Birthday Walk

We go for a walk at the Gallatin Rec Area a few times a week, but this day was special--it was Madigan's birthday and it was also the whole family. We figured we should get out while the weather was still so beautiful.

We started a new family tradition this year. (Bear with us we're new to this family thing and have no family near by so our traditions have been pretty um, non-existent.) Kyle and I both wrote Madigan a birthday letter. Each year we'll write her a little letter and keep them in a box for her to read when sh'es older. As soon as I read about this, I knew it was something I would love to do- my love of preserving with pictures and video and sometimes a journal entry.

First Day as a 2 Year Old

I took these pictures before we left for school on Tuesday, Madigan's official 2nd birthday. She woke up and found the gift Joe and Wiss had left her the night before right away. So she opened that and the new monkey did not leave her side all morning. When it was time to get dressed we put on the new dress and leggings from Nana and Pappy (my kid is wear leggings everyday from now on- so cute!!). And then, well then came the yellow boots. We just found those at the thrift store on Monday. Madi's friends Max and Oliver have rubber boots (there's are not bright yellow), so when we found then for $3 and they are the next size up, we just had to get them. And Madigan has worn them every chance she's gotten since Monday.

Biscuits in the oven, gonna watch em rise

We have had the most amazing Fall- 70 and 80 degree weather, but a little Montana nip in the air at night. This week that was all left behind for the start of a Montana winter....our first snow storm! We woke up to a little snow today and we're supposed to get snow today, Saturday and Sunday-up to 30 inches in the mountains, around 6 down here. So, in preparation I made a small list of things we can do this weekend, here's a few;
*go to the library (duh, but always fun and one of Madi's favorite places)
*make a ghost paper garland (like this one)
*make Tortilla Soup (a favorite we haven't made in a while)
*make biscuits and pumpkin apple butter
*finish knitting that year long scarf (only 10 more rows to go!)
*read lots of books!
*Quarterly reports for Pinnacle roofing
*Reconcile 8 months worth of credit cards for Pinnacle Roofing
*Go swimming!
*Plenty of coloring and barnyard building


So in prepartion for a day at home on Friday together (Kyle has off to due to weather), I made this Pumpkin Apple Butter recipe below last night. Then this morning, Madigan and I woke up and made buttermilk biscuits to go with it....delicious. The recipe is ridiculously easy and I think I'll make it for all of our neighbors this Christmas.

Pumpkin Apple Butter

1 150z. can 100% pumpkin
1 medium apple, peeled and grated
1 cup apple juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Combine all ingredients in medium heavy duty saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours.
Serve with buttermilk biscuits, breads, corn muffins, or hot cereal. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Here's my little helper cutting out the biscuits. She also helped with all of the other biscuit making parts.

And here she is after our first round of biscuits and butter...hmmmm.

P.S. The title of this post is a Raffi song about biscuits in the oven- all you parents out there know it!

Knitting So Early?

Believe it or not, I've been working on the same scarf for over a year! I had taken that thing EVERYWHERE with me! I'm almost done now and have been itching to make a new alpaca scarf. So, after a day of drilling holes and an afternoon baby shower to attend, I came home and informed Kyle that I wanted a few minutes to start my new scarf...He obliged after having 3 hours to himself (3 hours seems like an eternity when you don't have the kid to watch!). So I got started and soon after Madigan wanted to also be part of my knitting. She kept saying "I watch", and she did.

The Beginnings of a Fence!

We got started on the fence building this past weekend. Sunday we rented a 2 person auger. Lucky for me, my brother,Matt, was able to take the place of that second person needed. To my amazement it took under 2 hours to get all of the holes drilled. The earth here was so soft and came up so "easily" (easy for me to say!). When we built our fence in Belgrade it was 100% rock and so difficult and so much work! Madigan happily tinkered around the yard for about 4 hours before heading in for lunch. She has always loved tools and as long as we let her help, she's content. She's sporty her new hat from the Schultz Gerlach family--thanks guys! She LOVES it!

Wooden Green Tea Sets Are So Fun

Nana and Pappy sent Madigan a wooden green tea set. It's ridiculously cute and it must be very tasty, because I had tea no less than 20 times yesterday with Madigan!

Birthday Party @ Rocky Creek Farm

We tried to prepare her for her birthday party by singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing candles out over our eggs in the morning. We talked about the Farm we were going to and that we'd go for a tractor ride and see pumpkins and have birthday cupcakes....for days we talked about this...And then the day came, she was so excited all morning, singing "Happy Birthday" to her babies, talking about the tractor and her cupcakes.... But then we got there and it was too much for her..she fell silent. In retrospect I think she had a fun time and she smiles when we talk about it. We tried to keep it very simple-pizza and cupcakes, no gift bringing was requested. We hung out by the tipi and picked raspberries and apples....and the weather actually held out for us!!! It was a very nice birthday celebration. Happy 2nd Birthday Madigan!



Tractor ride to the orchard and raspberries bushes:




Opening presents in the tipi-Madigan had no idea about ripping into the presents... She gently opened each one very slowly:
Birthday cake and singing. It was too windy so she didn't get candles:
Picking apples with Dad and friends: