Flying High

Last weekend we were blessed to have an additional kiddo with us. He added to the fun of our family with lots of giggles. It helped that he was boy...Asa really enjoyed the balance of boys to girls.
Saturday was beautiful with sunny skies and a light breeze. It was prefect for kite flying.
We went to a local park and everyone got to try their hand. The kids did really well. And, I realized as we were teaching them what to do that I actually have never flown a kite before (that I can remember, which means it probably is true).

The kids were very fun to watch as they learned to lift their arms, move around, and not to cross each other.
Then some guys doing some sort of sword fighting thing showed up and started "practicing". The boys really liked watching them.
At one point I snuck up to take a picture and heard Asa and Timmy saying to one another
"You go."
"No, you go."
"I don't want to. You go."
"I wanna fight, but I don't wanna go."
So sweet!

Food, Free Bread Cookbook, My Own Attempts

I wanted to start making my own bread a few years ago when a close friend started making loaves for her husband, who had to be strict with his diet due to treatments for cancer. (Praise the Lord, he is now cancer-free.) She bought a bread machine and told me how easy it was. She also mentioned the Yum factor.

Fast forward a year or so and find our family on staff with many people who are into eating healthier. Many ladies bake their own bread and know lots of stuff about healthy things like whole wheat flour, flax seed, wheat germ, ...stuff I knew nothing about!

So, for Christmas, Joel bought me a bread machine. It's this one--available at WalMart for quite a cheap price, as far as bread machines go (we got it for about $40).
I started using it and liked the breads I could make. However, I could not master using the machine for whole wheat dough if I wanted to bake it in regular loaf pans in my oven (if you bake in the machine the loaf is a weird size and the paddle creates a big whole in the bottom of the loaf). I still use my machine quite a bit in intervals. I love to make cinnamon rolls (posted about them here), some great white bread that's delicious but offers no nutritional value, I'm sure, and loafs of white/wheat mix.
I read my friend, Beth's, blog today (catching up) and saw a post for a cookbook she has. She's giving away a cookbook, so I entered of course! You can enter too. Just make sure to mention I sent you.
And, as a final thought, I have a blog dedicated just to the foods our family eats. That may seem weird to you, but my plan is to create the blog so I can easily find our favorite recipes, share those with anyone who might be interested, and eventually print the blog into a family cookbook for me and my children. (Lofty goals, I know!) I've been slow to post new things on it, so be patient.

Our Motley Crew

We dressed up as pirates for trick or treating. (all except Daddy, that is)
We went to a fall festival at the church where Rylee's school meets. It was quite crowded, so we didn't stay long.
We stopped by Taco Bell to get everyone a free taco (they were giving away one of their new Black Jack tacos to each person...very nice cheap dinner). Then, we went to see if we could find our friends, the Davids. They were already out gathering candy, so we let the kids go door to door in their neighborhood for a bit. They got loaded up with goodies! Then, we stopped back by to see the Davids and say hi before heading home. Once in our neighborhood, we hit up a few houses before we called it a night. The kids absolutely LOVED getting candy from all those strangers. At one point Rylee said "Mom, it is so much fun to get candy from all these people!"