September 2011 – Page 2
I do believe I was living under a rock until my dear cousin (and baby J’s godmother) introduced me to a culinary wonder: Caprese Sandwiches! Incredibly easy to make and they look gorgeous when entertaining.
So in honor of the last few days of summer, here are a few variations that I just love! I’ll be keeping these in mind for my next get together!
Source: howsweeteats.com via Hilary on Pinterest
Source: melskitchencafe.com via Suzanne on Pinterest Source: thepartydress.net via Graham on Pinterest
A perfect day for picking apples and being with family. We’ve gone to this orchard every year on Grandparent’s Day/Opening NFL Weekend since M was a baby. And I must say, it was surreal this time to watch my two oldest. Giggling together with some conversation only brothers can understand. Walking like “big boys”, needing no helping hands. Playing “tag, you’re it” and races across the big, open field.
I love being their mamma.
And baby J’s too of course! He wore the obligatory Cowboys jersey in honor of his Daddy’s favorite team. Our third sweet baby boy to do so! He’s been teething, so he wasn’t very interested in all the apple excitement and preferred to snuggle up to either his Meme or Poppa instead.
We all had so much fun. Now to find a yummy recipe for apple pie….
Today marks the end of our first two week unit! To catch up all of you new readers, we decided to do PreK at home this year using Five in a Row. I chose it primarily because it felt like a gentle beginning to school. I can include lots of extras or we can simply snuggle together on the couch and talk.
I decided to focus this year on an “Around the World” theme since M is such a fan of different countries. I chose stories from the first two volumes that fit with the theme and just went from there. I have spread each book/country into two week units, so we can fully enjoy each place. And How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World seemed like the perfect place to begin!
Here are some of the details about what we did and learned. I apologize ahead of time for the horrible pictures…the boys wake me up each morning around 6:30 and hurry through breakfast, so we can “do school!” So I hope that explains the lack of natural lighting and pajamas! 🙂
(Also, if you are a fellow “FIAR”-er, please check my Pinterest for tons of ideas!)
| Our “Art Gallery” |
Our two big projects were a “life-size” apple tree and re-creating the lion from Ten Apples Up on Top! The boys love to paint so they were super excited about both activities. The lion head was all M’s idea, right down to the pipecleaner curls. He’s so creative – I learn so much from him!
| A peek into our lapbook… |
The books we read:
I was afraid two weeks of apples might be too much, but we actually enjoyed all two weeks’ worth of activities! We made apple prints, had a taste test with 4 different types of locally grown apples, made homemade applesauce and apple cake, created a lapbook, and even made our own playdough (scented with cinnamon and spices, so it smelled like apple pie!)
Our field trip for this book will be our annual Grandparent’s Day/Opening NFL Weekend apple picking trip with my parents. We’ve been going every year since M was a baby. The boys are so excited and I am too! We still need to make an apple pie!
Source: jennyggilbert.blogspot.com via Sara on Pinterest
Unrelated to the post, but I thought it was good food for thought…
So…I forgot a few things I wanted to include in yesterday’s post! I’m going to blame it on my crazy caffeine withdrawals. I am trying (for the third time this year!) to kick my diet soda habit and get those artificial flavors/colors out of my system. But wow! I had a killer headache for most of the day! We’ll see how today goes…
Anyway, here is the recipe we used for the bread in the bread machine:
Oatmeal White Bread (in the bread machine)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup oats
3 cups flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Warm the milk in the microwave, so it’s barely warm when you touch it (for me, it was about 30 seconds). Put the ingredients in the machine as recommended in your directions (mine says liquids first, then dry, then yeast). Set your machine for 1.5lbs, LIGHT crust, and Basic/White Bread. Press start and wait until it beeps!
Side note: I actually bribed my children with the first slice of bread for whoever picked up their toys the fastest. And it worked!
WEARING. I can feel fall approaching and I am so excited to pull out the sweaters and jeans! I just ordered a few things from Lands End Canvas and was really pleased with the quality. Have you ever ordered from them?
REMEMBERING. Another fun find from another blog was 280daily.com. Easily accessible from your smart phone, it’s a way to journal and can be used for many things: a food diary, record of what you did that day, etc etc. I decided to use it as a gratitude journal. I get a reminder e-mail everyday at 4PM, so I never forget. And the coolest part is that at some point, I have the option of printing out or having a book bound with the entries I wrote. So neat…and a great way to have a gratitude journal for this busy mamma!
