youtube. here's some wy-guy fun. this is really more fun for people who haven't seen the curls. it's gone beyond the euro-mullet, although his footskills are definitely looking like premier league quality. check out the hair...he does have the hiccups in this episode so he's a little hard to understand...oh wait, that's just his babbling. there's one word you can definitely understand, "yeah!"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=chsMY1pEEQY

there may be more videos that you haven't seen or that i loaded after this post... so check it out. he's a funny little guy doing things that make him happy and they make me laugh. soon cass will make her debut; the last video really turned out to be all about wyatt, now didn't it? she'll probably smile through the whole video. that's just what she does.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XUUW7r_cSCY

please check this out and come if you can -- it will be a great time for a really great purpose. and this little video is rad. fillthewell.org the artwork, the layout, the links, the information -- it is all wonderful. i'm personally excited about seeing the sailor sequence. they sound very nice. and jordan and friends because they really are friends. and kyle blake because he's family. and i don't know anything about mccoy, but i hope they're country folk.

come, eat sweeties, drink some good strong coffee, rock out to local music and maybe even buy some art. if nothing else, it's a good reminder that we live in a country where we can tell people that jesus is free and water is clean. so bring your dollars and your dancing shoes and be prepared for a good time.

i'm telling you, if you get bored because i'm not a consistent poster, read miss janet's brilliance. if you don't laugh out loud at least once i'll bake you something yummy.

also, august 4th is a benefit event for our friend matt anderson -- music, art, food, charity. he's going to africa to dig wells. he's taking the holy spirit with him. i'll give you details soon*

shabbat shalom.

i know it's been a while. it's been another busy week and now i'm at my folks' house with the kiddos. tom's in chicago for the umjc conference and i'm vacationing. yesterday we just hung out and had good dinner; we did pretty much the same today. i made challah and cinnamon rolls* and now we're waiting for sarah, james and abbie to show up. seeing as it's raining we'll have to put the pool on hold but there's always something fun to do at gigi and papo's house.

i watched "the man who knew too little" with bill murray. he didn't watch it with me, he's in it. it's the first time i've seen it from start to finish and i highly recommend it. hilarious if you like mr. murray. annoying if you don't.

i'm working on another album for my sister and stayed up late working on that and watching "burn notice" on usa. it's a brilliant show. the writing is good and the acting as well. i haven't watched a current sitcom in so long (minus "the office" which i watch over and over thanks to itunes) it was kind of addictive. reminds me why we don't have cable any more. it sucks away the hours. hours i should be sleeping or reading. but for vacation it was nice to just indulge. it used to be that i watched tv for hours. last year i remember when the christian radio stations promoted turning off our tvs for the month of august. i wondered if we could do it. i almost talked to tom about it but didn't want to give up survivor and the cosby show. a couple months later we went cold turkey and there's no looking back. i love the life we have without television. more room for people. and baking. and the big man. it's a good trade.

(*these cinnamon rolls are INCREDIBLE. people ask for them all the time. and even if they don't i make them anyway. they make about 24 rolls if you're smart and rise a ton when you bake them. i put them in round cake pans instead of cupcake tins. they get big! yummm)

(sorry it took me so long, cassie. you probably won't even read this till monday, but know that i tried to post before 5...)

sarah and i took the kids to the swimming pool yesterday and then got to hang out once the kiddos were asleep. we talked about album design and then she gave me these photos from my birthday. talk about cuties. we had fun. well, we had fun most of the time. sorry, rachel. here are some happier moments for the little guy.

this is so hilarious. my mom is part of a group of ladies called the pink flamingos. they get together and do old lady things. and they dress like wild women. they collect all the pink flamingo stuff they can find (see, bri, flamingos aren't too scary, right?) abbie is really kind to feed these birds that live at my mom's house.

that's a lot of candles. recently i've found that i've forgotten how old i am. all i have to do is remember it was my "golden" birthday. what a special one that is.

on a sidenote: anybody recognize this face? it must run in the family. you're right, DeAnn.

bread

go to allrecipes.com and print out 'jo's rosemary bread.' i know, it's for breadmachines, but don't worry. i don't have one and i made it. delicious.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jos-Rosemary-Bread/Detail.aspx

here's what i did:
the water, olive oil, sugar, and salt are according to the instructions. (1 cup water, 3T olive oil, 1 1/2 t sugar, 1 1/2 t salt).

then i added 1/4 teaspoon of oregano, 1/4 teaspoon of basil, 1 teaspoon of rosemary, 1/4 teaspoon of sage. 1 package of active dry yeast and 2 1/2 cups of flour. i mixed it all together, leaving the flour for last. once it's formed a ball, knead the bread for 10 minutes. add flour if you need to, but not too much. it will probably still be a bit sticky. drizzle olive oil on bowl, transfer dough make sure the dough gets covered lightly with olive oil. then place a cloth over the top.

jessica's tip for rising in a warm place is to pull out one of the racks of your oven, i use the middle one, and then turn the oven to the lowest temperature. this provides heat but doesn't bake it. make sure you put it in an oven safe bowl, however. the rack does get hot. l

et the bread rise for about 30 minutes in a warm place. punch it down, roll it out to about a 12" loaf, place on baking sheet, cover with light cloth (i used a paper towel. fancy, eh?) and place on oven rack for warmth to rise again. let it rise for about an hour. bake at 400' for approximately 15 minutes.

obviously everyone's oven is different, so adjust it accordingly. i used this for sandwiches and it was wonderful. really soft and flavorful. i've been looking for a bread like this, was frstutrated that it had bread machine directions ("place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine and select white bread cycle", helpful, huh?), but thanful that i've made bread enough to know a process for it. SERIOUSLY: i strongly suggest this bread. you should have no trouble. i'll be making it again this week and might have some photos.

i know this seems over the top. i'm having one of those days where i think my children are AMAZING. simply put, they are cute. cass is becoming a sleeping queen and wyatt is talking more and more. so here they are, in just a moment of funnyness, interacting. she watches him like a hawk and he thinks it's fun to treat her like a baby. i guess that's fair. some heads up, i think wyatt's been working on these numbers all morning and he thinks they're pretty good. cass looks a little disappointed, much like donald trump when he says "yah fiyad." that's some awesome hair she has coming in, huh? i guess when you're little it's alright to judo chop someone when the deal goes sour. again, i realize no one else may think this is funny, but i get a kick out of just about everything my kids do. that's normal, isn't it?

thanks to the new readers 'fessing up, susan and cassie. it's always good to know people are reading because sometimes...you wonder if your friend ryan has set up a fake account that's really just a word document so no one can read what you think is noteworthy. hats off to you girls.

there's more than a few things going on, and right now i'm feeling a little "procrastinatey". so, good shabbat as they say in "fiddler" or "shabbat shalom" as we usually sing.

for those of you who don't know, i have a more than talented sister named sarah (rachel is talented as well, more in the teaching kids how to do amazing things realm) and she has enlisted me to help her design a wedding album. i hesitate to do these kinds of things for her and kelly because i fear that when i give it to them they'll just redo the whole thing. so i have four pages done, at least, with some semblence of what they should look like, and i'm getting ready to send them off for approval. it's a rough job, telling myself she wants me to do this because she thinks i have an okay eye, but not really trusting myself enough to think it looks good. we'll see what she has to say. i'm just hoping to save her a little time in her over-scheduled life. she is superwoman, what arthur burke would call a ruler. she does it well.

also, i have several chapters and verses that i need to look up and refresh myself with, for personal and communal reasons, and i'm putting that off. i know it will get deep once i get into it, and so i'm hesitant. i'm looking forward to what God has to reveal, but it's 9:40 and i'm pretty sure i could go to sleep, except tom's not home and i'd rather just turn my head off altogether.

so, i'm blogging. and i'll tell you something that is oh so fun: wyatt has these red high top chuck taylors that he loves, right? the other morning, as i got him out of bed he pointed to the dresser and said "red shoes." of course it all slurs together, but it was definitely "red shoes." he talks a ton, for those that don't know (check out youtube and the previous post) but he's becoming more clear on everything. cottage cheese. fire truck. oh, these are the words that make me smile. he's mastered the stairs and climbs them like he's preparing for a soccer match. and cassie make me smile every day. recently it's been because of her cuddling with this floppy horse her auntie susan got her. we're pushing for it to be her favorite sleepy friend. and that's what i can come up with. hope the 4th was fun, i can't say we did anything wonderful. i guess we ate food and that's a tradition i hope never changes, no matter what the circumstances. wyatt held his first sparkler and tom was a little sad that we weren't there at the beginning of that adventure. maybe next year wyatt will be into roman candles.

we've been busy...friends with trouble, pops with hearts that aren't working right, kids that are adjusting to life as they know it...but in the meantime, here's a link to wyatt at his finest -- little sleep and a will to steal attention from his little sister. it's a bit lengthy but really funny. so says his momma at least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsblVRxM7yQ