Misha at 2 am

Misha returned late Sunday night (early Monday morning) from a weekend trip with her dad to visit Great Grandma Andrews in Mt. Shasta, CA. In her words, she was "one lucky duck". They had a fantastic time, but I knew she was glad to be home when I helped her in to bed at 2 am. I walked into her room as Chris quietly removed her jacket and shoes and pulled her into my arms. She started to sob. "Why are you crying sweetheart?" Her whispered response, "I'm just so happy to see you." Ahh my Misha. You do my heart good.

Patience

The other day Kristen was becoming frustrated with her sisters when she blurted out, "I'm losing your patience!"

Another Fantastic Bread Recipe

So I am still experimenting with bread recipes to find my ultimate favorite. I think this one is even better than the last recipe and the time component is decreased from about 3 1/2 hrs to 1 1/2 hrs. I'm not sure who Lacey is, but her recipe is a keeper.

Lacey's Basic White Bread

5 1/2 cups hot water (hot to touch, not enough to burn)
1 1/2 cups oil
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup dry powdered milk
3/4 cup mashed potatoes flakes
2 T. dough enhancer
2 T. vital wheat gluten
2 T. salt
2 T. SAF yeast
12 - 16 cups bread flour

Pour water into bowl. Add 6 cups flour, dough enhancer, gluten, powdered milk, dried mashed potatoes, oil, applesauce, honey and yeast. Use "M' (momentary) switch (Bosch) and mix well.

Add additional 5 cups flour and salt. Turn to speed 2, continue adding flour 1/4 cup at a time until dough pulls away from side of mixing bowl. Knead on speed 2 for 5 minutes.

Oil or grease hands and counter. Divide dough in equal parts. Put into greased bread pans and let rise, (no more than 20 minutes). Bake at 325 - 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. Makes 5 loaves of bread, or 3 loaves of bread plus cinnamon rolls and a pizza. Bake cinnamon rolls only 20 minutes.

My notes: As per my friend's recommendation, this loaf works great as a 100% whole wheat recipe. Because of my smaller mixer, I halve the recipe and it still works well. Today, I also added 3/8 cup of ground flax seed and for one of the loaves, about a 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds . Have to wait and see how this batch turns out.

She's Got a Plan

So Amy has been thinking about her Halloween costume this year for some time. I told her to draw it out for me one night as she tried to explain it. She wanted to be a gymnast/dancer. Last night for Activity Days, she got a chance to showcase her creation at a Halloween Costume Show. (I'm thinking she would have just as much fun wearing this costume to church as well.)





Of course, makeup was a given. Any costume she dreams up will involve makeup.

Hard Lesson to Learn

Misha has had a friend coming over to play the past couple of weeks. It was fun for her, because normally friends come to play with Amy and Misha (heavy emphasis on Amy). Misha's friend would come over after school and stay for an hour or so. She would usually say, "My mom says I have already watched all of my tv for today so I can't watch shows or movies, and I have sore ankles, knees (whatever) so let's not jump on the trampoline. But I can play the Wii. My mom didn't say anything about not playing the Wii." Misha was excited to have a friend over, but began to be frustrated when said friend never wanted to do anything but play the Wii.

I guess Misha figured it out at school the other day and called her "friend" on it. The little girl blew up and said she hated Misha and never wanted to talk/see her again. (Kind of hard since they are in the same class.) Misha was upset about being used, and I was proud of her for standing up for herself. Still it was a hard lesson to learn.

Kristen and Shopping

Kristen and I were shopping at Target this afternoon. She found a delightfully cute blue ballet outfit and asked if we could get it. I told her no. She snuck off and wouldn't answer me while I called for her until....she had finished removing all of her clothes and had transformed into a ballerina. (I wished that I had my camera with me). She was even more disappointed when I asked her to remove the outfit and put her clothes back on. A mini tantrum ensued until I told her we would have to go home if she kept it up. She begrudgingly removed the blue ballet dress and changed back into her pink skirt and butterfly shirt. I am certain there were many a mom chuckling as they walked past us. I think they were hoping that none of the "shopping with a three-year old karma" rubbed off on them.

Basement

We finished our basement a year and a half ago and have loved having the extra space. Since that time, however, I have rearranged furniture here and there and back again trying to find the right spatial arrangement for a room with a fireplace in the corner. Chris would smile and keep on walking by to his office, letting me move furniture to my heart's content. But, it was never content. There was just something wrong with the layout and no amount of furniture moving was going to solve the problem--the tv and all of the electronic equipment were on the wrong wall! It made the entire room look squatty and it wasn't possible to place the couch, the loveseat and the recliner so that they had a good view of the tv while keeping the fireplace as a focal point as well. I know, dilemma!





