Having fun outside

Well, I am not sure that Ben would consider tummy time fun

Ahhh, that's better... He isn't rolling quite yet, but is sure trying

Our first finger painting episode turned us into a Pict!

Oh? I am supposed to put that ON the paper

Wiggling around the house

Zach the magician!

Running!

Waiting

Umm, where did my baby go? Who is this little boy? When did I blink?

"Hey you! Get off my lawn! Little whippersnapper!" Babies look like old men!

Happy pants!

And mom and dad trying to get Ben to ham it up for the camera

News you can use

Well, as many of you who read this already know, my father is pretty seriously ill and is receiving heart and cancer treatments at Columbia Medical Center.

I'll be posting updates on the Champion Charley website.

But not to be a total bummer, here are some cute pictures of the kids.

Fun on a Monday

Well, we had a productive weekend and are set for a lot to do this week. But, in all our busy-ness, our boys are still adorable!

note the milk drool

Warm summer days

So the sun has finally come out. I barely recognize it! We are supposed to have a weekend full of good weather, and I am hoping that the tomatoes will get the hint and start ripening. We have BUSHELS of green tomatoes that are doing approximatly nothing on the vine. Mid August and we've gotten three!!

Zach helps with the laundry

Distracted from bumping out head

Grandmere makes an excellent jungle gymn for an up-down boy!

Happy outside

August happenings

Well, the boys are growing and changing fast! Ben is getting pretty big. At 11 weeks he's about 13# and is 25 inches long. He's a very contented baby most of the time, but he gets Rather Upset when he's hungry or his diaper is dirty.

Zachary encounters blackberries for breakfast

We started a red ale yesterday that should be ready mid September. Next up is a chocolate stout.

And we make our own yogurta little more than once a week. Then we use the whey from the drained yogurt to make bread. The yogurt recipe is a pretty standard crock pot (slow cooker) recipe. The bread is cobbled together from various recipes.

Crock Pot Yogurt

1/2 gallon whole milk
1/2 cup yogurt (start with commercial, then save from your batch)

Pour milk into cooker and turn on low
Cook for 3 hours.
Turn off crock pot and cool for 2 1/2 hours
Whisk in 1/2 cup of yogurt
Place crock in a slightly warmed oven (oven should be off) let sit for 8 hours
Drain yogurt with a cloth over a colander into a bowl. We use the fabric from an old tee-shirt. The longer you drain it, the thicker it becomes.

Then save the whey, and make...

Whole Wheat Whey Bread

Wheat Flour 3 cups

Wheat germ (optional) 1/2 cup

All purpose flour 1 cup plus 6 cups plus more for kneading

instant yeast 2 Tablespoons

granulated sugar 2 Tablespoons

canola oil 2 Tablespoons

whey 4 cups, heated to 105-115. This needs to be brought to 4 cups with water or milk (milk will curdle and it's ok) if you are using the leftovers from the above yogurt recipe

salt 1 ½ tablespoons

In mixer with beater attachment combine 3 cups of whole wheat flour, and 1 cup all purpose flour, wheat germ, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix to combine.

Add whey and canola oil and mix.

Oil a large bowl for rising

Place dough in bowl and roll around to coat in oil

Place plastic wrap over dough and set to rise in refrigerator for 24-48 hours. You can also rise in a warm place for about an hour.

Punch down and divide for loaves or rolls

Cover dough with generous amounts of flour

Let rise again. If it has been refrigerated this is about 3h. If not, 45m

Bake at 375 for 30-35 m