Baking bread, etc.

Can you guess who Natalie and Noelle want to be
when they grow up?


About this picture...Noelle is sitting in a doll stroller that is only rated for about two pounds. If they keep this up, you can guess how long this Christmas present is going to last... Natalie is proudly displaying a naked Barbie that, in addition to the indecent exposure, also has a speaker and a button the babies can push to repeatedly play the most annoying two songs ever. She is sporting a pair of Cinderella plastic slippers that Theresa received for a birthday present last year. Unbelievably, we can still find all six pairs of the shoes that came in the set, and the twins (Natalie in particular) are now old enough to be interested in wearing them too. It's so precious to see her tromping around with such care and self-importance!
(Answer: Bob & Larry)

Chronicle of our first home-baked bread venture,
courtesy of Chickens In The Road -
complete with instructions for first-time bread bakers like me

The bread wasn't the tastiest I've ever tried, but that may have something to do with the fact that it was grossly over-kneaded, if you can imagine that... I'm just so thrilled that it actually rose. Our last house was drafty and we kept the thermostat down, so I could never get bread to rise. Now I can put it on top of the furnace, which is always toasty. It was like a small dream come true for me.
I can't wait until the next try! Thank you, Suzanne McMinn!!

Brian's football banquet

Breathtaking: I'm a no-nonsense kind of girl, and my wardrobe/makeup/jewelry/hair choices reflect that. Lately I've made an effort to put on a little makeup during the day to fight the winter blahs. And today I put my hair in a french braid for the first time in years. Nobody noticed. Except when I was putting the twins to bed...Natalie (2) touched the braid when she threw her arms around my neck, and spun my head around. Then she exclaimed, "Mama....hair....nice."

Later, as they tossed and turned, giggled and sang, cried and tried to escape the bed, I heard Noelle give Natalie a hearty thump with her arm and say "best friend!"

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