What's new...

Firstly I have to say that if I have a least favorite part of blogging it would be having to come up with some sort of title for each post...anyway, I digress...

Things I am loving right now:

Being flu free. The babies are well and getting back to their normal selves. Thankful for health, so thankful. Oh, how I prayed last week.

Couponing. I went to a free class and I became very motivated to save us money. My first outing resulted in over $60 of savings.

Story time on Mondays at the local library. We meet friends there, do crafts and listen to stories. Lovely.

Knitting. I finished a sweater for Evelyn and I am now working on one for me. Next it's a hat for Elijah. Wish me luck.

Frozen croissants. Just leave out over night then bake. Easy!

Plotting for Christmas. If I could just pull out the sewing machine and get started!

Sleep. I just wish I got more of it. :)

Being blessed...more then I can say.

There and Back Again...

Nye Beach, Newport, Oregon
On the road to Sisters, Oregon
LaGrande, Oregon
Evelyn looking at Aspen leaves, LaGrande, Oregon

I hate to start a post with an apology, I never meant yo be gone so very long. Of course we were out west for nearly three weeks, but I had hoped to post there...it never seemed to happen.
What fun we had, but it was too long to be away from home and from David. I have sworn that I will never travel on planes with my children, by myself. ever. again. Going out was not so bad, but coming home was a nightmare...full on meltdowns with kicking and screaming...delightful. But we made it and since then we have been trying to settle back in...that has been hard too. I took the babies to the doctor today. They definitely have the flu, it may or may not be the swine flu. We will have to wait and see. So I will be tending to little sickies and being a hermit.
I will probably post a bit sporadically for awhile...but, I do have lots of pictures to share, so I may do a few picture only posts for awhile. See you soon!

Note: Colleen, I have lost your new e-mail address...send again please? I don't have access to your blog and I can't leave you any comments and I would like to keep in touch...thanks!

Beautiful cool days...

I haven't meant to be gone so very long.
I have been distracted...
It has gotten chilly and I am loving it. Our weather forecast calls for snow this weekend!
I have been getting us out of the house more and making connections with Moms in my neighborhood.
Lots of knitting is on needles as we speak.
I have been teaching a new Mom friend down the street how to knit.
Lots of warm meals have been cooked and baked.
Blankets have been washed and placed in the living room for cozying up.
Cups of tea warm my hands as I sit and watch football with David. Have I ever mentioned that we have football on, pretty much all Autumn and Winter? David is obsessed and I must admit that I am fast finding myself to be a fan of a good game.
I pulled out Elijah and Evelyn's winter quilts and made up their beds to keep them warm and toasty. Winter nights in the Midwest can be brutal.
I found two wool rugs for super cheap and they now grace the ceramic tile floor in the kitchen. Those rugs will be nice this Winter. Plus, they are a cheery red, blue, and green stripe pattern that happens to make me very happy.
I am busy getting ready for Elijah, Evelyn, and I to fly to Oregon to visit my parents, brothers, sister-in-laws, grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins. I am very excited. It has been two years since I was there last and I have not met a niece and a nephew. Many lists have been made, snacks decided on and activities planned for the long days of travel there and back.
Sugar cookies have been baked and decorated...pumpkins and Mickey Mouse. Elijah insisted on Mickey Mouse.
Lots of reading of story books. Evelyn has started being more interested in books. I have enjoyed now getting to be able to read to both of them at the same time. This will be a favorite cold weather activity.
Lots of little, sweet moments fill our days...it's not that I haven't wanted to blog about them, I have just been too busy soaking them up to stop and write.
I hope that Fall is wonderful where you are and that your hands and hearts are warmed by the fruits of your labors. I will be back soon with pictures...

Apples...

Firstly, I have to say that these donuts are the devil.
They are addicting to a degree that I have not experienced in a long time. All I have to do is drive 30 minutes to an apple orchard, walk up to a counter, place my order, and instantly I am handed a bag full of hot donuts. I mean those babies are fresh out of the deep fryer and rolled in cinnamon sugar. I have gone back 3 times in two weeks...3 times! The bad (good, for my waistline) news is that the orchard is only open during September and October. If I get a craving in March...too bad for me!

So, to better justify my 3rd trip, this morning I picked apples. I have been planning to make applesauce again this year and these apples looked like a good choice. They are Galas that are rosy and golden.

I had little helpers and it only took us about 20 minutes to pick a half bushel. The day was overcast and a wee bit muggy. We were the only pickers out there this morning, so we had rows upon rows of apple trees to ourselves. Elijah caught on quickly and was a big help. Evelyn spent her time trying to pull grass and clover through the drain holes on the floor of the wagon. All of us were happy with our labors at the end.

Depending on how much applesauce I get from this, we may make another trek out to the orchard for another half bushel...honest, I'm not motivated by those donuts one bit.

Putting food by...

