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Dakota Gray is 3 years, 5 months, and 8 days old.
Rowan Sabine is 1 year, 8 months, and 17 days old.
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April 27th, 2010
We’ve been making a lot of this no-knead bread lately, and really loving it. However, it doesn’t exactly fit in with healthier eating, or reduced calorie consumption. Not that it’s inherently bad for you, it’s just a bunch of white flour, and it’s so good that it’s really easy to eat half a loaf without noticing. The kids really love it, especially Dakota, so they eat a lot too. What it comes down to is that we try to eat mostly whole-grain bread. The bread I make for our sandwiches and toast, etc is mostly whole wheat and oatmeal, with just a little white flour to help with leavening.
Anyway, I felt I needed to try making this with at least some whole grain flour. I know there books out there that have fancier recipes, but I don’t have them, so I thought I’d just stick to the basics and use the same recipe I’d been using. I pretty much follow it, with a couple of changes: I used 2 Cups whole wheat flour and 1 Cup all-purpose flour. We’ve also been using 1 1/2 Cups water instead of 1 5/8 Cups water as the original recipe states. We got this tip from Rose Levy Beranbaum. This last time I made it I also used parchment paper for it to sit on for the final rise, rather than the floured muslin we’d been using. We were having trouble with the floured muslin sticking to the dough and turning into a big mess when we turned it into the baking dish (or so covered with flour that it was a bit unappetizing once it came out of the oven caked with a quarter inch of plain flour). The parchment paper worked very well, thank goodness. Oh, and we don’t have a nice cast iron dutch oven, so we bake it in our slightly-too-small Corningware casserole dish.
I don’t know that this makes a “better” bread. The crust is a bit chewy, rather than crisp and crackly, and the loaf is just more dense and chewy over-all. It was good, though, and certainly better for us. I’m sure we’ll make the all-white version still from time to time, but the whole wheat one is tasty enough to accompany dinner on a regular basis. Which is nice because it means the more ingredient-heavy, time-consuming sandwich bread will last a bit longer.
April 26th, 2010
I realize this is late for a post about Easter. But I just finished editing/uploading the pictures and wanted to share a few. This was Ro’s first real Easter that she could participate in, so it was fun for all. We got up (early, thanks to Tacy’s excitement) and once I got my cardamom rolls rising, we all gathered ’round the table to dye eggs. In the past we’ve gone out of our way to buy a dozen white eggs from the grocery store, but this year we tried just coloring the brown eggs we get from the Grower’s Market. The colors turned out a bit deeper and earthier, but we liked them. Also, the kids aren’t really old enough yet to expect the eggs to look a certain way, so they were happy too. We just use the store-bought dye, but someday, if I ever get it together, I’d like to make my own. We’ll see. Maybe next year.
Jeremy took the girls for a little drive after that so the Easter bunny could stop by. Eggs were hidden, baskets were filled, and gifts from grandparents set out. The girls came home and excitedly dove for their baskets and treats, of course. Dakota and Rowan tied, I think, for who found M&Ms first, and concentrated on eating those the rest of the day. Tacy pretty much did the egg hunt on her own, though we managed to coax Dakota and Rowan to find a couple for some photo ops.
April 15th, 2010
the best thing just happened: ro suddenly jumped up and ran over to our clear plastic block box. she started screeching and pounding on the lid “UP! OP-U! AAACK!” i took the lid off for her and she frantically started throwing blocks aside from one corner, digging into the blocks. finally, she scratched at the outside and screeched again, pointing at the lone easter m&m that had somehow found its way to the bottom of the box. she managed to get to it pretty quickly and has been triumphantly carrying it around the room, popping it in and out of her mouth – really savoring the flavor.
April 13th, 2010
I take a bunch of pictures with intent of posting them here. Then I get overwhelmed by how many pictures I’ve taken and they just sit on my memory card/desktop. Then I think, well, I can’t do anything on the blog until I catch up on those old pictures. And then I take more and get further behind.
So, a quick recap until I get on the ball:
Dakota turned three, wearing a pink dress I did get done in time. Whew.
Easter. Egg dyeing, baskets, a little bit of candy. Tacy hunted for eggs happily while her smaller sisters ate M&Ms.
More days at the markets. Got some leeks on Saturday and Jeremy made a delicious potato-leek soup (he also made no-knead bread AND homemade butter, and it was all amazing).
The girls are still funny and cute and smart. Dakota is obsessed with Peter Pan and always wants to be Wendy Darling. Rowan loves “No, David!” and is learning new words all the time. Tacy just had her dance program and loved it, the best part being that “it was much shorter than last time.” (It really was, thank goodness).
March 19th, 2010
No, we did not, and are not getting a dog. but holy cow! Who else thinks this dog looks just like Scooter?!?!? Jeremy looked out the window of the coffee shop last Saturday and saw giant Scooter tied up. I wish I had gotten a better sense of scale in my picture. This dog is actually Scooter times 3. But really. They could be twins.
