swiffer pads do look just like that--ha ha! Just by refilling the fluid you are saving a ton of money and helping the environment. Wooo Hoooo!

Tattoo--day 8

2007-12-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

Today she finally let me remove it! FINALLY! (With a cotton ball and cooking oil--I had to search to find the vegetable oil.) Then afterwards she said, "that wasn't so bad, was it". I replied, "I said it wouldn't hurt and I would tell you if it does, like when we go the doctor to get shots, I tell you that it will hurt, but just for a second." She said, "yea, I don't want another skeleton tattoo, though". Thank goodness.

Birthday Take II and Tattoos

2007-12-15T19:19:00.000-08:00

So we had a small Marshall party for Mika, again pirate themed. Why reinvent the wheel? It went great she was happy, the kids were happy, everyone loved Matts cooking. I only wish we would have captured the cute 'cake' on the camera! He made cinnamon rolls and put three on a cake stand a put a long skinny candle on each one. It was so cute. Mika was thrilled and although she didn't eat all of her regular cake at the first party, she did eat all of her cinnamon roll!

I'd have to say the funniest outcome of the party is her temporary tattoo. I can't figure out how she feels about it since she doesn't want to look at it now that the party is over. (It's a skull--she picked it out.) She hates changing clothes and warns us, "I might cry again". Mostly because she thinks it will damage it. Giving her a bath was the biggest challenge and she typically LOVES bath night. She cried for almost the entire bath and Matt had to put her in in with her fighting the whole way! Now, even a week later and for the last 4 days, I have been using it to my advantage. "But I don't want to take a nap, Mommy." "Do you want to take a nap, or do you want me to take off your tattoo?" She stands for a moment in contemplation... "I'll take a nap"... with a sigh of defeat. Its funny what I resort to to make naps and diaper changes easier. If I had known the outcome of the tattoo, however, I would have never put it on.

Mika Turns 3

2007-12-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

Mika turned 3 on the 28th, but we had a small family party for her the day after Thanksgiving. The VonHorns graciously hosted the party at their home even though they had just had us and a gang totaling around 22 the day before! The party was a great success and Mika was very happy with her pirate themed party that she requested. As she was opening the gifts she exclaimed to me, "Mommy, this is the best birthday party I ever seen!" Check out the attached video, it is just too cute! She loves her train and the Melissa and Doug food sets and is trying very hard to drive me crazy with the very loud kazoo type recorder/flute thing. It may have to run out of batteries very soon. She and Jasper have been playing with ALL the toys so much! Aiden and Charley have both been over to to play with the toys as well.

Elf yourself

2007-12-01T19:31:00.000-08:00

This is (albeit somewhat disturbing) hilarious... If you elf YOURSELF, let us know!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1134946092

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-29T20:04:00.001-08:00

So this was our Thanksgiving and unfortunately we decided to take the family photo at about 5 pm when the children had had no naps. Mika isn't fond of pictures, or mainly being told what to do, especially at 5 pm and without a nap so we are all trying to get her to cooperate by saying "MIKA" in the photo. I guess we'll try again tomorrow. Earlier. Jasper wasn't too cooperative either... this is the best photo, I should have posted a funnier one. All in all they did really well without naps and all the people, I think there were 22 of us. Mika loves Bear-Bear though and they had lots of fun. Of course there was plenty of good food! My favorites were the stuffing (we brought) and Evelyn's fudge, the white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake that Wendy brought from Cafe Latte was a close third though!