Grandma Reita's Bread

In my family Grandma's bread is lengendary. We all grew up smelling it as soon as we walked into her house and eating big rolls of it with butter and honey. I finally tracked down the recipe, through a sister who got it from another sister who watched Grandma make it and estimated how much of this or that she threw in since Grandma never used measuring cups. It could be that some if the ingredients were just something she happened to have on hand that day and wanted to use up. Nevertheless, I tried it out the other day and it turned out pretty good! Mind you, this isn't like your typical sissy fluffy white bread that most people make. Grandma was a serious health fanatic and it was only whole grains and natural ingredients for her. So here is the recipe, try it if you dare!

Combine and let sit for 5 minutes:
3 cups warm water
2 Tbsp yeast
1 cup honey (seems like a lot, I used 2/3 cup)
A big handful of oats (approx. 1/2 - 1 cup)

Blend together and add to above:
2 eggs
1 whole potato, mashed (approx. 1/2 - 1 cup)

Add:
2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 Tbsp salt
8 cups red wheat flour (I used white wheat because that's all I had but red is better, preferably freshly ground)

Add more flour or water as needed to get a nice firm dough and let rise until double in size, about 1 hour. Punch down and form into loaves (about 4) and place in greased bread pans and let rise until double in size again. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Eat warm with butter and honey!

This summer...

We've been busy going swimming,






eating popsicles,


going to the park,

enjoying the outdoors as a family,

learning to go potty,


reading books,

Growing tomatoes,

making peach muffins and jam,

playing dress up,

and going to church in new matching dresses.

Isn't summer wonderful?

Picking Peaches

So we couldn't stop with just one fruit picking excursion, we decided to up the ante and try peaches this time. There's this great little orchard about 45 min away called Erie Orchards that had some good prices on fresh peaches and also had a little store with other produce, donuts, cidar slush, jam, honey, etc. They also have a little petting farm and hay barn for the kids to play in but we didn't have enough time to stay for that this time. Anyway, we were there for about 2 hours (probably about 30 real productive minutes of picking time between rounding up the kids and make sure everyone was happy), but I got 26 lbs! I made this peach cobbler http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Peach-Cobbler/Detail.aspx with about 1/4 of them and it turned out great but now I need some ideas with what to do with the other 20 lbs. Are there any other fruit picking enthusiasts/food storage cooks out there with any ideas? I don't have any canning jars or a pressure cooker so canning slices or making jam is out. I have room in my freezer, though, so that's an option or I could try drying slices if anyone knows of a way to do it in the oven. Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Sisterly Love

Over the past several months, Abbie has been pretty possessive of her toys and will take almost anything away that Leah picks up to play with. Leah is now old enough that she cares and is starting to fight back or have a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. It's getting to the point where I'd rather they be in different rooms or levels of the house so I won't have to keep separating them and hear them fighting and crying.

So recently I've been working with Abbie more to share with her sister and teach her to take turns. Also, to let Leah join her when playing with something and that it's more fun when they can do something together. I've been trying to get Abbie to teach Leah how to do something instead of doing it for her or taking it away when Leah does it wrong. Anyway, by some miracle, it's working!


Here's a picture of them enjoying some time together outside, not fighting or crying. Abbie used to take the wagon away from Leah and not let her touch it or put anything in it or get inside but after some coaxing, I got her to give Leah a ride in it and now it's one of her favorite things to do, pull Leah in the wagon. She also has a piggy bank with a bunch of fake coins that go in it and now she will yell for Leah to come put some coins in the piggy bank and she happily gives Leah a few. Also, when Abbie wants to go downstairs, she asks for Leah to come too because she doesn't want to be all alone down there.

Another example is Abbie has a bed for her favorite blue dolly that has never been out of her room because she didn't want Leah to touch it. But just a few days ago, Abbie brought the bed out into the living room and let Leah put her yellow dolly into it with her blue dolly and then proceeded to read some books to the dolls, sing them some songs, and put them to sleep, all while Leah played with them too. This never would have happened a month ago. One last example is that Abbie doesn't freak out as much when Leah gets into her room and plays with her toys and she even wants to get Leah up first thing in the morning so they can play together instead of be apart.

