MOTHER NATURE.

My man has a knack for finding adventure. I'll say 'Hey, lets go do something new today' and in ten minutes he's got a list of places for us to go explore. And they're always awesome. And just what we need at the time. That's exactly how we discovered this place a few years ago.

Original homestead of the Strait family.

Behold MN Valley State Park. State parks are one of our favorite things. They always offer new experiences, breath taking views, and the best part....they're free! This particular one is practically in our back yard (or ten miles down the road, but hey, same thing, right?)

This one quenched our thirst for our love of old houses. Even though we've been here before, each time we take in and remember something new.

Loved the huge floor to ceiling windows in the house.

With two kids in tow our hike was short, but we still soaked in some amazing sights.

Mother Nature, she's a wonderful thing, isn't she?

Now a little random fact about me, I love cemeteries. I don't know why exactly. Perhaps it is their still beauty. The connections to the past . Wondering the stories behind the people. With that said, it's a little ironic that there is one almost in my back yard (and really this time. Only one house between us). It totally freaked me out when we first bought our house. But now, six years later I don't even flinch at the thought, and we have actually gone there several times for baby name inspiration.

On our hike we discovered this little gem, and it intrigues me. I admire its beauty and wonder the story behind this woman. And I smile just a little bit at the wording.

It reads 'Wife of George Strait died December 21, 1860' and then I can't make out the rest. I wonder why she is buried out here all by herself and what in the world is the poor lady's name? Although beautiful, I hope my gravestone will say my name, not 'Wife of Nick Slavik'. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud and happy to be his wife. But I've got many other qualities too. Just sayin'.

Anyhow, once again my man delivered on some fun adventure. It fuels my soul and I hope my kids inherit his knack for adventure and our eyes for beauty in Mother Nature.

We capped the morning off with a little picnic lunch. And there you have it folks. A splendid day indeed.

CUPCAKES WITH MY GIRL.

My girl loves to bake. And I love to bake with her. Unfortunately, it is a much harder task these days with having a baby to look after too. But we do it when we can and her whole little body lights up when we do.

This particular baking extravaganza was inspired by one of her favorite books, Pinkalicious.

She's a great egg-cracker, a pretty good mixer, and a phenomenal spatula licker. That last one is her favorite. It could be the sole reason she likes to bake with me. She eagerly anticipates her taste test, and doesn't stop asking for a lick until she gets one.

We have these adorable aprons, but I always forget to wear them. I'm not super messy in the kitchen, so they're more for fun and fashion than anything else. But my girl remembered. And ran up to her play kitchen to get hers. Aren't they cute?

Hers, a vintage find.

Mine, thirty-one. With some cupcake batter on it nonetheless. Maybe I am a bit messy after all.

One on one time with my girl is harder to come by these days, and I'm glad we can bond over baking. Especially when it's Pinkalicious cupcakes. I hope she know how very much I love and adore her, and cherish these moments with her.

SAUERKRAUT.

I guess you can tell we're Czech by the simple fact that we make our own sauerkraut. Well, technically, I'm not Czech, but being married to one naturally grandfathers me in, right? Anyhow, yep, we make our own sauerkraut. It's fun. And it's yummy. And we jar it up and share it.

What a clever one, he is.

Last year we put an order in for our cabbage with a local farmer, and for what ever reason it never came through. So at the very end of the summer we were left high and dry with no sauerkraut. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so my man bought what he could from the grocery store and we gave it a go. Bad idea. Store bought cabbage does not make for good kraut. It never fermented, and we were just left with a stinky, mushy mess.

This year we were on the ball and put our order in extra early, with a different local farmer. And he delivered. Amen. We were so excited that we got to work that very same night of picking up our cabbage. The recipe is quite simple.

You need lots of cabbage. We ordered 15 heads.

Shred your cabbage using one of these contraptions. I don't even know what it's called (a kraut cutter, perhaps?), but Nick found it at an estate sale a few years ago.

For every 5 pounds of cabbage (roughly 2 heads), add 3 tablespoons of pickling salt. Because it makes such a large amount, we shredded two heads of cabbage, added our salt, then mixed it up. Then repeated the process until we were done.

Once we were finished with the labor stage, Nick transferred it to a large Red Wing crock and sealed the top. It will ferment for a few weeks, then should be ready to share!

And what fun would making sauerkraut be without some adorable little helpers?

 Look Mom, the cabbage is bigger than Brother's head!

Let us know if you'd like a jar, there's plenty to go around!



JUST AN ORDINARY DAY.

Nothing crazy or exciting happened today. We had no plans. Nothing we had to get done. Sometimes, those days are the hardest for me. I like when we're busy, have places to go, have friends to see. But sometimes it's nice to have a free day. To do anything imaginable. Sometimes, those days are my favorite.

Today was a good day. Perfectly cool, yet just warm enough. Sunshine. A lazy morning. A walk. And I'm talking a real 'Mama got a workout' kind of walk. Playing at the park. Photo ops. Lunch on the deck. Everyone napped. At the same time. Even me. It was bliss. Farmers Market. Milkshakes and movie night. It was just all good.

Sister loves her shadow.

I love them.

Lovin' sister's and Mama's reflections in the sunnys.

He couldn't take his eyes off Nugget. He was so excited to watch her run around,

flapping his arms and legs wildly.

This photo makes me happy. I was packing up the stroller to leave the park, and looked up and saw this. So peaceful and serene.

Hope you had a good day too. Happy Wednesday.

BABY FOOD.

