Living in an Amish Paradise

We are on a break sandwiched between 2 road trips. Dane and I went to Indiana with my mom and Grandma to visit some family. We checked out the Shipshewana flea market, the largest in the Midwest and in the middle of Amish country, as the add says. It was fun and full of people. It is always interesting to be surrounded by the Amish, they just make you curious as to why they do what they do. Like some of the ladies' dresses were fastened in the back with straight pins. I saw it with my own eyes. There is even a hitching post for their horse and buggy at many stores including Walmart. They can ride in vehicles like this van as long as a non-Amish person drives. As odd and curious as their lifestyle seems, it is fun to hear the horses clip clop through town, it seems so quaint.

We were also able to spend sometime with my cousins and all of their adorable girls.

Seriously, mom did you have to pull the camera out again?

On the way back home we were able to stop by Lake Michigan. It was such a beautiful day to walk along the beach. Dane loved the sand though I didn't let him sit in it since we had to get back in the car. We had wanted to stop in Chicago and go up the Sears tower, but instead we were able to see the Sears tower from across the lake. Barely.

Uncle Ryan and our cousin Reid were also along on the trip. They kept Dane occupied in the car and were pretty good babysitters.

Batman in training

We have a bat in the house, ok, make that two and it's not the cute one pictured above that I am referring to. Yesterday I went down to the basement to get some meat out of the freezer I stepped over to drop something in the trash and out flew something from somewhere. The details are a little blurred. I screamed and ran over to the futon and covered my head with a pillow. At this point still not sure if it is a bat or a sparrow. Then it swooped and fluttered my way again so I screamed again and made a dash for the stairs, pillow still covering my head and slammed the door to the basement. Fortunately Dane slept through all of this. I called Andy then got brave enough to go check it out again. Thinking and hoping it was a bird I would open the door from the basement to the garage and it would fly out. I found an umbrella in the car and put that over my head. The neighbors probably think I am a little nutty now. I opened the basement door from the garage and... nothing. I slowly walked around, then started straightening up a bit. I ended up finding our tennis rackets in the car so I was armed with an umbrella and a tennis racket still treading carefully looking around and nothing. Now Andy questions me on the phone if I am sure I saw something. Of course I saw something.

He gets home from work and goes to check it out he went around a corner and then turned his head and there it was hanging from a shelf like 2 feet from his face. Freaked him out a little but for sure and for certain it was a bat. He gets himself all pumped up and prepared to get it and heard it fluttering around and waited. He spent the rest of the night walking around trying to find it searching our basement high and low. Turning off all the lights hoping it would come out of hiding then turning on the lights hoping to surprise it. Nothing. I guess that means there is still a bat in the house? Or did it leave on his own?

Today all the lights are on in the basement running up our electricity bill just hoping to keep the bat in hiding so it won't jump out and scare the pee out of me. Every time I go downstairs I am armed with a tennis racket and proceed with caution checking every nook and cranny I can think of. It is getting annoying because our washer and dryer are down there and we have laundry backing up but I am a little nervous to put down the racket and turn my back for fear the bat will surprise me again. That is the worst part, the anticipation of something jumping out and fluttering and swooping in my face and hair.

*I forgot to mention, I read online that after you catch the bat, like pick it up with a towel or cloth that you are supposed to talk soothingly to it as you let it go outside. I will leave it to your imagination as to what may happen if mr. bat ever gets found :o) I will talk soothingly to it of course.

Quick Trip

Not the gas station. We made a quick trip to Minneapolis this weekend and met up with Andy's brother and his family for a mini vacation. We went to Minnehaha Park and falls -the water(less) falls. It sounded pretty on the internet but when we got there they were working on something so they had the creek dammed so there were no falls. We did end up renting a surrey and cruising around the park. It was a good time, though it was challenging holding onto the babies and going up the hills were needless to say a little strenuous. I guess we could have road around on segways instead. You know, the transportation of the future(hehe). That was an option.We then stopped by the well known MOA, for some walking around. Andy and I even managed a ride on one of the indoor roller coasters. We then walked over to Ikea had some swedish meatballs and did some quick shopping, though by this point we were all pretty worn out from the surrey ride and mall. The next day we went to the Stone Arch Bridge and surrounding areas and walked around on the trails. It was good to visit and catch up on each other's lives. We then headed over to the sculpture garden, near the Walker Art Center. Andy and I stayed a little longer hoping to leave at bedtime, so a little someone would sleep the whole way home. Boy did that ever backfire. Apparently he needs his bed for bedtime. Naps are fine in the carseat, but boy oh boy bedtime rolls around and sleep evades him. While we were waiting around we went and walked by the Mansions along Summit Avenue. It would have been so fun to tour some of those. By the way did you notice how we were dressed for the middle of July? Seriously the middle of July and we were freezing, it felt like fall.

