Corn Days

All you ever wanted to know about Salsbery Corn Day (a couple weeks late): (I know you are jumping with excitement)

Every year we have corn day, in which we shuck, cook, cut, and freeze about 600 ears of corn for Kreg's parents, siblings/their families, and ourselves. And for several weeks in the summer we eat all the sweet corn we want/can cram in our mouths before the short season is over. Kreg and I joke all the time that there is really only about a few hours in which the sweet corn is actually perfect to eat. Let me put it this way...since I'm married to a farmer, I'm not aloud to buy sweet corn from the store because "it's terrible." I learned that lesson the first summer we were married! I'm not complaining, I just didn't know. I always tell Kreg with all the butter and salt I put on my corn I have a hard time tasting anything else but butter and salt! Oh but it is quite the delicious combo of butter and salt, let me tell ya!

This year we had 2 corn days. We split it in half for several reasons...1. not quite as long of a day 2. we wanted to freeze some of another variety of corn that wasn't ready yet 3. so other family members could join us for corn day. Unfortunately I only have pictures of the first corn day, thanks to my father-in-law. But I think that will satisfy your corn day curiosities.

First the guys shuck it in the back of one of the farm trucks. I don't like this job because they often have to cut out worms (which is why we make this a boy job). Even Aiden was a part of the fun.


Then we boil it in a huge pot on the grill and sit in the garage at a picnic table to cut, cut, cut, and bag it up. This is typically where the ladies work. Although the last couple of years we've all helped each other and occasionly switched up the jobs a bit because of kids that need attention, and a dwendling number of helpers. You see you can't always predict when the corn is going to be ready. So sometimes we have corn day on a week day (because we can't wait. Its in its prime and won't be nearly as good a few days later) and its not possible for peeps to get off work and make the trek home. The hard work is all worth it though! I love pulling out a bag of corn in the winter for supper. Not only is it yummy, but soooo easy to just pop it in the microwave!

And just in case you were wondering, we made sure Makayla didn't feel left out.


I think she thought she was funny! :)

Baby Girl

Awwwww....just look at that sweet little smile. I just love that smile!
Update: (For those inquiring minds who want to know) Makayla is doing much much better as far as the dirty diapers go. What seems to work best for her is an organic brown rice cereal with probiotics, made by Happy Bellies, mixed with pear juice. This seems to have corrected her "little poop problem."
I think in this picture she's saying, "Thank you mommy, I have such a happy tummy now."


Makayla is also very close to sitting up on her own. (And please note she actually has a bow in her hair! Her hair is really starting to grow in. She is sporting a bow made by my friend Jess. Thanks Jess! I believe you can buy them on www.etsy.com)

However, a few seconds later, over she goes. Uh Oh!


I thought they both looked cute after church on Sunday so I attempted to get a picture of them together. hmmmmm....that was difficult. This is as good as it got.

Vacation!

No, we didn't drop off the face off the earth, we just went on vacation! Last Tuesday we packed up the mini-van, woke the kids early and spead off for our 12 1/2 hr trip to Pennsylvania to Kreg's grandparents house. Grandpa and Grandma Seifert had not seen Aiden since he was 6 months old and therefore had never met Makayla. I must say the car ride went better than I had expected. Each of the kids had their moments but thats to be expected and the moments didn't seem to last too long. For some reason my kids don't sleep much in the car so thats one of the reasons for my pre-travel concern. Aiden only slept 30 mins the entire day! But we made it there and it was fun to see where Kreg spent every other Christmas for many years. And where he visited in the summers. I got to meet his extended family on his mom's side too and I enjoyed finally putting faces with names. Of course the part that brought me the most joy was seeing the smile on his grandma's face when she watching Aiden play and holding Makayla. His grandparents are both in their 90s so I'm glad we were able to give them that interaction with their great-grandchildren.

After a few days in Pennsylvania we went up to Rochester, New York to visit a good friend I went to high school with and her husband. Many of you know them...Sherwin and Julie Damdar! Oh we had a blast up there. They just recently moved into a very cute 3 bedroom home so there was plenty of room for all of us (and the loot that goes only with a 2 1/2 yr old and a 6 month old). They were fantastic hosts too! We ate some amazingly yummy meals (Sherwin is quite a cook and I must add that Julie makes a mean french toast). They showed us all over Rochester, including a trip to the public market Saturday morning and the Museum of Play, Saturday afternoon. The market was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was downtown and PACKED with people. You could buy pretty much anything there from fruits and veggies, to ground beef, pastries, bread, nick nacks, or cooking utensils. Personally we came home with a bag of cherries and some apples. The Museum of Play is just as it sounds. Aiden LOVED it. It has all kinds of different "exhibits" for kids to interact and play with. There was a street just like the one seen on Seseame Street, an airplane Aiden could sit in, a train we rode on, a carrousel, a fun house, tractors to play with, and balls to throw, etc. Aiden's favorite part however was the kids grocery store. They have a mini grocery set up complete with miniture wire carts, rows and aisles of real food containers (now empty of course), a bakery with fake bread, and check out lanes where the kids can be the buyer or the cashier. They can actually swipe their items (each with a real bar code) and get a printed receipt when finished. Its the coolest thing.
Ok so time for pics:
Aiden thought it was great that grandma Seifert had an electric chair that went up and down the stairs. I think this picture explains itself!

