Quick 5

This weather is moodier than a toddler girl.

1.  My lovely sister-in-law gave me a bread machine.  I've always wondered about baking bread.  Is it really cheaper than buying it every week?  Will it taste and feel the same, or will we have to suck it up for a few weeks while we learn to get used to the difference?  Anyway, she had one they didn't want, so I thought it would be the perfect time to give bread baking a whirl.  I haven't branched out into wheat bread yet, but I made a loaf of French bread last week.  And then for a few days Bria was completely offended when I asked her to eat anything but the bread.  I'll try out wheat bread this next week and we'll see how it goes.

2. We're back in the swing of school, like we never left.  Our morning routine has actually gotten a bit easier for me due to one thing: Bria now feeds herself her oatmeal.  I know, she's almost two and I should feed herself.  But our morning routine is tight, and I knew exactly how long it would take her eat if I fed her.  But over break she took over that task herself and there is no way she's letting me help her now.  But she actually eats way faster than her sisters, even though she starts her breakfast about 10 minutes after they start theirs.  And it frees me up to clean up dishes and other things, and I've found that I have about 5 extra minutes to twiddle my thumbs in the morning.  It's nice.

3.  Last night I starting reading the Little House on the Prairie series to the girls.  Of course we began with the first book Little House in the Big Woods.  I haven't read those books in almost 20 years.  And it cracked me up that in the very first chapter of the very first book how much detail there was about butchering a pig.  It all makes sense, but the girls heard the word "headcheese" for the first time, and got to hear about how excited Mary and Laura were to play with the pig bladder.  And then there is the fact that Mary had a rag doll named Nettie, but all Laura had was a corncob named Susan.  I don't know about the girls, but I'm experiencing what I can only describe as culture shock.

4.  It's fun to listen to your baby learn new words.  Unless she's shrieking those words in the middle of the night.  I don't know if she's cold or if she's in a growth spurt or if it was the full moon, but she has not been sleeping well this week.  Around 3:00 in the morning one day we were startled awake by her yelling "GIMME THAT!!" at the top of her lungs.  Then last night I heard her calling, "Mom?  Mom!  MOM!!  Mom?"  more than once.  Because it's a perfectly natural thing to call out when the house is dark and silent, I guess. 

5.  We have two twin mattress propped up in our living room.  The bunk bed is due to arrive today.  So our weekend plan is to switch out the beds.  We just need to be done by Sunday at 2:40.  The girls are out of their minds with excitement. 

Stay warm!  Go Broncos!