Vegas Baby!

My mom turned 60 this week, so my dad and sisters surprised her with a 24 hour trip to Vegas. Naomi got to come too, since I'm her primary food source. We jetted out of the drizzly weather to the much appreciated sunshine. Our room at the Bellagio looked down on the water show.

We had a yummy dinner, and then went to see Le Reve at the Wynn. The set was amazing.


The next morning we had breakfast, massages, and sat by the pool. After lunch it was sadly time to go home. We could have easily spent more time, but it was hard enough to arrange childcare for all of our kids for just one day. I can't remember the last time I got to spend time with just my parents and sisters, so it was especially fun. I've got to say that it feels like yesterday that we were celebrating my mom's 50th.

First Food

Last Saturday, Naomi had her first taste of real food (if you can call baby oatmeal mush real food). Not surprisingly, she LOVES it. She opens her mouth wide and bangs her hand on the high chair tray if I don't shovel it in fast enough, which is good, since we don't want those rolls to disappear on us anytime soon.

Costumes

We are coming up on Lilly's performance for her ballet class. They got their costumes today. This is what those lessons are all about.

Dance Festival

Ava participated in her first school dance festival this week. Watching all the children in their costumes doing their different dances did not disappoint. Of course, Ava's group danced in the furthest corner from the spot I was watching, so I don't have any pictures of her "Shoemaker's Dance," but I promise it was adorable. Fortunately, I snapped a picture before it started so you can see the cute costume she made.

The school principal is retiring this year, so at the end of the festival, all of the children sat and signed along to a song for him. I'll never forget all of those little arms waving back and forth to the music. Ava told me she saw him crying, and I don't blame him. It was precious.

Bread Making & Yogurt

I've been experimenting with making my own bread. So far it's been hit and miss. More like miss and miss. So far everything I've baked looks great and smells fabulous, but I'm really struggling with salt levels, resulting in completely bland loaves and deadly salty loaves. I think once I get the salt right, it will be really great. I'm baking out of the "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" and "Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" books. The whole "5 Minutes" thing is really a lie. It's 5 minutes (or less) hands-on time with the dough, but you have to have time to let the dough rise, heat the oven, and bake the bread. The nice thing is that you don't have to kneed the dough, you just mix it, let it rise, and keep it in your fridge for future use.

Here are some pictures of my first two attempts:

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Whole-Grain Loaf

I'm also making my own yogurt, which has been much more successful. I got a yogurt maker for my birthday and it's pretty simple. The trick is picking a good starter yogurt and my last batch was so delicious.