Day 821 | Dog Walking

If you're in need of a dog walker, Chase is your man. He successfully handled Angel on a pretty decent walk this afternoon and thinks he could manage up to four at a time now (such confidence!). He was also incredibly polite as he asked Angel to speed up, slow down, shift directions, etc, by offering up lots of thank yous. It was adorable.

Day 820 | Toys

Chris's mom kept an impressive amount
of his toys from his youth. Saving things for 30 years in mint condition with all the pieces accounted for is an amazing accomplishment. And every time we come back there's some new treasure chest full of yet-to-be-explored toys. It's pretty much like Christmas. No wonder our boys are so excited about making the trip!

Day 819 | Birthday Fun

We celebrated Chris's brother's 40th (!!) birthday all day today. One of the highlights was quality time with the kiddos at the lake. To say we had a great time would be a huge understatement.

Also, isn't Robbe the cutest?

Day 818 | I'm Back

Robbe's first trip to the dentist!

I was hoping that if I took a blogging break I would miraculously have all this extra time on my hands, but alas, that didn't happen. I do have to say that I did love not having *another thing* on my to do list, but I'll also say that blogging is so engrained in my daily life that I had several thoughts every day about how great [fill in the blank] would be for the blog!

What have we been up to, you might ask? Well let me break it down for you:

• We bought + received + assembled our new couch and patio furniture...overstock.com really came through.
• We took a miniature train ride in Carson Park. Don't worry, we have to go back to ride the steamie (Sunday's trip was on the diesel train), so you'll get to see photos.
• I painted Chase's room with my mom's help. It's blue, of course, and amazing. 
• Chris and I enjoyed evenings full of Olympic action. It's so addicting!
• A family friend weeded a flower bed of ours (it took hours + hours!) and we discovered a water fountain. And my uncles hooked up the pump today so it's actually working. Who knew we'd ever be classy enough to have a water feature in our yard?
• Chase and Robbe painted some rocks to complete the summer reading program we signed up for a week and a half ago. These two are reading all stars.
• We procured a new [used] car. A sweet Honda Accord joined our little Honda family. 
• I found the perfect train table! I've been scouring craigslist and one popped up really close by. Chase just kept saying, "I'm so excited, I'm so excited!" I think Robbe felt similarly. One of Chase's best comments, "Mom, now we don't have to pick up our tracks when you vacuum." Ha! 
• I went to a girls-only movie with some of my favorite cousins. I seriously (no exaggeration) can't remember when I've been to a movie without Chris. Is that sweet or sad? I'll go with sweet. By the way, we saw Bad Moms and it was hysterical. 
• I've been working hard with Mary Catherine to check client work off the list before her wee one arrives. 
• Stopped into our local Children's Museum for an olympic-themed visit.
• We checked off another round of dentist appointments off the list...it was Robbe's first! See photo above. 

Unfortunately, because of all this action, I didn't get to work on my new blog at all. I know, I'm disappointed, too. My plan is to keep the same photo-a-day format under a new name (I'm not in the District anymore, after all) and new look. Exciting, right? I finally settled on the perfect name (just today!), but I've got some work to do on my site. Until that happens, I'll continue with this as my blogging home. 

Day 817 | Taking a [Second] Break

It's been an exhausting couple of months. Really amazing, but really exhausting.

I hope you all don't mind me taking a bit of a blog break to check out as I try to put some finishing touches on the new house and enjoy a little more free time and space in my days.

I'll be back with more photos on Wednesday, August 17th. And maybe I'll have a blog announcement for you all (I have to move on from the "District Day Dreams" name at some point, right?).

Day 816 | Blueberry-Lemon Crumb Bars

Sorry to tease you yesterday, but here you go: a super yummy blueberry-lemon crumb bar recipe. A great way to use some of the surplus of berries we have around the house.

BLUEBERRY-LEMON CRUMB BARS

INGREDIENTS
Crust:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 tablespoons white sugar 
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 pinch salt 
• 1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced 
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Filling:

• 2 cups fresh blueberries

Crumb Topping:

• 5 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown 
• all-purpose flour 3/4 cup

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan
2. Start by making the crust. In a medium bowl, stir together the 2 cups flour, 2 tablespoons white sugar, lemon zest and salt. Cut in the 1/2 cup butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg and vanilla together; stir into the crumb mixture until a dough forms. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly.
4. Sprinkle blueberries over the crust. 
5. Make the topping: In a medium bowl, cream together the 5 tablespoons butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the flour, so that the mixture is crumbly like streusel. Sprinkle over the blueberry layer.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until browned. Cool before cutting into bars.

Modified from this recipe.

Enjoy!

Day 815 | Sweet Corn

We had to make good on our promise to "help" grandpa pick sweet corn so that's what we did after nap today. I was too busy making a delicious blueberry dessert (more details tomorrow) but I received a glowing report when all the boys returned. 

Remember when we moved to Wisconsin and just picked fresh produce all the time? Yeah, it's pretty amazing. 

Special thanks to my amazing uncle for installing our dishwasher today! It wasn't an easy install (why would it be?) but he was kind enough to give up the majority of his day to help us out. We are greatly appreciative and indebted. Now I just need to figure out how to spend all my newfound free time.