My Apologies

Ok, its been almost a month since my last post. Trying to come up with a reason for not posting - so take your pick from the following: 1) I turned 43 and suffered a massive breakdown because now I am officially old; 2) Our family has gone through a torrent of disease - coughs, colds, runny nose, vomiting, upset stomach, diarrhea; 3) I dropped my laptop, broke it and have been in mourning; 4) I've fallen under a moutain of laundry and I can't get up! If you picked any of the above, you are a winner!!!! Actually my age really doesn't bother me - unless I look in a mirror, try to get up too fast or stay up too late. One good thing about the whole laptop thing is that I took out laptop insurance for a year because I was afraid that something would happen to it on our trip to China - after all I dropped my camera on our 2nd day in China during our first trip - right there on the Great Wall!!!
Since my last post, Ben turned 6. He had a great birthday. We had a little swim party for him with some of his little friends. He is getting so tall and grown up.
I also wanted to say Happy Birthday to my friend Judi. Her birthday was September 15. I am terrible with cards but I do think of you every year when the 15th roles around and I remember the "traveling birthday party." We went to school with a class of 9 kids. Three of us had birthdays close together and we would have sleepover parties first at my house, then at Judi's and finally at Lyndee's house. We were quite the little cliche! So Happy Belated Birthday Judi!!
Tonight we went to Open House at the Elementary School. The kids were so excited to show us their rooms and where they sit! They are all having a good time at school. Here are their school pictures. I am going to get retakes of Ethan and Emma - I think I will go to school with them and see if I can get them to smile!!!
Our newest obsession is with our bread machine! The kids are eating up the loaves of bread as fast as I can churn them out. Here is a recipe for a whole wheat loaf that I made yesterday. It lasted through breakfast this morning. Very dense and moist. So here is my penance for nonblogging. This recipe if from the Hillbilly Housewife website.

Honey Wheat Bread
2 lb loaf

1-1/2 cups warm tap water
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Measure the ingredients into the bread pan in the order listed. Make a well in the flour and sprinkle the yeast into it. Set the machine to it's Whole Wheat Cycle. On my machine this lasts for 3 hours and 40 minutes. Press Start, and let the machine work it's magic. Remove the cooked bread from the pan after baking and allow it to cool before slicing. Makes a 2 lb loaf.

This is my kids favorite whole wheat bread. The honey makes it very sweet, and soft. This bread lasts longer than some machine made breads before going stale. The honey acts as a natural preservative.