Adventures in Bread making

A while ago a little girl came knocking on our door handing out free samples of some bread that she was selling.  I was amazed when I looked at the ingredients she had listed.  Only ground wheat was used and no commercially made flour, yet her loaf was sandwich quality.  It inspired me to try my hand at bread making again.  I hadn't been able to make a loaf that I was really satisfied with, especially using only ground wheat.  I figured if a little 10 year old can do, how hard can it really be?  Apparently, I misjudged my abilities.

 Her bread next to my first attempt.  Pretty sad comparison really.

 Not to be outdone by a preteen, I tried again and got mildly better results.  It rose better anyways.

Still a far cry from nice sandwich bread though.

Third attempt and I was finally getting somewhere.  Rowan even prefers it over his Grandma Sycamore's white bread.  If that isn't a winning review, I don't know what is.

My bread is on the left and the 10 year old's is on the right.  I'm admitting defeat.  She clearly makes better bread than I do, BUT she has inspired me to start making homemade bread again and get some use out of my wheat grinder.  Elsa loves to make flour with me and it's a fun little bonding moment we have each week making bread together.

And here's some cute pictures of Sage because who really comes here to look at my bread anyway?

Sweet Sagey

Oh sweet Sage.  You're getting bigger by the minute.

Caught these two snuggling while watching Scooby Doo.  I hope the love lasts. 

She hates binkies.  Do we finally have a finger sucker?  They are often red because of her preference.

Just Truckin' Along

 Hanging out on her daddy's baby blanket.

I could just eat her.  We're finally getting into a decent rhythm here.  Sage usually only wakes up once at night and I've stopped feeling like the living dead and have now graduated to the living semi-conscious.

Sage laughing and rolling.  She is making attempts at crawling already.  It's insane.

We took Elsa off the bottle last week and have gotten through some rough nights with her as well.  As a result, Elsa won't let me out of her sight and will completely melt down if I leave her with Steve.  Not exactly an improvement, but at least her teeth won't be rotten by the time she's 4.  Rowan is in ski club and wasn't too happy with his first experience, but I'm hoping he'll start liking it more as he gets more practice.  And Nadia is a reading pro and is learning to commit to playing the piano.  Life is exhausting, but good.

33!

It's still surreal to me that I am in my thirties.  I'm the youngest in my family, "Baby Rachel", and I'm 33 now.  My brothers are approaching their 50s.  Aging is so strange.

It was a nice day.  Steve gave a talk in sacrament, which is something I always enjoy because I don't get to see him in his element often.  He always does such a good job at keeping people's attention and livening up sacrament without losing the spirituality of the meeting.  I am so grateful to be his wife.

Later, the kids and Steve made triple fudge brownie sundaes, my favorite.  I even got a nap in.  All in all, it was a pleasant relaxed day with my family.  They're the best.

Trying to get Elsa to smile...

The kids decided to further celebrate my birthday by creating a volcanic explosion in the kitchen with Nadia's science kit she got for Christmas.  They even "cleaned" it up for me.  So kind.

Thanks kids.  They orchestrated this while I was distracted on the phone with my mom.  Although it should have occurred to me when Rowan asked where the vinegar, food coloring and baking soda was. 

Procrastinating Pinewood

Last year when Pinewood Derby rolled around, we were super pumped about it.  We spent a whole week on Rowan's car, painting it and getting the accessories just right.  It was pretty styling and we had high hopes that that would translate into some good results.  Of course, we warned Rowan not to get his hopes up too much and that it wasn't all about winning the races.  Unfortunately we didn't warn him to not play around with the wheels too much and by holding onto the wheels, they got pushed in too far and didn't spin too well when it came to the races.  Rowan didn't win a single race and I'd be lying if I said we didn't walk away a little jaded by the whole experience.

Enter a new year, a new opportunity to redeem ourselves.  We knew the time was approaching.  We had fair warning through various emails and other reminders.  Perhaps the disappointment of last year played a part in it, but we didn't prepare for the derby at all.  The day of the race came and I mentioned to Steve that the Pinewood Derby was this very day.  I saw Rowan's face fall when I mentioned we probably wouldn't be ready in time and I felt major guilt about his reaction.  So we whipped something together.  5 minutes before the races started, Steve was still attaching the wheels.  We had weighed it to be 5 oz exactly and then realized the wheels would add additional weight, so the still wet paint job got very messed up by trying to get the weight correct.  Rowan wanted a Pokemon car, much to Steve's chagrin, and Pikachu ended up looking like a burn victim.

But we went.  I felt redeemed as a parent that at least Rowan would participate and I prayed that he would win at least one race.  Anything but dead last.  I feel that kid's pain who took that title home and hope it was the one who just brought his block of wood with wheels attached and nothing else.  Nothing hurts more than actually trying and failing.

To our amazement, Rowan won the first race and the next and the next, until he was the proud owner of third place.  It was completely unexpected and it was so awesome to see Rowan's excitment.  Sometimes it pays to procrastinate.

Early January

Nadia is the best babysitter.  As long as Sage has someone laying down on the ground with her, she will not get as frustrated about it.  The most pleasant blessing of having another baby in the house is seeing the care and love her siblings give her.  There's no question this child is loved and adored by all.  Especially Elsa, which perhaps has been the biggest surprise.  We often hear "she's so wittle!" and "awww, she's so cute" from Elsa.  I'm so grateful for their sweetness.

If I could go back and just buy one thing for Christmas, it would be these Magna-tiles.  The kids love them and it's hard to find something that appeals to all ages/genders.

Elsa is a big fan of Sage, but she may be an even bigger fan of Sage's stuff.  She'll regularly go in her swing, chair, exersaucer, but her favorite is the jumper.  Hopefully the door frame holds up.

She's inherited Rowan's love for getting her picture taken.

She really does love it.  Sage is less enthusiastic.

Elsa is also a big fan of accessories and dressing herself.  We end up with some interesting combinations most days.  If she could, her wardrobe would consist of Sunday dresses, paired with winter hats and gloves.  I don't know why, but I thought it was cute when I woke up in the morning to these two eating cereal.  Elsa is gangster even in the morning.

Speaking of gangster, Sage has been seen sporting some interesting accessories herself.  My mom and I nearly died of laughter, a consequence of sleep deprivation.

This should read more Dog the Bounty Hunter, but I'm getting more of a "I pity the fool" vibe.

Grandma Dorothy got in on the strange accessory bus by letting Nadia paint her toenails.  It ended up looking like Grandma forgot her steel toed boots at the construction site.

Elsa decided that was a good look too and got her nails painted for the first time.  Not for lack of trying, she just hadn't been interested until then.  And yes, she really loves her toque.

Sage will have to wait out her finger sucking stage (hates binkies) before she can join her sisters.

Fingernail painting worked off some energy, so we refueled with ice cream and a movie.

 Once again, Sage misses out.  Poor youngest child.