Ding Dong the Witch is DEAD!

Okay so not actually a witch, more like our annoying as all get out cow the bellowed at us ALL DAY long EVERYDAY!

I don't know if it could tell it's fate was imminent, but it was especially obnoxious this morning. It conveniently positioned itself right by the gate, so we didn't have to do a lot of finagling for the butchers.

I'm honestly surprised this whole time that no one called animal protection on us. For as much as it hoot-n-hollered all day you would think that we were neglecting it or something!!

Today was a glorious peaceful and quiet day. It was so WONDERFUL to have peace and quiet. Olivia and I enjoyed watching the other cow Violet and her baby run and frolic around the field. I like to think that they too were happy to get rid of such a whiner!

Marcus thinks no one will want read my blog with posts like this, but all this hobby farm stuff is a part of our lives and I figure as long as I'm not going too "in depth" to certain events, it will be okay.

Fun With Family

This last weekend we were up in Canada, and got to see my family. Olivia had a ton of fun playing with her cousins. Declan was one of her favorites to play with. They ran around and around the gym at church and were even trying to help the guys put the tables and chairs away.

It was pretty cute because he would follow her around and hold his hands out in case she fell down, it was like he was her protector or something. It was the funnest thing to watch!

Ugghh.

We have the flu. (Insert all manner of bodily secretions and explosions here). It sucks. We have collectively spent more time in the bathroom in the last 24 hours than any other room in the house.

Am longing for the days of just regular old morning sickness.

We will be laying low for the next few days.

Holy Cow!

So we went out of town over the weekend and got back just in the nick of time. Blue Bell (my parents cow) had her calf last week and we figured Violet wouldn't be that far behind her (Violet is also my parents but takes up residence at Chez Radder). We just pulled in the driveway and Marcus goes to feed them some hay, well he noticed some little hooves sticking out of an unusual spot! Without even unloading the car, we called my parents over and within an hour we had a cute little girl. It is Violets first time at this whole motherhood thing~so we were a little nervous how she would do (plus it was so freakin cold outside). As of today both are doing great, and they are figuring out how everything works. We will keep the little gaffer and after time she will be poppin out little babies of her own!

We love Violet, she is such a mild mannered and gentle creature. Her companion, the littlest bull that ever lived, is quite another story. He has got to be the most obnoxious, cry baby thing that ever roamed God's green earth. He moo's all the time, at everything for every reason. It's so annoying, he's worse than having a dog barking all day. He moo's when somebody pulls in, moo's when I feed him, moo's when he sees me around the house, moo's when it rains or is too cold or too hot..... I think you get the picture. It gets VERY old listening to that ALL DAY LONG. If I didn't know that he was indeed a boy and had all of his pieces intact, I would assume he was just some sissy girl. Now that Violet has somebody to keep her company, we may be setting up another appointment with the butcher. Whether this bothers someone to hear this or not, I will definitely enjoy eating meat from that bovine specimen!

Speaking of things to eat.....

Please meat the newest addition to the Radder household, a whole ton of fabulous pork. So far we have only tried the chops and I really liked them. I think we need to have a dinner this week featuring some of this yummy, healthy food supply.

It's really nice to see all of that meat in the freezer, especially with the impending birth of our second child. It's nice to know we have some food stockpiled up!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Here is the book that we used, Kaitlyn borrowed it from the library

DISCLAIMER: Although the recipes taste great, it wasn't proof read very well. On each shopping list there were some items that we didn't buy enough of and some that we ended up with way too much of when we were done. If you double check the recipes against the shopping list that should eliminate those errors.

This book has mini sessions of 5-7 recipes each. At the start of each mini session is you shopping list for that section, then next page is prep you can do the day before you cook to make the actual cooking day easier. We chose one mini session from each of the following categories CHICKEN, PASTA, GROUND TURKEY, TUNA, BEANS. (Costco has a really good price for ground turkey).

Cost: We each spent approx. $200 each for groceries, which averages about $6 per meal. But I won't really have to buy that many groceries except for fresh items until my meals run out.

The library has a lot of these kind of books to choose from, you can check out the recipes without having to buy it. If you go to the library online, just search COOKERY (FROZEN FOODS).

Also cash and carry sell the two gallon freezer bags for a reasonable price (great for freezing casseroles!)

Some people were asking questions about the process, so I just thought I'd post this ;)

I'm not a pro at this (by a long shot) but if anyone has any other questions I won't mind answering them...if I can!

PS~ we found that two people worked great for the cooking day, there are only so many stove burners and counter space. Plus I think the more people helping might lead to more recipe mix ups (we had a couple close calls!). Although if anyone does it with more than two people I'd love to hear how it worked out!

Who knew freezing could change you life?

So for 12 crazy, insane hours on Sat Kaitlyn and I cooked our brains out and made 30 meals....EACH! We were inspired to attempt this crazy feat after attending Kaitlyn's enrichment activity which was a lecture on making meals ahead and freezing them.

~Kaitlyn is my hero! I felt like I was hit by a truck once we were finished and played hookie from church the next day, I can't imagine how I would have felt if I was 9 months pregnant!(Kaitlyn was more faithful than I and went to church...the full block even!)~

I thought I wouldn't want to see any of these dishes for a week, at least, after being so "cooked out". When Monday rolled around and I was trying to think of what to make for dinner, I caved and pulled out one of my meals. They were the most scrumptious turkey burgers ever, not to mention totally healthy. So I thought maybe I wouldn't need a break before eating some more and last night was Penne pasta with a cheesy broccoli sauce~I was licking my plate~. For tonight I have already pulled out Florentine shells to bake for dinner. Because everything is premade it took me at the most 20 minutes to get a "from scratch" dinner on the table.

I am not exaggerating when I say after only a few days, freezing has changed my life. Not having to stress over what is for dinner, knowing 90% of the work is already done for me makes my days SO MUCH BETTER! I'm not even close to having eaten all my meals and I'm already planning in my head for the next cook-a-thon! I'm very glad I attempted this with a friend, it would have been very daunting to go solo. Anytime I make a lasagna or manicotti in the future, I am definitely making a couple extra and throwing them in the freezer.

Ode to a Best Friend

Hi Blaine, it's me Olivia. I just want to say how much I love it that you are my bestest friend. You make me want to try harder at things. Race you to the top!

Like when we were leaving the park I was fine to let my mommy carry me up the stairs. But when I saw you being a big girl and going by yourself, I threw a fit until mommy let me down so I could be a big girl too! Wait for me!

Swinging is one of my favoritist things, especially when we do it together!

I love it when we splash and play for bath time. Sometimes you are too big of a big girl and dump water on my head, but it's okay because you are making me tougher and not so much of a baby. You teach me cool tricks like how to make REALLY big splashes and get mommy all wet. I also love it when you tell me to "come on, come on" because you want me to play with you. I don't even mind when you steal every single toy that I am playing with. Or tell me "NOOOO!!!" everytime I reach for one of your toys.

I love it at the end of a play day when we sit on our big girl cushions and watch baby einstien videos like zombies. After having two very big play days with you last week you have inspired me to give up my crawling for good and be a big walking-girl like you are! I love you Blainey and I am so happy our mommy's are nice enough to let us have play days together.