caramel apples

Happy halloween to everyone!

Tonight Corey was at the church for Fright Night (an event for the youth), so the kids and I packed up and headed over to my friend Jessica's house.  The agenda?  Make a batch of candied pecans and caramel apples.  

There is a technique to making caramel apples that I need to learn.  I'm nowhere near close to making a good looking apple.  But taste wise, it is delicious.  Here's how it went down.  My fabulous friend Melissa lent me her apple dipper so first things first, we set up shop.
hmmmm...do you notice a little gremlin in the background of these shots?  Mr. Jagger was uber-interested in what was going on and wouldn't keep his grubby little hands off of things. He swiped that apple from me ;)
Then of course, it was time to melt the caramel. mmmm.........Pour the melted caramel into the apple dipper and start dippingand rolling in goodness
then place on a cookie sheet to set up.  The first one was so pretty and I thought to myself, "hey, this is a piece of cake!" and that's when I looked back over to the apple I had just dipped.

What the .....?
It all drooped to the bottom.  Dang it.  We figured we must be layering the caramel on too thick so we tried to take it back a notch, which helped, but not completely.  We tried sticking them in the freezer to set before rolling them but that didn't work much better.  So I decided to just settle for droopy bottom apples.  They still taste good, so very good.  

Here's how I wanted them to look.

And they'd start out that way, but after a few minutes sitting on the cookie sheet, they'd become that droopy mess.  Oh well, no worries.  

We still made quite a few. It was fun.  I have a recipe to make mini caramel apples with the kids (when they're a bit bigger) and I think I'm going to make it a halloween tradition.  I can't wait :)

pink

pink chalk + cash =

snow + fall fun night

this morning when i left for work, there was snow on the car.  snow!  it's not even halloween yet!  this weather is so not for me.  i need to live where it is warm all year round :)  
tonight was fall fun night at the church.  there were games and candy and fun for the kids and jagger had a blast.  i was trying to keep his candy intake to a minimum, but i'm fairly confident that he was being snuck candy by several people because he appeared to be on a sugar high after we'd been there for about an hour.  i'm not kidding, he was running around all crazy like and it was hard to keep up with him.  as far as the costumes go, i didn't end up making anything.  i just headed over to target (i heart target) and bought him a doctor costume on clearance.  except you couldn't tell he was a doctor because after 5 minutes, jagger had ripped off the stethoscope, the mask, and the scrub cap.  so basically he just ran around in blue scrubs.  i didn't end up getting anything for cash and slade.  i'm going to go back after the 31st and see if i can get some good costumes on sale for next year.  it'll be slim pickings, i'm sure.
there were lots of throwing games which jagger loves because he's all about throwing stuff.  i don't have a whole lot of pictures because it was a little dark in there for the camera and jagger was a blur of activity.  here's a few...

bean bag toss

jagger wanted to stack the rings instead of toss

three-legged race

cupcake decorating :)

8 things

1.  when jagger pretends to be asleep, he lays down, makes the snoring sound, but does not close his eyes.   he just keeps them wide open.

2.  trying to find solid red sleepers is proving to be difficult.  i'm gonna have to come up with a backup plan for costumes.

3.  slade loves to dance right now.  he's totally a booty shaker.

4.  these days, cash is constantly making the knocking sound with his tongue. 

 

5.  jagger has reached the peak of his terrible twos.  at least i hope this is the peak and it's not going to get worse.  he's very defiant and he's really into spitting (of all things! where did he even learn that?) and throwing stuff.  it's making me crazy.

6.  cash and slade have graduated to big people food.  the second they see you are eating they become little beggars at your feet.  they are very demanding. 

7.  cash loves to stand at the gates to the kitchen or hallway and just shake it like crazy.  if he had a little more heft, he'd be pulling the gates free every half hour.

8.  i think slade is reversing in age at night.  instead of sleeping longer hours, he has been getting up more frequently.  i'm ready for this stage to pass already.

today

- 9:02 am -- cash is first to wake up. followed by jagger and then slade. everyone is awake by 9:11.
- let wolfgang out, turn on 'toons (jack's big music show on noggin), and start making breakfast. 
- slade doesn't like waiting for his food.

