Botanical Gardens

Botanical sounds a lot like tropical, but there definitely aren't any tropics near us! There are Botanical Gardens though. We went, having no idea what to expect, but they were actually quite close to our house. We didn't go inside the building, but they had gorgeous trails to walk on. The girls had fun seeing all the trees, leaves and water. It warmed up, so we didn't even have to wear coats.


I gave Ava bangs, can you see? I was hoping to calm her chaotic hair. Not sure what to think yet. Although I do think she looks more like me..


The girls loved these little plaques showing the leaf and tree names. They would eagerly run from one to the next.



Aaannd last but certainly not least, Ava reading a "bookie" to Violet.

Beautiful Fall Day

Fall is my favorite season. Usually we have days like today, slightly cool, sunny, with beautiful colors on all the maple trees. When I was young I always wanted to get married in the fall. Maybe one of my daughters will. Every daughter's dream is to live out her mother's wishes, right?

We went to the park and I had to take some pictures.



This morning we made a German Apple Pancake for breakfast. It was nice to shake it up a little bit from oatmeal.


Yummy!

The other morning I was taking pictures of the girls. The last picture is the real reason I wanted to take a picture. You'll see why. But here's my sweet Ava.

And here is my sweet Violet. I'm still laughing. I need to get out the straightener and straighten her hair so I can see how long it actually is.

Going Private

Well, the day has come.

Our blog is going private.

Please leave a comment with your email so I can include you :) We love our readers!

Your comment will be e-mailed to me and not published publicly.

Our *not so secret* Bread Recipes

From the time we were first married we have enjoyed baking bread. Here are some of our favorite recipes. Good ones are hard to find. The best thing about baking bread is there are few ingredients once you have them "stocked" in your kitchen! If any companies want me to delete these, go for it, but I highly recommend the websites and Cookbook listed! In addition, Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa is also one of the best.

Amish White Bread
from Tried & True Favorites

2c warm water
2/3 c. white sugar
1 1/2 T active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c. veg. oil
6 c. bread flour

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water, then stir in yeast. Allow to proof (or get bubbly) until yeast resembles a creamy foam.

Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix flour one cup at a time. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in well oiled bowl and turn dough to coat. Cover with damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk. About 1 hr. Punch down. Knead a few minutes and divide in 1/2. Shape into loaf and put into oiled pans. Allow to rise 30 min until dough rises 1" above pans. Bake at 350 for 30 mins.

Soft Sandwich Buns
allrecipes.com
1 1/4 c milk (room temp)
1 egg beaten
2 T butter
1 1/4 T active dry yeast
3/4 t salt
1/4 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. bread flour

Combine ingredients, knead, let rise until doubled, punch down. Roll into 3/4 inch thick. cut with 2.5 inch biscuit cutter or small glass. Brush tops with melted butter. Cover, let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hr.

Bake @ 350 for 10-15 mins or until lightly browned.

Classic Baking Powder Biscuits
Williams and Sonoma Breakfast Cookbook
2 c all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp fine sea salt (or reg salt)
1/2 c cold unsalted butter (or regular salted butter, just add less salt above)
2/3 c whole milk

Preheat oven to 450. Lightly grease baking sheet with butter. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With your fingertips, rub the cold butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal, handling it as little as possible. Stir in the milk and blend with a spoon just until all the liquid has been absorbed. With lightly floured hands work the dough briefly until it barely holds together in a flaky ball

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll or pat the dough out into a round about 1/2 inch thick. With a 2 inch biscuit cutter (or small glass cup) cut out as many rounds as possible. Gather up the scraps, work in to cohesive ball, re roll and cut out more rounds. Do not re roll the dough more than once or you will end up with tough biscuits. Transfer the biscuits onto the prepared baking sheet and bake in the center of the oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately, with whipped butter and maple syrup, if desired.

Here Kitty Kitty

Just in time for Halloween there was a cute little black cat on our back step! Milo was going crazy, and the kids loved getting close to the cat without it being able to get them. It stayed for about an hour!! I wanted to feed it, but then again, I am allergic to cats.

Side note:
The cat actually RAN IN OUR HOUSE on Sunday. We were already late. Milo was going crazy. The cat was hissing and batting at him. Finally shooed it out the back door. Poor thing was probably cold.



It has been really really cold and Grandma sent some cute boots in the mail. Thanks Grandma!


The other week we went apple and raspberry picking. Here I am with the girls. It was FREEZING! But eventually it warmed up. We have almost eaten an entire 1/2 bushel of apples in 2 weeks.


Violet especially enjoyed eating the raspberries. I think she ate half a big box (maybe a quart?), they were all gone within 2 days. I had to keep picking and picking just to keep up with their eating. Eventually after my back started hurting and aching we filled up a big box. Another highlight for the girls were the port a potties. We made two trips, they were so amazing! We love sarcasm in this family.