Croutons

We had some bread that turned out hard and not so great to eat. Instead of throwing it away, I decided to make some homemade croutons for our salads. I waited around a long time, procrastinating because I thought it would be a lot of work. But it wasn't! It was quite easy, they are very tasty, and I feel very good that I didn't throw away that loaf of bread I worked so hard to make!

I cut up our bread into slices, and then cut little 1/2 inch square cubes out of the slices.

I put all the cubes in a bowl and then added the oil. I tossed to coat them.

Then I also added some onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and parmesan cheese to taste.

I baked them at 350 for around 30 minutes (I used my convection setting to get them nice and crispy). Stirring them often so they baked evenly.

And then I enjoyed my fresh croutons on my salad! Yum. Hadley ate a ton as well....without the salad. I hope you try to make croutons and enjoy them too!

Lydia can walk!

Lydia has been making it her goal to meet and exceed every developmental milestone! Sitting up at 5 months, crawling at around 7 months, and now walking at 11 months! She's such a big girl already :)

Playing Outside!

We got the wagon out for the first time this year. I pulled the girls around the block and then Hadley pulled Lydia up and down our sidewalk for a good long time! It was the first non rainy day we've had in a while, and we took advantage!

Hadley picked out her outfit today :)

There they go!

Big Girls

This is Lydia learning to wave!!

And just because she's so cute!

Learning about Patterns

Hadley and I have table time every day while Lydia takes a nap. We do different pre-school types of activities. Sometimes we work on holding our pencil the right way, and sometimes we work on following directions. This past week we worked on patterns. In the past it's been a difficult concept but this time she really got it! I'm so proud and I feel like it was our first home school moment!

Rainy Day

Hadley got an umbrella for Easter and we've had plenty of opportunity to use it this week!

Easter Time

Here are a few pictures of our Easter activities. We went to an Easter Egg hunt on a pig farm where Lydia got painted up like a bunny. We also decorated eggs at the Drennan's house. And the girls got their picture taken on our fireplace with their Easter gift!

Homemaker by Choice

I like to read several blogs on a variety of topics. Some on sewing, some on homeschooling and large families, some just to keep up with my friends. This is one of them: http://www.homemaker-by-choice.com/ She is having a give away of some awesome DVDs! I've seen several of them before when I borrowed them from the library, but I'd love to have them in my own collection. In the Homestead Blessings videos I've learned several new recipes, and put them into practice. I've started making most of our bread, and we were inspired to start making our own butter. There's one about canning one about gardening that I think would be very useful! Anyway, pop on over and read all about it!