Monday, August 31, 2009

How to make bread

Here's my mama's bread instructions. We make it together every week. Next week we're going to try the ones on the back of our new wheat flour. We'll let you know how it works.

In the meantime, I'll let mama tell you how to make our bread...

{Honey Wheat Bread}
3 cups warm water
3/4 cup honey
1 tbsp (1 pkg) yeast
3 cups of white flour
4 cups whole wheat flour
{or 3 cups whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup almonds, 1 cup rolled oats}
3 tbsp melted margarine or butter
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp oil or oil spray

If using almonds and rolled oats, grind them to a coarse meal in food processor or blender.

{Note: the dough will not rise as well if using this method.}





Transfer to a large mixing bowl, and mix in the following:
3 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
1 tbsp yeast
3 cups of white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour




{Note: when adding the honey, I've found it's easiest to spray or brush your measuring cup with your oil. The honey comes right out!}

Stir together and let sit for about half an hour, or until partly risen.










Add:
3 tbsp melted margarine or margarine
1/4 cup honey {or more or less as desired}
1 tbsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour, plus additional flour (1 cup +/- ) for kneading.



Turn the dough out on to a flat floured surface.









While the dough is out of the bowl, wash the bowl so it's clean of excess dough. Or, you can just get another bowl.









Knead the dough until it is slightly sticky, but pulling away from the counter top.









Spray or brush your bowl with oil. Put the dough in the bowl, turning once to coat with oil.









Now cover it with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place for about an hour. {Until dough is doubled in size}









Punch the dough down and divide into three medium or two large loaves. Put into greased loaf pans.









Let the dough rise again. If you used the almonds & rolled oats, it will probably only rise to about the level of the pans. If you used another cup of flour instead, it should rise about an inch above.









Bake at 350 for 25 min for medium loaves, 35 min for large loaves.









Turn out of pans and let cool. You can brush the tops with margarine if desired {makes a softer crust.









{If you want to see bigger versions of the pictures, just click on them!}

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Happy birthday daddy!

It's daddy's birthday! He's turning old!!

{Happy Birthday Daddy!}

Mama and I walked to the Rite Aid and bought him a coffee maker. Then we walked to the Albertson's and bought him some coffee {we called Gramps to make sure we got the right stuffs!}

Even though it wasn't his birthday yet, mama, daddy and I went to lunch with Mel and Kylie and celebrated it. Mama and I gived him the coffee maker and he liked it a lot lot. {Hooray!!}

The we went to the park 'cause daddy wanted to go play. We had lots and lots and lots of fun. I got to play with mommy and daddy and Kylie. She's older than me {by six whole weeks!} but we had lots of fun anyway.

We got to run around and climb and swing and slide and drink from a drinking fountain. Oh, so much to do!!

Here are some pictures:










Saturday, August 29, 2009

What... no ball pit???

Today mama broked a promise to me. She promised me that we could play in the ball pit at the Del Taco. Even though she said it's yucky and full of germies {whatever that means!} I don't care about yuckies or germies! It's a pit full of my favorite things in the whole wide world!!

After mama and I runned some errands this morning, we went over to the Del Taco. Mama bought a sugar drink that I can't have {it's for growned ups!!} Then we went into the play room...

And the ball pit was gone!!
It was gone, I tell you!!

Since there was no ball pit to play in, I dragged a chair up...
... next to mama and climbed on it. There may not be a ball pit, but there's ketchup packages to throw!

But, mama didn't like that game, so I gotted off the chair and runned around some more. It didn't take me long to find something else fun to play with. There was a super fun play area to climb on and make noises with. I even found a new friend outside of the Del Taco.

He said, "Hi!" to me and waved. {HooRaY for a NeW FRieND!}

Mama let me climb and play and climb and bang on the walls in the play room. It was super lots of fun.

Even though there was NO BALL PIT!! Mama and I made a movie about all the fun we had, so we can share it with you! So shhhhhhh! the movie is about to start {click play!}

Friday, August 28, 2009

I get to go shopping at the mall {free!!}

I get to go shopping at the mall and get TeN DoLLaRS worth of new stuff for ME! Mama and daddy got a free $10 gift card voucher by going here.

{If you go there, you gotta click on the Gift Card Voucher button, and hurry! there's only 500 for each mall.}

Now mama and daddy get to take me to the mall on September 17-19 and get my gift card!! That means I, Gabriel, have $10 to spend on whatever I want!! Mama and daddy say I want clothes, but I'm not so sure about that...

Either way, we get to walk and look around the mall, which is one of my favoritest things to do!!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Dancing Boy!


Here's a movie about me doing what I love...



...I love to {SHAKE} and {WIGGLE} and {DANCE}

With new words comes new responsibility...

Today I said, "cookie!" I said it so mama would give me a cookie. Mama and daddy give me cookies when I'm a good boy, when I'm adorable... and when I ask for a cookie!

Yay! {Clap, Clap, Clap!}

Mama letted me hold the box of cookies and get my own cookie out 'cause I'm a big boy. She said that if I'm big boy enough to ask for a cookie, I'm big boy enough to get a cookie. Sometimes I dropped them on the floor, but I picked them up and put them in the box. Then I took them out and throwed them across the room! {and RePeaT!} Mama made a movie about me getting cookies.

