A is for Apple

I picked up a couple of books about APPLES for Claire on our last trip to the library. She is learning about APPLES this month at school. We have lots of APPLE art on our fridge.


This was a cute book and apparently Apple Farmer Annie is quite the cook. There were several recipes (with apples of course) incorporated into the story. I told Claire that we would make something with APPLES while David napped on Saturday afternoon. She did not let me forget!

We decided to make Applesauce Cake because ... I like cake and I had all the ingredients. The book also had recipes for Applesauce and Apple Muffins.

Claire is looking at the pictures to tell me what we need. A bowl, a spoon and APPLES of course!

Supervising the mixer.

Sifting the flour. (This is my great Aunt Flora's sifter and one of David's favorite toys.)

Stirring the batter ... two spatulas are better than one.

All done. This really was a good cake. David ate a whole piece for his snack. Claire wouldn't touch it. She ate the cake batter and thought it was good, but didn't want anything to do with eating the baked cake. Go figure ... that means more for me! And yes, my counters really are that messy. The kitchen island seems to be the collecting point for all the junk that comes in and out of our house. Next time, I will tidy up before I take a picture!

Applesauce Cake

1/2c. butter

1c. sugar

2 eggs

1-1/4c. flour

1/2t. baking soda

1/2t. salt

1t. cinnamon

1/2t. nutmeg

1/2t. allspice

1c. applesauce

2/3c. raisins (optional)

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs; beat well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, soda, salt and spices. Add to creamed mixture alternately with applesauce. Stir in raisins. {Claire vetoed the raisins} Pour batter into 9-inch greased tube pan. Bake at 375* for 45 minutes or until browned. Cool; spread with butter frosting (2T. softened butter, 2c. confectioners' sugar, 1t. vanilla and 3T. milk: cream together butter, sugar and vanilla. Add milk and stir well. Frosting should be smooth and easy to spread.)

Saturday Sports

Claire had her first soccer game today. She did not like her uniform and did not like that there was only one ball. The soccer clinic that we did this summer failed to have an actual scrimmage where all the kids played with the same ball!

There was quite a bit of whining and running to the sidelines, but by the end of the game, she seemed to be getting that she was supposed to try and kick the ball. I think she maybe made contact with the ball a couple of times. I missed it because I was trying to entertain David (who was not very happy about being in the stroller) on the sidelines. Mostly, Claire just wanted to stand on the field with Coach Keith and hold his hand. I don't even know what the score was, but she had fun and that is all that mattered.

We'll be back for more next week.
















Immediately after the game, we headed to our friend Carter's 4th birthday party at Let It Shine Gymnastics. I didn't get to take many pictures because David was still the unhappy camper in the stroller and he pretty much cried the entire party. Except when I let him get down ... and he tried to go out on the gymnastics floor ... and outside in the parking lot. You get my point.

Waiting to slide into the foam pit.

A special treat just for the birthday boy!

Carter looks less than thrilled about our "Happy Birthday" singing abilities.

Carter and Claire

Menu Plan Monday: September 7-13 (the very LATE edition)

I know. It's Thursday. We were out of town at the beach until late Tuesday night so I had decided not to do a formal menu plan this week. However, after only one night back home, I am feeling a little lost without it. So, this is really for my benefit alone. Sorry!

This week's menu:

Thursday: leftover chili and corn muffins (to ring in the first official Titans' game)

Friday: Greek chicken, wild rice, steamed veggies, tomato-basil bread

Saturday: Pizza, salad

Sunday (am): scrambled eggs, tea biscuits, fruit salad

Sunday (pm): Hamburgers, baked beans, grape & cabbage salad

Homemade Playdough

We got this fun cookbook for Claire when we were in Savannah back in May. It has got some really cute kid-friendly recipes and is a great way to introduce your children to cooking and reading recipes. It even gives step-by-step instructions (with pictures) about kitchen tools, how to use them, etc.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, we finally got around to making playdough. This was definitely a fun childhood memory for me. The playdough in our church classes was always homemade. Claire opted to make purple playdough, which turned out to be more of a muted gray color. And, when David decided to eat a little bit, which I knew he would do, at least I knew what he was eating! Now, I just need to find a recipe for edible crayons.

