May 26, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
Today we learned about water siphoning:
Because the garden looks like this:
Note please the whiter shinier spots at the back. That is my lake. Half my garden is a bloomin’ lake.
The boxes are floating.
(okay, only a couple boxes are actually floating)
So we experimented with siphoning and proceeded to get ourselves and the kitchen quite wet.
Then, because even though I REALLY wanted to go outside and try siphoning my garden, I just could not rationalize leaving my 4.5 year old in charge of the 2.5 year old and my baby. (though yes, I was tempted 😉 )
So we coloured instead:
Ettin’s favourite activity!
I even snuck in a bit of sound and letter practice.
Math?—Choral counting. While we cleaned.
“Giant, how long do you think it will take you to clean up the trains?!”
“Umm…63.”
“63 seconds? Okay, lets count!”
Seriously. The whole time we are cleaning up I’ll often have two little boys chanting their numbers with me. And having fun at the same time!
Just before lunch my heaven sent friend came along to quickly drop off some food storage boxes. I accosted her and her children to come inside and play for a bit…while I set up a siphon in the garden.
It works!!!
(Thank you dear friend 🙂 )
With joy we walked to the library around lunch time (Daddy Bear was eating pizza with a principal) and picked up a few books to read:
Then we spent a snugly afternoon reading and listening to the rain fall on the roof.
May 26, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
We had the Elders (missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) over for a visit.
They’d heard that Giant delights in being called “Elder Blackmore.” So they made him a special tag:
Now, Giant carefully folds up whichever piece of clothing this tag is attached to and places it neatly in his drawer before bed.
He is just so proud of this special tag(—in the good way…;)Â )!
May 26, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
We have another favourite bread. For when mommy is short on time and has not thought ahead enough to have thawed out her rather frozen buns.
I present: Our Whole Wheat Biscuit Recipe.
Also located, along with my bread recipe, on our fridge on a rather beat up piece of paper:
In a large mixing bowl, I add 3 c whole wheat flour:
1 TB baking powder:
1/4 c sugar (—you can omit this if you want, but I like a sweet biscuit):
1 tsp(ish) salt
Stir the dry ingredients together:
Then add 1/3 c oil or butter.
We use extra virgin olive oil. Yes it tastes a little funny. Yes you get used to it.
1 c milk:
Stir it all together.
Ahem, please disregard the very well loved hoodie sleeve.
I mean, stir it all together and this time you can picture me wearing pearls and vintage cocktail dress, if you please. Or perhaps a well pressed quaker style dress. But certainly not a ratty, old, ever-so-comfy-and-warm hoodie ; ) Â :
Much better.
Stir ’til it comes mostly together,
…then plop it out onto a counter:
Squish into a lump and (this is where the secret for poofy whole wheat biscuit lies) knead it for 1-2 minutes…
’til it forms a nice ball…
…or bear, depending on your preferences.
I roll my biscuits fairly thin:
Maybe 1/2 a finger thick. Which tells you nothing, since I have no idea how thick my fingers are.
Then grab a handy-dandy ikea cup (or something equally as round)
…and make a bunch of circles!
Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes, or until golden on top and bottom:
Nice, you say. But those are kind of, well, flat.
Yes, I know, I reply. I made them that way.
You were hoping for:
Poofier?
Well, the other secret to poofy, fluffy whole wheat biscuits, aside from kneading the biscuit dough is…
Roll them out 2x or 3x thicker!
Although this is probably obvious to everyone else, it has taken me a very long time to learn this!
More dough = Bigger Biscuit.
Use this knowledge responsibly.
Thank you.
Whole Wheat Biscuit Recipe (makes 12-24 doz, depending on thickness of rolled biscuits)
3 c whole wheat flour
1 TB baking powder
1/4 c sugar (optional, but very yummy)
1 tsp salt
1/3 c oil
1 c milk
stir. knead for 2 min. roll. cut. bake @ 350 for 10-12 or more (if your biscuits are very thick) minutes until golden on top and bottom.
Great with honey butter!
May 25, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
This happy young man had a very late morning nap.
Which left him ready to play with Giant and me in the afternoon.
I tickled Galoot in his high chair as he ate lunch, and Giant drew me a story about pirates…
Complete with ships and “anchorchiefs”  🙂  (its the squiggle in the lower left corner)
There were “meen” pirates:
and “nice” pirates:
They each had a nice lot of “GOLD”:
But rest assured. In the end, the mean pirates were the “loozr”s:
…and the nice pirates were the “winr”s:
It was really quite an intense story:
While Giant and I were working on this, Galoot decided he was done with lunch and went to play with cars:
…the ones in Ettin’s bedroom. Where Ettin was sleeping.
…though not for long.
Ettin, having been wakened rather abruptly, and Giant both helped me make some biscuits, measuring the flour carefully:
…so carefully:
They even got to cut out fun biscuit shapes:
Because who doesn’t love a few ghosts haunting their potato soup?
May 24, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
Good news:
The raspberries planted in the high boxes bordering the garden are not flooded.
However, some of my boxes have started to float…
Aren’t we so blessed to have time to learn about this stuff—before it’s critical for us to know it?