- 9:57am -- battery dies on camera. bummer. plug it in to recharge it.
- start a load of laundry. first of several.
- jagger has coated his hair in syrup. scrubbing his head with a wipe does not get it out. decide to give him a bath even though he just had one last night before bed. debate whether to dress him a clean pair of comfy pjs to lounge around the house in or dress him for the day. pjs win. we have no plans to go anywhere.
- surf the internet for costume ideas for the kids. thinking of doing the cat in the hat and thing 1 & thing 2. want to do it on the cheap, so research some homemade ideas. i think i can make it happen. but, i am terrible at following through, so we'll see.
- someone knocks on the door. don't answer it because i have a phobia of answering the door, especially when corey is not home.
- 11:06 -- all kids are crying. slade is the loudest. it's not nap time yet, but decide to try and put cash and slade down anyways. slade falls asleep, cash does not.
- 11:58 am--slade wakes up
- kids play, i fold laundry.  it's amazing how many clothes these kids go through.  try watching grey's anatomy from thurs. while folding clothes.  eh... i think i'm losing interest in the show.
- battery is charged on the camera. yeah!
- corey calls on his way home from mansfield. he has just been pulled over for speeding and is getting a ticket. instant bad mood for kristen.
-  1:08pm -- jagger goes down for his nap
-  1:15pm -- cash falls asleep mid-play
-  1:30pm -- corey arrives home.

-  2:00pm -- corey tries transferring cash from the living room floor to his crib.  doesn't work.  he's awake now.

-  2:45pm -- slade is crazy fussy.  put him down for a nap (again).  he wakes up @ 3:35

-  4:15pm  -- jagger wakes.  eats a pb & j sandwich.

-  make a batch of candied pecans.  so good in a salad or just by the handful :)

-  play with kids.  train track building & block stacking fun.
-  5:45pm --  corey wakes from his nap  

-  6:50pm  -- cash and slade - very unhappy

-  the kids and i head out to the church with corey.  set up a bunch of chairs for church tomorrow.

-  swing by the grocery store for dinner fixings.  just go with simple spaghetti (w/cheesy garlic toast).  desperately need to do some major grocery shopping soon. 
-  8:00pm -- put cash and slade down for the night.

-  put jagger to bed at 9:00pm.  he plays in his room for a while before falling asleep.

-  watch a few episodes of dexter before heading to bed ourselves.

biggie fries = biggie thighs

   all right, guys.  i gotta tell you, i need to lose some poundage.  i only put on 27 lbs with the twins, but i was overweight--at least by my standards for me--before i got pregnant.  i've lost all that weight and then some since i had cash and slade, but i was still wanting to lose about 10 more pounds.  not that i was actually doing anything to take the weight off.  i'm lazy.  but i still wanted to lose the weight.  nursing was the main way i was taking the pounds off and that's where the problem lies.  because i stopped nursing about 4 weeks ago.  and since then i've gained 8 lbs.  count 'em -- 8.  this is Unacceptable.  i don't need all this junk in my trunk.  i want it gone.  so i've got to get serious.  i'm not sure how to do it though.  i'm not a dieter, never have been.  i have no self control to deprive myself of any foods.  and i'm lazy, with no discipline to keep myself on a workout schedule.  i don't want to get gym membership because it's too hard to get away to go and i'm not sure if i've said this before, but i'm lazy, so i'll probably never go anyways and it'd be a waste of money.   praying that the weight will just come off overnight doesn't work either.  any suggestions?

    i do know that we have been eating out a lot this past month and so that needs to stop.  that'll help the wallet as well as the waistline.  so i guess my first steps will be to start eating healthier.  and i'm big believer in portion control.  portion control, portion control, portion control.  i like to take walks, so maybe i can get corey to start walking with the kids & me.  hmmm...i can try and curb my sweet tooth.  ohh, that's gonna be hard.  i have the worst sweet tooth.  i don't feel like a meal is complete until i've had some dessert.  and i can eat a whole tray of brownies by myself.  you think i'm kidding, but i'm not.  it doesn't help that we're heading into the holiday seasons.  but i'm gonna try, because i don't like having a big badunkadunk.   we'll see how it goes...

