Success!

So, I can excitedly say my house was filled with the delicious aroma of homemade bread this afternoon! I've made simple yeast rolls and other breads but I've always wanted to make bread loaves. For some reason the thought was intimidating. One of which was the kneading and rising process.

The other day my mom scored a mixer for me for $10! So now, the sky's the limit! No kneading by hand? I will try bread. I remembered my college roommate, Lala, made all kinds of yummies and I saw some bread recipes on her blog. So I looked up the breads and there it was. Simple and do-able (a word?). A short while later, I had this:

Warm bread with butter and honey. Oh my!

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. Not scary at all. I'm looking forward to trying the whole wheat bread.

So my final thought is that eventually I might still want a Bosch over a KitchenAid. My mom had a Bosch growing up and there are some great merits. I've noticed as I've used this mixer (even though it's not a KitchenAid, it's the same style), it's awkward to add ingredients into the bowl. Maybe I'm just not used to it yet. Regardless, it is nice not having to mix everything by hand and not knead bread by hand! Yay for me!

[Oh, and if you have any thoughts on either appliance, do share!]

water babies

Both Seoul and Sydney took swim lessons over the past couple months. We want the girls to be comfortable in water and have fun. Silly mom that I am I took far too many photos so it took a while to weed through them.

SEOUL SWIMS

Seoul did her first session in March-April. She was very excited. Then it was time to get in the water... and she sat on the side. She named her teacher "Tangled" because of her long hair. The second class the lifeguard asked us if we wanted him to be the bad guy... when we consented he lifted Seoul into the water. From then on she had a good time, although she is so timid it takes her a while to try things. She had fun and eventually did some of the things the teacher asked. She didn't so much like the second teacher that joined the class halfway through - she named her "Ariel." By the end she mostly stood when jumping off the side. She surprised both Kelley and I by doing the rope swing twice with the teacher. Ultimately I think she will be the girl that can swim but doesn't love it. She's pretty stiff in the water and doesn't like to be splashed. The purpose is to get her comfortable so that she has fun and I think that was accomplished. [Side note: I find it odd that she can climb in and out of a crib with no foot holds but won't climb out of the swimming pool by herself - silly girl!]

Sydney just did her own thing wandering and playing with whatever she could find. One class she entertained herself by carrying my little red purse around, and it was pretty heavy for her little arm.

SYDNEY SWIMS

Sydney had her first ever swim class (with me) and LOVED it. When she watched Seoul she would say "wawa" and try to climb under the net. She couldn't wait for her turn! Sad to say, during the first class she cried for the first few minutes. I was reminded of many of Seoul's very first swim classes. Fortunately the tears were over soon and she had so much fun. The opposite of Seoul, during bath time she has no problem rolling over or splashing tons in the water. Consequently, she was the same way in the pool, and was very relaxed. Sometimes she was so willing to roll she almost got away from me! By the end she had so much fun "swimming" after the toys I threw ahead of her in the water. She got into "jumping" from the side or the stairs - and by that I mean a slight bending of the leg and leaning toward me. At the last class she, too, went on the rope swing but was pretty expressionless about it (no pics of that one, sorry!) Overall, it was a fun experience and I think she will be the water baby of the family.

Seoul wasn't as content to sit and watch. She took games, but her favorite was to take her toy camera and pretend to take pictures of everything.

 

Such fun experiences. I'm glad for the girls to try new things. Seoul is in her second session of classes so I'm sure more pictures of that will come (in a few months - haha!). I'm not sure if we'll do Seoul again or have Sydney take a turn.

Mean Mom Am I

Some days are really good. Some days look like this:

Our time out spot. From her pose I can see her continuing defiance yet sadness as she keeps her forehead on the wall. (She gets sidetracked very easily if she can look around.)

As she is becoming more independent (read: defiant) we definitely have more of these sad little moments. Only time will tell if they help her... or hurt me more.

Dancing Queen

Seoul is into dancing lately. She watched cousin Ella in her dance performance and since then likes to wear her leotard and dance around. When we asked if she wanted to dance on the stage, she answered, "When I'm bigger I can dance. Maybe I will be Tangled when I dance." Uh-oh - high expectations! It's cute to watch her. {I took ballet when I was younger and enjoyed it even though I was shy. I remember one performance at Wait Park here in Canby. We danced with stuffed animals and at one point we all raised them in the air with one leg pointed back. I was the very front of the triangle and I went the opposite direction as all the other kids. Oops!}

 

Here are a few super short clips of her "practicing" for her debut as Tangled.

Videos from Joo Lin's phone 3/26/12

If you're happy and you know it...

Here is one of the many versions of Seoul singing "If You're Happy And You Know It!" Our favorite is when she shouts HOO-RAY!

{Since it's been a couple months, her HOO-RAY has changed so I wanted to document this version}

Video from Kelley's phone 3/28/12

Pics from March... Yes, call me CraZy

Ok, so call me some kind of compulsive but I have this need to post pictures chronologically. That is why I can't just skip over a day in my journal either I suppose. For all the hundreds of pictures I take there are just a few good ones but it makes me nuts to leave them unposted. Plus this is a "scrapbook" for all the fun events to remember so it's unthinkable to skip posting about any, right? Regardless, here are pictures that I never posted from March with a few additional posts since I also like grouping pictures but sometimes that just takes too much time.

