Grandma and Grandpa F Visit

Grandma and Grandpa F came for a visit for Easter weekend. We had a good time, though both of them got sick and they had to go home a little early. We were sad about that, but we did have a nice time together before the sickness hit.

The home re-hunt

The hunt ...

Catching up!

Sorry that (once again), it's been a while since I last blogged. We've had quite the busy few weeks!
So ... let's begin with Palm Sunday and work our way towards now.

Irish Brown Bread

Hey everyone!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day (note: I was planning on posting this then, but the days got away from me) I am posting my new favorite recipe. I got it from a great parents' magazine that I got as a gift for Christmas. Greg and the boys love it. ( I also have the "white" version, if you'd rather do that for a change, just email me and I'll give it to you).

This hearty, dense loaf is great with soups, stews, chili, salad ... I dunno, I think that Greg and Gabe would appreciate it with steak or spaghetti! (So. last night, Gabe came to the table and said, "Mom, where is the meat? I wanted meat." I replied, "We are having spaghetti with no meat tonight." He said, "Oh. Alright then." Evan grunted, clapped his hands and looked at the bread.)

IRISH BROWN BREAD

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbs. sugar
2 1/2 cups buttermilk or sour milk


First: Combine all the ingredients except the sour milk in a large bowl and stir them with your hands (hence also Gabriel's favorite new recipe!)


Second: Make a well in the mixture and pour in 1 1/2 cups of the milk. Then continue to mix with your hands and add the rest of the buttermilk. (No pictures here, it was a crazy mess - but a fun one!)

Third: Dust your hands with flour (I recommend washing them first because of step 2) and shape the dough into a ball. (It will be very sticky and wet) Put the dough ball onto a cookie sheet dusted with flour. Flatten the ball just a bit.


Fourth: With a knife, score a deep X into the top of the ball.


Fifth: Bake the bread in a preheated 400 degree oven until it's golden brown and sounds hollow. (The recipe claims that this takes 50 minutes, however it only takes 30 minutes in my oven - which I am guessing is overly hot then?)




Sixth: When it is done, wrap the loaf in a towel to keep the edges from getting so crusty that they cut your mouth upon biting. This also helps to keep the loaf warm until dinner.

Fixing the Massage

I thought you'd like to see Gabe fixing our massager. Isn't he cute?

Home

Just to let you know, baby Joshua went to heaven today. He went peacefully and not in pain. Please continue to pray for the Sams. Thanks.

Prayer

Hi. I just wanted to pass along a prayer request. My sister Anna's friend had a little baby boy the same time as my sister. He had a very serious birth defect and the doctors did not expect him to survive birth, but by God's grace, he has lived over 2 months. This past week, Jesus has been calling him home. He will be with Him very soon. Please lift up the Sams. This is a very difficult time for them.

Wordless Wednesday

The Great Diaper Pail Adventure

Here are some pictures of our little busy man. He even fell asleep sitting up! He's crawling everywhere and exploring everything. I've been calling him the "tissue-shredder" and you can imagine why. He also eats what he shreds. We're having a lot of fun with him.

Wanna hear about our morning?
Today we went on a road trip to find a diaper pail. Ours broke some time ago, and because it doesn't latch anymore, their room is getting really stinky. We looked online and found that Walmart, Target and Babies R Us all had the same one we already have, for about $16. A few days ago we stopped at Walmart to see if they had it, and it was sold out, of course. So we went nextdoor (Target - aren't we lucky to have them right next to each other?). Theirs was sold out to. So this morning, we looked again online, saw that BRU had them, and decided to drive to Latham (20 minutes) to pick one up. We got there and the one they had was missing the inside piece (the part that makes it not stink!), so ... we again went nextdoor (there's another Target there!). They were also sold out. So we just figured we'd go online when we got home and order one. We headed out the car. As I was getting into my side of the car I noticed that there was a sizeable bulge in the front tire, so I went around to the back - another bulge. I remembered that I hit a doozy of a pothole on Wednesday ... needless to say, the car was dangerous to drive. We needed 2 new tires. Because the back one wasn't quite as bad, Greg decided to change just the front one and attempt to drive home (by this time it was getting towards lunch and the troops were getting restless). Once he put on the donut, he realized that it was flat! AHHHHHH! So ... we called AAA to have it towed. They assured us that a tow truck would come, but that since there were 4 of us (and 2 were in carseats) we would have to find our own way home from there. I took the boys back into Target and found some lunch for them (this Target even has a Starbucks - not that we drink coffee, but it has a nice place to sit). When the tow truck came, Greg went with it back to Walmart to have the tires taken care of. We called our great friend Mary-Louise and she came to get me and the boys! Wait ... it's not over yet. Greg got to Walmart, he found out that we actually needed 4 tires (one was bald, 2 had bulges and the last was fine, but you can't get just 3 new tires, apparently you have to have them match as much as possible and the fine one had 2 years of wear)! Gulp. When we got home (thanks again to Mary-Louise!), we went online to order the diaper pail. Do you believe they want to charge $10 shipping on a $16 pail? I DON'T THINK SO! So, the boys' room is going to stink until they fill the shelves at Walmart, where our van is getting 4 brand new tires!
I think I am going to take a nap!

Sorry

Sorry that I haven't been posting lately. I somehow lost the USB cable that connects the camera to the computer. I've started a few posts, but not finished them, hoping I would find the cable. So far, I've also forgotten to mention this to Greg, who probably knows right where it is.
I should be back to posting soon!