Lydia's Favorite New "Game"

Lydia's favorite new "game" right now is to change her baby.  She strips her doll and gets her own (real) cloth wipes.  I can hear her talking to her baby.  "Oh, poop.  Clean you up.  Change you." 

Pink Applesauce

Around here, pink applesauce has been extremely popular.  No, I haven't been buying the neon pink, expensive concoctions you can find in individual servings at the grocery.  I've been making my own strawberry applesauce, which we all enjoy, even Malachi, who won't eat strawberries or apples!

When I first looked into making applesauce, I consulted my husband's grandmother's old (1950s?) cookbook.  It listed applesauce under dessert, and my first thought was who in the world would ever consider applesauce a dessert?  And I certainly kept in mind that this is a cookbook that actually advised housewives to serve margarine at every meal for their families' health!  But I get it now.  Homemade, hot applesauce topped with a bit of vanilla ice cream definately qualifies as a delicious dessert (and you know I love desserts!).

This is more of a how-to than an actual recipe.  All you need is strawberries, apples, cinnamon, and water.  If you have one of these:

The boys love turning the handle on the apple peeler.

it really helps.  My corer/peeler/slicer is from the Pampered Chef, but I'm sure there are other brands, too.  The only thing is, you have to have firm apples, so you need to use it soon after you get your fresh apples.  Waiting a couple of weeks means that you will have to peel and core by hand!
I basically fill my biggest pot almost full of apples and add about 2 cups of frozen strawberries.  (No need to defrost.)  I add 1-2 cups of water and a healthy amount of cinnamon.  Then you just cook it until the strawberries turn to goo and the apples can easily be smashed with the back of a spoon.  You do need to stir it, but not constantly.  I'll stir, then put pajamas on my daughter.  Stir, then read the boys a book.  Stir....you get the idea.  Then you can either leave it lumpy or blend it smooth.  I love using the immersible blender my sister gave me, but the food processor or regular blender will work just fine.  Whatever you use, be careful; it is HOT!  I usually turn off the heat and let it sit a while before blending.  It does freeze well, but I put the jars in the fridge overnight to cool before freezing.   Try other fruit, too.  We also like purple applesauce (made with blueberries), and I've thought of trying other combinations.

In other news, Nathaniel is home from Europe!!!  We are so glad to have him back.  He and the kids are all asleep now, and it is wonderfully quiet and peaceful here.

Down time and etc

Lydia's been taking a regular, longer nap these days, so I've had a bit more downtime in the afternoons.  It's been wonderful.  I've been busy crocheting and cooking lately.  I messed around with my ranch dressing recipe and improved it (I will update it on the blog, if anyone's interested).  I'm currently crocheting Nathaniel a wool hat.  I hope it fits.  And I've had to spend many mornings this week at the school.  One of the reasons was Malachi's Thanksgiving program.  And he and Elijah both got medals at the assembly for participating in the PTA art contest (which they loved!).  We've been keeping busy, which is good since Nathaniel's been in Europe all week.  We can't wait to have him home tomorrow night!

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Cranberry-Orange Muffin on a placemat my wonderful friend Karen made for me!

This weekend, my sister and nieces came to visit!  We had a great time.  Nathaniel watched all 5 of our kids (in the evening, including bedtime!) so my sister and I could go see Burn the Floor.  Fabulous!

For breakfast, I made the ever-popular pumpkin muffins, but I decided to try something new, too: Cranberry-Orange Muffins.  I am happy with how these came out.  Malachi particularly liked them.  I think they are better cool; the orange flavor doesn't come through when the muffins are hot.

1 3/4 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c honey
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 c milk
1/4 c water
1/4 c applesauce
1 orange
1 c fresh cranberries

Chop the cranberries.  (I measured them before chopping.)  In a bowl, combine milk, water, egg, and applesauce.  Zest orange into bowl.  Then add the dry ingredients and mix.  Add cranberries.  I peeled the orange and broke it into small segments.  I added half of the orange to the mix (my kids ate the other half).  Bake at 400 for 9-10 minutes for mini muffins or 19-20 minutes for regular muffins.  Enjoy!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I'm back online and very happy to be able to post Halloween pictures.  Here are my cuties:

Special thanks to Aunt Sherri, who always makes whatever the boys want even if it's a snowy owl (Elijah, this year) or a bat with red wings (Malachi, last year).  And I decided that our baby chickie needed to be a baby chickie for Halloween, so I made the hat to go with the body Sherri had made several years ago when Malachi was a duck.  I'm very happy with how that turned out.  Unfortuantely, the baby chickie is sick and will not be trick-or-treating.  In fact, she is sleeping right now at home with me, while Nathaniel and the boys are at the church's fall fest.  Later, they plan to trick-or-treat.  Poor chickie.  At least she's too young to realize that she's missing anything.

Techincal Difficulties

So sorry, but I haven't been able to blog lately.  Our computer is messed up, and so I'm writing this on my husband's work computer.  He is working on ours, and hopefully, he will figure out what is wrong, but it doesn't look good right now! 
We had a great weekend camping with Nathaniel's family and friends.  The kids had a blast.  They had a taste of freedom: the boys were allowed to go around the circle we were on at camp by themselves.  Malachi nearly wore out the tires on his new bike, and Elijah can really fly on his scooter.  (He didn't have his bike there; maybe next year.) 
Halloween is fast approaching.  I hope I can have my computer working by then so I can post pictures of the kids in their awesome costumes!  (Aunt Sherri always comes through!)  And I must say, I am proud of how the baby chickie hat I made turned out. 
I hope to be back soon!

Pigtails

As promised, here are a couple of pictures of my little darlin' in her new pigtails.  My sister visited last weekend, and she put up Lydia's hair.  I had no idea that she had enough hair for pigtails!  Lydia loves them.  She walks around patting her head and saying, "pretty, pretty."  (Modesty is not a virtue my children seem to have!)

I just love the smile on this one!