So one day a couple of weeks ago, Chris stopped smiling and groaned when I told him my plan. I could move the furniture around and back again and it didn't involve him, but when I explained that I wanted the tv relocated, then I encroached on his territory and time. BUT IT WAS ALL WRONG!!! Couldn't you understand that?

So, with grumbling and grumbling, he kindly moved all the wires to the electronics for me. It was a rather involved process as we had to match and label all the wires for the surround sound system. BUT, with the new furniture placement the room looks bigger; the furniture will not be moved for a long time.

Now, I just wish that he would say, "Wow, that does make a difference. I can see why you wanted to change it" AND sincerely mean it.

Funny Things They've Said...

Misha has more aptly named cankers--crankers.

Kristen, in her best Elmer Fudd imitation will say, "Be bery bery quiet." (She's never even seen Elmer Fudd before and imitates him superbly). Along the same lines, Kristen often has a chance to say "That's not bery nice." when her sisters around.

Appropriate has become a word that we say rather often at our house, most often in the context of, "That's not appropriate." Kristen can't quite say all of the syllables and will say, "That's not appropret." As least she knows right from wrong--most of the time.

Size Pretty

This entry is much more complimentary toward me. Kristen climbed up behind me on my computer chair and began to play with my hair. She then pulled out a foot-long ruler and proceeded to measure my back. Why? Does a three-year old need a reason? No, but I think I loved her best when she said, "Mom, you're a size pretty."

Bobblehead Mommy

How often do you hear the words (or want to hear the words) "Mom looks like a bobblehead"? Chris was driving up the hill to our house the other day and started weaving back and forth in our lane and driving crazy--in a safe way, of course. The girls in the backseat thought it was hilarious and shouted, "Do it again. Again!" Chris didn't need much encouragement and complied. Amy laughed, "Mom looks like a bobblehead!" Chris drove crazy some more so he could checkout my head action. He swerved and my head jerked to the right. He swerved again and my head jerked to the left. Sure enough she's right and they all laughed.

Geesh Misha

Conversation with Amy and Misha as they head out the door for school:

Misha: "Mom will you close the [garage] door?"

Me: "Don't I always?"

Misha to Amy: "She might not always be able to close the door. She might die. She's 40."

Looking Back: Funny Moments from Two Years Ago

September 2006: I made the girls play dough today. I could hear them throwing it against something so I go to the living room where they are standing suspiciously next to the carpet. "Stop throwing the play dough on the floor!" "We're not." Amy answers. I know they are throwing it somewhere and it takes only 2 seconds to figure it out. "Are you throwing it on the ceiling?" Amy nods sheepishly. "Stop!"

September 2006: One night I asked Misha to call Amy from the basement for dinner. She yelled, of course, while standing at the top of the stairs. As she walked in to the kitchen, she remarked, “Whew, I had to dig deep for that one.” I laughed and then asked, “Well, do you think you could dig a little deeper and call Daddy now?”

October 2006: On Thursday of last week, Misha came home with some scissors that her teacher, Mrs. Stephen, had given to her. I’m not sure what kind of sob story she gave her teacher so that she could have a pair of scissors at home, but nevertheless, she brought some home. I didn’t really think much of it until I walked over to talk to her as she sat watching tv and noticed pieces of hair on her sweatshirt. “What did you do?” I asked incredulously. She immediately burst into tears because she knew she had done something wrong. I took her to the bathroom and looked over the damage that she had done. She could have done a lot worse, but still her hair was going to have to be cut. And it was just starting to get longer. I went back to the pillow she had been laying on and lifted up the smaller pillow next to her. There sat a rather large pile of blond hair. I almost started crying. She was crying. “Ahhh Misha.” I took the handful of hair upstairs to show Chris and his mouth dropped when he realized what it was.

He came downstairs with me and held Misha who was still crying. There wasn’t much to do to salvage her hair without cutting the rest to be as short as the sides, but I didn’t want to try and even it up. So, while Kristen slept, Misha and I headed in to town for a haircut. It looks quite cute on her. When I got in the car after the haircut, I told her that her hair looked really cute, BUT “if you ever cut it again, I will have them shave you bald.” Two down, one more to go with Kristen.

We're Not Going Home!

