Isn’t it interesting. . .
J+M+J
What I find on my camera, even when I have not given anyone permission to use it. Hmm. . . how mysterious.
A+M+D+G
Family
Adventures in Cooking: Crock Pot Yogurt
J+M+J
When I heard recently that you could make yogurt in a crock pot, I just had to do it. It was simple, just cook a half gallon milk on low for 2 1/2 to get it hot and kill any bad bacteria that would interfere with the growth of good bacteria (otherwise known as enzymes,) then turn the pot off and let it cool for three hours so good bacteria can grow. When the three hours are up, spoon out cup of the warm milk and add a half cup of plain, live active yogurt as your starter culture and mix it up. Next, add the yogurt-milk to the crock pot, wrap it in thick, heavy towels for insulation and leave it alone over night. In the morning, it will be yogurt! It won’t be as thick as yogurt from the store, and I am going to try out different ways to make it thicker,for example, adding gelatin, dry milk, etc. etc., and I will let you know if I am successful.
I like to add a little honey to my yogurt to sweeten it. Dad likes it with vanilla extract and sugar. I am going to try out different ways to make it thicker, i.e., adding gelatin, dry milk, etc. etc., and I will let you know if I am successful.
My Yogurt
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Silly Joseph
Joseph has a little neck massager under his shirt. He put it there, and then started walking around the house saying, “I’m going to have a baby.”
Sit on My Yap
Mom and Alexander were working on Alex’s reading lesson and Joseph and John Paul were listening. Then Joseph invited John to “Sit on my yap.” (All l’s are y’s in the Josephian dialect.) It was to funny not to take a picture.
Hands On
J+M+J
- When baby starts bouncing, children come running!
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P.S: Landon says he wasn’t ready when this picture was taken.
Hide-and-Seek, or: How to Amuse Little Brothers Without Leaving a Comfortable Seat on the Couch
J+M+J
I was laying on the couch, exhausted by a day of babysitting my siblings, when Alex said to me, “Look, I’m hiding in my sleeping bag. Let’s play hide and seek.”
Joseph chimed, “Me pway to. you count.”
“Okay,” I thought, “I can count and not leave this cozy couch.” So I called, “You go hide, and I’ll count to twenty.” I closed my eyes, and counted, “One, two, three, four, five . . .” I could hear Alex dive farther into his sleeping bag. “Six, seven, eight, nine, ten . . .” Joseph was wildly running around, looking for a spot to hide.
When I had almost reached twenty, he frantically screamed, “Not yet, not yet, I need to hide!” So I added on ten more seconds. At twenty-five, I heard him say, “O.K., I’m ready!” I continued counting.
“Twenty-nine, thirty! Ready or not, here I come!” I called. I spent a few minutes pretending to be looking around, and then I said, “Alexander, I see you in the sleeping bag.” Alexander emerged screaming with laughter. I turned my head around and saw Joseph laying in the stuffed animal box, on top of the stuffed animals that filled it nearly to the top. “I see you to Joseph.” I laughed.
Joseph giggled and jumped up out of the box and cried, “Wet’s pway again! You count again!”
“Okay.” I watched with amusement as Alexander jumped back into the sleeping bag, and then I began to count, but was interrupted by Joseph protesting, “No, wait. No, wait for me to get into ‘amal’ box.”
I nearly burst out laughing. It seems that neither Alexander or Joseph now the object of Hide and Seek.
A+M+D+G
Dull, Drab Winter
J+M+J
Nothing has happened in the last few weeks that was important enough to devote a whole post about it, so I am going to collect the small events of the past week into one post.
Friday the thirteenth:
I went to the physical therapist and got a bunch of new exercises. I originally went to the physical therapist for a pain in my arch when I walked a little over a year ago. We found a muscle that was very weak and strengthened it, and the foot pain quit except when I have walked long distances or stood a long time. (It is getting better all the time because I am still doing harder exercises.) Now I am going to her for the beginning of tendonitis in my shins, which is caused by the same muscle being weaker than the others and not doing its job when I jump or run. The physical therapist, whose daughter is training to be a professional ballerina in Pennsylvania/New York City, also likes to help me strengthen muscles to improve my ballet skills with exercises, so I got a bunch of exercises for my gluteus maximus to help lift my leg higher in the back. Ooh, my rear end is sore right now.
