Crockpot Yummies, Via Lisa

If you are a friend of mine, you might already know Lisa, my bestie. She posted a blog about crockpot meals and I thought I would join in on the fun! Be sure to check out her site for some more yummies- I know I will be trying out some of them!
I love my crockpot. Whether you work night shift or days it is fabulous to have a warm meal all ready to go. Below is my recipe for oatmeal- having a crockpot breakfast is quite a delight to wake up to, and this one smells real scrumptious, too. If you have a copy of our Friends&Family cookbook you already have this recipe, but here it is again. And we also have extra copies of our cookbook, so let me know if you want a copy~





Slow Cooker Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal

1 Cup Old-Fashioned Oats
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon, or more to taste
2 Cups Water or Apple Juice/Water Combo
1 1/2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 Medium Apple or Pear
Pinch of Salt

Combine all ingredients and cook on low for 7-9 hours. This makes a small-ish batch so I usually double it (we're oinkers!) and use one pear and one apple. Enjoy!

Homesteading and the Locavore Movement

We've been pretty busy here this February. First, I went back to work. It's not so bad but I miss my babies and I want to cut back my hours. It's hard for me knowing that Andie Lucie's at home getting a bottle while I am work, trying to keep my eyes open in the wee hours of the night (or morning, depending on how you look at it), pumping away. I do enjoy the little babies at work though, and the paycheck is nice, because we are super-busy doing the landscaping for our house! We knew when we chose this place that it would require a lot of work in the yard since the landscaping was bare. The downside is that it's expensive and it will take awhile to get mature landscaping, the upside is that we get to start from scratch and make it exactly how we want it.
We've been having a lot of fun getting the food garden ready. I have big plans for it; I want it to be beautiful as well as functional. I think we got lucky in the past with our crop success because I know so much more now that I did then about organic gardening. With our Ferndale garden we just threw some good soil and manure in raised beds with cedar and called it good, and we got a pretty good return. For this house we're doing raised beds as well, with room for food crops as well as flowers and shrubs. I've been researching which flowers and plants to get to attract beneficial insects and bees, as well as looking into other methods of organic weed and pest control. If things go well we should have more then we can use do hopefully some of you will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor :-) Since we've moved in I think we've planted about 50 plants or bulbs, not counting the seeds I started in the garage and our "greenhouse bathroom" downstairs, which is currently home to some warm-season crops like tomatoes and peppers. We decided to photo-document all our work, so here are some of our pics:

Why oh why does blogger do this? If you know, leave me a comment. Anyway, to the left are my babies: Arugula, carrots, broccoli, spinach, and radishes live here until it's warm enough to transfer the seedlings into the garden outside.In the garage are the garden boxes Jeff has been working on constructing. We have eight of them- that's enough for a LOT of food! The Right: A close up of the seed starts, of course not rotated correctly. Grr. I hate blogger.
The side yard, where the food garden is going.We're having to dig out what feels like half of this hill in order to get the boxes in and level. The soil's rocky, which is good for drainage, and we're bringing in good topsoil for the beds.
And now, some pictures of my little one! Here is she is at 4 3/4 months getting squeaky-clean. I can't even believe how sweet she is! I just love her so much.

Welcome 2011!

2010 was a good year for us. We welcomed our newest little lady, Miss Andie Lucie, in September, went on a romantic babymoon to Aruba to enjoy the sun, sand, and beach, and spent a lot of time with family in California. Oh, yeah, and we bought a new house and moved to Stanwood. All in all, the changes were mostly really great! I am just loving having Andie around- she is so sweet. I love her smile, her sweet milky breath, her soft chipmonk cheeks, everything. Unfortunately my maternity leave is coming to an end this Friday (sob) and she will have her first bottle and be watched by someone else :-( I have been preparing for this, pumping up a storm, but I am still having a really hard time with it, and feeling a lot of guilt. With Aili, I was home for a year, so this is different.
We are really enjoying the new house a lot, and have been spending a lot of time trying to get everything the way we want it (which might happen in, oh, 10 years or so). We looked everywhere from Marysville up to Stanwood, and decided on the latter because we liked the schools and it has a smaller-town feel. We also liked the fact that we could have a little over an acre for our kids to run around on without being too far in the boonies. We're working hard to get our garden in on time for the summer. We're hopeful that our kids will actually get to be kids here, and not grow up too fast- nothing annoys me more than little kids trying to act like teenagers! I guess all you can do is try to protect their innocence as much as possible, and hope for the best. I hope we don't mess that up; my main goal is to produce happy and healthy kids; if you've got that then nothing else matters much, in my opinion. I wish I could stay at home longer, but I'm going to attempt to be as positive as possible during this time of transition. (We'll see how that goes!)
More recently, we've spent about a month in California, which was FABULOUS!! We got to see family and have a lot of great bonding time. We also got to see baby seals (in the pic above the newborn is nursing), play on the beach, enjoy fresh farmer's market avocados (one of our favorites- I wish we could grow it here!), take lots of walks, and spend time with grandma! We all had a great time, and it was both hard and good to come home.
Here's to hoping that 2011 brings lots of joy for us and all of our friends. Happy new year! (a little late!)

