I completely forgot……Katie over at thinkPINK has done a review and is helping me sponsor a giveaway of one of my woolies! Check it out! The contest is running through November 8th! Good Luck!
Month: October 2009
Cream of Wheat…
So, yesterday morning, it was a cold and rainy day…so River decided it was definitely a morning for Cream of Wheat…so while we were getting ready for breakfast, we spent about a half an hour singing “The Cream of Wheat” song. It was great fun..though in the video, I am the one doing most of the singing……
Then I spent about twenty minutes making the cream of wheat and adding the brown sugar and the butter and cooling it down and then putting it in front of River. And then…..
What’s hot and what’s not…..
Okay…I’m still going strong with what’s hot and what’s not….borrowed from Loobylu!
What’s Hot:
-Pumpkins..hello, it is almost Halloween!
-Halloween books…hello, it is almost Halloween! Some of our favorites….Excuse me, are you a Witch? by Emily Horn. Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O’Connell
-The view from our bedroom window….so beautiful this time of year…even with the rain!
-Finishing up custom order woolies…I love watching the pieces come together!
-Blocks…River has discovered the joy of simple, wooden blocks.
-The oboe….Quinn has started to play the oboe in school and he is really enjoying it..after a bit of a rough start!
-My 5 year diary with red? cover by Tamara Shopsin. It says it is a red cover..but I don’t believe them. I love this little diary. As the product description states, “helps you keep track of the next 60 months of your life in just a few lines a day. Each page of the diary is devoted to one day of the year and subdivided into five sections (each with its own space for notes), so that, as time goes by, past entries can be read as the new ones are written.” I am also in love with Heather Armstrong’s book, It Sucked and then I cried: How I had a baby, a breakdown, and a much needed margarita.
What’s Not:
-My STILL dying plant! I am bringing it to my brother’s house this weekend! Hopefully he can nurse it back to health.
-Laundry…you finish it and then there is more! I don’t think I need to say anything more.
-My STILL unfinished Starry Night mural…my goal is to finish it by Christmas.
Halloween…
Halloween is like so many other things that you get involved in….with your children…where, you end up doing things for your kids…and then their friends…one thing leads to another…and before you know it…..it’s way out of control…….at least that is how it always seems around here. Not only does Tuesday want to be a super hero..but she wants her friend to be a super hero. Of course, they have to look exactly the same….so of course….I have to make both costumes…..I should not complain..it could be worse…this costume is pretty easy. I am actually recycling her costume from last year. She was a ghost last year (don’t ask!…long story…), so she wanted to use the white sheet to make the capes…..I actually had all the materials! And Quinn..he wants to be an Orioles player, so I had to buy all that stuff..he wanted the real thing..not some cheap imitation! And River…I took the easy way out on that one….I bought a little pumpkin costume!
Fall Weekend…..
The weekend was so beautiful! Okay, well, Sunday was so beautiful. Saturday rained and rained and rained. But that is alright…I love the rain. I love this time of year when it starts to get dark early and gets cold and snuggly. I love having the lights on when we eat dinner and when the house seems warms and cozy. We had such a fun time pumpkin picking. Now we just have to do the carving. I should enjoy the carving, but I just don’t…all the mess and the mess and the mess……but it’s tradition and you certainly can’t mess with tradition!
She Left Proof….
One of the blogs I frequently read is ashleyann photograph. I love all her bright photos and inspirational images. Today, her post was all about leaving proof by taking photos with your kids. I found it inspirational. This is quoted directly from her site:
Here is a brief summary from the flickr group dedicated to this…it is well worth your time to read it. The below is written by Emilie Ahren:
“Many scrapbookers knew Aleida Franklin. She was a wonderful wife and mother and a brilliant artist. I didn’t know Aleida personally, but she taught me something I will never forget.
She emailed me last year to tell me she loved my blog and to ask if I liked my short hair-cut. This lead to a series of emails which eventually led me to remark that I really loved how often she posted pictures of herself with her children on her blog. And she replied to me, “Have you ever seen a photograph of your own mother and thought to yourself how fat she looked? Or how she wasn’t wearing make-up? Or wasn’t dressed in a glamorous outfit?” Of course my answer was no.
She then responded with saying that she made it a goal to take a picture of herself with her children at least once every month. And that to use excuses about how we look, as women, is ridiculous, since our children will never care what we looked like, but only that we had physical evidence of the bond between mother and child.
