Good times with Grandpa

quick pic

I'm trying to get pictures of H, but he's not liking mom's camera lately. I'll get some this weekend, though.

Until then, enjoy this picture of a few neighborhood superheroes.

Birthday girl

I'll begin by a song Aubin sang for me today. "4 year old guls (girls) can do anything.. hooray hooray hooray.
Hooray hooray hooray. "
She had a fun day today with special VIP treatment at preschool complete with a princess crown. We had the neighbors over for pizza, cake, and ice cream that evening. Thanks for coming guys!
(Side note: yes, I made the cake this year. Aubin asked me to make her another butterfly cake and to make it good this time!..obviously she heard Rick and I laughing about the moth cake fiasco of '06...)

Zoo trip

We took a family trip to the zoo on Saturday in honor of A's birthday tomorrow (or today depending on if I finish this before midnight). We had a great time! This picture was my favorite. There was a random girl wearing a leopard mask and the REAL leopard did NOT like it one bit. He looked like he was going to try to pounce and his hair (fur?) was standing straight up.
Crazy, huh?

Good morning serenade

This is how I woke up yesterday morning. I immediately got up to film H's artful rendition of 5 year old angst.
Yes, our bedroom looks like a bomb went off in the middle of the night. Hey, I just got up! I did make the bed and vacuumed up cereal after this video was taken. I really did.

I tried to get a picture of H. as well, but he wasn't too keen on the idea. I did get a funny video of him this morning that I'll post later today or tomorrow.

Busy day

The kids had a fun filled day of preschool, making worm farms in the garden, singing with "funny carrots" before dinner, and a nice book before bath and bed. They were exhausted and went straight to sleep.

Hoorah. Break out the confetti. It's nacho night for mom and dad.

You've got to try this.

This is so good! It's just like the artisan breads you can by at Whole Foods or other snooty bakeries. It has the taste and texture of a baguette.
It's actually a no-knead bread by Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street bakery, recipe posted a few years ago by the New York Times. It is EASY. Click on the title below for the full article.The only special "equipment" you need is a cast iron dutch oven. Ours is a Lodge dutch oven with loop handles and was only $20-30.

The Minimalist: The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work (November 8, 2006)

3 cups bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

(***My notes: The bread only needed 8-10 minutes with the lid off at the end of the baking. Also, I found I needed to add just a bit more water when mixing the ingredients to make it a 'wet' dough. )

H and A were extremely excited about being official taste testers. Hayden said he could eat this bread all day long.