Here are some pics from our playdough day.

Here is the recipe:

1c. all-purpose flour

1/4c. salt

2T. cream of tartar

2-3 drops food coloring

1T. vegetable oil

Combine dry ingredients in pot and stir with spoon. Combine food coloring, oil and 1c. water. Start with 2 drops food coloring to see if you like the color. Add one drop at a time until you get the color you like. Add wet mixture to dry mixture. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. The dough will start globbing together. When it forms a ball in the middle of the pots, it's done. Remove dough from pot and let it cool for 10 minutes. Knead it until color is all worked in and dough is workable. Store in resealable plastic bag or plastic container with lid. Yield: 2 cups playdough.

A few new things ...

(1) Claire started dance classes last week. She is taking ballet and tap. She is thrilled to be taking dance with her cousin Evie. And David and I get to hang out with Aunt Ashley and cousin Ian while the girls are in class.



Claire modeling her new backpack to carry all her dance gear. Hopefully, this will make it easy for me to keep everything we need to take to class together.

I love her little ballet bun. Too cute!

(2) David tried peanut butter for the first time today. Let's just say, he was not a huge fan. Claire doesn't eat PB&J because I never really fixed it for her and I do not want to have the same problem with this child. I thought we would try it out at home before sending it to school in case he was allergic. He was not allergic, but he was also not a fan! He did eat a few bites, so at least he tried it.

Look at that little spot of grape jelly under his lower lip.

PB&J = one big mess!

Do you dip?

Fall has officially arrived in my book. There is a slight chill in the air (at least when the sun is not out) and college football is up and running. We even made our fave game day food, Wheeler Mountain Chili, last night to ring in the season.

Another game day favorite ... dips. Any kind. We don't care. Must involve cream cheese. Anyway, here are a couple of dip recipes that I am sharing as part of Boo Mama's Dip-tacular event. Check out all of the yummy recipes here.

Mexicali Dip

2 (8oz.) pkgs. cream cheese

1 pkg. ranch dressing mix

1 (11oz.) can corn, drained

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 (4oz.) can chopped green chilies

1 (2.5oz.) can chopped black olives

Combine cream cheese and ranch dressing mix until well blended. Stir in other ingredients. Serve with corn chips (Fritos scoops to be exact).

Peanut Butter Fruit Dip (for the health conscious)

1/2c. peanut butter

1 (8oz.) container vanilla yogurt

1/8t. cinnamon

1/2c. cool whip

Combine all ingredients with a whisk and chill. Serve with sliced apples and pears.

First Day of School

Today was Claire's first day of preschool and David's first day of mother's day out. We had a crazy morning getting everything together, but we finally made it to school and the kids had a great first day!

I stayed up really late last night making this cute poster for David's class. Apparently, I was so tired, I couldn't hold the camera straight to make the picture. I was finally able to put my scrapbooking skills to good use! I was pleased with how it turned out. This will be laminated and become a part of a class train that hangs on the wall outside David's room and later it will hang in his crib in case he gets lonely during naptime.

We snapped a few pictures at home before we headed out. I made the kids' outfits. I was also up late last night putting the buttons and ric rac on Claire's dress. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! They do look cute though, so it was time well spent in my book.

David's pants are a Kwik Sew pattern that I just bought. Theyhave the cutest pocket on the back (in red and white check). I just appliqued a plain white tee from Wal-Mart to match. Claire's dress is the Lucy pattern from Children's Corner with added applique and ric rac on the bottom. There are tons of ways to dress up this pattern!

Of course, we had to have a Dora lunch box. Claire was very proud of this little accessory. It was the first thing she showed her teacher when we walked in.

Headed inside ... needless to say, David was not thrilled about having to ride in the stroller.

Outside David's room. Believe it or not, that is actually his name he is pointing to ... and then he pulled the poster off the wall. Way to make a good first impression Dave. He went inside with very little fussing and was off playing before I got him signed in and headed off to Claire's room.

David with his teachers. Not the best shot but I was trying to leave before any crying ensued.

Claire outside of her new classroom.

Claire and her teacher. Another quick shot where Claire was more interested in what was on the table to her left. I think it begins with "play" and ends with "dough".

Yeah for school!