I would make my own baby food even if it wasn' t the trendy thing to do. I didn't even know it was all the rage in baby land until we were approaching the sixth month mark and I started reading up on it again. In fact, I made Nugget's baby food too, so technically I was way ahead of the crowd. Whatever. I'm doing it because it's good for him, and truth be told, I love when I have little projects like this to do. I love to create, and making baby food is no exception. It's fun for me, and it's actually something I can accomplish during nap time, which seems next to impossible these days.

Brother has approached this milestone at the perfect time of year, when produce and Farmers Markets are in full swing. We planted a lot of stuff in our own garden, but that has sadly been a bit neglected this year. With the cold/rainy June we had, the garden got planted quite late, and it just never really took off. But the Farmers Market has proven to be a good alternative, with lots of organic options and the prices are next to nothing. I've been having fun trying out a variety of veggies so far. And since it can keep in the freezer for three months, I've got a nice little stock pile going. Carrots, summer squash, zucchini and beets. I opted to begin with carrots, as it was Nugget's first vegetable too. Easy to remember that way.

Anyhow, here's a look at my first batch.

Did you know that the green tops suck up the nutrients from the carrots? Apparently so. I read to look for carrots that already have the tops trimmed off, or do so yourself as soon as you purchase them.

I'm all about adding a little color to my world these days, so when I found a bundle of purple, orange and white organic carrots I snatched it right up.

Steamed and pureed.

Summer squash (yellow) and mixed carrots (orangeish brown).

Steaming summer squash.

This week we introduced the carrots.


And Brother didn't quite know what to think of them.

Something is different here, Mom.

omg, MOM! What did you do to my dinner?!

Yuck! I'll stick to cereal, please.

Mom, that was really gross. Let's not try that again, ok?

I'm happy to report that the second attempt went much better than the first. He still didn't finish them off, but Nugget has rediscovered that she likes baby food, frequently asking if she can try a bite or finish his off! Ha!

MAKING MINESTRONE.

Each Thursday we head down the road to our local library to enjoy the family story time. Afterwards, we always trade last weeks stack of books for new ones. Sometimes though, she'll insist on keeping a particular favorite for an extra week or two, especially if it's Cha Cha Chimps or Ella Kazoo Will Not Cut Her Hair. There isn't much rhyme or reason to the titles she chooses, just whatever catches her fancy. And as long as it's not crazy long or beyond her years, I'm game for whatever she picks. Last week she chose this.

A cute little story about growing vegetables, tending to the garden, then picking the produce to make homemade minestrone soup. And at the very end, there was a recipe for how to make it yourself. She'd been asking since the first time we read the story if we could make it. I'm all about trying something new, especially if she expresses an interest in it. A meal full of vegetables that you want to help make, and eat? You got it sister. We went to the grocery store and she helped select all the needed ingredients. She washed her hands and climbed up on her stool. She took pride and care in each task that I gave her.

We washed, peeled, chopped, measured and poured. Then we let it simmer. And when it was done, it looked something like this.

Despite a few things I would tweak if we made it again, it was pretty good. And she mostly ate it, well the potatoes and bread anyway.

WAITING FOR WINGS.

I've been on a mission this summer to keep my girl as busy as I can. Some days it's lots of fun and I love it, other days it leaves me quite drained. But it's all worth it to see her having fun and learn a thing or two in the process. We only have three short months to cram it all in, before we are forced to hole up for a long MN winter. So, I'm trying to make the most out of each day that I can. I saw this over at Enjoying the Small Things, and I was sold.

I have followed this blog for quite awhile now, and it always leaves me inspired. Kelle is so positive, creative and happy, and is most definitely a glass half full kind of gal. She makes me want to be a better person, a better Mama, and let the little things roll of my back and truly enjoy these precious gifts that I have been given.

I knew a local store carried these butterfly kits that Kelle had used, and I have even used it with a class of my kindergartners before. I knew Nugget would love it. You purchase the 'kit', which is basically just a butterfly house, and send in a coupon to receive your caterpillars in the mail.

They arrive like this, in the caterpillar stage.

And quickly spin their crysallis'.

Then you remove them from the cup and pin them to the side of the butterfly house. And watch. And wait.

And watch. And wait some more. Nugget was a patient little waiter.

And then one day, before your very eyes...wa la! Butterflies! We got to watch this one break free while we were eating breakfast one morning. What a sight to see. It was pretty cool.

I had grand plans to capture some amazing pics, like Kelle's above, but the day the last two butterflies emerged, I was also running around busily packing my family for a cabin weekend. I thought it was no big deal, that we would just do it two days later when we returned. Well, little did I know that while we were gone, those butterflies were mustering up their strength, and when we opened their house upon our return, they just flew right on out, not stopping or looking back. Leaving me in the dust. They were ready to be set free.

So the only picture I managed to capture was of this sweet little one, with the 'broken wings'. Not sure what happened to this guy, but Nick and I decided that when you produce butterfly larvae in a factory to be shipped around the nation, you're bound to get one that just isn't quite right.

This is the one that we watched make his transformation during our breakfast. I was worried about him. Or she? Anyhow, I felt sorry for the little guy but didn't know what to do. I placed it right by a flower inside the butterfly house, and placed a few drops of sugar water on the flower, so it wouldn't starve. I was hoping and praying that Orelia wouldn't come home to a 'sleeping' butterfly. But he pulled through and was alive and kicking when we got back. It wasn't able to fly off like the others, so we placed it in a safe spot and left nature to run its course. Butterflies are only meant to live a few days anyway, so after that I didn't feel quite so sad for it.

After our butterflies were gone, Orelia was already asking me to order more. I'm glad she enjoyed it, but I think that's it for us this year.  Next year. We'll definately do it again.