Not much else going on around here. We just had a fun visit from Uncle Austin, and I’m sure he’s still recovering. Dakota’s birthday next week is the next big thing around here. We’re scrambling around trying to order and make birthday things. I’m making her a dress from this pattern but of course she wants it from fabric I only have 1/2 a yard of, and something that is not available in Southern Oregon. I’m ordering it today, hoping it gets here soon, and doing some last minute sewing, I guess. And she has some pretty specific gift requests this year, including “a pink computer with pink buttons that work.” So despite my internal objections, we’ll be getting her a little plastic computer with buttons that work. Oh well.
I guess another thing is that we sort of thought Tacy was losing her hearing, but turns out her ears are just full of wax. So once we get them cleaned out, hopefully she’ll stop yelling all the time and responding to everything with “What? What did you say?”
March 7th, 2010
For us, opening day is the day our Grower’s Market opens. We are lucky enough to have one that runs from the beginning of March through the end of November. We went not expecting much, but were pleasantly surprised to find spinach, carrots, onions, and some greens in addition to all the goodies. We got some carrots and spinach and our favorite pasture-raised ground beef. Also some cookies, fudge, and turnovers, of course. The girls were so excited to be out on a Saturday morning again, and we were pretty excited to have some carrots that taste like carrots. Although we’re looking forward to the over-flowing summer market, we’re off to a good start.
March 5th, 2010
just found: tacy and dakota, lounging in our bed, paging through a couple of my books. “Hi Mom,” says Dakota (holding a doll’s head to her stomach). “We’re pretending we’re moms. I’m nursing my baby. I have a hairbrush.” I say “Tacy, are you nursing your baby too?” She says (holding her doll to her chest), “Yeah, I have higher boobs.” Dakota, indignantly replies “I have higher boobs too!” “No,” says T. They’re way low down. Mine are way up here.”
March 2nd, 2010
February is the shortest month, and it has whirled past us in seeming record time. We had a quick trip up north for my dad’s 60th birthday celebration and were back less than a week before we left on our trip for San Francisco and Disneyland. The girls were convinced this winter to ask Santa for a trip to Disneyland instead of piles of presents, and with some help from a tax return, Santa was able to comply.
As a trip to Disneyland for us involves a long drive, we decide to drive to San Francisco first, spend and afternoon and part of the next day and then drive on to Anaheim. San Francisco was beautiful, but we were really only there for a few hours. We’d love to go back there soon for a longer trip, with that as our actual destination, rather than a stop along the way. I’d really like to go back when it’s not raining, in fact. As we walked around Fisherman’s Wharf in the rain, then got in the car sopping wet to drive up and down hills, we realized it was pretty much just like being in Seattle. Which we’ve done. A lot.
Rain was predicted for Anaheim too, so we were a bit downcast as we drove through Washington-worthy downpours all through California, but fortunately, things cleared up before we we actually go to Disneyland itself.
I won’t give a play-by-play of our three days in the park, but it was a wonderful three days. The weather was absolutely perfect. There weren’t any big crowds, and we hardly spent any time waiting in lines. We met my brother and his family there, and my parents surprised us by showing up while we were in line for The Storybook Land Canal Boats. Having that many adults gave all of us a chance to go on rides we wanted to go on, and we still managed to get the kids on Dumbo and the Carousel about a hundred times each. We started the last day taking our girls on It’s a Small World (the first riders of the day, which was fun and nice) and all three girls loved it so much that we stayed on our little boat and went through again. We ended our trip inadvertently watching the “street party” they put on nightly (as we rounded the corner Tacy pointed and yelled “Look! A party! Can we stop?”) and then one last trip through Small World. Everyone got a couple of nice souvenirs (mugs, dolls, etc.) and we drove straight from Anaheim to Grants Pass the next day. I would not recommend doing that, though I realize that it was not as bad as it could have been. Really. Though we did get home Thursday night and we’re all still exhausted and recovering, especially since we all came down with sniffly noses.
Also, after we got home, Dakota decided she was pretty much going to die if she didn’t get the play set that Tacy picked out – fortunately, my brother and his wife were still there, found it, and sent it up here. Dakota is anxiously watching the mail and trailing around after Tacy in the meantime, begging to play with hers. I realize that sounds like she’s super spoiled, which kind of she is, but also, she’s only two-going-on-three, and all I could think was that her one earliest memory of Disneyland was going to be that she didn’t get the toy she wanted.
