Um, Did I Really Just Do That?

I just sent Olivia to school with a momma bumble bee and 2 baby bumble bees.

Olivia has been learning about insects at school the past couple of weeks. I got a letter from her teacher saying they could bring a harmless insect to school in a bug box if they wanted to. Well, leave it up to Robert to go and catch something for her - and a bumble bee at that - THREE of 'em!!

We nailed the bug box closed - just in case. I hope the school doesn't freak out!! I told her we'd let them go when she got home - if they make it that long!!

Better be a good lesson today!

I hope I don't get a phone call in a couple of hours!!!

First Batch

I'm kind of surprised I'm documenting the very first time that I'm attempting this sour dough bread thing. With it being such a finicky process, some thing is bound to go wrong the first time. But hey, I'm up for the challenge of learning!


This is the dough after it's risen after the first time it was mixed!

Here it is in the dough pans - but it still has to rise - or double in size. I've put it in the oven with the light on because it needs a warm (not hot) place to rise!


Almost there - this is a few hours after I initially put it in the oven to rise.

TA DA!! Here are the baked loaves - and then the slice I immediately cut off to give it a taste!



I'm sad to say that they didn't rise like they should have. I have a feeling this bread is going to give me a lesson on patience! I think I tried to rush the rising process. I was so excited I didn't quite give all the gases and gluten enough time to do their thing. I asked my mom about it and she says give it a little while. You house has to get used to the yeast and the starter has to adjust to the environment that it's in.

BUT, boy did it pass the taste test!!!!!!!!! YUMMO!! It was oh so good! I just might have to go and buy a bread board now!!! :-)

My New Venture!!

Hello again! Hopefully I'll have more to say this week! Not that I was too terribly missed last week or anything! ;-)

I'm very excited about a new project I'm trying out. Backing up a bit, my mom used to bake homemade sour dough bread ALL the time. It was heavenly - especially if you caught it right out of the oven. I remember it being a process though. That took days! And you have to "feed" your starter and then use it or throw some of it away! You had to keep it alive!! But boy, did it turn out the BEST bread! There were also so many variations you could play with - rosemary bread, whole wheat bread, cinnamon rolls.... YUM.

So, after years of watching my mother bake her bottom off, I've decided to give it a try!! Last week I gathered my ingredients to bring my "pet" to life - yeast, sugar, water, and potato flakes (!?) yes, instant potato flakes! I mixed it and then I let it sit out for 1 day and in the fridge for 3 days!

Saturday night I took it out of the fridge and fed it! Some more sugar, water and potato flakes! Then it has to sit out for 12 hours! I woke up early Sunday morning to mix the bread - bascially 6 cups of bread flour, some of your starter, sugar, oil, and water! THEN you have to let THAT rise for many hours - only to take it out, knead it, put it in bread pans and let it rise AGAIN!!! Then FINALLY getting to bake it for 35 minutes!!!

Whew, it'll have taken me 1 week to make 2 loaves of this complicated but delicious bread! I'm sure it will take me a while of playing around with times of rising and baking. They also say the longer you've had the starter, the better the bread. There's a lot of science behind this stuff!

So if this bread baking adventure gets going like my momma had it going - my friends are going to be enjoying many a loaves of bread! :-) We used to give it away like crazy!


There's my starter and my recipe!! :-)

Surely....

....this is the bottom! Gotta be on the upswing after RUNNING OUT OF GAS ON INTERSTATE 459!!!! Yup...by myself, after church, with 3 starving children. Delightful.

Luckily, Robert WAS NOT with me (not normal) and could bring me gas. We'd have been sitting there for a while waiting on someone to help us!

I declare (in my 'Scarlet voice') It's gonna be a GREAT WEEK!! Amen!?

It's Funny....

....how life is cyclic. In so many areas too. Some weeks, I have it all together and can get out and plan fun things for the kids AND keep my housework up! Then some weeks, I can't even make it out! It's up and down and up and down! Good thing is I'm kind of getting good at predicting it. I can recognize that when things seem "easy" they're about to get a little tough. Luckily, I know I have an upswing coming after that!

Guess it's just been one of "those weeks". :-) And definitely looking forward to the upswing!

Traditions

Sunday morning, as the family piled in our bed to watch fishing on the Outdoor Life Network, I realized that this was one of our silly family traditions. Most Sunday mornings before we start getting ready for church, we turn a crazy hunting or fishing show on the television and lay in bed and drink our coffee. The kids love it, and I now look forward to what we'll see on this time. My favorite is the shark fishing competition.

