the Almonds and the tall tower

kind of the last thing you'd expect to see in the middle of Kentucky, next to lots of Amish farms. Our little bit of D.C. close to home, here's the Jefferson Davis monument. He was the first, last and only president of the confederate states. Joshua didn't want to go up in the elevator, and Zoe screams every time she gets in an elevator (can't figure out why) so we skipped that part of the tour. Joshua wants to go up with Pa next time he comes to visit. He talks about going back to "see the "almonds" and the tall tower with Pa next time he comes to Ten-see." Yes, that's the Amish.

Joshua's watching me blog, here's what he's saying...

"Oh, is that the tall tower that you went to all together?"

"Yes, we all went there together."

"may I please go in there some day when they open?"

"Yes, you may"

"oh with Pa, and Ma, and she would like that too. Is Ma going to be there too? Is she? Is she going to like that excavator?" (elevator)

"Yes, she will"

"Oh, are we are going to go there someday when Pa's in town"

"Yes, we are"

"Oh, is Pa in town right now"

"No, not right now "

"Oh, may I please take their car if I may go to town and I'm going to be Pa. Then I will just be Pa and I will just play in town puh-cause town has toys. Oh, helicopter! (running off towards window)"

He's quite the little conversationalist!!

5 at a time...

I have a bunch of pictures to catch up on, so I'll just go in order 5 at a time.

Joshua and Zoe being silly our budding mathematician

she's wearing her cute bday outfit from the Johnsons. Thanks girls (and Jason)!

here's a preview of the next post, our trip to the Jefferson Davis memorial. Not to be confused with the Washington Monument.

here are some more!!

Here are some more of Jamie's photos. I can't wait to see the rest! Joshua was being so funny, I'm sure there are lots of cute pictures of him too!

http://photographybyjamielynn.blogspot.com/2009/08/t-family-clarksville-tn-family.html

cute pictures!!

oh what fun we had getting some super-cute pictures of Zoe. My friend Jamie took her pictures and then did some family shots by the railroad tracks later in the day (much to Craig's great delight). I can't wait to see all the rest - it will be so hard to decide which to get!!!

http://photographybyjamielynn.blogspot.com/2009/08/happy-1st-birthday-z-clarksville-tn.html

lots o' squash

as you will see when I finally post pictures, we have an overabundance of squash and zucchini around these parts. Consequently, I have been trying to use it all without getting sick of it, and hiding it in things that Joshua and Craig will actually eat (because I surely don't want to eat 10 lbs of squash by myself). It's like Iron Chef with zucchini... I am, of course, winning, since I'm the only one playing. We also had lots o' tomatoes, so you will see those used too. I only have one zucchini left... until the next batch is ready to pick.

zucchini bread - Paula Deen
3 1/4 c flour (I only used 3 c, and used 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 self rising)
1.5t salt
1tnutmeg
2t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
3 c sugar (I used 1 c sugar and 2 c splenda)
1 c vegetable oil (I only had 3/4ish, so I used an extra 1/4 c water)
4 eggs beaten
1/3 c water (not including the extra I used)
2 c grated zucchini
1 t lemon juice
1 c chopped pecans or walnuts (I used 1/2 oatmeal and about 1/3 c milled flax seed)
bake at 350 in 2 greased loaf pans for 1 hour or 5 mini pans for 45 min

squash casserole - Paula Deen
sautee until cooked, 6 c diced zucchini and squash in olive oil and drain well (I put them in a dishtowel and squeezed after I used the colander, I think that's what she said to do)
sautee 1 lg onion, diced, in 4T butter while the squash is draining
mix together in a bowl: squashes, onion & butter, 1/2 sour cream, 1/4 t pepper, 1/4 t garlic powder, 1/2 t salt... or maybe it's 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t garlic powder. who knows., 1 c grated cheddar. Put in casserole dish (my sm. round pampered chef one fit it perfectly) and top w/ 1 cup crushed ritz. Bake 15-20 min at 350

three cheese garden pizza - pampered chef (but I'm sure I forgot something)
make a crust or use a pillsbury one; we like to make a whole wheat crust
press 2 cloves garlic (or more :) and spread over crust. top w/ mozzerella & cheddar, I think (I used a pizza cheese mix), top with a sliced tomato, onion, zucchini and mushrooms, top with some grated parmesan. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes or so, until the crust is done... or you can get all fancy and bake the crust for a few minutes before you put all the stuff on.

chicken pot pie
make chicken pot pie as usual and add steamed zucchini to the veggies. you won't even know it's there...

Joshua also likes his zucchini raw, cut up into little sticks so that he can build stuff with them. He likes to dip them in lawry's.

Happy Birthday Zoe!!!

Here's the birthday beauty in her party dress. She even kept the bow in all day!

Here's her little cake...

she didn't even try to touch it while we all sang to her. She seemed to like the serenade and having all eyes on her.

Joshua helped her blow out the candle. She wasn't interested in trying, she just wanted to stare at it. Kinda like Joshua at his 1st and 2nd birthdays.

she wasn't too sure about the cake

but she likes the presents!

here she is playing with her new ride on toy the next morning. she had too much fun. Craig and I call it her dune buggyI finally remembered to take a 'before' photo!! Stay tuned for the after photos of the laundry room (and it might be a while since it still looks exactly like this picture)

HGTV up in here...

Our neighbors came over yesterday and told us our garage looked like HGTV. We've got 4 furniture refinishing / painting projects going on (of course I forgot to take 'before' photos!). I did some home improvements while Craig was away too. In addition to the photos below, I installed a 12' shelf in our closet, and did a few organization projects in the garage.

Zoe eating her oatmeal and yogurt with a spoon. She did well with the spoon but it was faster for her to use her fingers so she mostly did that. Needless to say, we've been doing bathtime in the morning.

Joshua wearing Daddy's baseball shirt. Look how my darling husband destroys the bed when he sleeps.
Such a big girl! We gave her this mug for her bday and she is pretty good at drinking out of it already. All that practice she's had trying to drink out of things in the bathtub. yuck.

here's the birthday girl. More pictures of the party in the next post

here's the pendant light Joshua and I installed while Craig was away. big improvement over the fluorescent light, and I didn't have to come up with a valence for our nice open pass thru. here are some of the first veggies from our garden. this zucchini was the only one on the plant. It was about 6" long when I let for NY and about 13" long when we came back 6 days later. Not exaggerating. The peas are about done now, and the tomatoes are about to start ripening faster than I can eat them. The jalapeno was super hot... I'll be making some good pico (w/out cilantro - yuck!) pretty soon!

I also painted a few (4) rooms while Craig was gone as a surprise. We both HATE painting so I knew Craig would be happy if he didn't have to participate. Once I got going, I enjoyed it, and it passed the time quickly. Joshua and Zoe watched A LOT of movies while I painted (and painted, and painted...) I painted our bedroom 'sand 3' (aka beige) and painted the master bathroom, closet (which it 6 x 12, so it's as big as a room), and massage/guest room 'vale mist' (benjamin moore 1494). We love it! My across the street neighbor is an artist so I commissioned her to paint something for the massage room and paid her in massage for it. I love it!! (she has an etsy shop - search for Erin Wardell - if anyone is interested :)

Zoe watching baby einstein and playing with a remote that doesn't work

prissy little missy!