Remember Camille? The Roberts family is visiting us for the day and Solomon got to play with his betrothed wifey this morning. He pushed her all around the yard while she rode in the fire truck. I am headed to a wedding in Tulsa and Josh is finally home from football team camp and so hopefully you will be hearing from me much more on here this summer! The Monday after he graduated from OSU he got a job offer as a history teacher and assistant football coach in Agra, Oklahoma. Coach's life here we come...
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry:
Buddies
. TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://laurenclarksblog.com/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/396
Solomon's personality is starting to surface more and more lately and let me tell you, he is ALL boy! He loves to play in the water, scream, turbo crawl, grunt, climb over the dogs and play with cars (he has been pushing around a blue cadillac remote controlled car around the house all afternoon).
He went skinny dipping at "the beach" yesterday, "the beach" is our new large sandbox with a white suntanning chair and this plastic pool. He loves it and so do I. Spring is the best!
Ginger:
Ok, so I'm totally in love with your backyard!!! Seriously...wish ours had some space like that! maybe we'll have one wherever we end up overseas. :)
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry:
ALL boy
. TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://laurenclarksblog.com/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/389
Parents are the main influence on a child's likes, dislikes and habits. You will see hippy parents dress their kids in hippy-ish clothes and raise them to be vegetarians and "green", you will see the Amish raise their children to be Amish and you will see sports fan's raise sports fans. Your children generally do what they see their parents do and this has really made me think about what I do all day and what is most important for my little boy to learn about the world. I love being outside. I was raised this way, to play on the swing set, play imaginary world with a bunch of girls running around Grandma's farm and to draw and color on the picnic tables. I love being outside and it is something that I want Solomon to love also. Humans have lost so much of their connection to nature and the beautiful world that God created for us to keep and live in... so much of the time we end up watching television about nature when we could just drive to a park or a preserve and experience it for ourselves. I can't tell you how excited I am to teach Solomon life lessons through nature, gardening, caring and training animals and exploring.
This morning I decided that we didn't have to go anywhere to experience the birds singing, the wind moving the trees and some vitamin D... so we went outside on a $25 quilt from an antique store and listened to music while I threw the dog toy and he played with blocks. I think I might have to do this everyday, rain or shine...
I processed these as old timer photos:)
Katelyn:
I think I know what you mean!. I have made it a point since my niece was born to go running with her once a week in her stroller and now it's one of her favorite things to do, plus it's time for just us two. It's so nice to be outside, in the sunshine, and have the breeze rush through your hair. I hope you get to have more time with Soloman outside as it gets warmer!
(04.20.12 @ 08:03 PM)
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry:
Outdoor people
. TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://laurenclarksblog.com/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/381
I never really cared much about eating healthy, I just wanted to be skinny. I would eat bad, get chubby and then diet with highly processed diet foods that left me starving and on a perpetual yo-yo diet. Then it all changed when I began to watch all of those movies on Netflix like "Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead", "Food Inc.", and "Food Matters" and read books like "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle". When it came time to start feeding Solomon solids I decided to make my own baby food, yes, it is the cool thing to do, and that helps, but I am so glad that it is! I bought a Beaba Baby Food steamer/puree machine from Williams-Sonoma through my sister-in-law's awesome discount and started steaming and pureeing almost every fruit and vegetable I could find.
I'm not going to stay clear of processed foods all together, because let's be honest, it's hard to do, nor am I "all organic" because that's too expensive! But, I am planning on growing a good portion of our food in our backyard and teaching Solomon how to garden with me! It will be such a fun process and I believe that it was Adam and Eve's task that was given to them by God to do. Maybe that's why I love it so much? We are to "toil" for our food, not just open a bag and start eating. This is why I love making everything from scratch like homemade bread (recipe below), ice cream, cookies, tomato sauce, etc... It takes time, lots of time. I just listen to music and sermons while Solomon scrambles around the kitchen floor chasing refrigerator magnets and I just feel so... alive! I mean, this is what I've ALWAYS wanted to be... a homemaker and a mother. I feel so blessed to be able to do this, and making delicious, time consuming meals for my family is one of my favorite things to do.
Anyway, back to real life...
So I buy different veggies and fruits (jicama anyone?), chop them into bite size pieces and throw them into the Beaba for a nice steam. When they are done I season them with spices and put them in the fridge in little containers. Solomon gets homemade wheat bread pieces with every meal and I just put about a slice of bread with a different fruit or veggie each meal. For snacks I buy dried fruit, whatever kind I can get my hands on, and chop it up into small bite sized pieces.
Here is my wheat bread recipe slightly adapted from the Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day cookbook.
5 c. whole wheat flour (I just bought 50 pounds of organic whole wheat flour from Azure Standard)
2 1/2 c. white flour
1/4 c. vital wheat gluten (ordered on Amazon.com)
1 1/2 T yeast (I buy the large can of it instead of the packets)
1 T salt
2 1/2 c. warm water to dissolve the yeast in
3/4 c. honey
2/3 c. canola oil or other oil
5 eggs
I mix all of the wet ingredients in my Kitchen Aid mixer and whisk together and then in a large bowl mix all of the dry and them dump it all in. You want to mix lightly, I just get it all wet and then set it aside to rise on a heating pad or stove top while I'm baking something else for it to rise. Let it rise for 2 hours and then put it in the fridge.
If you stir the dough more than just getting it all wet and folded in then it will become VERY gummy and the texture won't be as good.
You can pinch off 1/3 of the dough and put it in a loaf pan and let it rise for 45 minutes and then bake it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees or you can seran wrap it and put it all in the fridge for up to 5 days. When the dough is cold, take off 1/3 of it and let it rise in a loaf pan for 2 hours before baking.
The dough will make 2 large loaves and 1 shorter loaf.
denise:
So glad you posted about this. I feel exactly as you do, I love preparing a good meal for my family. Looking forward to food prep for my newest little boy. I need to look into getting a good steamer. I also have felt so intimidated by making my own bread but you have encouraged me to try it out. Thanks!
(04.17.12 @ 05:45 PM)
C Smart:
Hello! Just curious on why you decided to make your own bread? Is store bought bad, too much sugar? Or is the taste just better? Also I would love for you to post more of your healthy recipes! Always looking for healthy things to make! I made my own baby food, too, and loved doing it! I'm a cooking nerd! Ha!!!
(04.17.12 @ 10:23 PM)
Lauren:
I wanted to make my own bread to see if it would taste better, it does! It is also about half the price!
(04.17.12 @ 11:06 PM)
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry:
Feeding Solomon
. TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://laurenclarksblog.com/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/380
Bath time is one of Solomon's most favorite things, I think it has something to do with my being in the swimming pool every day last summer right before I had him... he knows that he was born to swim! I love to just sit and watch him squirm back and forth in the tub chasing toys, grabbing at the water coming out of the faucet and splashing with his left hand (which is always banging on something!). Here are a few shots from this afternoon. I leave for Houston in the morning and will be away from he and Josh for two whole days. It will be sad, but I will have a good time shooting an incredible wedding and visiting with Robyn and my cousins.
See you back Sunday!
Devon Rae :
his eyes are some of the prettiest, or should I say handsome eyes I have ever saw!
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry:
We love bath time
. TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://laurenclarksblog.com/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/379