It made me think of other unintentional traditions we have. For example, we cook a frozen pizza for dinner every Sunday night and eat it on the floor in front of the television while watch ing America's Funniest Home Videos! It's just a given. But we didn't just one day say, "we're going to do this every Sunday night!" It evolved.

I think it's awesome to have things you do regularly with your family that are special. I had many fun traditions growing up and it's fun to try and incorporate those into my kids lives. I hope many more unique and special traditions come about every year! I'm sure they'll change with the seasons of life we go through too.

What kind of traditions have you settled into with your family?

I Guess I'll Do It

I think I was tagged by a couple of blogging friends to answer these little questions! I thought about not doing, but didn't want to be a party pooper! So here it goes, short and sweet!

What was I doing 100 years ago.......
Sad, this is really going to age me. But I was doing a lot of practicing driving around with my driver's permit. Not even a license yet. Oh boy. I think I was still riding horses a good bit. But I also had just started high school ::wince:: and was enjoy all that it's not cracked up to be. :-)

5 Things on my to-do list today.....

1. Drive car pool........ done
2. Take Robert some paint he forgot at home....... done
3. Pick up car pool....... done
4. Mop the hardwoods and scrub the kitchen.......... done
5. Shower........ not done. :-( oh well, every other day is ok, right?
6. Turn my tongue into rivers of blessings to my family (though not excluding friends or strangers either!) Part of my 5 week bible study of judging/discerning and Blessing your Children!

Snacks I enjoy........
1. I'm just going to clump them ALL into one and say DESSERTS! :-)
2. Cheeze-It party mix - SO good!
3. raw veggies with light ranch
4. grilled sausage, jalapenos, and cheese with tiger sauce
5. pretzels


Things I would do if I was a billionaire.........

1. I'm not sure I would change too much - pay off a bunch of things that's for sure and give a bunch away!
2. Secure my family's future and children's future.
3. Start riding horses again and get my kids involved.
4. Buy a BUNCH of property in the delta for Robert to duck hunt on.
5. Big huge beach property.

Wow, once you get started, it's easy to think of things.


Bad Habits........

1. Sticking my foot in my mouth.
2. Not praising my husband enough.
3. Too critical of myself.
4. Forgetting to take ALL things (even the little things) to God FIRST!
5. Eating too many sweets.

Places I've lived..........

1. Minnesota
2. Mississippi
3. Alabama

Jobs I've had.......

1. Babysitter
2. Assistant to Lawyer (in high school)
3. Worked in kitchen at Applebees in MS
4. Cashier at Abner's in MS (best chicken fingers)
5. Full time (24/7) chief laundress, cook, dishwasher, janitor, nurse, nanny, teacher, chauffeur, household manager, accountant, waitress, and maid - AND LOVING (most) EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!! ;-)


Ok, I actually and not going to tag anyone. But that was fun!

Need To Smile?

Just can't help but smile...or laugh with her!

My Little Future Seamstress

Olivia spent the night with her Lovey not too long ago! She had so much fun and got to do a special craft. She is really into crafts right now. I was so excited when she told me it was sewing!!




It was a bear that you sewed around the edges and then stuffed! How fun! She named him Paddington. Which could be because they've been reading A LOT of Paddington bear stories lately at school. Maybe the "sewing gene" will be passed to her as well!! My mother and grandmother were also sewing women!

Hey, you've got to start somewhere!

Finally Put Them Together

I got my half sewn outfits back from the monogramming lady on Monday and have had a blast putting them together this week!!!

Here is one side of sister/sister outfits! The turquoise is polka dotted!


And this is reversed!


Here is another sister/sister outfit. The yellow is polka dotted!


And reversed!


Here is another bubble for Lillian - this was the practice one that ended up turning out so cute!


Of course I couldn't leave Landon out. And I just couldn't help but make him some john johns. This is probably the last summer he'll let me put them on him. I just love them with his red keds!!



Now, we'll just have to wait and see what comes out of my sewing machine next......

I'm Hunckered Down...

Is that even a word...hunckered???? Robert left today for his 3rd annual guys weekend of fishing and hunting. I'm equally excited for him, except I realized how much I look forward to weekends with him. I do not look forward to spending nights alone. Even though I'm not technically "alone" - with 3 kids sleeping in the house even when he's gone. BUT, there is a level of safeness I feel when he IS sleeping next to me in bed.

So, I've been trying to figure out some fun things to do while Daddy is away. Like going to the Dollar Tree and picking something fun out. And Bruster's - you can't beat THE BEST icecream in town as a fun outing!!! And watching some fun movies and reading the books we checked out from the library!