We’re settling back in at home now, and Disney is once again becoming just a channel on TV with some annoying shows and overpriced merchandise. While we were there, though, it was pretty magical. I had a little tear a couple of times – the looks on the girls’ faces when they opened the park and the voice of the Disney gods welcomed everyone while the music swelled in the background – when we went to a character breakfast and shy little Dakota “skipped” around playing follow the leader with the rest of the kids – when Tacy was so thrilled to meet the “really, really, real, Tinkerbell” that she stood and told her all about everything that had ever happened in her life – when Rowan rode on Small World, dancing, clapping, singing, and unable to take her eyes of all the singing dolls. It was sweet and fun and everyone had a great time.
February 10th, 2010
Left the house today for Tacy’s dance class and library story time. My prize when it’s over is usually a cup of coffee, because I’m out already and Wednesday is double stamp day at the Human Bean.
However. I left without Tacy’s dance shoes (which we went back to get) and my wallet (which I did not realize). We were a tad late to dance, which was fine. I even got to read a bit while Rowan slept and Tacy danced and Dakota watched. Then we went to library where I realized I didn’t have my wallet when I went to check out a mountain of books and therefore didn’t have my library card. Fortunately our normally strict and bitter library volunteers let me check out anyway after verifying all sorts of personal information. (Now I feel guilty about calling the library volunteers strict and bitter. Some are. Not all. And not ever the one who let me check out today.)
Time to accept I’ll never be one of those much-admired mothers who always has what they need in their neat, tidy, and well-stocked diaper bag. I’m destined to always be the mom scrambling for her wallet while the baby tries to run away and the older kids twirl around singing loudly ten feet away.
On the bright side, since I didn’t finish the girls’ Christmas presents in time for Christmas, chances are they’ll get awesome Valentine’s day presents. My poor planning for one holiday will lead to fun gifts on the next one. Chances are, I said. I’m not committing myself to this, just in case. I am almost done with the gifts though. I’m pretty sure I can get it together and finish them, provided I stop spending all my time reading recaps and reviews of LOST on the internet.
Funny Dakota story: While telling me some rambling and imaginative account of three bears and houses and Big Pink Angelina, she was getting frustrated by Tacy’s frequent interruptions. Finally she pressed her fingers to her temples and shouted “AAAAARHHHHHH! TACY! STOP IN-TER-UCK-EP-TING …. STOP INT-ER-UP-ET-TING MEEEE!”
January 14th, 2010
I have some news that is several days old, but I’ve been waiting until I could post pictures. However, we’re in the midst of some moving and shaking of desks and computers and things and getting to my photos seems like too much trouble. So, I’ll just tell it. It will lose some impact, but then everyone can see the pictures later and gasp.
Well, for those who haven’t seen her in a while my darling Dakota had (note the past tense) very, very long hair. She’d never had a hair cut, so her hair has been just growing and growing for over 2 and a 1/2 years. It was looooong. So long that when she went to the bathroom I had to sweep her hair up out of the way. So long that if she was on the floor playing, it frequently got stepped on by her baby sister. On Friday night, she quite literally took matters into her own hands, and began to give herself her long-requested, long-awaited haircut.
We had a moment of quiet – all the children were playing (we thought) nicely, we were talking about Jeremy popping them into the tub to wash their daily grime, when Tacy emerged from the girls’ room looking horrified. “Mom,” she said, “Dakota is in there and she is cutting. Her. Hair.” I pretty much have to give myself a huge pat on the back that I did NOT freak about all that lovely wavy hair being snipped. (Mainly because I wasn’t really shocked. Of course Dakota cut her own hair.) I went to survey the damage and found a tiny Dakota ball on the bed with her still mostly long hair fanning over her back. Coiled up on the bed around her was lock after lock of blond and brown hair. I got her to sit up and show me, and she was grinning by the time she did. She created some nice little layers around her face, so honestly it wasn’t too bad. The worst part was when I ran my fingers through what was left and great big chunks came away from her head. I think she must have taken the scissors and just snipped up through her hair – thinning and layering, apparently.
I told her we’d have to take her for a real haircut in the morning and she started sobbing… but not about the haircut. “Why can’t I go right nooooooow?” she wailed. Fortunately, Papa stepped in and saved the day, pointed out that the Great Clips we frequent is open until nine. So, we loaded up the fam, drove up the street, and Dakota got her first “official” haircut. It’s definitely not short, but it’s not her Rapunzel hair, either. It goes down to her shoulder blades, about, and still has the shorter layers around her face, of course. And the weird short bits in back actually do blend in quite nicely.
Overall, she looks even cuter than before, if that is possible. She looks older, for sure. More like an almost-three-year-old than my two year old baby. She’s pretty sassy and has gotten over a lot of her shyness, so maybe she just realized she didn’t need that curtain to hide behind anymore.
Unrelated: Yes, I realize it isn’t Christmas 2009 anymore. The problem with someone like me putting up a date specific header is that inevitably I won’t keep up with it. I’m like that guy who doesn’t take his Christmas lights down until July. Sorry.
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