go charleigh go!

charleigh dropped a deuce on the potty today. 2 football size poops. yeah charleigh!

mr. squirrel

we have beautiful french doors in our master bedroom leading to our back deck. i can see from my bedroom to my pond and the trees behind it. there is a tallish evergreen with the branches trimmed about 4 feet up directly behind my pond. lots of critters enjoy our yard including squirrels. yesterday while changing a diaper on my bed, i noticed a cute grey squirrel very busy climbing up and down that evergreen. the situation was unusual as he was trying to carry up what looked to be a large light beige purse. well large to a squirrel. maybe it looked like a big dead heavy leaf, very light in color. mr. squirrel was quite determined trying to get whatever it was up the trunk. about 5 feet up or so the object would fall. down he would scurry to scoop up his treasure, than right back up again. this repeated a few times until he grew tired, and left. maybe he went to find his squirrel friends for some help. whatever the case, he had left. i took a minute later in the day to investigate what mr. squirrel had abandoned beside my frozen pond. there i was in the michigan tundra, all bundled up in my pink robe, new green winter hat and rainbow bright scarf. (i know, im hot.) warm coffee in hand and jager dog by my side. there it was, the large squirrel purse, or to my surprise, a piece of pizza. yup it was pizza that the hungry busy squirrel was trying to scurry up the tree with. no sooner than i realized that the treasure was, jager gobbled it up. 2 chews, 1 swallow. poor mr. squirrel. fat dog.

blog #...whatever.

today was leahs first day back to school in a week. she had a nice little code yellow lock down at her school today. lovely. i am glad that they all handled the situation so well. scott is still off of work until wednesday. we have had a nice time all last week together as a family. its really fun having scott home for dinner and helping around the house and helping with the kids. scotts brother was in town this weekend to visit with grandpa, who isnt doing so well. good to visit with him.

my breads are seeming to get better and better every time. ive been baking about 2-4 loaves a week. mostly honey wheat. its just so darn yummy toasted with butter.

my first time

in chicago was incredible. my wonderful husband and i dropped off the short people at the in-laws, and were off for our road trip. we ate at this restaurant for valentines dinner. the food was nice, the wine, even better. sunday (scotts birthday) we shopped for hours on michigan avenue. ate lunch at ginos east. if youve never had it, you should. 1 slice of deep dish pizza filled me up. we enjoyed dinner at the melting pot. very romantic. then spent the remainder of the night into the next morning at howl at the moon. its a piano bar. way way way fun. i cant wait to go again

oh ya, and i slept.

another year

has flown by. sweet mary has had another birthday.

she blew out 2 candles,

on her very own self decorated cupcake.

baby brother partied a bit too hard.

peace out.

ballers

ya, were big ballers around here. just went out and baught a brand new lg, 47", lcd, flatscreen t.v. our bigscreen in our family room pooped out earlier this week. this new t.v. isnt quite as big, but its plenty pimp. this one however is to be mounted on the wall.

keep up with that jones'.

tonights dinner

whats better than breakfast food for dinner?
not a whole lot.

loves me some smokey links, eggs over medium and toast.

bread making is deeper than you think

i dont really know much about bread. i do know it is a lot of trial and error. bread baking is a lot like living life. lots of trial and error. you kinda gotta mess up a bunch until you work out the perfect formula for yourself. you definitely cant rush the yeast. it must be risen and punched down a few times. bake it too hot, burnt and dry. cut into it too soon, falls down. use crappy ingredients, plain old gross. lord have i learned. making a loaf takes up the better part of a day. but man is it worth it. patience people. with everything life throws at you.

p.s. today my loaves kicked ass!

valentine inspiration

i love being in love. just gearing up for v-day.