That has become Kristen's mantra anytime we go anywhere. She just likes to get out and especially likes to go shopping with her mom. If I have a couple of errands to run, she'll say "We're not going home" every time we leave one store for another. Usually I say, "No, not yet, but we are going to go home later." She's quick to inform me that we're not, and I'm quick to inform her that I'm the one with the keys and am driving. "Hmmmph." She hasn't figured out how to top that one yet.

Neighborhood Block Party

Our friends invited us to their mountain property for a cul-de-sac block party. Our house is not technically in the cul-de-sac; they must like us. The highlight for the kids was a zip line. They spent hours riding it. In the beginning, Kristen was pretty nervous riding the zip line. She clung to the rope for dear life and Chris hung on to the rope under the seat and ran with her to the end. By the end of the afternoon, Amy would get Kristen set up on the seat and off she'd go into Chris' waiting arms. They had a blast.









Only the kids enjoyed the zip line experience. Chris tried it once and it was quickly determined that anyone over 100 lbs was too big! Zac, from the cul-de-sac, was the only casualty as he let go of the rope too quickly and the seat bounced back up and smacked him in the forehead. He had a nice little goose egg.

The adults had great laughs over our blackened hot dogs, Rob B. getting dumped by the camp chair and root beer subsequently pouring down Rob's leg.



Our kids were excited to go to the river, thinking that they would get to "play" (interpret that as swim) in it. It was rather chilly on the mountain, so when neighbor friends Lexi and Morgan peeled off their clothes revealing swim suits beneath, I only wished for warmer clothes for me. My girls were threatened with walking home if they got wet.

He Needs Hair

I have always been against drawing or coloring on toys. I remember visiting friends as a little girl and being turned off by the pen markings all over their dolls. I never drew on my dolls. So when Kristen brought Mr. Potato Head downstairs to have his little backdoor fixed, I noticed that she had scribbled with pencil all over Mr. Potato Head's head. "Kristen," I say in a very stern voice, "We don't draw on our toys." Her reply, "But Mom, he needs hair."

Sorry for the shiny glow, Mr. Potato Head is not very photogenic.

The Evolution of Misha

Just wanted to show the evolution of Misha's hair color throughout the summer. Let's begin with the before Misha back in May (also fun to notice how her front teeth have made an appearance as well):



June and being blonde (such a shock to see this head of hair walking around my house):



About six weeks later--the skunk look--though still darling:



The first color attempt. Cute, but it just didn't look right to me:



The latest, and final, color change:



The lighting is not the best but she's a bit darker now to finally match her roots. And...she has front teeth too.

She LOVES Calvin and Hobbes

I stumbled onto a brainchild one day at the library--Calvin and Hobbes for Misha. And she LOVES reading the books. Already she has lamented, "Why doesn't he still write more?" She is on her fourth book in a week (one of which was 250 pages long) and would spend every extra minute reading if she could. She has even started reading while she is eating her breakfast. I love that she is so enthralled that she spends over an hour reading every day. That is what happened to me when I caught the reading bug as a young child. Hopefully we can find her something equally fun to read after we've exhausted all of the Calvin and Hobbes editions.

You're Nothing

We were discussing education over dinner tonight, mentioning that a Bachelors degree usually takes about 4 years, a Masters degree about 2 more years after that, and if you want a Doctorate, it might take you another 4 to 8 years. Misha asked, "What comes after a Doctorate?" Chris and I responded that there wasn't a degree beyond a Doctorate unless you wanted more Doctorate degrees. Amy summed it up as "there's nothing beyond a Doctorate." Misha thought she was setting a high standard when she said, "When I grow up I want to be a Nothing."

The Bread Recipe

So, I've had a few people ask me if I found a good bread recipe that met my criteria. I was given a number of recipes, some similar to the one I was already using, some quite different. I tried one of the recipes sent to me by my friend Deni, and I am so impressed. Let me preface its introduction by saying it does require a bit of a time commitment--almost four hours--BUT it is made of 100% whole wheat flour, it is sweet and moist, it is not nearly as crumbly as my other recipe, and Chris thinks it tastes great. If I had a Bosch mixer (hint hint Chris) I could make this recipe in its original form; using my KitchenAid requires me to halve it. This is the halved recipe:

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

1 7/8 cups water

1 egg

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup oil

3 3/4 cups whole wheat flour


Combine in mixer with dough hook and mix until uniform. Measure the honey in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup and pour most in without scraping bottom. Mix, then let stand for 1 hour in mixer.


To measuring cup with honey remaining in bottom, add:

1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 Tbsp Saf brand yeast (I didn't use Saf, and it worked fine).