I don't know if it's the age or what, but something we're doing is finally working and it's much more fun to see the girls playing together and being happy instead of fighting and us always having to separate them. I mean, they are siblings and still have their moments but at least we're making progress and this gives me hope that maybe someday they'll even be best friends!

Blueberries, blueberries, blueberries!

A friend and I went blueberry picking last week with our kids and had a great time. Abbie and her friend each had their own bucket and did so well filling them up by themselves. They probably ate as much or more than what was in their bucket.

Leah stayed busy playing in the dirt and turning herself into a puppy dog!

I picked about 4-1/2 lbs in 2 hours, which is pretty good considering I had to stop about every other minute to go find one of the kids or get them something to keep them happy. The blueberries tasted great and we had fun eating them raw, in pancakes, and ...

In a yummy triple berry crisp that I made over the weekend. It was really easy to make and was so good, with a little whipped cream on top. Here's the link to the recipe if you want to try it out: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Triple-Berry-Crisp/Detail.aspx. I used blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries and did twice as many berries and half as much butter, per some of the reviews. Also, I used wheat flour and Splenda and it still tasted great. Go try it out!

It's my birthday and I can cry if I want to...

I had the best birthday ever this year! It all started with the kids waking me up by giving me these cute cards and Jared giving me a new camera! I had been wanting one for a while but couldn't justify getting one when my old one still works okay despite being only 3 megapixels (I know, for a mom with kids and being an obsessive scrapbooker, you'd think I would have upgraded long ago!) Anyway, it was just what I wanted and I had fun all morning trying it out.

After church Jared made an awesome lunch of steak and corn on the cob on the grill and then I got a long nap while Jared made this cake and got things ready for a party in our backyard. Abbie and Leah had fun putting on their aprons and "helping" make the cake!

We had blown up a bunch of balloons, which Leah loved, but when we took them outside for the party they all popped on the grass before anyone could play with them.


In the evening we had some friends come over for cake and ice cream (which was delicious, thank you, Jared) and we let the kids run around in the backyard. I think Abbie was more excited about the cake (with 30 candles!) than I was.


After eating, we made everyone come inside and tortured them with some old family movies before we let them leave! It was great! After cleaning everything up, getting the kids in bed, and finally winding down for the day, Jared pulled out one last gift:

A new laptop! The "HP - Pavilion Laptop with AMD Turion™ X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor TL-60". I don't know what that means, just that it has enough memory to store all my pictures and music, do wireless internet, record and play DVD's, run games, and more. I couldn't believe it, we had talked about getting one sometime soon since our old desktop is ancient and is always having problems. But I didn't think Jared would do all the research, find a good deal, and surprise me with it! So it was a great way to end a perfect day but now I need to find some time to play with my new toy!

So long, youth...

Tomorrow is the last day I can say I'm 29 years old and not be lying! I've been simultaneously dreading and excited for my 30th birthday for a while now. Dreading it because now I'll need to start acting my age and be respectable in public. When I'm 29 I can go to the pool and splash around with my kids without getting a raised eye. I can shop at Old Navy or Gap and still think some of the styles are cute and get away with wearing them. I can listen to the music on the radio and identify most of the artists and bands and still sing along to some of the songs. I can still get away with using my Ipod in public and know how to use a cell phone, send an email, and set up a blog! I've even been carded when trying to buy cough medicine for the kids. Doesn't that make one feel good?

But I'm excited to be 30 because maybe now my age will make me seem more mature (if that's even possible!), knowledgeable, and fitting to where I am in my life. I have several friends who have hit the big 3-0 already and sometimes I feel like a baby to them when I admit I'm still in my 20's. I've accomplished all the things I wanted to by this age. I have a great husband of 9 years, 2 adorable daughters, a college degree, a house, a minivan, and a 401K. I should be proud to say I'm 30! Plus, isn't 30 the new 20? So really I'm not that old at all. I'm just getting started on the best decade of life!

Anyway, I've still got a long way to go before I'm wearing dentures, Depends, and bifocals (despite the fact that I've been reading the Reader's Digest since I was a teenager and I already have hearing aids!), so I shouldn't be too concerned about my age just yet, right?

Even so, here's a couple of pictures to celebrate my younger days.

6 months old

4 years old

6 years old

10 years old

15 years old

So long, youth! I'll miss you!