Pesto

I love pesto. I mean, I LOVE pesto. So much so that I planted 16 basil plants in the herb garden. We have made a lot of fresh batches throughout the summer. Great on pasta, potatoes and pizza. As the summer is peaking, the basil plants have gotten a little out of control and it is time to start preparing for fall and winter. So, Finn and I set about preserving pesto in the freezer.

First pick the basil:

Second, wash the leaves:

This is definitely fun:

Put in the food processor and add some seasoning:

Really shake it in there:

Blend it up:

Put into ice cube trays and freeze. The next day, pop it out into a ziploc (much the way baby food is made). Now, we have plenty of pesto to add to pasta, pizza, soups, whatever all winter long :)

Oh, glorious peaches (and plums and apples, too)!

Last week, Finn and his Nana and I headed up to Butternut Farm to pick peaches. We were thrilled to find plums and even the first of the fall apples (gingergolds) were ready. We got a lot of fruit! Look foward to your christmas baskets full of jams!

The peaches were absolutely beautiful ruby gems hanging in the trees:

Finn was ready to attack:

Hmm, but now what do I do with it? He wasn't too keen on eating the peaches with the fuzzy skin:

We put plenty in the box though:

Oh boy, how are we going to get these peaches back to the car:

Ah, this is better:

Now, plums are a fruit you can immediately sink your teeth into:

Let's get lots of those:

Apples too:

And there are some sheep on the farm. Seriously, the joy that sheep and goats bring to this little boy makes me want to rush out and buy a petting zoo:

Lots and lots of giggles:

He really would climb right in, if he could:

Midnight Canning

I have a backlog of photos and things that I want to blog about, but I just haven't found some good time to sit down and do it. But in an effort to keep this blog active, I thought I would cheat a bit and point you to a very lovely post on my good friend, Jen's blog, Get Well Grounded. She wrote a really wonderful account of a visit and some canning we did. Thanks, Jen!

Midnight Canning

The Softer Side of Finn

I often post pics of Finn in the mud or playing with trucks or running and jumping, but there is a wonderful sensitive side to Finn too. He has recently really taken with some of his stuffed animals. In particular, he loves a giraffe we got at the Cheyenne Mt. Zoo and a white bear. He calls all of his animals bears. He is very nurturing with them and we have to do kisses with them when he wakes in the morning and after nap. He likes to put diapers on them and clothes. He even likes to cuddle them when we nurse and take turns with them :) It is all very endearing. Here he is with giraffe. Notice the diaper on giraffe (thank goodness for one-size fits all cloth diapers!)

The Mommyhood

The day that we moved into our house, we went to the local pizza joint for dinner. On a billboard there, I saw an advertisement for a mom's group through Meetup.com. I joined and it has been a wonderful experience. This past Saturday, the group celebrated its two year anniversary with a big party, bounce house included. It was a BBQ at a mom's house and they have quite the playground set up. There were about 15 moms and their families there. It was a lot of fun.

The mom who hosted has three boys, so it was trucks galore and Finn was in heaven:


This big backhoe loader was a huge hit with all the kids:



They rented a giant bounce house that had a slide and was rated for adult use too. It was so much fun. I think it might be the first time I got to jump in a bounce house.

Finn made me go down the slide several times.

Here he is bouncing away:

Sandy Cousins

This is my last ME beach post. And at the beach, there must be sand games. So, here are some pictures of Finn and cousins enjoying the sand.

Plenty of digging:

Libby, the mermaid:

Liam, the sand castle destroyer (Finn loved smashing the castles too):

Finn thought it was great to have his feet and legs buried:


Annalise rolled around and loved sitting in the sand:

And, even little Grace thought the sand felt wonderful on her toes:

We were also really excited to welcome, Jack, Finn newest cousin, into the family on the Friday we went up to the beach. I expect he will be in some pictures soon.

Rock Jumping and Tide Pools.

There were beautiful sand flats and tide pool areas when the tide went out in the mornings and evenings. Finn greatly enjoyed splashing around in the shallow pools and finding rocks to climb and jump off.



The tide pools were chockful of hermit crabs (this is for you, Chiara...maybe one day Finn can be a field assistant?). Here is a good find by Finn:

Hittin' the Beach: Day One

This past weekend, we had a wonderful getaway with Sean's family to Wells, ME. Sean's folks rented a beautiful cottage right on the beach and we had a blast. I took a lot of pictures, so I will break it up into a series of posts as I can get to them. Here is the first afternoon we arrived. Finn was immediately in heaven on the beach, heck, we all were!



Uh oh, seagulls, watch out! Finn has taken a few moves out of Lily's playbook and took right off after the first seagull we saw!

It's World Breastfeeding Week!

I haven't blogged about breastfeeding in a really long while. But this week is World Breastfeeding Week and I thought I would celebrate with a quick post. I blogged a lot about my difficulties learning to breastfeed Finn as a newborn, and then I believe I blogged about a lot of my nervousness in whether to introduce cow's milk after the age of one. Looking back, I am so glad we overcame our difficulties and I realize the cow's milk drama was just no big deal. At 21 months, Finn and I are still enjoying the bond of nursing. Breastfeeding a toddler is not without its challenges, but it is a wonderful experience and I so happy we made it this far. I think the biggest challenge for me is overcoming some of the pressures of our culture/society that tend to look upon extended breastfeeding as strange. I recently read this article and I found it quite comforting at this stage. Enjoy and celebrate this week!

EDIT: Here is the link again. I can't figure out how to edit above. The article doesn't completely apply to my situation because I haven't ventured into tandem nursing (yet), but I think it has a wonderful message overall. The nursing freedom website is really nice too and you can fan them on facebook.