Monthly Archives: March 2010

Starting All Over

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All the chickens we had last year died.  Well, to be more accurate, were killed.  Eaten by who knows what.  We had to move their pen from it’s original location because the rains were flooding them out.  We moved them to a dry spot but were not able to get their fencing hooked up right away and it was just enough time for ALL of them to be taken.  We only found feathers left over.  So, we are starting fresh again this year.  Our flock has grown now with 16!  16 little chicks are cute but then they get bigger and while they are still cute they make A LOT of poop.  I will be much happier when they are outside.  We will have a lot of eggs once these ladies get going!

 

 

Childrens Museum

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Greg has been working a lot this past month.  I don’t know…that may be an understatement.  He has had one day off in the last month.  After working so much some may want to hang out at home and just relax but not my husband.  He had big plans for us and we were all excited.  One of our stops was at the new children’s museum in town.  We got there right when they opened and were the only ones there for about an hour (a great benefit to homeschooling 🙂  The kids loved the different stations.  Zeke’s favorite things were all the buttons they had.   Music buttons, light buttons, sound buttons, wind buttons.  He found them all.  I tried to capture the thrill he got from all these buttons but there are things a picture just can’t do.   

 

 

Zoe was all over the place.  I was able to capture her here… dancing with lights and music.  A huge mirror in front of her held her attention while she danced.  They also have a room with for art projects.  They have an art project (with a person managing it) every day.  She spent more time than any other.  We’ll just be sure to have here start there next time so any paintings can dry.  I think we were all covered in some color of paint by the time we got to the car.  All in all it was a lot of fun and the kids left ready to take naps.

 

knock knock

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In the car one day Zoe wanted me to tell her a knock, knock joke.  She had been practicing a few in the back so I decided an oldie but goody would be appropriate.

 

Me: Knock, knock

Zoe: Who’s there?

Me: Boo

Zoe: Boo who?

Me: you don’t have to cry it’s just a joke.

Zoe: …silence…  Mom?  That’s not funny.

Me: WHAT?!?  Not funny.  How can that not be funny.?  You know boo who like you were crying.

Zoe: It’s just not funny.  This is how you do it Mom.  Knock, Knock

Me: Who’s there?

Zoe: Bird.

Me: Bird who?

Zoe:  Bird flew over the car to the tree!  HA HA HA HA!  Now that’s funny Mom.

 

Apparently I have a lot to learn. 

Carb Heaven

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Yesterday, a friend and I made bread.  All kinds of bread.  We were testing out new recipes and going crazy with them.  By the end of the day we had 4 loaves of whole wheat bread, 2 batches of dinner rolls, 2 pizza breads, 2 pesto/feta rolls, 2 batches of cinnamon rolls and a double batch of graham crackers.  Letsjust say I am in carb heaven.  Even with all that there was still time to take a break and enjoy the sun.  Although I did forget to take pictures of the organized chaos in the kitchen.  So, you’ll have to settle for a cute kid instead.  Thanks, Ruth, for your willingness to go crazy in the kitchen with me!   

Conversations with Zeke

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Weeks ago these were the conversations Zeke and I were having.

me: Mama

Zeke: Da

me: Mama

Zeke: Da

me: Mama

Zeke: Da Da

 

The other day he stood at my feet looked me in the eye and said “Mama.” (and I have witnesses)  So now our conversations go like this.

 

me: Mama

Zeke: Da

me: Mama

Zeke: Da

me: Mama

Zeke: Da Da

 

Yep, we are making progress.

Baking

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A friend of mine had the great idea to get together to bake.  I am always up for baking and it is way more fun with someone (plus you get the split the goodies and not be forced to eat an entire dish of whatever goodness is created). 

The first recipe on our list…Graham Crackers.  The first recipe we used was not nice at all.  It tasted great but it was so hard to work with.  It stuck to EVERYTHING!  We tried another recipe and loved it.  I’m already thinking we need to make ice cream sandwiches with them this summer.  This is the recipe we tried last.  I think the only change I would make is replace some of the brown sugar with honey.   

 

Here are a couple tips on making crackers:

Tip 1: Do not bake them too long.  It is better to have a slightly chewy cracker than a burnt one.  They will crisp up when cooled. 

Tip 2: Use a cookie cutter.  This will give you a uniformed size and shape so they will all cook at the same rate (and it’s so much cuter!).  A circle cutter turned out some perfect crackers.

Good and Bad numbers

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The other day I hear this from the back seat:

 

Zoe: Mom, can we look for good and bad numbers?

 

Me: (confused) What are good and bad numbers?

 

Zoe:  You know!  Good and bad numbers.  Like we learned in school.  Come on, you remember.

 

Me: (racking my brain.  Sometimes this takes a while)  OH!  Do you mean odd and even numbers?

 

Zoe: YES!  Can we look for odd and even numbers?

 

Does anyone have some extra counter space?

Bread Making

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A while back Greg got me this book.  I have loved it!  It explains all those things you wonder about when it comes to bread and things you never considered like the water content of your bread. 

 

 

Most cook books I skip the introductions and get right to the recipes.  With this one I started at the beginning.  So much information and very detailed.  For example do you really know what it means for your bread to be soft and elastic.  Until I read this I really had no idea but she tells you to beat the dough on speed 4 of your Kitchen Aid for 5-7 minutes.   Such a difference!  I love that all of my bread recipes have improved not just the use of her recipes.  OK, I’ll stop now but I just really love this book and I still haven’t read everything.  At some point I just needed to make some really yummy bread.  Like this Cinnamon Swirl Bread.  This is addicting.  It also makes the most wonderful French toast.  I will admit, though, it takes time and planning.  Most of the recipes are not the whip up some bread real quick type recipes.  Just ask Ruth.  We had quite the interesting day making sandwich bread.  Make that two days.  It’s a good things our tummies (and our family’s tummies) were happy with the results.