Lillian and Logan

Lillian loves to go outside to play. Most of the time Logan and I go out to join her but somedays I take advantge of the fence and let her go out with the dog and open the door so I can keep an eye on her while she plays. Yesterday was one of those days. I had a million things to do inside and Lillian wanted to go 'wee' (swing) so I put her out and Logan and I stayed in.

Logan was crawling around the livingroom while I was folding some laundry. I think he liked having free range of the space.

Every few minutes he would crawl over to the gate to take a peek out at sister.

Sometimes he would pull himslef up to look out but most times he would just look through the gate.

A few times Lillian came over to say hi and get some water. After about an hour of playing outside she was ready to come in. She set up her little high chair for brothers bear to sit in.

Brother of course had to go investigate...

Lillian was not too happy about that but she cleaned up the spilled water all by herself and put the bear back in the chair to play.

While she was cleaning up Logan crawled back over to the gate to look outside.

Lillian saw him standing at the gate and raced over to put her hand on his back. This made me so proud! She loves her little brother so much, it makes me so happy to see her protecting him.

This picture brings almost makes me want to cry. My babies are growing up right before my eyes! I am so happy they will always have eachother. They may fight over toys or get upset when the other one takes a special blanket but they love eachother thru it all.

Lillian's 'friends'

This last weekend, Lillian spent the night at Grandpa's house. Although she has gone to my Mom's house mutiple times, this was the first over night at Grandpa's. Grandpa, LeeAnne and Uncle Joe of course spoiled her rotten! On Sunday they went to the Lewis county fair. They played games, rode rides, and watched the Demolition Derby. After the fair they went to Chineese then brought Lillian home. Along with Lillian, she brought home two little 'friends'. Let me introduce you to pinkie and fishie. Since she came home, she has carried these two blow up floaty things EVERYWHERE. Yesterday we went to WINCO and pinkie drew lots of attention to our cart to say the least!

When we came home she quickly made an outfit change and in the pool they all went! I wish I knew how to post videos on here because not only was she dancing with them in the pool she was singing and dancing!

Lillian loves her new little 'friends'. I hope they are short timers but while they are here I will continue to laugh with the rest of the neighbors as she dances in the pool with them! :)

Logan 9 1/2 months

Logan loves water. He loves to drink it, be in it, and, most of all, splash it EVERYWHERE!!! The other day we were outside enjoying the sunshine while sister napped. Logan had so much fun splashing the pool water!

Every so often, in between splash fests as I like to call them, he would crawl over to me and sit on the blanket.

Isn't he CUTE!

He wouldn't stay on the blanket long before he would beeline back over to the pool.

Splish splish splash!

He enjoyed every second of it!

He even stopped a moment to pose for a picture with momma!

As you can see he was pretty wet but very happy!

He's so cute! Don't you just want to pinch his little cheeks and kiss him all over! :)

Pickles!

In the Henrickson house we love Pickles! About three years ago our neighbors Dave and Alethea invited us over for a BBQ and in this cute little container were the most delicious pickles I have ever eaten! 'Where did you get these?' I asked. 'I made them.' Alethea responded. 'Teach me how...' I responded, and she did! That summer She planted a garden and when it was time to harvest she invited me over and we picked these cute little cucumbers and in a few short steps we had pickles! The next year I tried to plant my own cucumber plants but they did not produce more than a handful of cucumbers. This year I put in 4 cucumber plants and on Sunday I made PICKLES!!!!You start by picking your cucumbers, gently wash them, then slice them.
You will need a few ingredients to add to your cucumbers. Apple Cider Vinegar, Pickling Salt, Sugar, Mustard Seed, Celery Seed, Onion, Garlic, and Dill.

You mix together 4 cups Vinegar, 4 cups Sugar, 1 1/2 T Mustard seed, 1 1/2 T Celery seed and 1/4 cup Pickling salt in a stock pot. (this is enough to do 3 Qts of Pickles so you may need to double or triple the recipe depending on how many cucumbers you have.) Heat on Medium until the sugar dissolves stirring occasionally.

While your brine is heating, you will need to slice your onions and peel your garlic. As many of you know, I used to sell Pampered Chef. During the time I was selling, I picked up a few useful tools, some of which I use everyday and others I have never used. One of the tools I purchased was the garlic peeler. I am more of a pressed garlic person so up to this point I have never had to peel garlic. If you ever have had to peel garlic you know it is no fun! After peeling one clove I remembered I had this nifty little peeler. Let's see if it works!!! You take your clove and place it in the peeler. Slowly roll the peeler back and forth a few times.

Pick up your peeler and dump out it's contents onto your cutting board and....

wahlah a peeled clove a garlic and you didn't even get your hands garlicy!!!

I will use this tool more often!!!!

