My youngest brother, Michael turned 12 years old on February 6. I am twice his age this year... crazy. I remember watching when he was born - how blue his skin was and how he didn't cry for awhile until the nurse rubbed some color back into him, how we really wanted him to be the 7th kid born on the 7th of February but he came at 11:50PM on the 6th, how he didn't have a name for almost a week because my parents couldn't decide what to name him. Some of the options on the table were: Harrison, Jason, Michael, and Travis and Justin's pick: Roly-poly-poop-and-pie. Thank goodness mom and dad didn't go with that one! :)
Anyways, Michael fits him perfectly and our family wouldn't be the same without him. He's in 6th grade this year and plays soccer, basketball, and baseball. He plays oboe in band and loves polar bears and the computer game Madden. He's still got HUGE eyelashes, adorable freckles, and shock blonde hair. He loves to tell you stories but he takes forever to get to the point... And he's still pretty small and cries at the drop of a hat.... maybe we babied the baby a bit too much. :)
Love you, Peanut! He was so small when he was born that I started calling him Peanut and it stuck. His other nicknames vary depending on which sister is talking to him.
If it's Katie, she calls him Sonny.
If it's Rachel, she calls him Babushka (which I realize is Russian for "grandmother" but who knows where she got it from)
If it's Amy, she calls him Bubba.
blowing out candles on his Superbowl cake
Mom & Dad with their baby
Mike & sister Rachel
Mike's birthday guests, who also may have been in town for the Superbowl...
Me & Zach, Trav's friend Jake, brothers Travis & Justin, Mom & dad, Rachel & Jared
The other milestone birthday we celebrated was Grandpa Cook's 92nd birthday on February 17. Yes, you read that right 92, as in ninety-two, as in 9 tens and 2 ones!
We went to Harbor Beach to their farm on Saturday for a birthday dinner and gifts. Zach, me, & my in-laws spent the night so it was nice to get some extra time with them when it wasn't so stinkin' loud from the rest of the Cook family chatter. :)
Grandpa Cook is doing so well for a man of his age. Actually, he's doing a lot better than most 70 year olds I know! He just wears glasses and has NEVER had a cavity in all his life! He sailed the Great Lakes as a young man, married Minnie, had 5 children and ran a farm complete with crops and cows for many years. He's also got a memory for dates like none other! He can tell you the date to the date when he started sailing one season, or the exact date and year he bought out the neighbors farm, or how much sugar beets cost in the spring of 1952. It's pretty ridiculous but also pretty impressive!
Happy Birthday, Grandpa Cook! You are loved by many!
Singing Happy Birthday!
It's probably a good thing they didn't put 92 candles on there!
Grandma Cook, Sue, & Aunt Marge prepping the cake for eating
If I back up to January for a bit, I got to make a few exciting purchases! And they're only exciting because I waited and waited and waited to get them and now I'm so glad! One was a cozy down comforter. It's the best. Sinking into our pillow top bed with that comforter on top is SO lovely. I could stay in there all day! Well, at least all morning, which I've gotten to do a lot of lately due to our snow days and Presidents' days. :)
The second thing was the duvet cover for the down comforter. I went back and forth on colors, patterns, and designs but finally went with a complete bedding set from Pottery Barn. I was not disappointed at all! It gives our room a little pop of color which it desperately needed since all the walls everywhere are white. Plus it fits over the comforter perfectly too since we also got that at PB. I'll be sad when summer's here and the down comforter will have to go away. But until then, I'm enjoying it!
And last but not least, I have found a WONDERFUL bread recipe! I've made it twice now because the first time I didn't bake it long enough and the middle was still doughy, whoops! Anyways, I made it again Monday and it got my in-laws stamp of approval when they came over for dinner last night. Zach loves it too! I got the recipe from here. I followed her directions exactly. Bread is too sensitive for me to go messing around with the ingredients or doing my usual measuring method of estimating... I learned that the hard way.
Just beware, it makes 2 big loaves and it was pretty tough on my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Probably because there's between 6-8 cups of flour might be the reason it was a huffin' and puffin' away.
But who cares.
The machine lived and we got yummy warm bread!
I usually eat as many slices as possible when it comes out of the oven because it's only warm and fresh once. Reheating is just not the same. My recommendation is to slather butter on it then drizzle some honey on top. Or put raspberry preserves on it. That's good too. Actually, just about any way you eat homemade bread is good.
bread straight from the oven
It might be weird to say, but I was super scared of making bread from scratch. It just seemed so complicated and too many things could go wrong then I would have wasted lots of time and ingredients. But it's not so bad after all. The result was worth the risk of learning how!
homemade bread success!
Love,
Sarah
