Best Family Ensemble

We had a busy Halloween Eve.

1.The kids had their usual school parade, and it was nice only having Annabelle to look after. The kids were walking really fast so I barely got pictures of my kids. Nathan's class had a little presentation after the parade so I got some better pictures of Nathan then. They just recited some poems and songs.

2. We went to Greg's office party for a cubicle trick-or-treat. We got so many compliments on our costumes. It was really fun to have matching costumes. A lot of Greg's co-workers didn't recognize him at first (too much hair).

3. We had our ward/neighborhood dinner and trunk-or-treat later that night and this time it was me that no one recognized. I would say hi to people and they really had no idea who I was. Our family one the award for best family ensemble. I doubt we will ever be able to top it. Being that our van is blue I couldn't help but make a Mystery Machine sign.

It was a long day, but in the end I think we all had fun. We will dress up tonight for a little bit, just to show some friends that haven't seen us yet.

The First Snow

Of course it decided to snow on Annabelle's field trip day. It didn't start coming down until we were safe inside a cafe sipping hot chocolate, but it was VERY cold. We all decided to bypass the maze and play for a few minutes before picking out a pumpkin. We had lots of fun despite the cold.

When the boys got home all they wanted to do was play in the snow. I even let Nathan put off homework so he could go and enjoy (something I don't completely understand since I didn't grow up playing in the snow). They had a blast with some neighbor friends. I even pulled on my boots and headed out for a little. I made a snow man and loved how it was perfect snowman snow. This was my 2nd successful snowman and when Nathan knocked its head off I was quite bummed.

While the snow was a fun diversion for a couple hours it left my kitchen floor wet and messy (I need to create a snow clothes area in the garage-hint hint Greg) and now Annabelle has a yucky cold. I am pretty sure it is only a cold, but I kept her home from preschool today. Hopefully she will mend quickly.

Mother's Intuition

As I tried to take a nap yesterday (thanks to Ryan's awful sleepless night) I was trying to think of how to help him. This goofy picture is what I came up with. My kids laughed like crazy when Greg recently showed them some dancing baby on the Internet. So, I thought I should make the scary lizard less scary by making him a dancing, pink underwear wearing, top hat and cane holding lizard.
And it totally worked. Ryan slept through the night last night and when I asked him about his dreams this morning he laughed and said he had a great dream about a dancing lizard. I hope we have heard the last of the scary lizards.

French Bread

Yesterday I tried the below recipe and was amazed at how easy it was. When I was doing my last stir down of the bread I realized that I had forgotten 2 TB of oil. But is still worked and it still tasted great!! I hope the oil doesn't mess it up next time.

Easy French Bread

(from http://doublebatch.wordpress.com)

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 packages (2 tablespoons) active dry yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (shortening works too)
6 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Directions:
In large mixing bowl combine warm water and sugar. Sprinkle yeast over top; allow to soften.

Add salt, oil and 3 cups of flour. Beat well with heavy spoon (or dough hook of mixer). Add enough remaining flour so that dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Leave spoon in batter and allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Stir down with spoon; allow dough to rest another 10 minutes and stir down again. Repeat until dough has been stirred down five times. *

Turn dough out onto floured board. Knead just enough to coat dough with flour so it can be handled. Divide dough into 2 parts.

Roll each portion of dough into a rectangle of about 9×12 inches. Roll dough up, starting from the long side, pinch edges of the loaf to seal. Arrange seam side down on a large greased baking sheet. Repeat with second portion of dough.

Cover lightly and allow to rise for 30 minutes. With a very sharp knife, cut three gashes at an angle in the top of each loaf. Brush the entire surface with the egg wash (1 eg beaten slightly with 1 tablespoon of water.)

Bake at 400 for 25 minutes or until brown. Cool on racks.

*I always forget how many times I’ve turned the KitchenAid on and stirred the dough down. My solution is to take a spoon out of the drawer every time 10 more minutes have passed and I’ve turned the mixer on. When it’s time for the 5th spoon I know I’m done!

Holes & All-Nighters

Greg and I have really enjoyed reading longer books with our boys. We have read Wizard of Oz, Stuart Little, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Witches, Narnia, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, and probably a few more. Our latest book was Holes and the boys LOVED it. Some of the books have pictures, this one did not, but they were still as into it as ever. Most of these books have a movie that we have watched after reading the book. We watched Holes last week and ever since Ryan has been afraid of yellow spotted lizards. Last night was the worse. He woke up around 2:30 and had a bloody nose and needed to pee. Greg and I nicely helped him out, put the humidifier back in his room and since he said he was afraid of the dark I said a prayer with him and then sang him "I am a Child of God." Little did I know that I was in for a night. Every 5-10 minutes he would come back to our room to tell us he was scared. We started out nice, and then we were both so tired that we got crankier and crankier. Finally at 4 AM!! Greg let him crawl into our bed and we all get a fitful night sleep. It was horrible! I can't do that again. He is in his room now trying to take a nap since of course he has been grouchy all day. Any ideas of what we can do??