Fallifying my blog

That probably isn't even a word is it? I thought not. That's ok-you know what I mean. Fall is right around the corner so I've gone and changed the look of my blog to match the upcoming season. I hope to do this on a regular basis so be prepared!

Could anything be more lovely?

Bagels!

These were very easy and they are really tasty! I may never go back to store bought bagels again. :o)

Dough Rising.

Shaping the bagels.

Boiling the bagels. I always thought this was the weirdest thing about bagels-them being boiled, and truly it was the strangest part about making them too!

Finished product. Very yummy!

Here is the recipe-The instructions are kind of long and make it seem more difficult than it really is but trust me, it is really quite simple!

Homemade Bagels
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 3/4 cups water, warm (100-110F)
4 cups bread flour (not all purpose)
1 tbsp salt
1 egg, for egg wash

In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) combine yeast, sugar and water. Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir in flour and salt. Mix dough thoroughly until it comes together in a large ball, pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Add an additional tablespoon of flour or water, if needed.
If kneading by hand, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until very smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If using a stand mixer, knead dough with the dough hook until elastic, about 8 minutes on a low speed. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil and preheat the oven to 400F.

When dough has risen, turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces (first quarters, then thirds). Shape each piece into a tight ball as illustrated below, pinching the corners together at the bottom of the piece of dough. When all the balls are shaped, let the dough rest for 30 minutes covered with a clean dish towel.

Once dough balls have rested, the bagel shape can be formed. Using your fingers, poke a hole through the center of each dough ball. Stretch out the dough into a ring with your fingers and be sure to make the hole a little larger than you want the finished bagel to have, as it will shrink slightly while the bagel is expanding during the baking process. Let bagels rest for about 10 minutes.

Working four at a time, drop the bagels carefully into the boiling water. Boil for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip and boil for an additional minute. Using a slotted spoon or strainer, transfer bagels to a clean towel to drain for a moment, then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining bagels.

Brush boiled bagels with lightly beaten egg (a pastry or bbq brush is a good tool for this) and bake for 20-24 minutes, until golden brown.
Cool completely on a wire rack.
Slice and toast to serve.

Makes 12 bagels.

Baking day

School starts in just 4 days so I'm trying to be ambitious and get some cleaning done. Well, when my kitchen starts looking clean I start getting an itch to bake (something I would like to just be part of my routine as it has been in the past) so baking I am. I've got a beautiful loaf of bread cooling on the counter and another not-so-beautiful loaf also cooling, but that one is a cinnamon loaf which will be used for french toast later this evening so that one doesn't need to be so pretty. ;o) I also have dough rising for my first try at making bagels. They look really easy and yummy so I'm excited to see how they will turn out. Hopefully I will have pictures of those up later.

In the meantime enjoy (and wish you could smell) these lovely pictures of homemade, fresh-from-the-oven bread!

Yum!!!

Tie Dying

Ok, so I wasn't smart enough to take pictures while we were doing it-just imagine lots of little girls watching, while Paul and I try to keep the dye on the shirts and not on everything else. Oh yeah, lots of fun. ;o)

Miss MadelineMiss Brianna

Miss Alyssa

ShelbyShelby holding Megan's. (I'll put a picture of Meg in hers up later-she's at the library)

Maddie holding Tessa's

Last day with the Sodens

Today our dear friends left for a season. Scott and Sara will be living with Sara's parents while Scott finishes up his schooling. Saying goodbye was a lot harder than I thought it would be-I will miss them more than I realized. Here are a few pictures from our last trip to the Old Country Buffet for awhile.

The girls after stuffing themselves silly!

Brianna and Zack. Look at their contented faces, there is nothing more fun for a kid than eating at the OCB!

Lissa and Andrew tickling Caleb. :o)

Miss Allie showing off her cuteness!

Andrew and Alyssa-Definitely a couple of hams.

You can't tell from this picture, but they are having one last fight before Andrew hits the road. Believe me-they do it well and often. :op

Goodbye for now Scott, Sara, Andrew and Allie. We will miss you but we know we will see you as often as we can. God Bless You as you start this new journey, and please, come home soon!

Is summer over yet??

We are coming up on about 2 weeks left of summer vacation. I can honestly say I am quite relieved. Summer vacation is a good, necessary part of life-at least for this homeschooling family. We need a break or everyone, Mom especially, will have a meltdown. June comes along and everyone gratefully sets aside their work for the year. However, we function so much better in general when we have our school routine in place. Chores get done faster, boredom rarely sets in, and we all feel like we are accomplishing something! Things are so much more peaceful around here when we are on a schedule. Yes, I could set up a schedule for the summer, but again, we do need a break from things, and I also think it is good for the girls to have that freedom sometimes. It sounds contradictory I know, but that is just how we work I guess.

So yes, I am looking forward to school starting again. Madeline and Brianna are so excited I could probably start tomorrow and hear not a peep of complaining, but I just can't bring myself to start before September-Before "fall", although I know fall isn't official until later in the month. In the meantime we are getting everything ready, which is good fun in and of itself. The girls have their school supplies all lined up in their school shelves-Lissie included, for I feel it is important for little ones to feel apart, and I have been gleefully printing out worksheets and charts and schedules, setting up lesson plans, and surfing the internet for ideas to make this year special. I almost feel prepared!

For your viewing pleasure I have included our tentative daily schedule for the year. Keep in mind that we follow our schedule loosely-I have no problem with straying from time to time. It is more of a guideline to keep us on track. And I'll admit it-I LOVE making schedules! I'm a bit geeky that way. Alyssa does have a slot on this schedule, but I've made it as small as I can and it is getting cut off. Sorry!

