Potatoes & a sick baby

We have been so fortunate to receive a lot of food donations lately, so we are trying to make the most out of it. Recently we were given lots of apples which I previously mentioned, but we were also given tons of red potatoes and some butternut squash.

Today we spent most of the day peeling, cutting, cooking and freezing the potatoes and squash. We decided to make french fries that are similar to what you buy in a grocery store frozen and then you bake them. Basically you blanch the potatoes in oil for about 4-5 minutes, just until they are barely brown. After that you dry them off and then freeze them. Then when you are ready to use them, you just put them in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. We really don't eat fries very often, but figured we could store some for future use. We are also making up large batches of mashed potatoes and freezing those as well. We cooked the squash up for baby food, which Carsten loves!

We feel so fortunate to have received this food. We are making everything we can think of that uses potatoes so that we can freeze them before they go bad. All that to say we have been busy and I am tired of cutting potatoes!

On another note entirely, I am pretty sure Carsten has an ear infection. He has been fighting a cold the past few days with a fever. Just noticed to day that he seemed to be in pain anytime I got near the one ear. Hopefully we can take care of it quickly. Think of him in the next few days!

Bath time

Carsten loves taking a bath each night!

Rylan will literally stay in there until the water is freezing!

 The other night we gave Carsten a few pieces of banana to see how he would do with it. Well it ended up all over him, so we opted to throw him in the kitchen sink for a quick bath before dinner. Once Carsten was in the sink of course Rylan wanted to be as well, so we filled up the other side and let him take a quick bath as well. He looks huge next to Carsten!

November already

It is amazing how quickly time flies by. It is hard to believe that it is already Temperatures are dropping here and we continue to see little glimpses of what lies ahead...snow and more snow :) We can't wait!

It was lightly snowing this morning when I took Rylan down to preschool. He was so excited. He kept saying, "look mommy there is snow on your jacket." When I told him there was snow on his jacket, he just laughed. When he got into class he ran up to his friend Elroy and said, "Elboy (how he pronounces it) it is snowing outside, Elboy,  you see the snow outside?" They were both giddy about it.

This week has been a busy one. Someone donated several boxes of apples and several bags of potatoes to the school, so we have been processing a bunch of those. With the apples we have made raw apple sauce to freeze for Carsten and we are drying out a bunch of them in a borrowed dehydrator. With the potatoes, we are making a bunch of meals that use potatoes and freezing them for future use. It has been a lot of work, but I think it will be worth it!

Happy Halloween!

I took the boys around where we live tonight for some trick or treating! Jeff stayed at home to hand candy out. They got a lot of candy even though we only went to about 10 houses. One house that we went to the gal said to Rylan, "here is a bag of candy for you, one for your brother and here is one for your mommy." Rylan said to her, "how about one for my daddy too." She said that is a great idea and gave an extra full size snicker bar for Jeff.

Happy Cowboy

Grumpy Cowboy

A little Carstensaurus

A happy little dino

Carsten the stair climber...sort of

 "I learned how to climb up one stair, but then I got stuck there. When mommy told me it was a no-no I laughed and thought I was pretty funny!"

Family fun day

Here is a picture of Rylan and his friend Caleb who stayed with us last weekend! They really had a good time together, especially when I set up the tent and tunnel for them to play in! Carsten loves it too! We put him in there with Rylan and he just giggled like crazy. Their relationship develops more each day and we are excited to see them play together as brothers and friends!

Today was a day off from classes, so we decided it was time for our family to leave the campus and venture out for some fun together. We went up to Owen Sound (about 45 minutes away) to see a few waterfalls. We found the first waterfall, which was not really that amazing, but still fun. We spent time there letting Ry run around and we took some pictures of both boys there.

 Then we went looking for the second waterfall and stumbled upon this really fun park instead. Rylan was so excited to get to play at the park. The weather was perfect today which was awesome! It has been raining almost everyday, but today it was clear skies, gusty winds and about 60 degrees. Not bad at all. It was a very refreshing day, just what we all needed! (We never did find the second waterfall)

Glow Bracelets

They look harmless and fun don't they? Well I have a story to tell about these "fun" little glow bracelets.

This weekend our friends little boy Caleb stayed with us while they went to Toronto for a business trip. Rylan and him were having fun together playing in Rylan's tent and tunnel. I found a pack of these glow bracelets that our neighbor from school last year had given to Rylan on our pass through Waukesha. I thought it would be fun for them to play with a glow bracelet inside the tent. So I cracked one open for each of them and decided to let them each have another since they were loving them and wanted different colors.

I started to crack another one open when it split wide open and the contents squirted right into my eyes and on my face! I was immediately in pain and could not open my eyes. I called for Jeff to come help me because I could not see. He came running in and I heard Rylan crying. I wondered if the stuff had gotten on him too.

Jeff led me to the bathroom and reassured me that Rylan was only crying because he saw that I was hurt and he was worried. Jeff proceeded to flush out my eyes with water and wash my skin with soap. My eyes burned for a long time after that, but they are fine and I am much better today!

For the longest time after Rylan would ask be about every two minutes, "Are you okay mommy," "Mommy you okay now?". He was very concerned for me. He saw that my shirt was wet and he said, "Mommy you shirts all wet, you need jammies on, I will get you jammies," which he did! What a sweet guy. He kept rubbing my face gently and hugging and kissing me!

I love that I am surrounded by boys in this house. They all care about me and are so gentle with me. Jeff took great care to flush my eyes quickly and get my skin cleaned off. And Rylan of course was the concerned son. Carsten was sound asleep, but I am sure he would have sensed something was wrong and loved on me as well!

P.S. The package says, " Non-Toxic, if contents get into eye or on skin flush with water. Will not cause damage, but may cause temporary discomfort." (That was some serious discomfort!)