Just a peek

Yesterday we were given a little sneak peek into Spring. We had temps in the 60's and we saw skies like this well into the evening.


So, naturally, we had to go out and enjoy it.

We rode our bike.


We pushed along on our nifty little van type vehicle. (Can you believe this vehicle belonged to S when he was G's. age?)


J, not to be left out.


Here we are engaging in a little street racing....only, on the sidewalk. Thats much safer.


We had to make sure that all the diggin tools were up to par.


A little closer inspection was necessary for this particular tool it seems.


Quickly determining which receptacle will suit his overall digging needs.


All in all, it was a great time. See? He thinks so, too.

My 2 boys

J began a fencing class a few weeks ago. He really, really enjoys it. If you were to ask him why he chose this sport he would tell you in a very, long and detailed response that it allows him to understand sword fighting from a different perspective thus enabling him to draw sword fighting scenes more accurately.....Oh, and because he thought it would be fun.

Good form.


Advancing.


Fancy footwork.


Taking a break.


Waiting for the green light.


In the midst of some serious foil handling.


Then you have the little guy. His needs are much simpler. Hes totally content shopping with mama. Okay, well, not really. Shopping is not really either of our strong suits, but sometimes it has to be done.

And as you can see here, he found a way to make it much more fun for himself.


I think if I would have given him one of those pillows and a blanket he totally woulda been sleeping in that box.

Sourdough weekend and Monday

When I visited Danni this last time, she sent me home with some sourdough starter. Here it sits on Danni's counter getting ready to go on a very long trip.


Here is my suitcase in which it travelled.


Here it is after I got home and got up the courage to look in my suitcase for fear it had blown up all over everything. Luckily, for me, it hadnt. (Good thing we double bagged it. Im just sayin.)


Now it sits on my counter! Yay!


And out of the bag. If you look closely you can see the lid is a little rounded.....Im not sure how much longer it would have played nice and stayed in the container.


Now I get to open it up. It had sloshed all over in the container, but was a good girl and never tried to actually get out.


This is the beginning of my wonderful sourdough starter. It traveled from Ang, to Danni, and now, to me. Michigan to Oregon to Illinois.


That was over a week ago. So this weekend I decided it was time to break out some sourdough goodness. What better way to do that than to make that great sourdough carrot cake. Its Monday now and this is all that is left.


And then today, I made some sourdough bread. (well, actually rolls.)
I did use the bread machine to make the dough.


But before you get ready to call me a great big cheater head...it was just for the dough. JUST the dough.


Then I punched it down and made it into little bun type rolls.


Then I let them rise.


Then I baked them. They were not really browning up very well, so I brushed on some melted butter and then turned on the broiler for a few minutes. That seemed to help quite a bit.


They were very tasty. They had a crispy texture to the exterior and a nice airy, tenderness on the interior.

But as someone I know would say, they didnt really have enough sourdough taste to them. It wasnt that knock your socks off sourdough tang that I was looking for. Sigh. Ah, well....I guess Ill have to go back to the drawing board and try out some of those great tips that Danni mentioned to enhance the sourdough flavor. I was kinda hoping that there would just be great yeast waiting to be captured here in Illinois...

Packages on snowy days

We awoke this morning to this.


Which is why I was really surprised when later, I came home to this.


Do you have any idea what THIS is? No? Well, not to worry. Im going to show you.


But first. Whats this? It appears to be a picture of some sort of chocolate brownie/cake a la mode.


Close up to that. Hmmmmm....is the sender trying to tell me something? I wonder if this is her way of getting back at me for telling her how I made warm, gooey chocolate brownies the other day.


Okay, so back to the package. This is a very big deal. The whole family is watching.


And the reveal. Can you tell what it is yet?


Here. You can see it much better now.


And this is not even what I ordered. Its a goodie that she threw in. A personalized goodie, I might add. A very good goodie. Can you see what it says? Can you? It totally has the name of my blog on it. OMG. That is so frickin awesome. I am gonna let it hang right here. In my kitchen. So that I can see it every single day. Every single day, I say.


You know who this is from, right? I know you know. You have to know. If you dont know....well, then....you are clearly not reading my blog often enough.


Its from Sugarcreekstuff. The one and only. Artist extraordinaire. Creator of all things gorgeous and great. She has a fabulous shop over at Etsy. Go on. Check it out. Ill wait.

Back now? Did you see all the great stuff she has? See? I told you.

Can you tell I(okay, we) am(are) excited?


Can you tell I love llamas?


Of course, now they must be introduced. All the llamas need to be friends. I have to say that she was a little stand offish at first.


But she warmed up after a bit. See how they are laughing together?


And these guys? They are very friendly. They made our new llamas feel right at home.


And this one? She likes to hang out in the kitchen. So, naturally, she had to offer up some snacks. Who doesnt love m and m's? (Besides, that ONE person. You know who you are.)


So, just in case you couldnt tell. I am in love with llamas. And I am in love with my new pillow from sugarcreekstuff.

Hey Michelle?

Thank you.

Sigh

My last quart of applesauce.

What will I ever do now?

Busy Bees

This past week I was at my great friend Danni's house. It had been a while since I was there. So, it was only right that I visit.

As always, we had a fantastic time.

We played in the snow.


We did laundry.


We painted our nails.(doesnt everyone do this right in the aisle at the store?)


We went to the car wash.


We made sourdough carrot cake.


We ate lunch on fancy place mats.(courtesy of our one and only, sugarcreekstuff)


We did the dishes.


We fed the chickens.


And we went to the feed store.

We really were quite efficient.