Once all your onion(s) are sliced and your garlic peeled you can start stuffing your jars. I say stuffing because cucumbers shrink A LOT and as you will see if you don't stuff your jars you will have a lot of wasted space in your jars. (One onion sliced will accomidate 3 jars so slice accordingly.) To fill your jars you put in 1/3 your onion, LOTS of cucumber slices, a head of dill and 2-3 cloves garlic.

When your brine is ready, sugar is dissolved, you pour your brine into your jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. After all your jars are full, place them in a hot water bath for 10 minutes to process. Bring your water to a boil, put your jars in and start timing when the water returns to a boil.

After the ten minutes remove your jars and let them cool for 12 hours. You may want to wash off your jars before storing them, they can get a little sticky in the water bath. You will want to wait a few weeks before you eat your pickles but once you do ENJOY!!!! :) MMMmmmm PICKLES!!!!!!

Fair time!

Cowlitz County Fair Aug 2010

Every year we make our annual trip over the bridge to the fairgrounds for an elephant ear, carmel apple, corn dog and fresh squeezed lemmonade at the Cowlitz County Fair. This year Daniel had to work so we went along with my dear friend Lindsay and her son Grayson.

After about an hour and a half of wandering in and out of the livestock barns, we decided to visit the free face painting booth. Lillian, not one to have anything where she can't see it herself, wanted a lady bug pinted on her hand. She sat very still as the young lady told her the story of Jesus and what the colors on the lady bug represented.

Grayson, who is also two, wanted a caterpiller painted on his arm.

Lillian paid very close attention to the lady as she slowly swirled her paint brush on the paint.

Logan, being the easy go with the flow guy he is, sat in the stroller watching and waiting for sister to get her pretties.

When she was all finished she wrapped a small bracelet around her arm. I almost think she was more excited about the bracelet than she was the lady bug! :)

Grayson on the other hand loved his caterpiller!

It was a great day at the fair!

Dinning Table

Behold the beauty of my dinning table... NOT!!!! I have had this table for almost three years now and never really have been happy with it. I bought it at Pier 1 right after we moved into our current home. It did not come with chairs, strike one, and it is too big for our dinning area, strike two. Thus began my quest!



I had two chairs from a previous table, the white ones you see in the picture below, but they don't match so I always said someday when we can afford to I'll buy new ones! The two leather ones I picked up at Ross right after I bought the table for $19.99 each, steal of a deal if you ask me, but they only had two! Grr!!! I have bought numerous table cloths, place mats, and napkins over the years hoping to dress up the table. None of which I have liked so some I have kept and some I have taken back. A few weeks ago I was on Craigslist and found a new dinning table I thought would be perfect in our little space. Well to make a long story short I was wrong, it was way too small so now I have a dinning table under a tarp I can't take back... Yes, I have issues, I am aware of that. LOL! Anyways back to my story. The other day on one of my many trips to Target to buy diapers I wandered thru the Home and Bath section on my way to check out and low and behold I see a TABLE CLOTH!!! Not just any table cloth but one I had to have for my table!!! So, like I have many times before, I buy the table cloth. As soon as I get home I open it up and put it on the table. TOO SMALL!!!! Big surprise huh!



Back to Target I go, table cloth in hand and I exchange it for a bigger one. Logan had his 9 month check-up so I went to Ross to return some curtains, that's another story, and picked up a little something for $5 I thought would look good in the middle of the table to hold something. Once finally home from the Doctor I began dressing my table and ta da.... my new dinning table!!!

I am finally happy with my table!!!! My once cluttered and messy catch all of a table is now beautiful! You know how when you get a new car and you just want to drive everywhere? Well I just want to sit at my table and marvel at it's beauty! You can stop laughing now. I will show you a little more of why I love my table so much now.

Here is the center piece of the table. The flowers I got at Micheals last Spring and have been on the table since then (one of my other attempts to dress up the table!). The basket is the little something for $5 I bought at Ross the other day to put something in and the something in it is two sets of napkins from Target I had bought and kept just in case. The napkin rings I have had since I first met Daniel and never used til now, they were a pier 1 purchase.

Here is a closer look at the table cloth, isn't it pretty!!!

The mirror above the table we have had since we lived in NC and it used to sit on out fire place mantle. It has looked so bare on the wall by itself so I picked up these wall sconces at Ross to pair with it. I need to get some bigger candles but you get the idea.

The white chairs I bought cushions for at Ross for $4.99. They make the chairs comfy for guests but I do still plan to someday pick up two new ones.

Here is picture of the leather chairs from Ross for $19.99 I bought right after I got the table.

Here is a side view of the table, don't you love it!!!!
Okay the table is set so feel free to come to my house for breakfast, lunch or dinner! Company is always welcome!

I have a spot reserved just for you!!!!