How was your Labor Day? I hope it was wonderfully relaxing and fun. Ours was great as well! We did a day of errands and shopping and two days of lazy relaxing around the house. It was perfect! A few more things to tell you about:
MAKING. Through the wonder of the Internet, I stumbled on this creative girl. She has a bunch of scrapbook how-to videos and I swear to you, M and I watched about three in a row, just oohing and ahhing over her pages. Shimelle inspired me so much that I actually pulled out some 12×12 papers and tried my own. So fun! (And hurray for making some progress on my neglected pictures from the first four years of marriage!)
BAKING. Over the weekend, we purchased a bread machine! My mom found an amazing deal. We go through a lot of bread around here (the boys are big fans of a good ol’ PB & J), so it will be so nice to have bread without all of the preservatives. We tried this recipe and I actually had to made it TWICE yesterday!
READING. I finished Heaven is For Real last week. It was a good, easy read and gave me a lot to think about. Talk about childlike faith! My new book is Love Walked In. I grabbed it (mostly because I liked the cover…do you ever do that?) when we were browsing through Border’s closing sale. 60-80% off! I was in heaven. I also picked up In Defense of Food for the husband…he’s already a quarter of the way through, so it must be good.
LEARNING. We are into week two of Apples and going strong. Yesterday, M went on a “Daddy Date” to the grocery store and picked out four different types. When they came home, we had a family taste test…so much fun. I’ll be sharing more of our Apple Unit soon.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Source: mayamade.blogspot.com via Ashley on Pinterest
To round out our first week of school, I thought a little “cooking school” would be fun. The boys are always begging to help in the kitchen, so I sifted through my “to bake” recipes and found this gem: One Bowl Apple Cake. In theory, it’s the perfect recipe for baking with little people. One bowl. Easy ingredients. Easy peasy. I couldn’t wait for our special baking session.
HAH. Oh man. Let’s just say, when you have an overtired baby attached to your hip and two over-eager kids fighting to help, cooking is more than just cooking…it becomes an experience!
The cake was definitely good, but because of all of the above mentioned craziness, I didn’t watch the last few minutes and almost burnt the whole thing. Nothing a little (or a lot) powdered sugar won’t fix! The boys were so excited with their creation. Their giddiness make “cooking school” totally worth it, so I know we’ll be baking together again soon.
I’m definitely going to make this cake again…all by myself!
So I’ve been thinking a lot about this crazy life called motherhood. It’s a wild ride with lots of ups and downs, don’t you think? I want to share a story with you about a particular “low” I had a few years ago…
This story takes place at Mass one winter morning. I was still getting used to being a young mother of two children. My oldest was a fidgety two-year-old and I had a new baby, only a few months old. We managed to get to church on time, but decided we’d better stay toward the back. My toddler was in rare form that morning – and with insufficient sleep the night before, he definitely was acting like it. Because he wouldn’t stay quiet, my husband took him to the back, much to his dismay! He fussed and caused a minor scene. At about the same time, my new baby started to whine. He had a minor case of colic, possibly acid reflux, and he constantly had to be upright and bounced. I stood up and moved to the back wall of the church.
Needless to say, I was overwhelmed and exhausted. I could feel the tears coming, but I kept trying to push them away. I poured my heart out to God in my head: “I’m so sorry my children are misbehaving in church today. I am so embarrassed that people are looking at us, glaring at us, judging us. I am trying to participate as fully as I can, but today just seems so hard.”
Most of the Mass seemed like a blur. I just couldn’t shake this awful feeling like I was a horrible mother, that I shouldn’t even be at church, etc etc. Before I knew it, it was time for the sign of peace.
A woman and her family of a few teenage children were also standing in the back. She came over to me as I was consumed with bouncing my baby, put her hand on my shoulder and said smiling: “You’re doing a great job.”
Those words just meant the world to me. Although she could probably see the exhaustion on my face, she had no idea the inner turmoil that was going on inside that day. She didn’t know how much I needed to hear those words. She didn’t have to come to me, she didn’t have to say anything at all. She didn’t have to, but she did.
I am challenging myself to go a little outside of my comfort zone and let a fellow mamma know what a great job she is doing. You never know the depths of what a positive word can do for someone. I know that kind woman did that for me!
Have a great weekend!
| From here |
I needed this reminder today…maybe you do too?
Have a good first day of September, friends!