twomorrows & twominis: November 2014

Thursday, November 27, 2014

[18]

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I can't believe we have a 1.5 year old!

Clothes: 18 months

Growing Up: New words are becoming harder to track! Here are the ones I can think of: hook, chip, horsie (see!), thank, end, done, kick, kite, go, help (although he sometimes says hot or hop instead), beep, hop, pooh (he has a stuffed Winnie the Pooh), acorn (cor), sock, stack, switch, sack, cheese, fry, seat, fire, phone, pillow, rock

New signs: thank you, all done (he has done this one on and off, but it seems consistent now!), bubbles (he doesn't do the actually sign, but we know what he means), socks

And we have two new teeth! (upper right molar and canine)

Likes: being outside, daddy's basketball, balls, washing his hands, books, coloring, mimicking the things we do (cleaning up, washing hands, sweeping), chips, balls, leaf piles, walking backwards, repeating our words, finding something to sit on, climbing

Dislikes: diaper changes, riding in the car, getting teeth, long hair

Schedule: We had planned to change to one nap, but he didn't seem to think that was such a good plan. We are still at two naps a day. :)

This is our basic schedule, but it changes depending on how well he naps and when he wakes up

7:00 - up for the day!
8:15 - breakfast

9:15 - nap

11:00 - play
12:15 - lunch

2:15 - nap

4:00 -snack
4:30 - play

6:15 - supper

7:00 - bath

7:30 - bedtime

Moments: First time trick or treating, ate his first real Thanksgiving meal today, first DQ ice cream cone (and he LOVED the cone!), first pie (pumpkin, of course)

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Updated!

We had a good check up today! He is on target for all his milestones, and even above average in communication. That's such a difference from just a few months ago. And we are done with shots until it's school time!!!

Weight: 22 lbs 9 oz (25%)

Height: 33.5 in (80%)

Head: 45.5 cm (8%)

We are remaining pretty consistent on our percentiles, which means we have a healthy, growing toddler!

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

A Boy and His Leaves

We enjoyed playing outside on what was probably our last warm day! Cooper loved playing in the leaves! I am sure we will bundle up and get some outside time in this winter because the boy loves being outside.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Homemade Bread

This is the recipe that I use to bake our bread. I am mainly posting it because the original recipe is for four loaves, and I only bake two at a time. So I inevitably forget to halve an ingredient and end up scrambling to correct my mistake. Now I won't have to worry about that! I am posting it how I bake it so I won't have to think so much next time I bake it. I am so glad I found it though because it is sooo good!

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:

6 cups whole wheat flour, divided in 2
3/4 cups chia seed/flaxseed mix
4 tsp. yeast
1/4 c. honey plus 1 tbsp.
3 tbsp. butter, melted, at room temperature
1 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Soak for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours:

3 cups flour in 2.5 cups warm water
3/4 cups chia seeds/flaxseed mix
Cover with damp tea towel

Flour/water mixture shouldn’t be watery. Water should just mix into flour without any excess.
Make sure there is no dry flour. Add by the tbsp. if needed.

2. Start sponge (half hour before starting):

in 1/4 c. warm water, gently mix 4 tsp. yeast and 1 tbsp. honey until just mixed. Set aside. Do not over-mix.

Sponge should be visibly active: bubbles forming etc. before adding to recipe.

3. Melt 3 tbsp. butter. Cool to room temperature.

4. After flour is soaked and sponge is bubbly add to soaked flour/seed mixture:

melted butter at room temperature
sponge
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. salt

5. Mix/ knead in 3 cups of flour to right consistency. Knead for 8 minutes in stand mixer.

6. Cover with a damp tea towel. Place in warm spot. Allow to rise until double: up to 2 hours.

7. Remove from bowl, punch down and knead for 2 minutes. Divide into 2 even sizes.

8. Knead each individual loaf. Roll dough to roughly size of pan. Pinch to make a loaf shape. Place in greased loaf pan. Repeat for next loaf. Cover loaves with damp tea towel.

9. Allow to rise until double: up to 2 hours.

10. Bake at 350F (325 for dark pan) for 30-40 minutes or until loaves are lightly brown.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

The Fireplace

It's home improvement time! We have known since we moved in what we wanted to do to the fireplace... executing it took some time. I have had the paint for the fireplace insert/screen thing since we moved in... that's how long we have been planning it. We are so glad to have it done and LOVE LOVE LOVE the results.

Before

I started whitewashing on one side to figure out exactly how we wanted to do it. It wasn't too hard.

One side done!

This really shows how much a little whitewashing can change its appearance.

Other side done!

After!

After

Overall, it took me 7 hours to whitewash it. We didn't do anything to the back (in Coop's playroom) yet. We might decide to do something different, so we are just waiting to decide what we want to do. I know how to whitewash, if that's what we choose.

We started with spray paint on the doors. After two cans, it just wasn't getting the coverage we wants, so we ended up buying a quart. The coverage was SO much better, but I am glad we spray painted some because it got in spots that would have been hard for me to paint. But now we have lots of paint leftover if anyone needs black high heat paint!

So the house is another step towards feeling like ours... and dare I say that the living room is pretty much done?! We just need a couple of accessories, and I think it will be!