Aili's going to be a big sister!











A Little Lady is Born: It was love at first sight! Thanks for getting outta me, little girl! I feel so blessed to have these pictures below- I didn't even know I had them until recently; I was going through the pics on Jeff's phone to see if there were any new ones of the girls I hadn't seen, and I found these! Apparently he took them while I was having her and I didn't even realize it! I guess there were other things on my mind, what with having her 15 minutes after we got there and being in pain from natural birth and all~

That's a good-sized girl! She looked a bit punky at first; the video below is of them putting her on cpap, and the pic directly below is her very first one taken:



Below: Fun times this winter in California:

Things That I Love

A Blanket That Plugs In
(Crazy enough, my grandma, who lives in one of the hottest parts of California, started this love. She always has electric blankets on the beds. My hubby now is a convert- he calls it our 'bed warmer' and we looove getting into bed on a cold winter day)

A Day Sans Time-Outs
(Will this happen soon? Frequently? Pretty please?)

Extra-Hot Coffee
('Nuthin' more to say there)

A Smile and a Kiss From My Babies, and a Supercute 'I Love You'
(Well, just Aili, for now...although Baby A smiles now!)

A Roaring Fire on a Fall or Winter Day
(Especially when it is all crackly and there is hot chocolate or cider next to said fire)

Picking out a Christmas Tree and the Nostalgia of Unpacking the Decorations

Phone Calls From Old Friends...and meeting up with them

When Babies NAP!

The Way the Water Shimmers at the Beach When the Sun Just Starts to Go Down

When I Hear the Door Open in the Morning and Husband is HOME!

A Warm, Yummy, Home-Cooked Meal Ready in the Oven After a Long, Cold Day

That First Jump into a Cool Pool, Ocean, Lake on a HOT Day

Jell-O Shots, Daiquiris, and Occasionally BEER!

Diet Coke

Playing Games With Friends

Old-School Physical Games Like Capture the Flag, Hide and Seek, etc.
(Anyone wanna play with me?)

Going to See a Football/Baseball Game

Water/Theme Parks

Going Home to See Family

Law and Order: SVU
(I think I was a detective in my former life...?)

Long Drives With Good Music

Looking at a Picture/Painting on the Wall That Makes Me Smile

Finishing a Project. ANY Project.

A Clean House

A Good Movie/Show...and Fabulous People to Cuddle With While I Watch It

Laser Tag, Go-Karting, and Other Grown-up/Kid Games

Things That I Hate?

People who are rude behind the wheel (what, do you think hiding behind your car makes disgusting behavior ok?), Kids who are spoiled rotten and act like brats (and parents who let them!), When a service you pay for like the internet or TV doesn't work, Unexpected bills, Sleepless nights, Working Full-time and being away from my family too much (not to be confused with working- I am grateful for employment!), The dentist, When things break down/stop working, People who steal your stuff (Hello, I-pod), When people are rude or unkind or otherwise unreasonable, Getting sick.

What do you love/hate?

Baby A, 7 Weeks Old!

