mmm...Oregon blueberries

Janelle was gracious enough to send us home with a coveted bag of freshly-frozen blueberries Dotha had brought out from Oregon. I made Sunday morning muffins with them.

Liam approved.

Mmmm...blueberries...mmm

At the Christmas Parade

Tonight, we walked downtown to watch the Siloam Christmas Parade with the Bouchers and the Francos. Liam thought it was great, especially the miniature ponies. He's already giving us the can-I-please-have-a-pony look.
He stayed warm and snug in the mei tai wrap with me.

Happy Holidays!

Hearty Brown Bread

I'll be the first to admit that we don't follow a low-carb lifestyle; however, I am very careful to be sure that we are eating wholesome and nutritious grains. In an effort to curb the grocery budget and also to control the ingredients in our bread, I make all of the bread that we eat.

Here is one of my recent favorite recipes (from Arrowhead Mills):

Hearty Brown Bread

I make this with all organic/natural ingredients.

2 1/2 cups warm water

1 tbsp active dry yeast

1/2 cup blackstrap molasses

1 cup vital wheat gluten

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup rye flour

1/4 cup millet flour

1 tsp salt

1 - 1 1/2 cups additional whole wheat flour

Stir yeast and molasses into water. Mix all dry ingredients except additional flour. Stir into liquids. Knead for 5 minutes, using as much additional flour as necessary to create a workable dough (taking care not to add too much and thus end up with a dry bread).

Transfer to a lightly-oiled large bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a plate, and allow to rise until doubled in size (about an hour).

Prepare 2 loaf pans. I make a parchment paper sling to fit the length of the pan and then drape up and over the sides (making it unnecessary to oil the pan, but if you don't have parchment you can oil the pan).

Lightly punch dough down and divide into two equal portions. Shape into loaf form and place in pans. Cover and allow to rise until dough reaches the top of the pans (about 45 minutes).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Transfer bread pans to oven, taking care not to jostle and deflate the loaves. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Bread is done nicely browned or when an instant read thermometer (inserted into the center of the loaf) registers 190 degrees. Transfer loaf to a wire rack. Cool completely before slicing.

In the barn

Here we are in the barn with the milking cows. Liam was fascinated by them.

This newborn calf (3 days old) loved Linda. It wanted to pull her into the pen.

On the farm

The weather was warm enough for us to spend some time outside every day that we were on the farm. Liam absolutely loved it. He quickly figured out that putting on his coat, hat, and mittens (although never a fun process) meant he was going outside to see the cows. He put on a huge grin the moment we stepped out the door.

What is a farm without a John Deere wagon to ride around in?
Liam loved going for a tour of the farm.

These are the teenager cows - no longer calves, but not ready for milking yet (there is a technical name for them, but Gabe's not around to help me out).

They are really friendly.

The calves were really cute. They liked to suck on our thumbs.

Cows are so much fun! Like father like son.

The farm is already one of Liam's favorite places. We can hardly wait to take him back. You can see his tooth in this picture (the second one broke through while we were there).

We finally have our Element

For those of you who are tired of hearing Gabriel and I talking about getting a Honda Element someday in the future, that day is finally here! We bought ours last Sunday, just in time for all of our holiday travels.

Our trusty Civic finally topped 200,000 miles, and although it runs great and probably will continue to do so, some parts are bound to start breaking down. It was also getting pretty cramped with all the baby necessities... We'll be posting an ad on Craigslist for it soon (we're sticking with just one car since that is all we really need).

When we found this Element, we knew it was the one for us: It is a 2006, but only has 13,000 miles on it. It's still under warranty from the dealer. It had been on their lot for awhile, so we bought it for less than the dealer had in to it.

So, it has already been to Iowa and back. We're up to 14,000 miles. There'll be plenty more to come!

Here it is covered in snow in Iowa.

Let's build a snowman

Gabriel had WAY too much fun building this snowman. I took it all in from the warmth of the living room picture window...

Once again I forgot that I can't turn the camera sideways if I'm taking a video. So, you have to watch it with your head turned to the side. I know, it's lame. But this video is worth it. Watch as Gabe conquers the hefty snowman (and note how red his face is...).

And now, the head:

Voila!

Brrr. It's cold outside... But this sure is fun.