Wheat germ streusel banana muffins

I think I have another banana type recipe posted, but these muffins were delicious. I only like to eat bananas with no brown spots so we always seem to have spotty bananas sitting around, and instead of tossing them in the trash I usually trying making them into banana bread. I just stumbled onto these muffins from my Healthy Cooking magazine. These hit the spot. I think Andy wanted me to post this so we wouldn't lose it :o)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas (I used about 3 1/2 medium bananas and I didn't measure but it looked closer to 2 cups)
1 egg
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce

Streusel:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp toasted wheat germ
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp cold butter
2 Tbsp. finely chopped walnuts

1. In a large bowl, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, beat the bananas, egg, oil and applesauce until well blended. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
2. Coat muffin cups with cooking spray or use paper liners; fill two-thirds full with batter. For streusel, combine the brown sugar, wheat germ and cinnamon; cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in walnuts. Sprinkle over batter.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

1 muffin equals 203 calories, 6g fat, 2g fiber, 4g protein.

Many things to say

and many ideas to blog about. I could elaborate on this article I read about marriage(and title my post "Experts find what God has been saying for years"), or I tell you about this push up challenge I am doing, or how we went to Galena last week with my niece, or our weekend plans or about all the delicious food we have been eating. Check out this yummy recipe. And all I can manage tonight is a couple of my favorite pictures from the last week.

They say laughter is the best medicine

Who can resist baby laughter? I love listening to that sweet gurgly baby laugh. We never know what is going to strike him funny. A few days ago it was a ball, today I was singing the alphabet song, he chuckled at me which made me laugh, then he was all out belly laughing at me laughing at him and we went back and forth a few times. He usually gets the silly giggles and really lets go when he is over tired and purely exhausted. It tends to go crabbiness, delirious laughter, crabbiness, sound asleep. And I am sure tomorrow neither of those will make him laugh it will be something new.

Rhubarb Dessert

We went to the farmers market on Thursday with the purpose of buying some rhubarb. I have been thinking for awhile that it would be great to have some planted in our yard, but I have yet to do this. I did learn quite a bit about rhubarb though on our little trek. We actually went all the way through the market and found no rhubarb until the very last booth. I asked the lady if rhubarb was out of season, and she informed me that in Iowa no one picks it past the 4th of July. Interesting. I just barely made it. And the best time to plant it is in the early spring. So next year I guess, maybe I can find someone who will share part of their plant. This is one of Andy's favorite desserts I am whipping up for our 4 of July celebration.

Here it is:

Rhubarb Dessert

3oz strawberry jello

1 c sugar

1 white cake mix (dry)

1 c water

1 stick of butter (melted)

Put 4 c. rhubarb in 9x13 pan. Mix sugar and jello and sprinkle over rhubarb.
Sprinkle dry cake mix over top.

Drizzle melted butter over cake mix and pour 1 cup water over all.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Tastes great with ice cream!!

8 months

Yup another month has past and Dane is 8 months old! I wish time would slow and this baby phase would last forever, but it is equally exciting watching him learn new things. He can now sit up on his own, has taken a few crawling steps but finds it much faster to just flop to his belly and army crawl across the floor. We have even found him standing in his bed the last couple of days. And boy is he proud of himself! I don't really know sign language but I looked up the sign for 'more' last week and tried teaching it to him. Just a couple of days ago he signed it back to me! He still loves to tease and he definitely gets that from his dad. Still no teeth but we are working our way through all the new foods and flavors. Each time we try a new one he is pretty skeptical and makes a grimace face but a few bites in he is usually enjoying himself. The other day at Walmart I had picked up some more baby food. Dane was pretty zoned out and sleepy, but as we were checking out he noticed the jars floating by on the conveyor belt and got pretty excited. He was reaching for them and saying 'nah nah nah'. (maybe for num num?)