Friday the 13th-Sunday the 15th:
I counted birds for the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. I counted: 23 pigeons, 1 red tailed hawk, about 30 geese, a mallard duck, and a great horned owl, which has been around our house for a while. Well, actually Dad saw the owl. I heard it a couple weeks ago, but I haven’t seen it.
Today, Monday the 20th:
I went shopping with Mom and Maria at the mall. I needed long sleeved shirts since I only had a couple of shirts that were long enough for me to move my arms around freely. We went into three stores and found absolutely nothing that fit me, because all the stores were stocking spring clothes. Phew! I can’t believe how long it takes to find nothing. Finally, we found something, but not long sleeved shirts. We found my Easter dress, which is really amazing, because it is extremely hard to find nice dresses for my age that aren’t to little girly. Then it was back to the tiresome chore of finding shirts. Just when we had about given up, we went into a store and found five shirts, just like that!
Then we went to Claire’s, a girly store in the mall, and Maria picked out earrings for herself. (She just got them pierced six weeks ago.) I will have pictures of her with them on later.
Well, those are the only things really worth mentioning. I am getting really tired of winter, it’s so uneventful. If it was summer or spring and I didn’t know what to write about, I could go outside and take pictures of my garden. Sigh. Oh, well, at least the first day of spring is only 29 days away.
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I Felt the Baby!
J+M+J
Tonight, my hand happened to be laying on Mom’s stomach at the right time. I was trying to see if the baby would kick me, when it decided to jump around. The THUMP! that hit my hand repeatedly was very strong and distinct. He/she played around for at least five minutes before becoming tired out. I was thrilled.
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Adventures in Cooking: Turkey Triumph
J+M+J
A few nights ago, I prepared a turkey for supper. I brined it for two days, to see if it would make the turkey exceptionally tender. I watched it closely during cooking, and the result was a gorgeous looking bird.
The outer layers of skin were the juiciest pieces of turkey I had ever tasted, and the inside was good, though not as good as I had hoped. Alexander, however, thought it was good no matter where the meat was.
Alex enjoys his drumstick.
Alexander shows his approval.
I made delicious gravy with the drippings and cornstarch. I was surprised at how simple it was. We poured it over mashed potatoes and it was GOOD!
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Baby Belly
J+M+J
Ever since we have been telling Joseph there is a baby in Mom’s tummy, he has been a little confused. The other day, he pointed to his belly button and told me that it was his “Baby belly.” He also told me an amazing story, to complicated to repeat, about the baby being lost. He concluded his fantastic tale by declaring, “The baby okay now.” It is not rare that I wonder just what is going on inside his little head, and what gives him these ideas.
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Coming June 2009!
J+M+J
If you haven’t heard already, there is a baby coming. (The due date is June 1st) There pictures were taken when the baby was 16 weeks old (now it is at 21 weeks). It was a little soon to tell for sure, but the ultrasound lady thinks it is a girl. : )
Little footprint.
On the left is a good shot of the arm, and you can see the little face on the right.
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The Butterfly House
J+M+J
Today, our family went to a class for some homeschoolers at our local butterfly house. It has been many years since I have been to the butterfly house, and I was looking forward to going there. No butterflies landed on me, but I didn’t care, because many posed nicely for my camera. Here are the pictures
Alexander is holding a butterfly chart in his hands. If you look closely, you will see that there is a butterfly on his right shoulder.
This is a White Kite butterfly that I found coming out of its chrysalis. In this first picture, it has just cracked the chrysalis skin.
Now it is a little farther out of its shell.
Finally, after a tremendous amount of squirming, the butterfly manages to escape its chrysalis. Its abdomen is filled with fluid that it will pump into its currently wet and crumpled wings. Then it will be prepared to soar!
This is a butterfly which has recently emerged from is chrysalis. He wants out of the glass box that holds the chrysalids.
This is a gorgeous Blue Morpho butterfly
This is an Owl Butterfly, which gets its name from the eye spots on the outside of its wing
This rude little butterfly is standing on an Owl Butterfly at the fruit dish.
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Other Christmas Gifts
J+M+J
This afternoon, the Johnathan, Alex and Joseph were enjoying their Christmas gifts. Joseph and Alex each received a package of eight juice boxes.
Here they are displaying the flavors they were given.
Johnathan put together these little wooden toys and painted them himself. He also made that orange lego recycling truck.
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