E - Vida

Today is the first Wednesday here that it doesn't rain...but it was a little chilly! We stayed in when P-J went off to the farm for the morning. He returned after 11am and announced from the kitchen: we will make pie. The next 6 hours are a bit of a blur - While I mixed up 6 rolls of pie pastry and quiche crusts (for the first time), P-J prepared the different fillings. The first was a vegetarian quiche with snap peas, green beans, carrots, zucchini and summer squash. Then we did a ham and fennel quiche, followed by a pork mince with soft potato and apple sauce pie and lastly, a blue berry pie dubbed The Blueberry Bomb  by Jorja! Pictures to follow soon...

People often say that you can't oversleep when you're on holiday...but believe me, this would be an exception. Well, definitely according to P-J because he found all three of us  asleep in bed when he returned  from the farm this morning! We can take comfort in knowing that his day started pretty early and it wasn't too late for us sleepy heads to still eat first breakfast. We did some more cleaning and clearing in the Apartment until just after noon and then head out on the road so that I could show P-J (if I remembered) how to get to Lebanon and see The Greens  where the Farmer's Market is held on a Thursday afternoon. Then we crossed over the Interstate and head into Hanover, home of Dartmouth College. We didn't get out and walk around this time, but it reminds me a lot of Stellenbosch. Ethan enjoyed a solid nap between Towns but Jorja was in it for the long haul. At one point she closed her eyes...only to open them again five minutes later and ask if

Today started (and continued for most of the day) with a bang...well, more like lightening crack-ings, thunder rollings and lots of rain! This evening the national weather service issued a warning for freak weather activity as well. Pity we'd used up our 'baking credit' yesterday because this would've been perfect weather to get cooking in the kitchen. Instead, we played around the house and enjoyed some serious down time out of the wet weather and electrical crossfire! Jorja learning how to play Golf Solitaire At dinner time on the farm, Jorja rushed to go and pet the sheep and even braved a few trips in the Jeep with whoever would join in. The view from the farm was suprisingly light - considering the dark thunder clouds that we'd been under for most of the day and the air was refreshing and cool. We enjoyed a Mivy-styled crumbed chicken with potato bake and lots of summer vegetables - yum - and topped it off with a red raspberry and french vanilla ic

You know those days when, try as you might, it just doesn't get better? I mean for starters: I wrote Saturday's blog on Sunday and I'm starting Sunday's entry on Monday! Before this, I was kneeling in a wet patch on the carpet while putting Ethan to sleep for the second time... To be fair, Ethan was almost back to normal today (although I did travel with savoury crackers all day, just in case he couldn't keep anything down). My mistake this morning was thinking that he'd accept egg in  bread (aka French Toast) as egg on  bread (i.e. Ethan's current favourite meal). Every second thing brought him to tears, until this evening when it literally brought him down to his knees or on to his back, on the floor, in full blown tantrum. Of course, by then I had zoned out the screaming and was just trying to show him that some things keep going even when he's feeling upset - but that just infuriated him more. Our Sunday tea time treat of box mix chocolate

Boy down! Boy down! Ethan woke up with a sore tummy and needed a lot of TLC. He fell asleep at 10am and woke up at 12 noon, in a hot mess and violently ill. Just when I was about to resign myself to a day of tummy rubbing, nappy changing, puke catching and soothing (leaving the cleaning of all of the above until later), P-J returned home and announced that we were going up to Camp for the afternoon. Armed with a limp baby boy and as many towels as I could find, I looked at him questionably... Although the 1 hour drive was not without incident, the boy who climbed out of the car in Plymouth was revitalised! ...and so was his sister, naturally! While the kids travelled around the grounds, P-J helped build the nets to cover the blueberry bushes, to protect them from pesky birds. The kids played inside until Dad started the fire for our camp dinner - but not before he found a snake...  ...And posed with it for photos ...and then made Jorja carry it

P-J snapped some shots of the older cows this morning when he was at the farm... Oreo Big Red Fred Real morning faces, don't you think? I sat outside on the back porch with my laptop, stringing some story ideas together and trying to order them. I was trying to be serious...P-J says that I was just missing a long, flowing skirt, round-framed spectacles and a pencil behind my ear. Nix on the ciggy and vino business. Writing requires quite a bit of concentration - why complicate things even more?! While I was busy there, he was preparing Friday Pizza Fest! Ethan was covered in sauce at the end of it all and it was a solid kick off to the weekend ahead.

