Faux Birthdays

Am I the only mom out there who is throwing party after party for . . . stuffed animals? Don't get me wrong, it's awfully fun and the girls do most the work {wrapping presents, coming up with games, mini-picnics}. But when a particular lovey {Golden Girl} celebrates her third birthday a week, I'm a little partied out!

A Country Western Halloween

A wish come true: Our family matches on Halloween!



I forgot to wear my own sassy cowgirl hat . . .
Clogging + Ballroom?


Ready to ride!
Ghost town at sundown

The Parties, The Pumpkins

my mother's bread, part III

One of these days I'll write an Ode to the Bosch . . .

. . . but for now can I say how much I love my three baking experts?

And now, here's a bread recipe that I've been loving lately. It's one of my favorites because it's super easy and super yummy.

Easy Whole Wheat Bread
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast, or 1 packet active dry yeast dissolved in 2 TBSP water
1 1/3 cups lukewarm water
1/4 cup vegetable oil (i use olive or canola)
1/4 cup honey, molasses, or maple syrup
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup nonfat dried milk
1 1/4 tsp salt

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly-greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6-8 minutes, or until it becomes smooth and supple. {I do all the above in my Bosch mixer, which you can do if you have a mixer, food processor, or bread machine.} Transfer the dough to a lightly-oiled bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise until puffy, though not necessarily doubled in bulk.

Transfer the dough to a lightly-oiled work surface and shape it into an 8-inch loaf. Place the loaf in a lightly-oiled 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with lightly-oiled plastic wrap {sometimes i use a warm, damp dish towel} and allow the bread to rise for about 1 hour, or until it's crowned about 1 inch above the edge of the pan. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly.

Bake the bread in a preheated 350 F-degree oven for about 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminium foil after 20 minutes. Test it for doneness by removing it from the pan and thumping it on the bottom {it should sound hollow}. Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a wire rack before slicing. Enjoy!

not your granny's website

I adore morning church. Mostly because afterwards I get to take a luxurious nap while Clara naps. However, I wanted to devise a special Sunday quiet time for my two older girls. {I had to listen to bible records growing up, but that is a story for another day . . . .}

So I've begun to set up Sunday Stations based on this story I read in the LDS Friend magazine. Chris is around to monitor {sleep} on the sofa as the girls rotate among the Church-themed stations. Last Sunday we had a puzzle corner, an art table, a game table, and computer games. Now, the only reason I included the last station is because of my recent amazing discovery!!

Take yourself over to The Friend website right now {click on link, or go to http://www.lds.org/ choose magazines, then Friend}. I adore what they've done with their website, as it is now geared toward kids visiting! Our girls have begun to ask for computer games {pbs site, my little ponies} and so finding that The Friend is competing for their attention is great. They've had a blast playing the little games, doing the online coloring pages, listening to the songs & stories & slideshows. I'm going to limit it to Sundays so they anticipate using it. Such a find!
I'll go take that nap now, thank you very much.

march 5: international women's day

Tomorrow night A Powerful Noise opens in theatres. This documentary addresses the most marginalized group in any nation--woman and girls. This topic is near and dear to my heart. My three little girls are lucky to be born in a country that recognizes their value & in which they will have a voice. Most are not so fortunate. Please visit http://www.apowerfulnoise.org/ to see how you can add your voice and resources to helping women around the world.

{Quotes taken from A Powerful Noise website}
A Powerful Noise takes you inside the lives of [three] women to witness their daily challenges and their significant victories over poverty and oppression. [This] is a meditation on the inherent potential of women to change the world.
This view of women's empowerment . . . is useful in virtually all types of development programs that help communities improve the quality of and access to water, health services, education and microfinance services {to name a few}, and those programs in which communities are guided to confront specific social injustices such as violence against women.
Working with women strategically makes good investment sense. Women, more than men, tend to parlay improvements in their own lives into the lives of their children and communities. Increases in income typically translate into greater investment in children's education and health care. Education for girls and women plays a strong role in the next generation's health and well-being. And the entire world benefits from the creativity, intelligence and effort that flower when girls and women are freed from strictures that keep them uneducated & silenced.

Want to Help? Get Started Here:
LDS Humanitarian Services
Unitus: Innovative Solutions to Global Poverty
CARE

{Any others you'd like to add?}

gerald & piggie

If you have an emerging reader, go to your library and get these books now. If you have two young readers, as I do at my house, better yet--they can each read a character.
Simple & hilarious, these are our favorite readers by far. I've heard that teaching kids to read aloud with proper intonation & emotion is difficult. Gerald & Piggie make it a snap with their hilarious expressions, huge print for shouting, tiny print for sad voices, etc. Our girls' faces {and voices} mirror theirs as they read. It's so much fun. Who knew stick characters could be so expressive! Yet another reason to love Mo Willems.

{Other reasons we love Mo Willems are this and this and this.}