Favorite pastimes

Whole wheat bread

I apologize to those who have heard this already--feel free to skip it--but I know there are a few of you out there who might be looking for a good bread recipe. It is for whole wheat bread that is really truly soft and delicious. And you may have most of the ingredients on hand (especially if you have some food storage). So here it is....

EZ Wheat Bread

1 1/4 cup warm water
1 Tblsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey or 1/3 cup brown sugar
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat gluten
1 tsp salt
2 Tblsp nonfat non instant dry milk (double this if using instant)
1 Tblsp butter/margarine/oil
1 Tblsp vinegar
1/4 cup potato flakes (NOT potato pearls)

Mix ingredients in order listed in mixing bowl of mixer with dough hook attachment (like kitchen-aid) for 12-15 minutes. Let rise until double, 1- 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, and shape into loaf or rolls. Let rise again until double and bake 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and sounds hollow when lightly tapped.

Click HERE to see the original recipe/post and see a video tutorial on how to make it.

ENJOY!! :-)

Bowling videos

A couple videos from bowling on Allison's birthday...

First, watch carefully to see what a talented bowler Allison is!

Now how many of you can score that--WITH BUMPERS!!

Next, Lauren keeps us entertained while we wait for the balls to roll down the lane at a blazing speed of 1mph...(only ONCE in the whole game did our ball have to be retreived after stopping mid-lane).

Happy Birthday, Allison!

Happy birthday to our BIG GIRL!!! Allison turned 5 years old today! We are so glad Allison is a part of our family! We actually celebrated her birthday on Saturday when we were all able to be together. We had lots of fun eating cake, opening presents, and bowling together. Here Allison is holding the treats she got to take to preschool today. We made ice cream cone cupcakes and the class loved them!

Here are some pictures of the festivities....



We love you, Allison!!

Kindergarten round-up

Can you believe it? Allison's going to be a kindergartener next year! A couple weeks ago we took Allison to her future elementary school for kindergarten round-up. Really, it wasn't too thrilling but we gave them our paperwork and got Allison signed up for the fall. One of the kindergarten teachers did an assessment and I was proud of how well she did (you know, letters, colors, cutting, etc).

The day before round-up, I took Allison to get her immunizations. I knew she needed them before school started and I figured it would be easiest just to get them done now. After debating the best way to approach it, I decided to surprise her :) We got up and ready for preschool, just like normal (only, unbeknownst to them, it was an hour earlier than usual). Then when we got to the road where we normally turn LEFT to get to preschool, I turned RIGHT. These kids are no dummies...they knew something was up. So we pulled into the county building parking lot and I told Allison what was going on. She was a little nervous, but I think I made the right choice to not tell her until the last minute. Otherwise she would have stressed about it longer and been more nervous. She was super brave and didn't even cry (although she came close). Her arm was "paralyzed" for the rest of the day, but other than that she survived.

Later that day, I found her playing with her dolls...


Hmm....

Anyway, we have talked a lot about school in the fall and she is excited. I think even more so, Lauren is looking forward to preschool in the fall. Whenever she thinks about it, she gets so excited!!

I am thinking it will be a little strange when its just me and Megan hanging out at home on preschool days!--What will we do with ourselves??

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everybody!

This year we took the kids to an egg hunt at the park and of course dyed Easter eggs. Thank you grandma for sewing the pretty Easter dresses! Hope you had a great Easter too!

BUGS!!!

entomophobia: (noun) a morbid fear of insects

Despite the new covering of cold white stuff on our lawn this morning, it is SPRING. And with Spring, without fail, comes BUGS. At least, that's how it goes at our house. Within the last couple of weeks our kitchen has started to see the ants come marching in. And within the last couple of weeks, we have been reminded of Lauren's severe aversion to bugs! I'm not talking about "ewww a bug!" here... If this kid even thinks she sees ANY type of bug she freaks out! If she sees you smash the bug, she still hesitates to walk across the infected room. So, as you might imagine, life has been a little more exciting around here lately.

To make it worse, these ants are not your ordinary ants. They are jumbo-sized carpenter ants. These buggers crunch when you squish 'em. I've put out some bait traps and we're getting ready to spray around the house, I try to keep food off the counters, but aside from that, there's not a whole lot more we can do about it. I know they will start to disappear soon...but not soon enough! When she plays in the sandbox she is very cautious and I try to stand by to flick away any nearby ladybugs (LADYBUGS!) and anything else that might be bothersome. Poor Lauren is even losing sleep over this--she has woken up in the night crying about bugs.

If anyone has suggestions for overcoming this fear feel free to share. Otherwise we will just hope she grows out of it over time!

What are you afraid of??