Mix very gently with fork then let rest. When it bubbles up to 2 cup mark, add to mixer along with:

1 3/4 cups flour (actual for me is 2 3/4 cups)
1/2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp dough enhancer*
1 Tbsp wheat gluten*


The dough enhancer and wheat gluten were not included in the original recipe. Knead for 7 minutes. Add additional flour until dough leaves sides of bowl and clings to dough hook (about a 1/2 cup for my dough). Knead 1 more minute. Remove dough from mixer, grease bowl, and return dough to bowl. Let rise 40 minutes or until double in size, punch down, and let rise again until double. I place my mixing bowl in the oven with the light turned on.


Divide dough into two loaves and place in greased bread pans (I used 5 x 9). Let rise 20 minutes or until top is 1" above pan. Bake 32 minutes at 350*. Remove from oven and butter tops.

I made a few changes and had to adjust flour for the elevation in Colorado, but the loaves turned out great--very tasty. I want to try adding other grains such as cracked wheat and oatmeal and maybe some nuts or raisins. I'll let you know how that goes.

Say No to Underwear

Amy, Kristen and I had a Girls Night Out as Misha was invited to a birthday party and Chris went on a father and son camp out--and, no, we don't have a son. As we were sitting in Anthony's Pizza and Pasta, one of the workers was delivering a pizza to a table. His pants were noticeably not covering his underwear. Amy happened to notice him and pronounced, "That is so gross when you have to see boy's underwear. I'm sure glad Dad doesn't do that." Made me smile at the thought.



This is not the actual culprit, but the sight is pretty much what our eyes were assailed with. I would just love to walk up behind these guys and give their pants a yank.

Who Taught Her That?

As I was leaving Kristen's room tonight and turning out the light, she kindly asked, "Will you close the closet door?" "Sure." I replied. I wasn't prepared for her next statement. "I don't want the monsters to get out."

Shoot! None of my girls have had such fears or ideas even until now. Hopefully we can nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand. Any ideas? Might just have to be using a little "bibbity bobbity boo" power on those monsters.

Labor Day Hike

What is Labor Day if your children aren't laboring a little? It wasn't as unpleasant as they made it out to be. Chris wanted to go hike up behind Chautauqua Park in Boulder. For those not familiar with the area, Chautauqua Park is located at the base of Boulder’s Flatirons. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a local landmark. It was also a busy place. We circled the parking lot twice before finding a spot on a side street. The weather was pristine, the day was beautiful and my kids were....whining. Come on. You didn't expect me to say cooperating did you?



Misha took a picture to prove I was along for the hike. If you lean your head slightly to the left, it'll look as though we are standing upright.



The first part of the hike was a bit strenuous but the walk down was quite easy. Great for some fun picture moments.

Darn Mosquitoes

My girls went out to play on Friday afternoon and two of them came back covered in mosquito bites. Poor Kristen has 10 mosquito on her left arm alone!



She has a huge bite under her right arm that is as big around as her fist.



Her sheets this morning were covered in little blood spots. Misha has four or five good-sized bites on her body, but Amy didn't get bitten at all. Her reply as to why, "They must have been having a party on Kristen!" Party indeed, but more of a blood bath I'd say.

Blond No More

Misha is blond no more, but I am sure that she'll still find plenty of ways to have fun. It was a long process this color changing stuff. I had no idea how long it would take. First, our stylist, Erica, had to apply a filler to Misha's hair so that it would actually accept the color.



Next came the actual color, but after sitting for 15 to 20 minutes watching the color do nothing when it should have normally begun to make a change within minutes, Erica decided the developer was bad and we got to start with the color again.



You could almost instantly tell the difference in Misha's hair as it began to change.



It was a fun experience for the summer, and Misha loved being blond, but I thought, "I've got my Misha back." Top it off with a great haircut and she looks pretty cute.



Amy asked if she could have her colored and I replied, "You can when you have the money to pay for it!" That might be awhile.

In Search Of

A bread recipe that:

calls for 100% whole wheat flour (no white flour)
is moist
doesn't crumble when you slice it
has great flavor
can easily have cracked wheat, flax, nuts, or raisins added to it
freezes well

Does anyone have a recipe that meets these criteria? I have used a recipe from the Wondermill website. It has a pretty good flavor but I wouldn't mind if it were sweeter, and it seems to dry out quickly and crumble a lot. Plus, if I freeze it, it is even more crumbly and dry. My family is pretty gung-ho for this recipe fresh from the oven, but their enthusiasm wanes. I have tried a lot of recipes and my latest attempt went straight for the garbage. I need a recipe that is tried and true and particularly adaptable to the altitude in Colorado.

Picture from Wondermill.com