Leap Day achievements

Thanks to Uncle Ben's "thought provoking" post about February 29 - Leap Day - I decided a clean house and finished laundry would be a nice achievement for the extra day we have this month - so here's my house at 11 am this morning...........ahhhhh!

clean living room

clean kitchen - floors, clean tablecloth and straightened pantry shelves

clean kitchen counter

empty laundry basket

Thankfulness & Joy

I was reading this morning and wanted to share some of the thoughts from a book I was reading by Debi Pearl -

"The joy of the Lord is my strength." "Give thanks, always"
Thankful people have a view of life that begins somewhere deep inside their souls and outside circumstances just can't mar their joy...........Joy begins with thankfulness..........Quite often our attitudes hang in the balance; by making a conscious choice, we can tip our souls into dark moods of complaining or into thankfulness and praise.......Thankfulness is how you think; joy is the abundance it produces........Learn to enjoy life. Be thankful. Smile.........when you catch yourself becoming irritated or disturbed at circumstances, stop & laugh at the little things that steal your peace. Count your blessings and learn to be appreciative...........Thanksgiving produces joy. Open your mouth & begin to thank God for his grace towards you. Thank Him for every good thing He has brought into your life. Thank Him, thank Him and thank Him again.........Joy is the result of a thankful heart. A thankful heart is the result of a person who decides to give thanks.......... So say, "Thank you, God, for........."

Brothers

The older they get the more they look "like themselves" - but it is fun seeing them in the same outfits - Caeden is about 8 months old and Colm is 11 months.

Vote for me!

Vote for my cute kids..............yes, I know - there are 2 of each of them, but I just couldn't decide which one to pick!

Colm - so happy

Caeden - oh, so handsome

Colm - more please

Caeden - my lil' man

Okay, I cannot get the links to work - but if you are bored and want to - go to www.greatamericanphotocontest.com and just search their names.......their names are unique enough they should come up pretty quick and you can vote for them that way.

Profound thought from Caeden

At lunch yesterday he remarked..............
"Beans are good. Coffee is hot. Snow is white."
Rather random thoughts and makes you wonder what he was thinking, or if he was just making conversation!

He didn't make it thru lunch before naptime today.................this is like the second time in his entire life he has fallen asleep at the table!

The other day I found him in the entry way - he was "scraping" the grout of the tile with the dustpan. Not sure what he was trying to accomplish, but he told me he was "helping mama clean" - well, I guess that is good, I had no intentions of cleaning the grout anytime soon!

And here he is doing that chore that little boys find so fun...........

Bread

Here's my new bread recipe that I have been playing with. We are still working on getting it perfected - you know the good ol' store bought white bread taste with the wholesome goodness of homemade all wheat bread!
So far, I think the major improvement has been in the sponging process. The recipe itself is pretty straight forward and normal.

Combine 1 1/2 cups WW flour, 1 tsp yeast, 1 3/4 cups warm water in bowl or bosch and mix for 10 minutes. The mixture should look somewhat like pancake batter when it is done. Let it sit 3-12 hours - I have been just mixing this after cleaning up dinner dishes and letting it sit all night. The one time I let it just sit 3-4 hours, I don't think it turned out as good.

Add 2 TB wheat gluten, 2 tsp salt, 2 TB oil, 2 TB honey and 1 egg (optional). Add flour till dough pulls away from sides if using the bosch or till it is making a dough if you are just mixing it - maybe another 2 1/2 - 3 cups. I have also add a cup or 2 of white flour if you want to do a white and wheat combination. Mix for 10 minutes and then let rise till double - about an hour/hour and a half.
Knead again briefly and shape into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan.
Let rise again - another hour or so. Bake 350 for 40 minutes, remove from pan and cook another 2-3 minutes and let cool on a rack.

Caeden watching the bread knead

How many kids do you know that eat their bread with a knife and fork? He was so intent on cutting it nicely and enjoying his bread!

This is Colm's new favorite food.........I am having a hard time getting him to eat anything else once he starts on the bread!

Make a postcard - it's easy!

A bridge

This bridge is for you Auntie Em. Caeden built it and wanted to save it for you. But you know how long that would last, so we opted for taking a picture of it. He is thrilled with his new bridge building talents.

(this is more of a "why are you bothering me" look, but it sure is cute.)

Happy Birthday Emily!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Auntie Em!
Happy Birthday to you!

(i know this isn't the greatest picture, but they were having so much fun holding hands they wouldn't lay still!)

Eating

Colm is quite the eater - he has found he loves to be able to fed himself, though thankfully he doesn't mind me feeding him as well. Here he is throughly enjoying some dinner. Most days he eats as much as Caeden does.

Here's a couple of Caeden as well. He is enjoying some pasta with cheese on it. One of his favorites. We have found he eats better if he doesn't snack too much in between meals. This morning he wouldn't eat breakfast and boy was he hungry by lunchtime! Not only did he eat a plateful of ravioli but he asked for the oatmeal left from breakfast and ate that too!

thoughts from Caeden

Caeden is usually good for an amusing chuckle at some point during the day........often mimicking something he has heard or been told - here's a couple recent ones!

As he was playing in the living room, along the fireplace he had gathered together a pile of wood scraps and pieces and told me "these are wood chips, don't even think about eating them" - I wonder how many times he has tried them and decided they really don't taste very good!

The other morning I got him dressed and these were the socks I gave him to put on - as he was putting them on he said "these socks sure are stripy".......

I asked him to put his boots away and later found this -
please note the positions of both pairs of boots.

Being 2 1/2 sure is fun!

the worker man

Caeden has been playing "going to work" and making all sorts of things. Here he is this morning - he loaded up his tools in the back of his truck.............


Checking to make sure they are all still there..................


here's the load...........could only get 3 tools to stay in there!


Lost one..............got to re-load everything now.................

Waving bye..................


He then headed off the the living room to sand some wood and make me some cabinets - he'll be useful to have around when he gets old enough to really use some tools!

Enjoying breakfast

Colm LOVED his first taste of french toast this morning.........I was giving it to him piece by piece and he finally just picked up the bowl and helped himself.

And he has found a nice storage spot for his paci when he isn't using it!

And in case you were wondering, he is feeling much better today. He slept pretty good last night, had trouble getting to sleep but once he was down he slept till 4:30 when he decided he was staying up. Then was ready for a nap at 6 am. Oh well, I was thankful for most of a night's sleep!

If you are looking for a good book to read I would highly recommend this one. It is a fascinating story. I read it a few years ago and throughly enjoyed it. Thought of it again got it out of the library last week and am reading it again and enjoying it just as much. It's a long book, but an easy read and very captivating -

Sick day

Colm's been sick since Saturday - we are pretty sure it's just the good ol' cold, but the poor boy is not happy. He is really clingy and is fine as long as he is being held. He's got a stuffed up nose, hacking cough and fever. He just doesn't look very happy does he?

Here's a few random pictures of the boys -

Colm doing "touchdown"

Caeden and Colm

Colm - 10 months - he is beginning to get a little chubby - and I think he is gaining weight daily!