Water Play!

Kiddy pool fun in the back yard-so refreshing on a hot summer's day! And Blaise LOVES it!

He's jumping for the water that daddy's spraying with the hose!

I thought he'd be too little for the fountains at Tower Grove Park-boy was I mistaken! He LOVED them! And now that he walks, he can easily maneuver from fountain to fountain. So much fun! The Botanical Garden's has a wonderful water play area in the children's garden that we like to visit too.

Eleven Months!

Blaise is almost ONE (which is so hard to believe!) , so I better post these eleven month pics! This past month has been very busy! From Blaise getting baptized, to him taking his first steps and walking, he's crossed several big milestones! He's "talking" more and more, repeating more words after us and mimicking our actions as well-including some baby sign language. He is constantly on the move and go, exploring and finding all sorts of exciting things to get into! What a fun and busy stage!

Blaise, on his 11 month bday, in his baptism outfit that Gma Susan made him!

At Mimi & Boppas

A couple weekends ago, while David was painting, we went to play & stay at Mimi and Boppa's. Here are a few pics from our fun time there...

Mom took this-loved the angle!

Mom took this one too... thought it was so pretty!

Bear crawl through the grass-it's too pokey for him! :)

Time for bed! Blaise with Boppa after he returned from his soft ball game...Blaise stayed up late just to say good night! :)

Tasty Stir-Fry

Coconut Chicken

From the Joy of Cooking

This is a tasty stir fry dish that we started making when we were in Uganda. It works well with all of our CSA veggies. Last time I made it, I chopped up some bok choy and added it, along with sugar snap peas. Pretty easy-and delicious- way to get your veggies in!

Ingredients/Directions:

• 2 lbs chicken, Cooked/browned in skillet w/ 2 tbs. olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper (we use about 1/3 of this amt)
• Remove chicken from pan
• Add 1 c. chopped onions
• 2-3 large carrots, chopped
• 1/2 c. peas (sugar snap
• ½ c. green beans
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (I usually skip it!)
• 1 tbs. finely chopped and peeled fresh ginger
• 2-3 chopped garlic cloves
• Cook until soft, about 5 min.
• Add and bring to a boil:
• 1 ½ c. unsweetened coconut milk (I add a little sugar to sweeten it a bit!)
• ½ c. golden raisins
• 1 tbs. curry powder
• 1tsp. salt
• about ½ cup cashews
• Add chicken, reduce heat, simmer 20 min, or until sauce is thickened and chicken is cooked. Add cashews. Serve with rice.

In the Strawberry Patch

This summer, we decided to join a CSA (community supported agriculture) with a group from church. The quaint farm is in Elsah, Illinois and is operated by a hard working couple not too much older than ourselves. (She's pregnant too and due in August! Talk about a hard working momma! Just like the Ugandan women...) We bought a "half share" of the chemical -free produce, costing about $10 a week, lasting May- November. So far, we've enjoyed delicious fresh strawberries, sugar snap peas, radishes, beets, romaine, spinach, bok choy, kale, swiss chard, onion and probably other stuff I'm forgetting! It's been good for us to be stretched a bit and eat some veggies that we normally wouldn't buy-like radishes for instance!

David, Blaise and I enjoyed seeing the farm on our first week of pick up (we're rotating pick up w/our friends)-and much to my delight we got to pick strawberries! This was my first time berry picking-David used to go as a boy with his Gma. Anyway, Blaise LOVED sitting in the field and sucking on the strawberries! I think the bright color makes them especially attractive.

The Farm, Three Rivers, was recently featured in the Post Dispatch. You can read more about it here.

Blaise loved the baby chicks & kept trying to grab them. Next time it's our turn for pick up, I look forward to seeing the pigs!