Sick Day

I've basically thrown the boys' social schedules out the window for this week. Colin's fever was running 102.4 this morning, and he was croupy last night. His strep screen came back negative, so this is probably viral, but it's still something I'd rather NOT be passing around to all their friends.

So, since there's nothing exciting to photograph as we are "quarantined" at home and not doing anything really exciting, I thought I'd share a couple of other cute photos.

Here is Aidan with a bouquet of flowers he picked for me:

This is a cameraman from Animal Planet filming Juno's littermates for a show called Dogs 101, which will be airing on Animal Planet on October 18. I don't know if they got footage of ALL the puppies or not; I don't know if Juno will be shown in it or not; but I will DEFINITELY be watching it!
Can you believe they're only 7 weeks old in these photos? Most of the puppies will be going to their homes this weekend. I wish we could bring Juno home then, but that would be like playing a cruel joke on her with all the travel we have coming up. No, it will definitely be better for her to stay with her mother for another month, instead.

My Favorite Home Remedy

I've been playing nurse for the last 36 hours, as Colin has been running a fever, along with a sore throat and ears. As we are awaiting the results of his throat culture, I decided to get to work on my favorite cure-all:

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

(With Homemade Noodles, of course!)

This recipe is a family favorite. I do it my own way, of course, and play around with ingredients, but here are the basics of how I make MY version of our family soup. The homemade noodles are MANDATORY, though!

Broth:
(all measurements are approximate)

1-2 leftover chicken carcasses (from a roast-chicken)

3 cloves garlic, minced
3 large white onions, chopped

1 head of celery, chopped
1/3 cup salt
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chives
Homemade Noodles (recipe to follow)

Bring large stockpot 1/2 full of water to a boil. Add all of the above ingredients. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 3 hours or longer. Remove chicken carcass. Salt and pepper to taste. Prepare and cook Homemade Noodles. After they are done cooking in separate pot, add the noodles to the soup.

You can also make the broth with a whole chicken, but this is my favorite way to do it. If you have a roast chicken for dinner and don't want to make soup in the next day or two, throw the leftover carcass into a freezer bag and stick it in the freezer and use it when you're ready! This gives you an extra meal or two from that one bird.

The real key to this soup is to increase or decrease, add or subtract ingredients as you like. Nearly any vegetable will add flavor to the broth, although I've found that if you add broccoli, it will turn the broth green (although it adds really nice flavor!).

Homemade Noodles:

7 eggs
3-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
Extra flour as necessary

Boil large pot of salted water.

Beat eggs together. Add salt and mix well. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well each time. Continue adding flour until noodle dough becomes stiff enough to knead. Knead well until dough is stiff enough to roll out. Roll dough out on a well-floured surface with a rolling pin. Cut into noodles (I use a pizza cutter), add to boiling water and boil for about 5-10 minutes – you have to do a taste test. Drain noodles and add to broth.

(Note: Do not boil the raw noodles in the broth. This will cause the broth to become thick and cloudy...think gravy!)

These noodles are great in almost any clear-broth type soup you can think of.

Meet Juno!

Today was puppy selection day for our family. I took the boys to visit the breeder and the puppies...oh, they were ALL so cute! Two in particular seemed very interested in the boys, and kept walking over to us right away.

It was a very difficult to choose between the two who kept wanting our attention. The one we selected together, our little Juno (not little for long!), was calmer and more submissive than the other dog, but since she was interested in the kids, she seemed like a good choice for our family. I am certain that Sadie and the cats will appreciate the calmer temperment.

So...here is Juno, before we officially decided on her:
And here she is wearing her new collar that we brought for her:

And, one more photo:

She's the second-smallest of the litter, but she will still be a LARGE dog, probably 100 pounds, anyway. She was just so gentle and VERY cuddly. We will be bringing her home at the end of July.

Heat Wave

First, have to share this cute photo...here is Colin and his good friend picking flowers during Aidan's last t-ball game:

We've had a real heat wave here. Maybe we're not breaking records, but we're definitely coming close. We do not have air conditioning in our house (there are generally only a few days per year where it would be nice to have), so we've spent the last couple days at our beach to stay cool. Here are the kids looking for salamanders.
As I was considering LAMENTING the fact that we don't have AC in this heat, I had to examine the last couple of days. I'm convinced that if we had AC, the boys and I would NOT have left our house on these hot, hot days. But, because we do NOT have air conditioning, we were forced to get out of the house to get cool, and instead of sitting indoors, we spent those days in the sunshine and fresh air, playing with friends and getting lots of exercise. I've decided that it's not a bad tradeoff!Here is Aidan happily showing off his swimming skills:

Here is Colin, determined to keep up with his big brother:

Yes, that's a giant bullfrog tadpole in her hand!

Each day at the beach has had my boys sound asleep by 6:30 p.m. Wow!

Next, here is some bizarre, fast-growing tree fungus on a giant oak tree near the beach that appears to be healthy otherwise. I'm sharing these pictures for my fungus-loving friend, and she knows who she is! Enjoy!

We have a cold front coming in tonight, so relief is on the way.

Puppies, play, and rainstorms

First, a quick puppy update...

The puppies are now 4 weeks old, only 2 weeks until we get to pick ours...here's a new photo I got from the breeder today:

Photos from a couple days at Grandma Margie's...

Those ferns are TALL! Even for Fred!

The boys seem to have the most fun with simple things, like a hose...
Or a wagon...
Or a good tree to climb!
When we were at Margie's yesterday, we got a very sudden, soaking rainstorm. There is real beauty after a rain...