Babywearing Beginnings

Nellie has discovered that she can play with her baby and other things ar the same time.

From Scratch-Caramel Sauce

(This was originally started a long time ago, but due to being bogged down from work and more important posts, it is just being completed.)

We were out of caramel sauce and I wanted to make carmelitas.  I happened to be making ice cream in our ice cream maker and came across a caramel sauce recipe.  I find my self so amazed when I can pretty easily make something from scratch.  If you have the right ingredients, making things from scratch are always as difficult as I imagine.  A little sugar, salt water, corn syrup, cream, butter and a little heat...

and...

transformation.

I confess that I like the store bought caramel better than this recipe, but it has made me less scared to try something else from scratch or maybe a new caramel recipe.

We already make our own pizza dough, biscuits and pancakes from scratch, but we will keep adding to the list.

Fall

I am a very indecisive person.  I like to have two favorites because I can never decide which I actually like better because it changes.  For example, I have two favorite colors: green and blue.  I have two favorite candies: skittles and starbursts.

It is not surprising that I am in an eternal debate whether I like fall or spring better.  The temperatures are similar, you get to get out different clothes and there are great colors in both seasons.  Yesterday, I decided that I like fall best, but I am sure when spring comes I will like it the best.

We love to go on walks to find our favorite colored leaves and crunch the ones that have already fallen. Caleb loves the dark red and dark yellow leave.  Lucy likes the light red and light yellow ones. Toby naturally likes the orange ones. Nellie likes them all. I like the really bright ones, the red, orange or yellow.  Not every one, they are mostly dull, but every once in a while there is a really vibrant tree.   We find it interesting to see that some trees have already lost all of their leaves, while others have not even started to turn colors.

This was at school.  A neighbor's tree turns an awesome red, but has not turned yet.

The trees in our yard (and one of our neighbor's trees that falls directly into our yard) are later turners so we don't have much to crunch here yet. Nellie and Toby had a blast playing in the leaves at school while we waited for the bell to ring.

This is Nellie's new "Cheese" face...she smiles like this and says "Cheese" when we get out the camera.

Our neighbor had planted some seeds in his garden, from which we often benefit.  He gave us three seedlings.  Andy mowed over them, not just once, but three times.  One plant beat the odds and grew and grew and grew.  It overtook the yard between our house and garage.  We had flowers galore, but only 2 female flowers, which were never fertilized, so no pumpkins.  The neighbor said we could come over and pick his (the best commute to a pumpkin patch ever!).

 

 

Note the "Cheese" face again.

They were smallish, not the best for carving, but great for decorating the porch.  I love to put pumpkins on our front porch.  While carving them can be fun, I really like leaving them out until Thanksgiving (this year it happens to be on Toby's birthday).  We usually wait to buy pumpkins until they are on sale at Aldi and stock up.  They are usually cheap enough that we buy one for everyone and only carve the kids'.  This year they were even cheaper than usual ($2.29) and were HUGE.  Since with had the other small pumpkins, we decided to get only two to carve, one for the boys and one for the girls to carve. We have one pumpkin for each member of the family.

I'm Blue

Makes me think of this...

Or this...

Firehouse

In 2009, we passed a sign about our fire station having an open house and we decided to go.  They had a photo booth where everyone could dress up in fire fighter costumes, rides on an old fire truck, a real fire pole to slide down, fire demos and much more.  They did not have it the next year and we were disappointed but they brought it back in 2011.  

Every time we pass the fire station, we talk about when we got to go.  We honestly look forward to it all year.

We have been working on the kids helping out around the house.  It seems that every time we ask them to help they refuse.  Not that we are asking too much, but picking up their toys and books, keeping their rooms cleans and putting their laundry away.  When they refuse we take away a privilege  An hour before the open house, I asked the kids to pick up their rooms. Lucy jumped into action, but the boys would not budge.  Finally, I told them they would not be able to go to the open house if it was not done.   We wanted to go right when it started so it would not interfere too much with Nellie's nap.  After the hour, not one item was picked up in their room, except the few that Lucy tried to help them with, so Lucy and I headed off on a date.  (Toby ended up immediately going down for a nap and we found out a few days later he had an ear infection).

The fire fighter pictures were in front of a newly restored fire truck this year.  I was so disappointed that we did not get all the kids in the picture.  (I did call Andy to see if they cleaned up so they could come meet us, but he reminded me that we needed to stick with our punishment.) They have another fire truck that is equipped with benches just for rides.  Last year, Caleb and Lucy even got to ride in the front seat.  

Each child gets a punch card.  If they visit each exhibit, they get a goodie bag as they leave.  This is was part of the "training".  First they slid down a fire pole, then crawled through this tunnel, aim and squirt the fire hose and finally carry a stuffed animal to safety.  

 They also have a smoke room where they practice crawling under the smoke.  A firefighter is in the dive tank and they can talk to them over the intercom.  There was a stop drop and roll center and a cart displaying sprinklers and smoke detectors.   Here is Lucy testing out the fire extinguisher.  (It held water and Lucy got one of the fire fighters who was helping all wet.)

The demonstrations are the best part, and even Andy was jealous that he didn't get to go.

We have never been there for the medical helicopter landing because it was too windy last year and it was delayed.  It was pretty cool.  Lucy kept saying she had never seen this before and I kept telling her that I had not either.  Everyone had to wait inside the garage and they closed the doors.  It was loud and VERY windy.

Then we got to go up to it and look inside.  Lucy even got to sit in the back!  It was very cramped.  One person asked where they take the patients and the they said it depends on where the accident is, but they usually take kids to Condell or Lutheran General and burn victims to Loyola or Milwaukee.  (We discovered the very next weekend that they take kids to Condell because of the children's emergency room).

 This was a side by side burn.  (We have also never seen this, only the aftermath.) Two rooms "furnished" with couches and curtains.  Both sides had smoke detectors.  One side had a sprinkler system. They lit a fire in the corner and we saw how quickly the fire exploded.  The sprinklers went off before the fire was even visible.

 This was 3 minutes after the fire was started.

The last demo that we saw was the Jaws of Life.  They show you how they can cut through a vehicle (like butter) to rescue any people stuck in a car.  We have seen this part, but it is still awesome to watch!

We love going and hope that next year the whole family can attend together again next year.