Things are going pretty well here at the Sluys house. We are (slowly) making progress unpacking the boxes at our new house and getting things situated the way we want. Baby is doing great too- she is super sweet, eats well, sleeps well, and occasionally treats us to a smile that just melts me :-) She is a keeper! So far no jealousy issues, Aili is in love with her and with being a sister, and is constantly trying to smother her with affection (kind of annoying, but better than the alternative). We've mostly been laying low the last seven weeks, just nursing, taking Aili to do various activities like her dance/cheer classes (sooo cute!) which she LOVES, and planning for the holidays- we're going to be having multiple turkey day dinners, which does not bode well for my goal of losing 20 pounds, but should be delish. I am hosting one of them and I'm looking forward to it, despite the juggling sure to be involved in taking care of the little ones while making a ton of dishes :-) And in December we will be jetting off to California for a few weeks- so excited! Haven't been there for a few months! Much more to come soon.

Just another baby update

The sisters- bonding already. Aili likes to hold her hand while they ride next to each other in their car seats.

Baby Anabelle is now a couple of weeks old and doing great! We are really enjoying having a wee one around again, and Aili seems to really enjoy her (of course, her idea of "helping" often borders on possible bodily harm, so she requires a lot of supervision!) Jeff sadly is back at work now, so we've had a few days of just me and the girls- so far, so good, although I've been a little lazy and not much gets done on my alone days, other than snuggling, feeding, and eating (always can manage to make time for THAT!) The day my mom left was also a hard day- it was great having her around to help and bond with the new baby. I am so glad that she got to watch her be born, unfortunately that didn't work out with Aili, and I didn't think it would with this one either but we got lucky! Thankfully I have been SO much more comfy this time around. Either my laceration wasn't as bad or the repair job was better perhaps, because now I know what a NORMAL recovery feels like! I think the first doc, with Aili, was half asleep when she did my sutures... :-/ This time I had a more elaborate birth plan which specified what type of sutures I wanted, etc. My breasts still kill, but whatev, I'll take it, compared to last time!
On another note, a cold has managed to make it's way into our house...bummer. Nothing like having a two-week-old, a three-year-old with an endless supply of energy, and a nasty cold. Ugh. Luckily my dear hubby has the next 4 days off and hopefully I will be better by the time he goes back to work.

Happy Birth Day Anabelle Lucie!

Baby girl made her appearance on Friday, September 24 (her due date) at 3:46am at Evergreen hospital. She weighed 9 pounds 3 ounces and was 21.25 inches long.
On Thursday we closed on our house, so that night we were moving. I was moving boxes into the house around eleven and felt a little crampy, so I said a prayer she'd hold out another day so I could get some sleep (no such luck...) Around 12:45 I had a feeling I needed to get somewhere closer to the hospital just in case, so I headed over to Stephanie's house in Lynnwood. By 1:15 we were there and I thought I was probably in labor. I had Stephanie wake my mom up (she was staying there for the night since our guest bedroom was being packed)and they both helped me while I paced the living room and labored. I was getting anxious for Jeff to get back with the U-haul from Stanwood so we could maybe get going before too long- poor guy was working his tail off trying to get our enormous fridge through the front door and eventually had to abandon mission and leave it on the porch. He arrived at Stephanie's and my contractions were starting to intensify and I had to hum or moan to get through them. The only position I was tolerating was on all fours. We left for the hospital before too long and I managed to walk in, where they had me sign forms and go to triage. I was not wanting to be in triage at all- they were moving slow, slow, slow and wanted me to pee in a cup, check my cervix, etc. I don't think they thought I was very far along. I couldn't lay down long enough for her to check my cervix (clearly I am a bad patient) and ran off to the little bathroom, where I got on the floor and started pushing and being quite loud. At this point they decided to just put me in a room (thank goodness) and I got on all fours and pushed her out with just a couple of pushes. Yes, I gave birth like a cow. Her face was pretty bruised up from coming down so fast and she had meconium aspiration and needed PPV and cpap (breathing assistance) but she is doing great. I has a second degree laceration (her hand was up by her face...bummer) but it should heal up pretty well. Lots of after pains this time as expected, but doing ok with ibuprofen and a hot water bottle. My bleeding was a little heavy at first but I was lucky- they never had time to put in an IV so I didn't get any drugs before or after the delivery, including pit, so a little belly mashing (owey...) and I was good to go. A half an hour after her birth I got up, showered, and relaxed. She's a good nurser so that is a relief! The birth really wasn't too bad, there were only about 5 contractions that were really awful. Unfun, byt over with now and she is definitely worth it! She is a real sweet pea for sure :-) More photos to come soon!