Baking Bread with Grandma

My mom is a fantastic bread and pie baker, so it just shocking to her that I don't bake either of those for my family - yet! Give me time and I'll master them. However, mom decided to start young with Olivia so when my mom and dad arrived for a weekend visit, she and Olivia got right to work.

Olivia and Grandma preparing the surface for the bread. Olivia said that she was finger painting with flour. Of course she had to wear her chef's hat!

Kneading the dough with Grandma. Olivia did very well at following directions and staying attentive through the entire process (which is about 4 hours total). Plus, she only sneezed in the dough once! We are sure that the germs baked off.

The dough has risen and Olivia is ready to roll it out. She insisted on using the regular sized rolling pin, so poor Grandma had to use Olivia's toy size one. And, as you can obviously see, Olivia has undergone a transformation into a princess. She does that almost everyday.

Ready for the oven! The bread was delicious.

OK, the REAL reason for my parent's trip was so Joe and dad could go the Illinois vs. Iowa football game. The Illini lost :( but they still had fun. Here is a picture of "the boys from Illinois" before leaving for the game (Ethan stayed home).

Silliness on the bed. Olivia is still obsessed with pirates - I thought that that phase would have passed a long time ago.

We have broken out the exersaucer for Ethan. He thinks it is great. I hope he still thinks it is great for many months to come ;)

Ethan at a pumpkin festival we attended last weekend. With temperatures in the mid 90's. Crazy weather everywhere.

Family photo op at the festival.