Yet, I'm still 'bracing' my self for a weekend alone with the three kids.

Hopefully we'll make it through these next three days with no broken bones. And I'm only asking for a minimum of 4 hours of straight sleep per night - that's not too much to ask...is it???

Here is how our bath went tonight.......




I can't help that think that this is a sign of what is to come this weekend!!

BTW, they are spitting out dirty bath water for fun..........BUT.....HOW "GREEN" AM I.... bathing ALL the kids at the same time. Savin' some H2O AND some $$...............

It Almost Happened AGAIN

We almost had an repeat of this post. But this time, there wasn't an Aston Martin around. Just kids, boats and water. No biggie.



Here he has spotted the gator within 1 minute of arriving at the restaurant. He ran a couple of circles around it first. We noticed later that the keys were IN the ignition!! Ummmm....someone wasn't thinking.

Then he was in it!

Little sneaker.

No kids, gators, boats or property were damaged.

More With Aunt Lacey!

Friday night we went to Lulu's Restaurant. It's owned by the daughter of Jimmy Buffet. It was an INCREDIBLE family friendly place. There was sand everywhere for the kids to play in. A fountain to wash off and clean up toys. A board walk with tables and an outdoor bar and cafe. Then you had the restaurant where you could watch boats pull up and drive by! The place was self entertaining for kids!!





Saturday night we decided to keep it low key. We rented a movie for the kids and the grown ups as well. Once we set the kids up with their movie and popcorn, we fixed our dinner.


We wanted to keep it light. We had eaten such a big lunch. So we set up a wine and cheese platter! YUM!!



It's brie with cashews and some honey and truffle oil drizzled over it. Then we had a munster and parmigiano-reggiano. And then some "stinky cheese" as I like to call it - bleu cheese that was perfect with some dried apricot or pineapple. Or you could layer it with pear or apple! There was also so delicious granola with shaved coconut and some raisins that was fun to eat with the cheeses too. It was perfect - not to heavy but just as filling!

Lillian slept with us for a while since the kids were watching a movie in her bedroom! She looked SO comfortable!


The dogs tried to play a little. Audrey is 1 and Lil is almost 7. It's so funny to see the difference in the attitudes!



At one point, we couldn't find Audrey. We found her curled up with Olivia - I guess she was worn out!



It was a great girls weekend - plus Landon! :-)

Swimmin'

Saturday morning we woke up to thunderstorms at the beach. But we had promised Olivia we'd go to the pool. Luckily there was an indoor pool! I remember thinking how cool it was to get to swim in the indoor pool in hotels! It was also like bathwater! :-)


This was really Lillian's first time to play in a pool. She loved it!


Splashing!


This is as much as Landon would do in the pool. He wouldn't put his face in either. What happened to the two "fish" I had last summer? Guess we'll have to relearn a little bit of swimming!


So they played with their new goggles inside!

I'm So Glad My Sis Lives At The Beach

We had a fun, exhausting, crazy trip to visit my sister! I was a little worried about it being such a short trip with such a long car ride for the kids. The longest one yet. BUT, I think they did pretty darn well.

Friday we got to hang out on the beach!


First time on the beach! And she spent it mostly in this.......


HA! It was perfect though - no sand, and had some shade! :-)


We made some friends and played jump the river... a.k.a. "get the kids as tired as possible so they'll take a long nap". We ran them silly!


Landon LOVED being completely sandy! He didn't mind it all in his face and hair - we'd just see him spit every once in a while. But he was COVERED in it the whole time - and happy as can be.

Then we promised to take them to the pool before we left.


You know my family loves bottom pics...check out the very bottom of my blog for Olivia's and this post for Landon's sweet bottom. :-) And above is baby Lillian's bottom! I love it!! She loved the water!

More to come!

Ready Or Not...

Here we come!! We're (the 3 kids, myself, and my mom) are leaving to go and visit my sis at the beach tomorrow! It'll be the craziest trip I've taken yet with the three kiddos! But it'll be fun, there is plenty of room for us to spread out and sleep. Not to mention, there is SAND AND SUN for us to enjoy!! :-)

I'm also looking forward to some "girl time" with my sister and mom. I'm not sure we've gotten this type of time together ever. At least since Lacey and I have been married. Everything is kinda up in the air. We'll be playing things by ear with the kids. I'm sure everything will work out. Robert will be turkey hunting with Mac (Lacey's hubby) all weekend. Still, I may need a "vacation" after this vacation!! :-) Sad, huh.

That's my life - and a pretty darn exciting one too!