The bathroom is flooded and I'm pretty sure that now there is more water on the floor than in the tub. On the up side, it's so hot, it will dry in a short while with little to no mopping effort. On the down side, a wet floor and energized kids at 9.30pm is not an ideal situation. I blame their sugar high (and my sugar crash) on the brownies. Basic ingredients I had lots of fun trying out a new recipe today. The aim: gooey chocolate brownies I reduced the 3 cups of sugar that it asked for to just 2 cups (I mean, seriously?!), I didn't add the vanilla essence because I couldn't find any, I added a little baking powder for some punch and replaced chocolate chips with walnuts and a spoonful of peanut butter... Crushed walnuts and a spoonful of smooth peanut butter While the Chef got artsy with my the added extras, I lined the baking dishes with damp wax paper. This is truly a washer-upper's dream! Kitchen Aid - quality batter I don't know how I&#

Hard to believe that we're on Day 30 already and we 'celebrated' with a truly normal day... All the duPs were up by 6.30am - that's a VT holiday record! Dressed in our farmer's finest, we reported to the Fodder House to get to work on feeding the animals, replenishing the trays and changing the water. Of course, there's a lot more that goes on, but those are the tasks that the kids and I are given while P-J does the rest! Fit Fodder Jorja patrolled in her Jeep and Ethan travelled between the Courtyard with the Cows and the Wagon with the Chicken and all I heard was " Wake up Pig! Wake up!" Followed by "Eeuw, disgusting!" as he walked past the Cow poop. And then "Come catch me Chicken..." . Fortunately there was no wet weather to add to that mix of supervisory duties... I so much wanted to bake today, but as mentioned previously, we must work on spreading these treats out so that our blood sugar levels stay as normal as po

I wonder if I'm one of those preventative measure - Moms  ... I asked myself this morning, and not for the first time since I became a Mom. Move the bowl closer so that you don't mess Put the lid on that pen before you dirty your clothes or write on the wall Sit further back from the TV or you'll damage your eyes Tie your hair up so that it doesn't get knotty Put on shoes and socks so that your feet stay clean Gosh! I sound like such a party pooper!  And yet, don't we all remember the talk  that we got before we exited the car to a friend's house?  Now child, don't forget to greet when you arrive and please behave while you're there. Well, after the yoghurt had dripped onto Ethan's t-shirt - right next to the koki pen mark and Jorja's hair was knotty and her dirty feet were in her clean socks and shoes, I realised (again) that sometimes, the best for them, is to have a Mom that's less worried about preventa

Jorja had tons of fun taking her little brother for drives in her Jeep today - thanks to a new battery. Ethan had been enjoying a miniature quad bike since Day 1, leaving Jorja watching longingly (or giving it a try, but constantly eating her knees).  Well, no more! He was a ever willing passenger (putting his foot onto the pedal whenever Jorja left it unattended)...and she was a suprisingly able driver. P-J and I were briefly transported to a time about 10 years from now, when she may be wanting to drive the real car... In fact, she reckons that maybe now she can drive herself to school??!! All this under-age driving got me quite light headed and the knievels  were disappointed to find that instead of buying a front row seat at the Vermont Grand Prix, I had tucked into my book. Then I baked some biscuits - for the sugar to calm my nerves of course! P-J topped it all off with a two-potato shepherd's pie and a blueberry and apple crumble!!

We visited Lake Pinneo this afternoon - but first, Jorja practiced some letter writing and then we packed for the picnic - Practice, practice, practice... The production line taking shape The egg mayo sandwiches reminded me of our train trip from Joburg in 2008 (and P-J's subsequent vow to never travel with egg sandwiches again), but this time, some bacon bits lured him into enjoying the snack! Getting ready for action Iced tea has how many spoons of sugar in it? I love egg - anything! Warm up before the swim See sun, must have fun... Picnic Selfie After just over 2 hours in the warm sun and cool water, we played in the park and Ethan's favourite at the moment: swinging at a dizzy height! In the end though, we had to pack it up rather quickly so that he didn't swipe another kid's shaved ice treat. I promised him some ice cream when we got home, but by the time we arrived, he was out.  Lekker  by die Lake This li

Jorja looked down on me from the top of the stairs tonight and announced, "Mom, I've had enough of this day." I couldn't agree more, my child, I thought. It's 23h29 as I write this - hiding in the kid's bedroom because it's the only place I get a little more than my allocated quarter in my own bed! P-J's traded his quarter right-side-up for a half, horizontally. Funny how well that works when the kids are still short enough! Even if he only had his smaller piece though, nothing would disturb his sleep tonight. He was up at 7am, washing the car, I think. (I say I think  because I was not awake to see it, but the car did seem a little more shiny today!) Then off to do hay followed by fodder and feeding and then finally, tedding. He got home just after 1pm - by which time Jorja had already prepared, consumed and was beginning to show the effects of her snack: 2 slices of toast with berry jam and a sprinkling of sugar, with a bowl of cream on the sid