{Here It Is}

I also learned that when I have cookies, we have to brush my teeth more. Mama and I walked to the store and bought me a new toothbrush and toothpaste 'cause I runned out of my old toothpaste.

We also bought me a new hair brush and stuff to wash my hair and spray on my hair. I like the spray stuff a lot! It's fun!

Here's a picture of me when mama put the spray on my hair and brushed it.




Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Mmmm... Cheese 'n' Avocado!

My mama made me and daddy a grilled cheese and avocado sandwich today. {Daddy's was minus avocado} It was yummy! Here's how she made it:

Ingredients:
Cheese
Avacado {ripe}
Two slices of bread
Melted butter {or margarine}

Find a frying pan that is the right size for your sandwich or sandwiches. Put it on the stove and turn the burner on medium.


Select and/or slice two pieces of bread. {Mama makes our bread, I'll tell you how later}







Lay the bread out and spread avocado on them.









Grate or slice the cheese of your choice. Mama prefers to grate the cheese because she says it gets melty better. Mmmm.... cheese... Now that you have cheese and bread, you will want to put them together!






Put the two pieces of bread together to make a sandwich!








Now that we have a sandwich, we need to make it grilled. You need to put butter {or margarine} on the bread. You can spray it or brush it. Mama melts some butter and brushes it on the bread.











Okay, so now we put the buttered sandwich{es} on the pan so we can cook them.








We let them cook for about two minutes and turn them over. Then for two minutes on that side!! If that side isn't grilled enough, you can always turn it back over. And over and over and over until it's done!






Hooray!! Now it's done.
{Cheers and Applause here}

Mama cuts up my sandwich, but she doesn't cut up daddy's. I think it's 'cause she likes me better. Anyway, now it's time to eat your sandwich.


{Click pictures to see them biggerest!}

Hi's... No's... and Uh-Oh's!

If you slept like a baby last night, I hope you didn't sleep like this one. I lay awake for HOURS and HOURS and HOURS talking to everything in my room. There was just so much to say!

I had to say "Hi!" to each of my toys. I had to tell my binkie "No, no, no!" when I didn't want it, and "Uh-oh!" when it fell out of my crib. Lucky for me, I had a few more in my crib when I wanted them. And a couple more of them uh-oh'ed out of my crib. But it sure is fun to watch them fall and listen to them go {clink!} as they hit the floor.

My mama said she was listening to me while I was not sleeping. She said the baby monitor tells her all the noises from my room. When she heard that I couldn't sleep, she brought me some milk and read me a story about a duckie.

There were no dreams about duckies though. There were no dreams for a while. Eventually I did fall asleepy, but not because I ran out of things to say. I just ran out of wakie time to say it in.


{Here's What Mama Heard!}

Monday, August 24, 2009

I'm Like a Caged Animal!!

I've slept in a crib most of my life, and I prefer it to snuggling with mama and daddy. You would think that I wouldn't mind being penned up in a room with baby gates. This could not be more NOT true! I have spent much time trying to figure out how to get past them. Sometimes I'll sneak behind mama as she goes through. I almostest made it one time when I pushed an upside-down laundry basket and climbed over. But, daddy catched me and took the basket away.

But today I made it! I just had to get real sad and make mama feel bad enough to let me through... and it worked!! I runned down the hallway and through the kitchen. I crawled up the stairs and petted the kitty. I took toys from my room and threw them in the bathtub and down the stairs. I even tooked a picture of mama's feetsies and mine. I had so much fun!! {It was the funnest!!!}


Sunday, August 23, 2009

Free Food!

My mama ordered me some couscous from the computer, and it was yummy!

She said she got it for no money by going here.

I'm trying to learn to eat with a spoon and a fork, and I ate the food all by myself! Well, I did need to use my fingers sometimes. {And sometimes it felled on the floor, but I picked it up.}

I also learned that you can't use a comb to eat your food, but you can use it for your hair. So much to learn!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Day I Learned About an Octopus...

Sometimes after mama goes buh-bye to work, daddy takes me to daycare while he goes to school. I used to be with the babies, but now I'm with the big kids 'cause I'm a big boy. We have lots of fun and eat yummy treats. Today we talked about octopuses and played with ocean puppets and created with octopus ink. Then we coloreded an octopus.

Then we went to get mama from work and go home. Mama made me a delicious cheese sandwhich and daddy took me outside. We walked and walked and walked and walked. Then mama came out and walked with us. I found some neat rocks to throw, but daddy made me go inside. I was super sad. I wanted to go walk more, but he said, "NO!".

Maybe tomorrow we'll walk some more. Right now it's sleepy time...

The One and Only Gabe {that's me!}


Hi! My name is Gabe, although sometimes my mama and daddy call me "No! Gabriel".

{I think
it's short for Gabe.}

I live between the Albertson's with lots of bouncy balls, and the park with rocks to throw. I got my first bouncy ball for my birthday, and I'm halfway to my next birthday.

Next time I'm hoping for two bouncy balls!

{That's me after my first birthday!}
 
Made by Lena