Time	Mom	Madeline	Megan	Brianna	Alyssa
8:00	Get ready for day	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
8:30	Start Laundry/Chores	Chores	Chores	Chores	Chores
9:00	Devotions	Devotions	Devotions	Devotions	Devotions
9:15	Reading with Brianna	Math	Math	Reading with Mom	Playtime
9:30	Math with Brianna	Math	Math	Math with Mom	Playtime
10:00	Activity time with Brianna and Alyssa	English	English	Activity time	Activity time
10:30	M,W,F History T, TH Science	M,W,F History T, TH Science	M,W,F History T, TH Science	M,W,F History T, TH Science	School with the older kids
11: 15	Spelling and Word time	Spelling	Spelling	Word time	Coloring time
11:45	Get lunch ready	Free time	Free time	Free time	Free time
12:15	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
1:00	Quiet time	Silent reading	Silent reading	Quiet time	Quiet time
2:00	W,F Music with Megan T, TH Music with Madeline	Music T, TH practice with Mom	Music W,F practice with Mom	Movie time	Movie time
3:00	Odds and Ends	Finish undone chores or free time	Finish undone chores or free time	Free time	Free time
4:30	Dinner prep	M dinner prep	T dinner prep	W dinner prep	TH dinner prep
5:30	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
6:00	Evening pick-up	Dinner cleanup	Dinner cleanup	Evening pick-up	Free time
7:00	Free time	Free time	Free time	Free time	Free time
7:45	Bath time w/Lissa	Free time	Free time	Free time	Free time
8:00	Put Lissa to bed	Free time	Free time	Bath time	Bedtime
8:15	Reading with Brianna	Free time	Bath time	Reading with Mom or Dad
8:30	Put Brianna to bed	Bath time	Quiet time	Bedtime
8:45		Quiet time	Quiet time
9:00		Bedtime	Bedtime

Twas 11 p.m. and all through the house....

Yes, all the creatures in my house are sound asleep. Except for me of course. I've been sitting here enjoying the silence. Well, silence is a relative term since I can hear my dear husband snoring in the bedroom. The girls played themselves out today and got to bed late and quickly slipped away to dream land and Jason lost his battle against falling asleep around 10 o'clock, after being awake for over 32 hours straight. I would say poor guy but he did it to himself-Going to a fantasy football draft after working an overnight. I'll never understand him. :oP

We had a fun surprise....

...waiting for us when we got home from an outing this evening. Somehow our toilet backed up (nothing in it thankfully!!) and was overflowing for goodness knows how long. The bathroom floor had a good inch+ of water on it and more coming and it was leaking into the hallway and, my personal favorite, dripping through the ceiling into our storage area in the basement. A good portion of the baby clothes I had down there in boxes are soaked and are now taking their turn in the wash. I was going to have to get to them sooner or later and I guess now is as good a time as any. :o/

Jas already had cleaning the basement on his agenda for tomorrow so that's a plus, and as Madeline so optimistically put it-"At least the bathroom floor is clean now". (insert the mother rolling her eyes at 10 year old-lol)

Swinging!

Hair fresh from braids

Adorable!

Such a sweet sound

I love the sound of my children playing-Especially the little ones. Alyssa is nearly 3 and is mastering the art of "pretending" with dolls. This is what I'm listening to right now-

Oh darwing, I so happy to see you! You Back! La la la la! Shineys and stuff. (last phrase sung) My mommy! I'm gonna do this, my mommy, mommy!

Yeah it is complete gibberish and makes no sense, but it is so fun to listen to. :o)

Home alone

I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I have been home completely alone in the past few months. Our pastor's wife offered to take all 4 girls to the pool and then to a park this afternoon so I could have a bit of time to myself and she wasn't about to find argument from me!

I always find myself in the same predicament when they are all gone-What do I do with myself? I could get some cleaning done that never gets done with everyone here. I could do some lesson planning for school which will be starting shortly. I could head out and go grocery shopping with no little voices asking for this and that. No-I'm going to go sit in my favorite chair and read a book and just enjoy the peace and quiet. That sounds heavenly!

Summer evening walk

Last night was so lovely and cool we couldn't resist heading out for a walk. We are a fall loving family and can't wait for the change of seasons so last night was a treat!

These pictures aren't great-It's hard to walk and take pictures at the same time and since I already walk so slowly right now I didn't want to keep stopping and fall too far behind. ;o)

Miss Allie did NOT want to be in the stroller but she's so darn cute who can hold it against her?


Lissie and Andrew thoroughly enjoyed being pulled in the wagon by many eager volunteers.


Madeline, enjoying the evening!


Brianna was complaining that I wasn't taking pictures of here, so I snapped this one. :o)


Megan, standing on the steps of the post office. We really have a beautiful town and I am daily thankful that God has put us here.

This is what happens when Alyssa helps with the laundry

First of all, she thanks me for each and every clean piece of clothing she finds, then, she proceeds to put it all on.

Admit it-you wish you could get away with dressing like this!

Oh to be a cat......

If only for a day.



Pathetic, isn't he? ;o)

Isn't she beautiful?

A lazy summer morning

There is nothing like a good tire swing!

Relaxing on the swing.


Maddie doesn't believe in candid shots.

Oscar was enjoying the day too.

Megan was having a not so lazy morning due to the fact that she is as slow as molasses in January at doing her chores. So no pictures of Megan playing outside. Bummer. :o(