Belated HBD & Stuff

Today we finally celebrated Daniel's birthday with some cake here at home. Happy Birthday Daniel!

He and Hyrum got home early (1am) yesterday morning. That morning I woke him up when I got Peter up, and asked him if he'd gotten enough sleep (aka if he was able to sleep on the drive home) he said he didn't sleep that much. Ok, so I let him rest two more hours. I sent Peter off and then got Daniel up  around 10 to go to school. At that time a pest control guy was here and he was parked behind Corey's car, so while we waited for him to finish, we did some of D's missing homework. Daniel has 3 weeks of missing work that I learned about at Parent Teacher Conferences, plus this week, so he had a bit of work to do. We took a small chunk out of that, then it was time to drive him over. We are glad you are back Daniel! Have fun at school! Your teacher and friends will be happy to see you again!

(Yes he's wearing the same clothes from country dancing last night). Kat giving him a hug. She likes to give hugs. 

When Natalie got home from school yesterday, I asked her to make the cake, which she did. I picked up ice cream when I dropped Lily off for work, but then we didn't get around to celebrating cause people were gone with friends and then for YW and then it was too late and I didn't want them to all go to bed with a blood sugar spike, so then I said we'd do it today after they got home from school, and that's what we did. Make a wish -

Kids ate all that, plus a Bundt Cake a neighbor dropped off yesterday just because (so nice! Thanks you Farah!) The Bundt cake was chocolate and Daniel likes vanilla, so Natalie still made him a cake. After eating that, I went to the gym, kids went to play, and I was back in time to take Daniel to soccer, then  I did my daily escape to my canyon.

The moon is close to full and it was just rising over the mountains as I picked up Daniel from soccer  - it looked so AMAZING...

Cleaned today, my bedroom and had the kids so some chores. Tomorrow D&P don't have school.  Corye and I talked about going on a ride and leaviang kids with Hyrum, but he was in the basement all day yesterday with a man cold and I have hardly seen him today, so I'm not sure he'd feel up to being in charge. So probably no morning ride. It might snow in the mountains on Monday and Tuesday, so I was hoping to get to Big Mountain before then. Maybe we'll be able to on Saturday, fingers crossed. 

What else about today - The girls don't eat breakfast cause they use all their morning time doing their hair, makeup, and fit. So this morning I got up and got them some veggie cups to go.

This was in part on Corey's request from last night that the kids eat a healthy breakfast. I was able to use veggie leftovers from dinner to make curried cauliflower and carrots on top (cause you eat veggies first) with an egg below (I don't eat eggs but for them I'll allow it, I still need to get Corey on board with that) and then mashed potatoes on bottom (end with carbs). I also made them a little grab of veggies to eat as they walked on their way to lunch, to get the veggies in first. 

Corey asked if we could make this a thing. Sure. But then what did I find in their bedroom tonight? My little bag of green veggies in the trash! Tsk tsk. Corey and I won't give up though. I was thinking that it's great having Corey on board now, cause yeah, we can teach them how to do live healthily, we just can't give up. Sophi sent me a pic of her all eaten cup and let me know she was the only one that did. I guess I'll do smaller portions. But also if the kids aren't hungry at 7am, I don't blame them for not wanting to eat yet. Owen sat and ate though. He's showing us what the ideal child looks like. 

He's SO easy to get up for jazz band. He doesn't leave until 6:40 (he likes to leave at 6:37 though to walk next door) but he wants me to wake him up at 6, and he's ready in 10 minutes so I'm not sure why he doesn't sleep in longer, but that's what he likes to do! He's go this schedule. 

Katharine just after she woke up this morning. Cute little face. She came into my room and told me about her dream where we went to a different house. 

I was glad I got up this morning, cause I stayed up took late trying to fix a stupid thing. I noticed I had a bowl of pinto beans that had been soaking for too long - but I couldn't pour them out cause the sink was stuck/clogged. It was all slippery from the butter from the frosting Natalie made for the cake. Gross gross gross... Usually it's the Ikea cups that get stuck in the disposal (kids STILL NOT remembering to NOT put cups or silverware on the left side of the sink!) so I though it was an ikea cup but it felt like glass and I could NOT get it, and I couldn't find my pliers that I love that have rescued me before (found them today though) I figured I'd just have to break the glass cup and hope it doesn't shatter or that I'm able to get all the glass fragments out. I couldn't find the pliers but I could find clippers and a hammer and screw driver. With the screw driver and hammer I thought I was smashing the cup. but then it didn't make a glass sound. The water drained, and I saw that oh, it was an Ikea cup after all!

So I put that in the trash and have the pic here so I can give the kids a lecture tomorrow. 

A note about bread. One might have noticed that I haven't posted pics of my pretty bread much lately. I've still been baking and we've still been eating it, but something went weird with my starter. It was super thin and acidic, even after feeding it. It was just not working like I was used to and I didn't know what was going on. Thus I haven't liked how they've been turning out - my bread has NOT been pretty. It's been super ugly and flat and more sour than I wanted. Still nice and crunchy fresh out of the oven, but ugly. So last week I put the starter in the fridge to try and pause my frustration while I figured out what was going on. This facebook "beginner Sourdough" group gave me something that I've been experimenting with the past two weeks, and today I followed through with my experimentations and it paid off and I feel like I'm back in business. 

The 1:3:2 ratio was a bit too thick for my liking, so I tried 1:2:2 and that seemed to work great for the loaves I baked tonight. They turned out amazing and nice and poofy!

So for now, until something else weird starts happening, I'm keeping a full jar of starter (I got a lot with my past week of experimenting) and I'm measuring out enough for each loaf I want to bake, so like if I want 100 grams of active starter for one loaf (just started some for a loaf tomorrow), I put 20 grams of starter in a jar and added 40 grams of flour and 40 of water, and it worked! Another thing Danica recommends is stirring the starter 30-45 min after the initial feeding mix, so I'm trying that too! 

Corey worked late tonight (just got home at 10:53) so I did scriptures with the kids. We did just one verse, 2 Nephi 33:6 "I glory in plainness, I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell." I told the kids that for Relief Society this Sunday, we are discussing "I Glory In My Jesus" from April conference. I asked the kids what things do their feel like are their. Lily said her books. "Why are they yours?" "Cause I bought them..." ok, good! So you paid a price. What else? I pointed out that she reads them, spends time with them, and she loves them, loves the stories. So some things are: sacrifice, time, love/gratitude... I told them that Little Cottonwood Canyon is MY canyon. I know lots of people go up there, but it's mine. I LOVE it. I spend a lot of time up there exploring, I see it, I'm grateful for it, I just love it! It is my canyon. So, how do we make Jesus become OURS? Time, sacrifice, gratitude, it's a relationship, and a priority, we want Him in our lives, He IS in our lives, our greatest influence. So yeah, that was our scripture and thought for tonight. I love the Lord, and I want to do better and making Him mine.