Knock-Knock

During breakfast today, the kids proceeded to tell me every joke they've ever heard.  We had lots of knock-knock jokes and lots of courtesy laughs, and a few genuine laughs, which were usually not about the jokes.  :)  Here are a few, in case you're looking to expand your repertoire:

Dallin:  What's the biggest ant in the world?
Me:  Um, a giant?
Dallin:  NO!  ANTARTICA!

That joke inspired this one from Daphne:

Daphne:  Why was the beaver at the North Pole?
Me:  I don't know--why?
Daphne:  Because he was lost! . . . . That wasn't very funny, was it?
I started laughing out loud when she made that last comment.

Sean:  Knock-Knock
Me:  Who's there?
Sean:  Banana
Me: Banana who?
Sean: Knock-Knock
Me: Who's there?
Sean: Banana
Me: Banana who?
Sean: Mom?  There are lots of bananas in this joke.
Me:  Thanks for the warning.

He then proceeded to do at least five more bananas, until he got to the punch line when, of course,  he said "Orange" instead of "banana."  When I said, "Orange who?" He said, "Aren't you glad I didn't say banana?"  Dallin immediately corrected him with, "No, Sean, it's ORANGE you glad I didn't say banana?"  So poor Sean tried over and over, and finally came up with "Aren't ORANGE you glad I didn't say banana?"

Then Hayden piped in with, "Knock-knock!"
Me:  Who's there?
Hayden: Banana-who
Me: Banana-who who?
Hayden: BANANA-WHO!

Good times.

Park Group Egg Hunt

Here are some cute pics from our ward's Park Group Easter Egg Hunt.  We each brought 12 candy filled egg per child, and then after hiding them, the kids all got to go out and find 12 eggs for their baskets.

Here are the kids all lined up to find their eggs

A little closer of Sean (in red) and Hayden at the very left.  

He looks like he could probably fit into that basket himself.

He's only collected two eggs, but he can't wait to eat what's inside!

Sean made quick work of finding all twelve of his eggs,

and then was a very good big brother by helping Hayden add to his meager numbers.

Sharing jelly beans.

"Say 'aaahhh'"

Happy Birthday Dad!

Love you Dad!  Hope you had a great day!

Homemade Wheat Bread

I'd just like to say that after 10 + years, I think I have finally perfected my homemade wheat bread.  I have found that the ingredients and the equipment are equally important in making a perfect loaf of wholewheat bread.  Here are the secrets that I think make all the difference:

1.  Freshly ground wheat flour (just bite the bullet and get a wheat grinder)
2.  I use 1/3 c vital wheat gluten and 2 tbsp. of Dough Enhancer
3.  Sometimes I also add some flax meal which makes it even softer
4. Maybe it's not necessary, but my wheat bread has been vastly improved since I got a Bosch for    Christmas one year.  I let the Bosch knead it for 8 minutes before I put it into the bread pans to rise.
5.  And the final touch was the right pans to cook it in.  I had been using pans that were too big, and as a result the bread wasn't baking well.  Thanks for those aluminum bread pans, Mom, they are PERFECT!!!

Daphne

This girl of mine makes some very funny faces.

All she wants for Easter is her two front teeth.  I love the way she talkth with her mithing teeth.  :) I'm not in a rush for them to grow in, although she does say that it makes eating apples more difficult.

Spring Break Stuff

As I mentioned earlier, we didn't go anywhere for Spring Break this year--just kind of hung out at home, which was really nice, I thought.  Some days we went and did stuff, some days, we just stayed home.  Here's some of our doings that week:

playing with friends--They all got friends to play with, but one of Daphne's friends has a very fun mom who planned a craft for them to do.  So that's why she has pictures. (Thanks Amber!  What a cute idea!)

St. Patrick's Day Party--just read the post about it

Zoo--this time the most entertaining exhibit was the polar bear who kept swimming right up to the glass.  I've never seen him do that before, and the kids LOVED IT!

Haircuts-- for everybody except me since nobody in our family cuts my hair.   Daphne keeps reminding me that I need a haircut, but I just never have time to go get it cut!  Someday soon, I will get a hair cut . . .

Baking-- bread, cookies, cupcakes, lots of treats.  The kids like to help (i.e. eat the dough and lick the bowls) whenever we're making treats.

Family Home Evening--not unusual to have family home evening, but since they had recently filled the "warm fuzzy jar" by doing good deeds and obeying the first time, they got an outing for Family Night. We went and saw "The Princess & the Frog" at the dollar theater (on Mondays groups of 3 or more get in for 75 cents each!) And then we went to IHOP for dinner.  My kids LOVE breakfast foods--there wasn't a scrap of food left on anybody's plate!  Didn't think to bring the camera, but here's a picture of our warm fuzzy jar.  :)

Playing outside on the nice days, movies, chores, reading, And that's basically it.  Pretty ordinary, but fun to have everyone home for a week.