Aleida tragically and unexpectedly passed away in an auto accident in September of 2008, leaving 2 small children and a grieving husband. After she passed I thought of how those children must feel to have those precious photographs. I have made it my personal goal to follow her wise suggestion and I try to take photos of myself with my children….double chins, make-up free, bed-head and all.
I invite Mothers everywhere to take Aleida’s Challenge. To photograph yourself with your children each and every month. And to post them here so that we can see Aleida’s legacy unfolding.”
So, here are my photos from today………
What’s hot and what’s not…..
Okay..it is already Wednesday..how the week flies by. And I have actually been doing quite well about posting every day this month! I am proud of myself!
What’s Hot….
**Amusement Parks – My kids are addicted to Six Flags. They get season passes every year and go a million times.
**The Easel – I finally set up River’s easel and she loves painting on it.
**The Library – now that it is getting cold around here we go to the library a lot! River loves getting new books and going to story time.
**Getting dressed in warm clothing – River loves to “accessorize” her outfits for outside!
**The sun – we had so much rain, that the sun feels wonderful, especially for the cats.
**My mother’s wedding ring – maybe its unorthodox, but I wear my grandmother’s engagement ring and my mother’s wedding ring. I look at them all the time and think of them.
What’s Not…
There isn’t much that isn’t hot this week…..
** Not feeling well – the little bug that is going around our house is getting annoying
** Lost items – no photo for this one….but there are too many lost items around this house! That drives me crazy!
** Getting up on time – certain children in my house refuse to get up when they need to..it gets really tiring having to wake them up about 10 times in the morning before they begin to stir.
Bread Machine Addiction…..
I admit it…I love my bread machine. I think I use it every day. Sometimes twice a day! I don’t think I could live without it. It is one of those items, that if it broke, I would have to go out immediately and buy a new one! Some people tell me that using a bread machine is cheating, it isn’t really making bread. But I don’t believe that…I am still putting in all the ingredients..I’m just not doing the hard part. Most of the time, I just make the dough in the machine and then do the rest myself. Today, I made cinnamon bread, that was wayyyyy tooo gooey and then I made pizza dough.
What a difference a year makes…..
The photo below sums up so much for me from this past year……a year ago…things seemed so peaceful and calm and perfect….okay..maybe not perfect.
What a difference a year makes…..I had a miscarriage, my husband lost his job, my mom got sick, my mother in law started to lose her sight, tuesday didn’t get into the middle school she had hoped for, my mom got sick again, my father in law lost his job, my mother in law went completely blind, my mom was in and out of the hospital and then died, I had another miscarriage……
At the same time, I have to look at all the wonderful things that have happened in this year…..christopher loves his new job, we’ve had a wonderful time having christopher’s parents living next door to us, tuesday loves her new school, we are all healthy…..
Things happen in life…good and bad…I just have to learn to focus a little more on the good…..a little less on the bad….get back to the peaceful and perfection…..
p.s. ….the cake was so yummy..I made another for the next day with my in-laws!
Can you make Jewish apple cake out of three apples….
So, I’m going to my dad’s for dinner…he loves Jewish Apple Cake. We have a family recipe for it…but I don’t have it…I did have it, but I have lost it. This is one of those times when I would call my mom and have her give it to me over the phone. But I can’t do that any longer and if I called my dad and asked him he wouldn’t even know where the recipe book was. Which also makes me think that I need to get my mom’s recipe book. Shouldn’t the daughter inherit the recipe book???? I think so. The recipe uses a tube pan instead of a bundt pan….I don’t have one of those….may have to get my mom’s! Somehow I don’t think my dad will ever use it!
Anyway, I was therefore forced to go on the internet and look up a recipe. The problem is I only have 3 apples and River is napping…so it will be a Jewish Apple cake with 3 apples…we’ll see how it turns out……
I have also discovered that the recipe calls for 1/4 of a cup of orange juice..I don’t have any..so I am substituting milk. Should be interesting.
The recipe is below (I only baked it for one hour):
Mom’s (okay….not my mom’s) Apple Cake
6 apples, Mom uses McIntosh apples
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.
Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.
Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean.
This recipe was borrowed from smitten kitchen.
Here are my photos. I’ll tell you on Monday has it tasted! I had to take a photo BEFORE I took it out of the bundt pan, because I always mess that part up!
