::Happiness::

It's here, it's here! Sorry, but the giddiness factor in this Bailey household is about to go through the roof. The weekend I've been planning for and saving for for many, many months has arrived! This will be the first time that Dwight and I have ever gone anywhere overnight that didn't involve extended family or friend's— not that those weren't wonderful— but this time it is just us (and our lil' cute girlie). SO fun! :-) 

If ever two were one then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife were happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor aught but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persevere
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

–Anne Bradstreet–

Beth's Homemade Bagels

Per some requests ;-), here the the bagel recipe that I came up with to help all that cream cheese get used up. Enjoy! (For those of you at low altitude - I live at 6500 ft. - it should still work just fine.)

~ Bagels ~
3 C. of warm water
1 Tbsp. sugar (or 2 tsp. honey)
2 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 heaping Tbsp. instant yeast (I like SAF, you can find it at Whole Foods)
8 C. Flour (about - may vary due to humidity or lack thereof)
2 eggs, beaten 

Combine water with the sugar, salt, oil and yeast in a heat-safe container. Let rest for 5 min. (It should become foamy.)

Pour the yeast mixture into a large bowl, stir in the eggs, and then stir in the flour one cup at a time. The goal is to have a stiff yet workable dough. You may find you need more or less flour to achieve this. ;-)

Knead dough for 10 minutes (this is a great workout!) and cut into 24 equal sections of dough. Let dough sections rest on the table for 10-20 minutes.

If you have skill, you can shape each dough section into a snake and by bringing the two ended together and rolling them in the palms of your hand, cause the dough to fuse together to form the bagel shape. Otherwise if you are like me, I made the dough into a roll shaped ball, stuck my finger in the center to form a hole and then shaped it from there. (Sorry, I don't have a video. :-P)

Let your bagels rest on again on the table for 20 minutes. While you are waiting you can bring a large pot of water to boil (I used my stockpot) and lightly grease your large baking sheet(s).

Add as many bagels as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Drain to remove excess water and place on baking sheet.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes or until browned, then flip the bagels over and cook for another 10 minutes (or until browned).

Let cool a bit and then pile the cream cheese on! And believe me, I really do usually have quite the pile - but then I love cream cheese so much that I eat it plain. 

I put sprinkled chopped green onion on some of mine just before putting them into the oven. {Chloe loved it!} You could also use sesame seeds, poppy seeds, etc. You could even vary the types of flour you use. One of these days I'm going to mix in some blueberries and see how that works. Yum. :-)

Mama's Big Helper

We have quite a bit of cream cheese thanks to the fantastic deal going on at Kroger stores right now (Yup, we were paid $0.10 to bring 10 packages home with us. ;-P Not too shabby, eh? And that is without any coupons!) so I thought bagels would be tasty. Chloe wanted to help me knead the dough, and Dwight took pictures. She loves to help us, eat with us, do anything we are doing! (She is even going to come camping with us this weekend! Yay!)

Fun with Mama

I am continually amazed my just how fun, life-changing, and fulfilling mommyhood is. I love my lil' dolly so much. We thank the Lord for her daily and definitely don't take her or "Sproutsie" for granted!

I do admit it, though, that dressing her, playing with her hair, etc. is WAY too enjoyable. Poor girl, it probably causes her trauma. :-P But the other day I began to think that *just maybe* it might be able to go into pigtails. Yup, she definitely doesn't get all her hair at this age from my genetics. I was bald, and then I eventually had blonde curls that gradually darkened and become more red. (And those curls have mainly left... weep.)

Isn't she just too adorable? And yes, that is a diaper insert. Please don't be grossed out, it was very clean—I promise. She was "helping" me fold laundry and she has this utter fascination with tags.  It is quite entertaining, actually. :-) 

Chik-fil-A

So today we dressed up in our black and white and went to Chik-fil-a to celebrate "Cow Appreciation Day" and to hopefully be given some free lunch. ;-)

Chloe received her very 1st Kid's meal and she was so proud of her little cow toy. And I really do have spots, I promise. Chloe just helped herself to any that were within reach as I was holding her while waiting in line. :-P