Grandma Seifert, Darlene (my mother-in-law), Makayla, and Me!

The kids with their great-grandparents.

Grandpa and Grandma Seifert live in a small town in the Pocono Mountains, called Newfoundland. One morning we ate at the local diner, Spanky's. And the morning we left we went to the General Store. At the General Store they have 1 or 2 cent candy. Kids can climb up on a little ladder and pick out what they want. So thats what we're doing in this picture. Aiden was picking out his candy.

On to New York!
The following 4 pics are Aiden at the play grocery store at the Museum. Here he is being my cashier.

Shopping for some crackers.

He decided he needed to buy some fruits and veggies.

And this time he decided to let another little girl check him out with his groceries.

A little train ride.

Sherwin and Aiden on the carrousel.

Sherwin, Julie, and Aiden in the fun house. It was one of those houses tilted on its side so when you walk in you feel totally dizzy.

A family pick in the garden outside the museum.

And us on the front porch of Sherwin and Julie's home before starting the long trek home Monday morning. Makayla was eating Aiden's little bag of cheerios.

Baby Girl

My poor baby girl is having some pooping issues. Help please! I need suggestions. She's been on solid food for about a month now. She doesn't eat a ton but we are building a small variety of foods. However, from the start she has been constipated. I stopped giving her banana's and I hardly give her much cereal at all. And I added plums and prunes to her diet. But nothing seems to be helping. What do I do?? With Aiden the prunes did the trick. I'm stuck and I feel terrible for her. All she can get out are little pebbles. I am willing to try anything. ????????

On a more pleasant note below is a picture of Makayla with us at Mason and Danielle's wedding this past weekend. Aiden got to stay with Aunt Mindy and play with Luke. I believe this was Makayla's first wedding. She did great too, especially for only getting a brief 30 min nap at the reception. If Aiden had been in this picture I might have accomplished my quest for a fantastic family picture. I love the pic but the quest lives on.

Last Weekend

I know this is a few days late but last weekend we went down to my parents house so Kreg could attend a bachelor party. The wedding is this weekend for our friends Mason and Danielle. He's a groomsmen so we'll be down at mom and dad's again tomorrow night. We took our time getting down there last Saturday with a stop at the zoo (Aiden has been asking for weeks to see the elephants). So we pretty much just stood in front of the elephants for an hour. He wanted the elephants to get in the water and told Kreg they weren't obeying him because they weren't getting in the water. I thought that was funny. Then we went to the mall and did a little shopping, along with dinner at Chick-fil-a! Yum! (My absolute favorite fast food) And we made a quick stop at the tux shop so Kreg could go ahead and pick up his tux for the wedding.

Sunday afternoon was nice just hanging out at my parents. I have pictures below. Aiden had lots of fun with his cousin Luke and Uncle Mark. The bachelor party was Sunday afternoon/evening so we drove back Monday morning after breakfast out to Bob Evans! (I absolutely love Bob's multi-grain cinnamon pancakes...thanks to my dad!)
Oh and this is cool. They had a guest speaker at the bachelor party. Mason's dad flew in one of the top triathlete pro's in the nation, TJ Tollakson, to be a guest speaker. (Many of the guys involved in the wedding are big into biking and triathlons). I am not familiar with the names of triathletes so I didn't know who TJ was but I'm going to be watching for him now when I see stuff on TV. He talked about his training. The most interesting part Kreg told me about was that he got invited to train at an Olympic training facility and one of the things they do there is train with Navy Seals. Did you know in Navy Seal training the final test in their trianing is to let someone drown them and then revive them. Wow! Crazy! They want to take out all the fear and panic that might reside in a Seal when he is in a dangerous situation. It made me that much more thankful for those willing to do that to protect our nation.
So anyway, here's a few pics:
Makayla enjoying being a big girl now and eating real food!

Aiden very happy to be jumping on Uncle Mark.

And Aiden showing Luke how to "get" Uncle Mark.

But in the end I think Uncle Mark won.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Well I think its official. Yes I do believe so. Although I don't want to speak too quickly and I'm nervous to post it because I don't want my foot in my mouth. However...I'm going to say it anyway...Aiden is potty trained!!!!!!!! 3 cheers for Aiden! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!

He is doing so well I can hardly believe it. I guess we just managed to train him at the right timing. We started out using bribes (a Hershey kiss, or money for his piggy bank so we could buy a special toy once he saved up). Now he doesn't even ask for a reward anymore. My new 6 favorite words: "Mommy, I need to go potty." He has an accident every once in a while but I have to give him a lot of credit because they seem to be few and far between. Have you ever seen 2T boxer briefs? They seriously are the cutest things ever.

As a reward Aiden got to help daddy on the farm last week. (Only a 2 year old boy would think following daddy around the stinky hog barns was a reward.) He helped Kreg for 2 hours in the hog barns Thursday morning. Then Friday afternoon he got to ride the combine with Kreg because they were harvesting wheat. The picture below is of wheat harvest.

Play Time With Daddy

Play time with daddy has to be equal opportunity around here. Especially as baby girl is turning into a daddy's girl!