Bread and Beans

I've decided that I am joining the popular club of bread making--I think. I've been feeling extremely "homemakerish" lately, so I've made homemade wheat bread a couple times in the past 2 weeks. Tiff, I love your wheat bread recipe, thanks for sharing. Homemade bread tastes so much better than anything you can get in the store and it costs less too. Every time I eat a slice, I never want to go back to store bought bread, so I am going to join the better majority of my sisters and make a valiant effort at baking all of our bread. I will be reserving a loaf of store-bought bread in the freezer just in case. I don't have a stand mixer, so I do it all by hand, which really isn't too bad, but I reserve the right to revert back to store bought bread during any given period of time where I feel too overwhelmed to make it myself.

In preperation for the new baby (back to my nesting) I've been searching around for some yummy and easy slow cooker/freezer recipes for quick dinners after the baby is here (and before too). I've found quite a few that I will have to share after I try them out, but I'm still looking for more. If anyone has some suggestions of really easy meals/recipes that I can make ahead of time and throw in my freezer, please let me know.

Brandon had school off this passed week. We've been trying to be prepared as possible for a new baby in the middle of a school semester, so he spent part of his week shop-vacumming my entire apartment. He did all the walls, baseboards, vents, shelves, knick knacks, you name it, he shop-vact it. And all at his own suggestion, I didn't even have to ask. I am a lucky, spoiled mamma. Thanks honey, you're the best and the apartment looks great!

We all know that my daughter is not like most typical toddlers. She is extremely sweet natured and easy going and really doesn't give us much trouble at all. We recently upgraded her to a "big girl" twin sized bed and for the most part that has been going fantastic. We have only had a couple incidences of her wandering into our bedroom either in the middle of the night or early in the morning. The transition has gone very smooth and she likes that she gets to be a big girl.

One of most unusual things about Ashley is her love for fresh produce. Fruit is actually not really surprising, what's not to like about something fresh, sweet and juicy? Her preference to vegetables over any other food during mealtime is another story. She always eats all of her vegetables first thing. She usual eats most things pretty well, but sometimes I have to coax her into trying the rest of her dinner by promising more vegetables if she will eat a couple bites. Does that seem odd to anyone else? Don't you usually persuade your children to eat all of their dinner by dangling the possibility of dessert over their heads? I believe Rochelle has a rule about you can't have dessert unless you eat your veggies (I'm sure she isn't the only Mom with that rule). Apparently that is not going to be issue at my house, at least with this child. Who's to say what this rascally little boy will be like. I've got a feeling I'm in for it with him, Ashley is just too good to be true.

Anyway, yesterday I made a slow-cooker BBQ chicken recipe with baked potatoes. The vegetable was to be canned green beans, which Ashley particularly loves. Ashley is usually fairly involved with the dinner making process. She likes to stand on a chair at the counter with me and assist with small tasks like mixing. Her main role is a supervisory one, she wants to know what's going on. She wasn't seeming terribly excited about the chicken or potatoes. I pulled the green beans out of the pantry at the last minute. Brandon (who doesn't particularly care for canned green beans) was telling Ashley that we would be having green beans with dinner. She excitedly yelled, "Yay!" and started dancing all around the kitchen. All for green beans. Honestly, how did I end up with this child?