I got a great deal on local sweet corn this past weekend. I didn't know how much to buy so I went with 12 ears. My intention was to blanch and then freeze the corn kernels for future use this winter. We aren't huge corn eaters, but we do like it from time to time in chowders and corn bread.

After 9 minutes or so in boiling water and cutting off the kernels, I spread them out onto two baking sheets and placed them in the freezer. I wanted the kernels to freeze more or less individually instead of as whole blocks of solid corn. It worked well. After a day in the freezer I transferred the corn to freezer bags and I ended up with four quart sized bags full. Easy and they will be great in the months ahead.
Taking a page from Leslie, I have been having a little school time with Elijah in the mornings. Today we talked about the letter C and the number 3. C is for Car, so we made a little car with a stick butter box and construction paper and we practiced counting to three and holding up only three fingers. He seemed to enjoy it. So since we are focused on the letter C, I made crackers this morning for our snack. I used a recipe posted by Heather at Beauty that Moves and they were quite good. I have held off buying any crackers at the store the last few weeks because I wanted to make this recipe. I am trying to cut out more processed food from our lives, so homemade crackers was an easy thing to do. A few changes I made to the recipe: I left out the nutritional yeast as I didn't have any on hand and I used dried celery instead of rosemary as I didn't have that either. They are yummy. Elijah kept sneaking them behind my back...so I know I have a winner if he can't stop eating them. I see lots of double batches and variations in our future. I am happy because they are not only tasty, but I know every ingredient in them is fine for my family to eat.
This week we'll be picking apples and making apple sauce...I'm sure you will be hearing more about that in the days ahead.

Birthday Goodness...

Awhile back I hinted that I was making some things for Evelyn for her birthday. I had found this doll bunk bed at an antique store for an unbelievably cheap price back in March. I enlisted my Step-Mom Lisa to make a set of doll quilts for it and they turned out beautifully, as you can see. She made them to match the full sized one that she sewed for Evelyn when she was born. Lisa also knitted an afghan that the dolls would certainly need for cold winter nights...I love that.

I made a set of mattresses out of pillow ticking. I stuffed them with cotton stuffing and then tied them like a quilt in places that I had marked with a pencil to provide a uniform shape. I am pretty happy with how the whole thing looks. I still hope to make pillows and perhaps sheets to go as well. Then of course Evelyn needed a doll to go with it. I set to work sewing an Awake/Asleep Doll. One side is asleep...

Then you flip her dress over and...

She's awake...

My Mom made one exactly like this when I was small. She had given me the pattern and instructions a few years ago. When I had a little girl I knew that I needed to make one for her too. It felt like it's a family tradition in the making. Giving my daughter a doll of her own, yet much the same as one that I had and loved (and still have) was really special to me. I had the sense of carrying something on and giving my daughter a piece of family history too. I hope that this is a doll that she will love and that this bunk bed set will give her lots of playtime joy as she gets older. And who am I kidding, I can't wait to play with it too (with Evelyn of course). :)

Apple Skillet Cake...

The Apple Skillet Cake was made and it was pretty good. It didn't really get eaten for dinner...it took longer to complete than I had paid attention too when I read the recipe. Peanut Butter and Jelly soon was on the menu and Apple Cake became a before bed treat.

I had a little helper. He wore the Snowman apron and I wore the one with the stars. He helped me mix and pour and stir. He also liked to try and sneak fingertips full of butter when he thought I wasn't looking. We had a talk about listening to Mama and obeying my directions. We are still working on those lessons each and every day. He really does very well most of the time with brief periods of extreme testing of this Mama. He is a good helper and I want to continue to foster that...by having him with me it seems that there are multiple opportunities for both of us to learn.

Anyway...back to the cake. I am really looking forward to cooler temperatures. The kitchen gets so hot when I use the oven, so I am looking forward to when having the oven on is a pleasant thing. I think that baking is really may favorite thing. I would rather bake something any day of the week then cook. Maybe that is why I gravitate naturally to casseroles for meals...God bless my family for putting up with that. If it can be mixed together and baked, I'm in. Maybe I'll just make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for each meal and then bake something to go with it. That sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. ;)

OK, so I digress...again. The one change I made to the recipe is that I omitted the boiled cider, which I did not have on hand. I think it would be good with it. There would be a more intense apple taste, but it was still nice without it. The cake was a little too done for my taste, I like a more moist, slightly under done cake...David likes cake with absolutely no doughiness whatsoever. So I hit that mark this time. Oh, and I used Gala Apples instead of the Granny Smith's because those are what I had on hand.

Oh, my...the fresh whipped cream is what made it for sure...I could have eaten twice as much whipped cream as cake if I had allowed myself. Good thing I went for a run last night, then I didn't feel guilty for eating a piece...plus it's a fruit serving right? I mean look at all of those apples! And it's baked in a cast iron skillet so it's a good source of iron. Plus, the whipped cream...calcium! All and all a healthy meal...I'm convinced anyway.