My boys

The other night, when I went to check on my boys before I went to bed, I found them like this:

I promise that I will remember this moment the next time they start beating on each other.  I promise.

Fruit Leather

I made my first batch of fruit leather the other weekend and it was super easy.  Here is what I did as well as what I will do differently next time.

First, I pureed 2 pints of strawberries in order to get 2 cups of fruit puree.

Then, I poured it onto my dehydrator tray.  Since most people don't own dehydrators, I can imagine that using your oven set to the "warm" setting will do just fine.  The two main benefits of using a dehydrator is that your oven isn't on for hours and hours at a time AND any enzymes in the food that is being dried remain intact and alive.

Next, I popped that tray into the dehydrator, set the temp at 135 degrees, and forgot about it for the next four hours.  If you want to use your oven on a warm setting, just check the fruit sooner.  Perhaps at the 2 hour mark.  Since most ovens have their warm setting calibrated to 170, I would imagine that the drying process is much faster.

Once the fruit was dry, I peeled it off of the tray.  It was VERY thin, which was what I expected.  Since I wanted to roll it up, this was perfect.  However, next time I might add more fruit puree just so that it is a little thicker.  Then I can cut it into strips and get A LOT more servings out of it.  Also, I read somewhere that adding bananas to the puree will thicken it up a bit and make it chewier.

I decided to roll it up in plastic wrap to make it easy for packing as a snack.  I didn't have any plastic wrap, so I used Glad Press and Seal.  BIG MISTAKE.  That stuff is SO sticky and the fact that the fruit leather was sticky made it VERY hard to get the fruit leather off of the Press and Seal.

After all was said and done I had five roll-ups.  Since the effort was VERY minimal, I didn't mind the low output.  Next time, slicing it into strips that are thicker leather, will make a lot more.

This was a great snack to make.  The boys LOVED them and were sad when they were gone.  The dehydrator makes making something like this really easy.  The only work was in prepping and rolling.  That took maybe 20 minutes total.  Also, I would imagine that using frozen fruit for the puree would be very economical.  I thought that the concentrated flavor of the strawberry was phenomenal and pretty much blew the store bought competition out of the water.  Especially on the nutritional level.  My advice: give it a go!  If you have some frozen fruit that you haven't used in a while, thaw it up and dry it out.  The kids will love it.

My New Life

Back in February, B comes home with a flier all about Little League.  My husband says, "YES!  Let's get these kids playing ball!"  I flash back to 2008 when B was 4, playing t-ball.  Granted, I now know that 4 is WAY too young to be playing any organized sport, but I was still hopeful that he would just eat it up.  I learned a little something about my son that year.  He does not like t-ball.  He would much rather play with the grass and kick the dirt.  During one game, while he was in the outfield, we saw him reach into his pocket and pull out an old cell phone.  He proceeded to have a chat, then closed it up and put it back in his pocket.  We didn't sign B up for any t-ball after that.

While B may be more suited for individual sports, I had a gut feeling that E would LOVE little league.  With the flyer in his hand Prince Charming asked the boys if they wanted to do Little League this year.  E answered with a resounding, "YES!"  And, much to my surprise, B answers, "Me too!"  So, there you have it.  As the hubby puts it, I am a mother of boys.  This is what I do.  He assured me that this is going to be an awesome experience for all of us.  I do have to admit, I kind of got a little excited about going to games and watching my boys learn the ins and outs of baseball.

Once I had them all signed up, all I had to do was wait to hear from the coach.  It was the coach who would tell me when practices were held and at what times.  Just before March I learned that practices were going to start in March and were once a week.  The games weren't going to start until April.  Perfect, I thought!  One month of practices and one month of games, all done just before it starts to get hot.  Of course, I have TWO sons in Little League.  I know this is the case for a lot of parents.  And I am sure that they know that almost always, the practices for the boys aren't on the same day.  Why would they be?  That would be too easy.  During the month of March, we adapted to two added events into our schedule.  We got used to the added activities and the boys were enjoying themselves.

Just before April I get the game schedule emailed to me.  I learned that the games would start in April and end just before school is out in May.  WHAT?  What happened to my one month of games?  One thing I did smile about was the fact that the games are on weeknights.  Phew!  We didn't lose our Saturday.  Another thing I learned was that B would have two games per week and E would have one.  Three games a week?  Yikes!  Fortunately E has his game right before one of B's games.  So, even though there are three games per week, we are only at games 2 nights a week.  I let an audible groan slip when I wondered whether or not there would be practice too!  Prince Charming's words, "You are the mother of boys, this is what you do" echoed in my head.  I added the games to the calendar, made changes in our little routines, and we have been having a lot of fun!  The boys enjoy going to the games, The Peach likes the change in scenery, and I think it is hilarious when each kid hits the ball and gets a surprised look on their face.  Priceless!

