bits and pieces

(Thank you for all the birthday wishes the past few weeks, it means a lot to me!)

Phew! That was a week. But the best part was the finale ~ an all night barf-fest. Eli developed a fever on Wednesday and I decided that canceling his (and his brothers) party would be premature. He seemed to get better and was fever free on party day. Then Sunday night rolled around and all heck broke loose. The most amusing part of it all was the singing yesterday morning. You'd be surprised at how many silly songs the kids and I and Jonathan can make up about vomit! I guess that's called turning lemons into lemonade?

I'm breathing deeply and fully right now, feeling relieved that last week went so well considering all that had to be accomplished!

The weather has been a mixture of glorious sun and swirling snow. I read in the paper that the Sierra's haven't gotten this much snow in a very long time. Something like 50 years and the wildlife will benefit greatly from it. We've been having bear problems the last few years with the fires destroying their food and drought limiting their food sources in the mountains. They've been heading down into the valley and causing quite the stir. Good snow.

So, back to the warm weather. We've been getting out in the garden and really cleaning up the place. We've been cutting down the old growth in our flower gardens and we've finally moved our chicken fence and made it into a pea trellis. On Sunday, I put on shorts for the first time this season and was blinded by my white legs. We've also been enjoying backyard bonfires and marshmallows.

And the next morning, the same view looked something like this!

I'm a few weeks into a hand sewing class I'm co-teaching at the home school co-op and I get pretty excited about projects. Last week we made frog bean bags. But before we cut out a whole bog full of frogs I had to make sure the kids could make them. So, I made a few prototypes filled with popcorn kernels and button hearts. The best part about this class is that I co-teach it and I don't have to cut out all 15 of these patterns every week!

I also have to share with you a delicious recipe for lentils that a friend e-mailed me. (thank you Rachael!) Honestly, I love cooking and I love good, simple, hearty, fast, cheap and kid friendly meals. I have this fetish for lentils and we've actually made this twice in the past two weeks. I'm going to try and make this recipe with red lentils but I love the look of yellow.

The recipe originally came from Sunset Magazine but I changed it a bit.

Ingredients: 2TB ghee, 4 cloves garlic, 2 cups yellow or brown lentils, 5 cups vegetable broth, 1 TB grated fresh ginger, Grated peel to one lemon, 1/4 cup lemon juice, salt and pepper, cilantro and lemon wedges for garnish.

Melt butter in a 3 quart pan over medium heat, add garlic and cook until just beginning to brown (about 1 minute).

Add lentils and stir to coat with butter, then add the broth. Simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes until lentils are tender.

Add ginger, lemon peel, juice, salt and pepper. Serve over brown rice with lemon wedge and cilantro garnish.

Please let me know if you try it! ♥