Thankful For Sunshine!

Isaac and Savannah sharing their wagon this morning. And they wonder why I take breaks!
Isaac flashing his very winning smile! He knows what gets Mama's attention!
Savannah likes to carry things in the "trunk" of her car. :)
Savannah was so into eating this plastic apple, I had to take a picture!

We had so much fun outside today! It has been raining so much lately, it is nice to be outside in the sunshine and cool air! I know I just posted pictures, but these are so cute I wanted to post them too... I definitely have a weakness for pictures of my babies. And don't try to tell me that they aren't babies anymore! They are! :-)

Festival, Hayride, and Everyday Things

1. Saturday we went to a local Fall Festival. These are some pics I took with my camera phone. I thought this one was sweet because they are sharing cotton candy. Isaac's hat kept unfolding and falling over his eyes. They ate way too much junk that day! Thank you, MiMi ;-)

I had explanations under each picture, but blogger is somehow messing up the order that my words and pics are in! I will just give a summary of what the pics are about. The first pics are of Isaac & Savannah at the festival on Sat.

They had their faces painted, I'm glad it was only a dollar ;-)

The farmhouse pic is at Country Pumpkins pumpkin patch on Sunday. We went to a twins play group there and had lots of fun! The next several pics are hayride scenery. Isaac and Savannah loved the hayride!

The wagon pictures are from our yard this morning. They love riding in the wagon, and I like pulling them around! :-)

Just a Couple Pics...

I just wanted to post a couple pics of things we have been doing lately. Savannah and Isaac had so much fun at our local "Country Pumpkins" pumpkin patch! I will post more of these pictures later. Savannah is so enthusiastic it is infectious!!












This morning was wet and cold, so we stayed in and dressed up in Halloween costumes. Isaac was so cute in this monkey costume, and I thought his expression was so sweet!

Green Tomatoes and Other Things

Some of our green tomatoes. Most of them look like this right now. I accidentally let the chicken's out today. They are fine, they've just been walking around the yard eating bugs. I hope they eat all the mosquitoes! We usually let them out right before dark - they eat some bugs and roam around, then go back in the pen to roost. I feel a little nervous when they are out all day.
The Rooster likes to strut his stuff!

Jalapenos on our table....they just looked pretty.
Isaac with his tractor. :-) He likes to push it around, and then get on when it is in the perfect spot.
Laying on the grass together. so cute. Picture quality, not so good.
Hamming it up!

Best Tomato Soup Recipe - Update with Pics!

This pic is borrowed from 101cookbooks.com. I made this soup tonight, and it is the best tomato soup ever!!! And I was able to use veggies from our garden, which is great! I also made the best cornbread ;-)

Isaac snuggling in the covers. This and the next 3 pics were taken w/ my phone, so are not the best quality.

Savannah "cooking". She loves to cook.

Some peppers from our garden. We have a bumper crop this year!!

After pickling.

S & I sitting on Savannah's bed. She doesn't sleep in this room yet, but I have been decorating it for her.

Roasted Tomato Soup Recipe:

5 tomatoes, cored (if necessary) and quartered,1 large red bell pepper, seeded and quartered,3 medium yellow onions, peeled, quartered, extra-virgin olive oil,5 plump cloves of garlic, unpeeled,fine-grain sea salt,2 - 3 cups light vegetable stock or water,1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika.

Preheat the oven to 375F degrees and position 2 racks in the middle of the oven. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, alternately you can just rub them down with a thin glaze of olive oil.Arrange the tomatoes, skin side down, on a baking sheet. Coat the bell pepper and onions with olive oil and put them on the other baking sheet along with the garlic, place the pepper skin side down as well. Give both sheets a light showering of salt, then bake until the tomatoes start to collapse and the onions start to brown and caramelize, about 45 minutes. Turn the onions if they start getting overly dark on the bottom .Check on the garlic as well, once the cloves are golden and oozy inside, pull them from the oven.Peel the garlic, dump all of the roasted vegetables into a big, high-sided bowl, and puree with a hand blender. Alternately, use a conventional blender or food processor and work in batches. Blend in a cup of the stock, and keep adding the rest 1/2 cup at a time until the soup is the desired consistency. I like a little chunk and texture to this soup particularly if the weather has a bit of a chill, but smooth or chunky is your call. Add the paprika and a bit more salt as needed - adjusting to your taste.

I thought I was going to have to add butter and cream, but this soup is surprisingly very creamy! I doubled the recipe and used chicken stock.

Thoughts on a Rainy Day...

It has been raining all day. I enjoy rainy days when I can do a little housework, drink coffee, maybe read a good book, take a nice nap, watch a movie, complete a painting project... Those are things that I might have done before I had children. Now I have to think of ways to keep two 2 yr olds entertained and busy all day (inside of the house) without going crazy. I love it, though. Two years is such a fun age!! Except for the potty training part, which is torture. I didn't enjoy finding piles of poop on the living room carpet today. But I won't talk about that...

Many times I wish that I could just freeze time for a little while, because they are growing up so fast! Their personalities are so different from each other, it makes me laugh. Savannah is my little organizer. She goes around the house, rearranging things, putting things where she thinks that they should be. I get little surprises when I open the cabinets. Joe gets "presents" when he puts on his boots in the morning. Isaac, on the other hand, likes to make messes and laugh about it. She loves cars and trucks, which is funny, because I didn't think that little girls were usually interested in vehicles. She is fascinated. She always points out different cars that she likes, and she remembers what cars our friends and family drive. Isaac, on the other hand, is too busy thinking of things to get into to notice cars and trucks. He doesn't stop until he crashes. His motto is go, go, go! His favorite toys are his Lego blocks, and his ball. He still loves to rock - he gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth in his bed until he falls asleep. Savannah and Isaac both love books. Isaac always wants me to read the book first, and then he wants to look at every page by himself. It is funny to me that he likes to look at books so much, when otherwise he can't stop moving. I'm really glad that they like books! Savannah is a little Mama. She makes sure that Isaac is taken care of, and she has stuffed animals that she takes good care of . Okay, she's a little bossy too :) The other day she looked at my fingernails, and said "Mama, we need to clip these". They both like play dough, and they both like to "cook". I think Isaac likes to cook so that he can get away with making bigger messes ;) Savannah loves to cuddle with me, but Isaac is usually too busy climbing on things, unless he has worn himself out. Then he will find some place to lie down. The slide at MacDonald's, under the end table in our living room... Anyway, I could ramble on literally all night, so I think I should stop now :)

Busy Summer

I haven't been able to post pictures lately, because of our numerous computer problems. We've been getting it "fixed" for a couple of months now. I am stuck using Joe's laptop, which has it's own problems, and I can't upload pics on it either! As you all know, I love taking pictures, and I would love to be able to post them!

Anyway, we've had a really busy summer. Almost every weekend we have a fish fry, or a cook-out. For the 4Th of July, we roasted a whole hog ( same as last year). A few weeks ago we went to Chattanooga TN, to visit my Aunt. She lives on Signal Mt., and we love visiting. I am always wishing we could stay longer :) More recently, though, Savannah has been very sick. She is much better now, but last week was pretty tough. She had a virus that turned into a respiratory infection, and she was miserable. She wouldn't eat anything for days, and I had to strongly persuade her to drink fluids, so that she wouldn't get dehydrated. She would cry and cry, until she had worn herself out. I am SO GLAD that she is doing so much better now, and that she doesn't have to take that antibiotic anymore! Isaac had the virus too, but his did not turn into an infection.

Today has been pretty normal. S & I have been "cooking", a game that they think requires water, because it is so much fun to pour water from one dish to the other, and stir stir stir. They enjoy cooking with their play dough too. Translation: giant messes. Savannah likes to make messes and clean them up, which is a good thing. I, of course, have to go behind and clean up anyway (she's only 2, after all). After lunch, I thought it would be fun for them to help me make pudding. Hahaha. We did have fun, but definitely at the expense of their clothes, the table, the floor... I made the mistake of leaving the room for a few minutes to get something. I came back to find Isaac using his pudding as a lotion, smearing it all over his legs, feet, and arms. He held up a pudding covered foot to me and grinned. Savannah had dumped hers out on the table and was making big "swirls" with her hands. I picked them up at arms length and put them directly into the bathtub. They had great fun in the tub also. I wish that I could clean the table and floor that easily... :) We then read "Blueberries for Sal", and now they are asleep. What would I do without nap time? ;-)