So, this is me now.  A mother of boys that play Little League.  A supporter of dreams.  A washer of uniforms.  A maker of picnics.  As a woman with a Type A personality and a strong desire to maintain control of EVERYTHING, I am pretty proud of myself for adapting to this new madness that is organized sports.  It has been a lot more fun than I had imagined.

So far, my favorite moment was when just after looking at the game schedule the hubby says, "Holy Crap!  Who's idea was it to sign them up for Little League?"

The Nap Transition

I am pretty sure that most parents of a one year-old know, very intimately, what it is like to have a kiddo who is transitioning down to one nap per day.  With my older sons, on some days, they would just play quietly in their cribs during their morning nap and on other days, they would crash hard and sleep for 2 hours.  This kind of inconsistency can be frustrating at best.


The Peach has started her transition from two naps to one this past weekend.  However, it isn't the morning nap that she is skipping.  It is the afternoon nap.  I think I just heard the interwebs groan along with me.  This means that she is awake from 11:15am or so until her bedtime around 6pm.  I am pretty sure everyone who has been in this situation before knows what 4:30pm sounds like.  Total and utter one year-old despair is what it sounds like.


This morning my daughter was bushed.  Yawning and whining, you know, the classic signs of "need....nap...NOW!"  So, I put her down.  And she slept.  Right now, it is 2pm and she is playing, gleefully, in her crib.  That's it!  Tomorrow, she is staying up.  No more morning nap.  It might suck for a while for her, but at least 4:30 won't sound so terrible anymore.  Plus, do you know kinds of things I can get done in the morning now that I don't have a napper?!  The mall, people!  The mall opens at 10am!

And it isn't even Easter!

The other day I went out to check the nest box and I found this colorful assortment of eggs!  I was so tickled!  I really enjoy having chickens and the eggs that they provide for us are so delicious.  While I was admiring this bounty in my hand, I almost forgot about the chicken poop that is all over my concrete.  Nevertheless, those ladies are great and we just love having them!

She's Weaned

And I’m sad.

I don’t think I would have chosen to wean her at this age (14 months) but I didn’t think I had much of a choice.  I was only nursing her at night, and I relished that time alone with her.  I loved the quiet, the feeling of her skin against mine.  I loved the way she would touch my face with her hand as if she was exploring every nook and cranny trying to learn more about me.  I loved how she would play with her toes and then put her foot on my face.  I loved how when she was done she would burp contentedly and have some milk drool in the corner of her mouth.  I miss it all.  Even more so since I know she is my last baby.

We decided to take the boys camping during Spring Break.  We wanted to explore Kartchner Caverns and decided 2 nights would be sufficient.  Even though it would have been nice to take The Peach with us, her 2 naps per day and early bedtime would really put a damper on our fun.  So, she got to stay with my parents while we were away.  I decided not to pump while I was there because I didn’t think I had much milk anyway.  It turns out I never got engorged!

I was pretty sure that being away from her for two nights would have dried me up.  So, when we returned I didn’t nurse her.  I was worried that she would be upset.  She even pointed to the chair I sit in when I went to put her to bed.  I replaced our nursing session with a story, which she clearly wasn’t interested in, and then tucked her in and left.  She didn’t make a peep.  I was sad that she didn’t seem too upset, but at the same time I was relieved.  It would have been much harder for me if she had cried.  I probably would have gone in and tried to nurse her.  I did learn in my class that I probably still had milk for her and could have picked up nursing again.  Unfortunately, I learned that a week after I weaned her.  Oh well.

Now that she is weaned I miss that quiet time before her bedtime, but at the same time, I don’t have to wait until she is in bed before I can go out on a date with my husband!  There is a bright side even though it has taken me a little while to see it.

Making Lunches

Just the other night, as I was making B's lunch for the next school day, I was thinking how BORING his lunches are.  He has, pretty much, the same thing every day.  He is totally happy with it, too.  However, I am starting to get the pleas for "Hot Lunch" at school.  He assures me that the lunches are very healthy options!  Mmmm hmmm.
The universe must have heard my thought ramblings, because just today I stumbled upon This Lunch Rox.  Making lunches for her children must be this mother's full time job.  First of all, the pictures are amazing and her creativity when it comes to lunch making just blows me away.  When I started scrolling through her website, this is what I saw: