Growing

There are Simple pleasures in life, such as a zucchini seed growing into a plant.

Regional Track Meet

Can you see Truman? He's 4th from the right. Ready. Set. Go!

Truman runs the 800 (twice around) and the mile relay (once around, fast).

Some of his supporters.

Happy Track is over!

White Wheat Bread

I love making bread, there's something therapeutic about it. The smell of the baking bread somehow makes me feel that all is well. Above is the white wheat kernels. Once ground, they look like . . .

This. A very fine flour. It's fun to bake bread just after grinding the wheat 'cause the wheat is warm and helps in the rising process.

The final product. The recipe I have makes 4 loaves in a Bosch. I don't have one of those. So I use my Kitchen Aid and 1/2 the recipe. What's the recipe? Here it is:

BASIC WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

6 Cups warm water, approx. 115 degrees

2 Tbsp. salt

2/3 cup canola oil

2/3 cup honey

3 Tbsp. dough enhancer

2 cups high gluten bread flour OR 1/3 cup vital wheat gluten

3 Tbsp. instant yeast

6 to 8 cups fresh ground flour

Put water, salt, oil, honey, dough enhancer, gluten & yeast in Kitch Aid - or Bosch. Put your timer to 8-10 minutes. Turn on Kitchen Aid or Bosch, start adding enough flour until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. I don't measure my flour. I just use enough until the texture is right.

Note: I don't use the dough enhancer - it's too hard to find and it's supposed to make the bread less crumbly. This is not a crumbly bread. As for the wheat gluten, you can purchase a box in the flour isle at any grocery store. Just look for "vital wheat gluten." Don't forget, if you're using a Kitchen Aid, 1/2 the recipe!! Make sure to use your dough hook.

Spray counter & your hands with vegetable spray. Remove dough from mixer onto the greased counter. Divide your dough with a dough divider (I use a butter knife) into 2 to 4 loaves. An 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 pan is recommended.

Shape loaves and place in a well sprayed pan. Never use oil. I pat down the bread into all four corners of the pan. Cover with a dry towel and let rise until dough has risen double or approx 2 inches above the rim of the pan. This will take 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the room temperature. I used to turn my oven on 200 and place the pans on top of the stove, you can too. Because I have a gas stove top now, I put my overhead light on high to give off heat.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

I rub the hot bread with butter on the top. Cool on cooking racks before putting into bread bags. The bread can be frozen up to 30 days without freezer burn.

**I love to use white wheat. It bakes beautifully! This is not your momma's white/wheat bread. It's whole wheat with all of the nutrients, without the heaviness to it!

Official Prom

So, here it is, the official Prom picture. Cole looks great, happy. Probably the first and only picture where he's smiling normally. Abigail looks beautiful & happy too.

Okay, so here's the thing . . . .am I the only one concerned with the background picture?! Miss Murphy is going for quite a ride!

Also, guess what they handed out for souvenirs at Prom ?

Yep, wine glasses etched with the Prom theme, "Come fly with me" on them. Nice.

Prom Desert Ridge High School

Last Saturday was Prom. Cole went with Abigail Sanders, his girlfriend. The fact that Cole went at all is a complete surprise. Anything conventional, involving school, just isn't his bag.

Note Cole's outfit. Abigail and her mother took him to Buffalo Exchange (a trendy Tempe thrift store near ASU) and found this ruffled shirt. Cole said it was the last one he tried on and, "bam, this was it!" Abigail, too had purchased her feather hemmed dress at a thrift store, not to be out shone by Cole's outfit. His tie was gifted to him by Papa, his paternal grandfather, which was a bola tie with turquoise for eyes. This picture Cole said, "Everyone make a face!" Everyone did, except Cole. Typical. The other couple is Jessica Judd and Forrest Babbitt.

The gentlemen of the group were seen taking the dates arm in arm and escorting them to their ride, a relatively new (purchased on 12/31/2008) 2008 Nissan Versa. Forrest Babbitt, the Junior Student Body President, who was the other boy in the car told Cole,

"I like our limo better,

. . . and our driver."

Cole said Prom, which was held at Falcon Field in one of the hangers with old air planes all around, was so much fun. They took their pictures in front of an airplane in a non conventional pose, of course.

The food was at Buca de Beppo. An Italian family style restaurant. They had reserved the "Pope" room but had too many people show up. Around 18 kids, 9 couples. The couples dined on Calamari among other delicious Italian favors.

Now Cole's looking forward to his Senior prom! Miracles never cease to amaze me.

Here are some more pictures from Abigail's mom. She got better pictures.

Easter

Quinn in front of the Easter loot. We have to keep the baskets up and out of the way so Ted can't get to them.

Quinn & Truman checking out their baskets.

Truman checking out his 'retro' skinky.

Hunting for eggs . . . we don't do it outside. Too cold for us desert rats!

Emily & Steven came over and went to church with us.

Blessings

I love my job. For the most part I am very lucky that if I have to work, I get to do what I love, which is labor and delivery. Sometimes, however, like tonight it was tough. Tough because my patient was 37 weeks & 4 days along. She went to her doctor for a check up this a.m. and there was no heart beat. Devastating. She had two prior cesarean sections and her cervix wasn't ready for a delivery so she came in this evening for another section.

It was hard to hear her say, "This isn't fair." "I don't want to go through this and not get a baby." "Can't you just put those heart paddles on her when she's delivered to bring her back to life?" "I just felt her move last night." "This isn't fair." "I just want her to wake up."

When the baby was delivered she was perfect. A head full of beautiful red, curly hair. Small rose bud lips. Sweet chubby cheeks. It most probably was a cord accident. The cord was twisted and twisted. It reminded me of when I was in elementary school and Kristine and I or Lauri and I would face each other, each on a different swing, then run to each other and twist. Couldn't get that scenario out of my mind.

That patient will forever be a part of my life. I'll always remember this day, just as I remember the other deliveries I've been the nurse for which turned out the same way. It never gets any easier. I am so blessed never to have lost a term baby!!

Chocies

While walking through Albertson's today I spotted a sale of a 1/2 flat of strawberries for $3.46 each. Too good a deal to pass by, I purchased with the sole intent of making a strawberry pie.
Having never made one before, I found it's so easy to do and so delicious too!

You would think my baking senses would have been filled, however, I still felt the strong urge to bake . . .

Cinnamon rolls. I pulled the recipe off the Food Network, Paula Dean's, to be exact.

Sometime making dough of any kind is therapeutic!

Do Tipton birthday celebrations ever end??

It started out on March 31st, an early April 1st birthday celebration for Truman. Mom, Dad and brotheres.
Then on April 4th, there was a "surprise" birthday party for Truman.
Eleven kids meet at our home .
Truman completely ignorant of the fact.
Waiting until all arrived to kidnap Truman and take him to the park down the street.

Games were played.

The blindfold came off and revealed a breakfast spread and lots of friends!

Orange juice, pancakes, bacon, sasuage, eggs, cantaloupe, bananas and apples were on the menu.

Those kids ate and ate!

And ate!

Emily and Steven showed up.

Silly string was unleashed. . .

Onto a very willing participant.

Nothing could make Quinn happier.

Gifts were opened.

Then the Sunday, Family birthday celebration. Only this time we celebrated . . .

Truman's 13th birthday on April 1st.

Kelly Reed's 31st birthday on April 1st.

And Gary Tipton's (aka Papa) 71st birthday on April 5th.

I think we're done for a few weeks.

Tiffany with Roxcy and Cherisse.

Speak Swahili

Yesterday there was no school for Juniors and Seniors who had already passed the AIMS tests. This gave Cole's newly formed band, Speak Swahili, the opportunity to jam at our home. Good thing my head and ears are stuffed with sinus gook! They sound great, but are they really loud! We haven't had any complaints from the neighbors yet. Move over furniture, the bands gotta play here. Notice the empty big shelf on the wall . . I had to remove its contents for fear of breakage!

Cole, ever posing for the camera. He's acting like he's jamming!

Although I am not a fan of "My Space,"

they have a site there for its intended purpose,

to expose young, fresh bands.

If you're curious, you can listen to one of their instrumentals when you go to their site. I will post a link after I ask Cole how to.

Another Tipton Teenager

We celebrated Truman's 13th birthday a little early last night. I was supposed to be at work today and not home. As things turned out, I was "pushed back" until 11:00 a.m. this morning and may be cancelled for the whole day. What was I thinking scheduling myself to work on Truman's birthday, much less April 1st? Very few people choose to be induced or have a scheduled cesarean section on April 1st. It's just one of those auspicious days. When I went into labor early in the morning on April 1st, 1996, I was happy I was having my baby 3 weeks early! I hate being pregnant. My sister, Jody, also delivered my nephew, Kelly Reed, 18 years earlier on the same day. For dinner we had grilled bar-b-qued chicken, zucchini, lightly seasoned and buttered noodles sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Truman asked for the "Horton Hears a Who" DVD. I found a set with the DVD, a book and stuffed elephant for the same amount as just a plain old DVD. Anyone need a stuffed elephant? A deals a deal.

Truman got an ipod player/docking system. He didn't even know he wanted one until I got it for him. Note the princess wrapping paper - that's what you get when you have a foolish birthday! Sympathy cards, girls wrapping paper, all kinds of jokes. Good times.

The traditional/infamous Black Magic Cake was for dessert. Delicious!