My little helper...

Bella is becoming increasingly helpful as she moves farther away from her 3rd birthday. Today she asked to help me fold napkins coming out of the dryer. I gladly consented to this request from her. I am learning so much about the difference in the temperaments of my kids. Max would NEVER  have sat still long enough for me to teach him this, but Bella required very little help. I often feel that I have failed Max in some way by giving up expecting him to learn these types of things. In all honesty, it was a constant battle, as he didn't want to do it, and is still a bit immature (mostly my fault for not teaching him this as well) in regards to doing these tasks out of love for the family. Isabella enjoys these tasks, and was very proud of the stack of napkins she had at the end. I basked in the glory of getting Blaise and Gloria to nap at the same time and for 3 hours apiece. I am amazed at my little beauty everyday! NEXT up....vacuuming!

no the floor is NOT clean!

she is so proud!

and she is feeling better!

ALL DONE!

BoosterThon 2013..

Max has an absolute BLAST running in circles for 45 minutes to raise money for his school. I had to listen to Bella cry the entire time ( not realizing that she was working on the WORST case of tonsillitis I have ever seen, poor baby!) It was really great to meet some of the other school moms as well. The kindergarten and first grade classes ran at the same time! I also learned that Max goes to school with the daughter of an old schoolmate of mine from my neighborhood! What a small world!?!  Max really liked that he could list his one sponsor (my parents) on his own site at funrun.com! Don't worry, Nana Aub'e...the next scam, I mean "Jumprope for the Heart" is begging for your donation...lol!! Enjoy!

President's Day...

I LOVE Pinterest. It has truly saved my kids from suffering due to my lack of creativity. I found  a few things we could do to learn about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The first was this neat idea of washing quarters and pennies to see the faces on them clearly. The kids LOVED that it involved water, and it was pretty mess free. We washed them in a mix of warm water, vinegar and baking soda ( mostly water).

getting started

scrubbing them clean with a cloth wipe

My nephew, Carter!

I also got creative with the kids food this day. THIS is just funny because not 3 days ago I was looking for things to do for the kids day off from school, and I laughed at all the heart shaped food I saw for Valentine's day. WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT? Yet, there I stood in my kitchen, cutting stars out the kid's bread to cook their eggs in, and making star cucumbers and pb&j sandwiches. They loved it, and weren't even trying to get out of eating their veggies. (Yes, I will do this again to get them to eat veggies)

We ended the day making George Washington and Abraham Lincoln finger puppets compliments of Pinterest also. They are supposed to have the pennies and quarters we cleaned earlier as their faces but I ran out of glue for the hot glue gun! The kids still had fun! I truly enjoyed this day with them.

Ciabatta DONE!

So I decided to make home-made bread today. I do this a lot, but it never lasts with 12 people eating it. Today, I chose to make ciabatta bread from this recipe. I always get anxious about trying new bread recipes. I have had one too many disasters to not be!  I started this recipe at about 11am. It had to rise for about 2 hours, and we eat early on Sundays so I started early. Here is the dough after I kneaded it into a ball.

Before 1st rising period

It is placed in an oiled bowl, and moved to the sunniest room in the house. In my case, the dining room. After 30 minutes, I kneaded it again. I think I should have kneaded it a bit longer. I really only gave it about 6 turns over. it probably needs about 10 minutes total. I was in a hurry...oops!

After the 1st knead

Here is the bread after the 2nd kneading. I again placed it in the sunny window of the dining room! It rose there for about 90 minutes more, or until it doubled in size.

After the 2nd rising period

This is when I gently rolled it out onto the tray and stuck it in the oven. I made a few adjustments to this recipe. All I had was pizza dough yeast, so I added vital wheat gluten to it. The box of gluten called for 1 tsp. per cup of flour. I added 3 tsp. of gluten to this. I also needed to add a bit of water to get the sticky texture I was looking for. Again, I should have kneaded it much more. I think this would have made all the difference in the appearance on the outside, although the flavor is great. It baked for about 35 minutes.

In the oven

I should have shaped it a bit more, but I think the kneading I skipped also made a difference.  Below is the finished product. It is REALLY good. I wish it looked better. I am too caught up on things being aesthetically pleasing.

All done!

 We will be eating ours with our beef stew tonight. I cant wait to try this again. We love this type of bread and I have always been convinced that making our bread is easier, cheaper and better than buying it!

ENJOY!

First Pigtail....Yes just one!

FINALLY! It only took 19 months! Gloria is also in the phase of smiling where she looks like a monster! TOO FUNNY!!

Blizzard 2013

WHEN IS SNOWS HERE...the kids get excited!!

Poor Bella has a horrible case of tonsillitis and cant not speak or swallow. Needless to say, she was NOT out in the snow and the poor darlin' let everyone know it! Gloria was just as cute as ever!

Happy snow day!

What do you say...

When the kindness and generosity exhibited towards your family , by people who don't know you and probably never will, brings this...

to your door step!

 When a NEED for your family is so great, yet knowing you can not meet it, only for God to remind you that HE HAS NOT FORGOTTEN YOU!!

   When your kids can smile at you because they realize, as do you, that we can all go TOGETHER, and no one has to be left behind...what do you say?

"Thank you" just doesn't seem to be enough." Thank you" seems to be so small. I know I will  NEVER be able to repay this blessing. I am reminded of something a dear friend said to me once about charity. ( forgive me now, dear friend,  for butchering the beauty of your words) She said " When God places an opportunity for you to receive true Christian charity, remember He is also placing before someone else a chance to give true Christian charity. By denying someone this opportunity to exhibit charity, you are denying them of an act of goodness and love given to them by God." (or something to that effect)

Romans 8: 28 " For in all things, God works for the good of those that love Him."

Romans 11:29 "For the gifts and calling from God are irrevocable."

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