{As a side note, I am totally caught up on my journal so now I can concentrate on the blog. Wish me luck in writing every day so I don't get behind again!}

Oh my, I'm such a cute girl...

... gotta love me!

These girls can't get enough of each other. Sometimes Sydney just runs at Seoul and gives her hugs. Other times Seoul is so smothering with her love Sydney just looks at her funny.

Seoul loves to do art projects. She doesn't so much like getting her hands dirty. So here she is finger painting with a craft stick. It kept her entertained so I didn't complain.

Sydney's first finger painting/craft-stick-painting and she had a blast! I only had to stop her from licking the stick once. She was so excited to be just like Seoul.

Need some groceries? I'll take once of each! (see Seoul in the background trying to get into her cart)

I have no words for how much I love this silly little face!

Yes, this is how I found Seoul playing hide-and-seek one day.

She thought she was the funniest thing ever to have gotten in there!

No words necessary.

Crazy girl working off energy after a morning at church.

This was my blessing dress when I was little.

These girls have crazy times together. One of their favorite activities is dancing around the living room.

Running in circles = dancing

The girls love to go to story time, especially when they get to do fun crafts. Sydney is admiring herself the mirror so I couldn't get her to look at me.

When the weather is even remotely good we go out and take walks. Seoul ends up running in front or behind us to be silly and make Sydney laugh.

Sydney's a good sport even though she doesn't stay as warm as we walk around because her lack of movement.

Seoul is dominating the big slides these days. Of course she always likes someone to go with her.

Sydney loves to pick up bark chips. Silly goof!

Ok, two messiest breakfasts: cottage cheese with fruit and oatmeal. Those little bitties end up ALL OVER her clothes!

Seoul loves for her to wear this giant hat. Sydney is a good sport.

This girl and her personality kills me - always silly faces!

Sydney is really getting into books and spends quite a bit of time looking at pictures. She even imitates Seoul and pretends to read each page.

Don't forget a picture of me!

Focused attention. She loves building "towers of terror!" It's so fun to watch the different configurations she creates.

Entranced at story time. Wilsonville has the best story times. This one was three variations on the story of "The Three Bears" - one with kazoos (Seoul's favorite), one with puppets, and one with Star Wars characters & voices.

Love.

Seoul's favorite treat - chocolate vanilla twist with sprinkles, gummy worms, and sometimes strawberries.

Second child. Already loves sweet things. This time it's chocolate pie.

General Conference

I love General Conference when it rolls around every six months. I also love watching it from home with DVR because then I can pause it to meet the needs of the girls. It's such an amazing experience to hear the Prophet and other leaders of the Church teach us. To have my questions answered and feel of the Spirit. Now it's even more meaningful to share the experience with the girls.

This year I did the word game - different bowls of candy for various words. Three kinds to keep it simple, and because Seoul is 3 (her number for everything these days!) Seoul was very excited in the days leading up to Conference because I let her help choose the kinds of candy. She did surprisingly well during all four sessions (when she was awake). She caught a lot of the words and of course loved eating the candy. Sydney loved getting candy when Seoul heard the words.

I also cut out the following activity from the Friend Magazine. There are pictures of the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles with corresponding chairs. I did opt to skip the pulpit this time. Seoul enjoyed identifying the men as they spoke. She did get hung up on the color of the ties and the color of their hair. If they had different color ties on or if their hair was grayer in person than it was in the picture she said it wasn't the same person. Goofball! She definitely knows President Monson and President Eyring. I think she is a little intimidated by President Uchtdorf's name, but I'm pretty sure she knows him.

I hope to instill a love of General Conference in the girls. I love that Seoul already recognizes so much and loves the church music. I think the seeds of a testimony are already planted and they just need to be nourished. She loves going to church and to nursery. She hears various phrases in the talks and prayers and tells me. What a blessing to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

birthday memory

It was a great birthday. Another year older with more reflection and more gratitude for where I am in life. Kelley surprised me with a family dinner at one of my favorite places, Tebo's Restaurant. They have ginormous strawberry shortcakes when local strawberries are in season. It was a treat to go when I was younger. My whole family was able to attend. What a sweet man to plan that along with a great family to come!

Seoul Loves to Help

Seoul is all about helping do so many things. I try and develop this so she continues to enjoy working with me. I've convinced her that she is great at "shining" the floor after I mop [with my Swiffer].

Washing dishes!

She asks to wipe down the table every day.

She makes her own turkey sandwich. She eats so much better when she gets ownership of her food by helping prepare it.

She's figured out how to fold hand towels and wash cloths, and attacks the laundry basket every time I do a load of towels.

Special Persons Day

This year Amanda invited Seoul and Sydney to Special Persons Day at Eccles school. The girls had fun and Amanda's friends thought they were very cute. We visited Amanda's class to see some things she does, had lunch, went to the Book Fair, and played outside for recess. {I remember book fairs when I was little - I would pore over the little catalogs they would send home ahead of time and I'd always get at least a few books.} It was really fun even though I didn't get a lot of pictures.