Halloween is Coming!!!

So I've never done much for Halloween, but this year is going to be different. A week ago we went to the pumpkin patch with Roger's kindergarten class. Both the boys had lots of fun. One of the high school helpers even volunteered to take Allen through some of the activities so I wouldn't have to chase him around. It was really nice. So we are planning to carve those pumpkins, a big step for us. :) Last year we meant to but never got around to it. I don't think Roger will let us forget it this year.

Roger has also been asking me about putting up scary decorations. I found some great ideas online, but Roger just wanted spiders and ghosts. For some reason he didn't think bats were scary enough.

The other day when the fevers were slow we sat around the table and made paper cobwebs and spiders. We ran out of time to put them up before bed, so the next morning my sick children laid on the couch and watched me tape them up around the fireplace with some extra batting cobwebs. Roger was able to help with our little ghosts though.

I have now officially decorated for Halloween. I'm sure there will be a few more projects in the making, what with costumes and things. The children are on the mend from their illness, but lucky mom caught it in the process. Not fun. So these projects will have to wait a few days, but hopefully there will still be time enough to get them done before Halloween. And much to my surprise, Will has not been disappointed that his family is getting into the holiday.

(PS-Pictures to follow when I can find the cable for my camera.)

Sick Times - Fun Times

My kids always have a little too much fun when they are sick... kind of. Despite fevers and feeling tired and icky, they get to watch movies, drink soda and juice, eat jello, and not have to clean up at all. Granted, with all the movie watching, the house stays a little cleaner. I think one of the first things they say when they are sick is, "Mommy, I don't feel very good. Can I have some soda?"

Roger has had a fever. Hopefully its not THE flu or anything like that. Who knows. It seems like everyone is getting sick that we know. He slept a lot better last night, though, which was definitely nice for me. And today, no fever, but we are playing it safe. The rest of us are washing hands like crazy. I'm trying to keep things disinfected, and I'm gargling salt water and doing my nasal rinses to avoid whatever is going around.

I have been knitting like crazy during movie time, which has been fun for me. I figure since we can't leave the house I might as well do something I enjoy. I'll have to post more on the knitting later, but I'll just say I forgot how much I like it. It's nice to pick up old hobbies.

So hopefully our sick days will be over soon, but at least we are trying to make the most of it.

Freezing Bread

Alright, maybe this should be a no-brainer, but for me freezing homemade bread has always kind of freaked me out. I think I have soggy bread issues from somewhere. Anyhow, I got a new bread recipe the other day that I wanted to try out, but it makes LOTS of bread. My friend said to just wrap the rest of the loaves in plastic wrap twice, and they freeze just fine. So I tried it out.

Making the bread was a story in and of itself. It is not a double rise recipe, which is what I prefer, but I did have to let it sit and "bubble" at 2 different points. I tried making it in my mixer, which is a mini-Bosch, and I thought it could handle the capacity. Well, at one of the "bubbling" parts, I set the timer to let it set for the appropriate amount of time and left the room. A little while later my husband called to let me know that the bread was exploding! Seriously! It was bubbling out of the bowl, onto the counter, and onto the floor. I had exploding bread dough. I've never seen anything quite like it. So I had to transfer it to my largest mixing bowl and then proceed to knead the dough by hand(not my favorite thing). I got things under control and eventually I ended up with 4 beautiful loaves of bread(the recipe can make more loaves, but I made mine pretty big). Hooray!

I took 2 and froze them, knowing that fresh bread doesn't last too long in our house. So last night I took out one of the loaves to un-thaw overnight. I put it on a cooling rack(a tip I got from a friend a long time ago) so that no moisture would build up on the bottom(not sure if this even happens, but I have soggy bread issues so I took the extra precaution). This morning I sliced into the loaf, and it was just as moist and fresh as the other loaves I had not frozen. Texture entirely entact. I am so excited I had to blog about it. So now I know that instead of having to make bread often, I just need to make lots of loaves and freeze the extra for homemade bread all the time! Yeah!

So if you have a bread recipe you like, make lots so you can freeze the extra. But you probably already do, and I'm just a bit slow in this regard. :)

Mealtime Togetherness

This morning at breakfast I asked Roger to say the prayer. One of the things he mentioned in his prayer was that we could have a good time talking while we ate our breakfast. This made me think about some things.

1. Sometimes I feel like I don't do enough as a mom to prepare my kids for the world at large. This made me feel like I am doing a few things right.

2. I try to always eat meals with our kiddos. Maybe not the most adult conversation while Will is at work, and sometimes I feel like I could pull my hair out with all the silliness my boys produce at the table, but at least we are together.

3. The kids obviously appreciate the fact that we eat our meals together.

I love being a mom. It is hard to stay home sometimes and do all the mundane tasks, but I am here for my kids and apparently they notice and appreciate it. We have good and bad times together. This weekend as we were listening to General Conference, there were lots of good talks and many themes, but one I did notice was the importance of being consistent with our kids and keeping the lines of communication open with them. I know I'm not a perfect mom, but I'm glad I can be a mom to my kids and be here for them when they need me. They are our future, and I just hope I can do right by them.