checkup

today cash and slade had their well baby checkup.  i've changed doctors since their 6 month checkup (remember that ranting blog?) and am very pleased with our new doctor.  i wish i had been going to him since the very beginning.  since cash and slade didn't get their 6 month shots, they had to get 4 shots each.  ouch!  they handled it pretty well and after their next appt (where they'll each get 4 more shots) they will be all caught up with their immunizations.  that's a relief.  i'm happy to report they are growing big and healthy.  here are their stats:

cash:  19lbs 10oz & 29 inches tall  

slade:  20lbs 10oz & 28 1/4 inches tall

i'm not sure where in the percentiles they fall.  they didn't say at the dr's office and i didn't feel like looking it up, but the doctor said they are right on track :)

date night

can i just say i love date nights?  it's true.  i love spending time with corey, just the two of us.  even if we are doing nothing.  last night was a date night, thanks to grandma & grandpa d.  we drove to boardman to catch an early movie (city of ember), and then we swung by the boardman park.  they had an event going on and there were all these carved pumpkins, so we checked them out.
they ranged from cute and funny...

nice little tribute to the nightmare before christmas

to a bit more sinister looking...
seeing all those pumpkins made me want to carve one, but we decided not to get pumpkins this year considering the pumpkin from last year is still disintegrating next to our front steps.  oops.

once we saw all the pumpkins, we were just walking around the park and we could hear stuff going on in the woods so we decided to take this trail.
and stumbled upon a haunted hay ride trail.  whoops.  so we high tailed it out of there.

from the park we headed over to tj max (my suggestion, obviously) where i scored a new lantern for my collection.  yeah!

after some starbucks hot chocolate we headed home to get the kids.  here's a picture of one.
it was a nice night.  nice and relaxing.  i'm already looking forward to the next one :)

snapshots of our days

andy, this one's for you

i'm not afraid of snakes like i am about spiders, but if i found this dead one in my backyard, i'd freak out.

MASSIVE DEAD SNAKE

creativity

i have always loved art and crafty stuff.  i was always drawing & coloring & painting as a kid.  i took all the art classes i could squeeze into my schedule in high school.  i like to create things.  sometimes the desire is so strong it overwhelms me.  i  love to go to craft stores and buy stuff.  i spend hours online looking at crafty blogs and websites that inspire me.  i have subscriptions to several craft magazines.  i'm not a "country" craft kinda gal.  i like quirky pieces.  i like clean graphics.  i like messy art.  i like unique stuff.

but here's the problem.

i never actually make stuff.  since high school, i feel i have been stunted in my creativity.  and i'm pretty sure i know what is holding me back.  

fear.

i'm afraid of making a mistake.  i'm afraid of my art not being "perfect."  i'm afraid of making something ugly.  i'm afraid that i'm not any good at this art/craft thing.  i'm afraid i'm not creative enough. i'm afraid i'm not original. i horde my supplies.  i don't want to use them because i might screw something up and then i will have wasted them.

i'm not sure when exactly when i began to fear so much.  but i do know this, the longer i keep myself from creating, the stronger my fear becomes.  

so this is my vow.  to start creating again.  to just do it.  i know the hardest part is just getting started.  to take that first step.  to push past the fear and create with no regards to the final outcome.  who cares if it isn't perfect, if it's not pleasing to the eye, if i screw up?  i need to focus on the process.  free my creative side.  it will make my soul feel good, whole.

because being creative is a part of who i am.

a letter to chester

dear chester,

   i miss you bunches.  i was just looking at my aunt's blog and saw her cute, cute puppy, sadie, which led my thoughts to you.  plus, your birthday month is october (not sure which day), so you've been on my mind.  i know you are having a great time with your new family and  i am so happy for you, but i wonder, do you ever think about me?  do you wonder where i disappeared to?  do you miss me too?

   i miss the way you would lick my feet at night.  i miss the way you constantly followed me around, so close that i was always tripping over you.  i miss the way you were afraid of everything.  i miss your big googly eyes.  i miss your complete inability to distinguish who was calling your name.  i miss the way you were convinced there was a big dog outside when it was just corey barking right next to you.  i miss the way you desperately needed to be under a blanket when it was nap time.  i even miss your wall-shaking snores.  

   our first year with you was kinda rough.  you weren't sure if you could trust us and you hid from us most of the time.  not to mention the whole house training issue.  but once you figured us out, you were a barrel of fun.  i know you were supposed to be corey's dog, but for some reason you chose me as your favorite and you worked your way right into my heart.  we had some great times together, you and i.  remember that time we went for a walk and you were all gung ho, running along, until you decided you were completely pooped right across the street from our house and would not walk any further?  you laid completely sprawled out in the grass and corey had to carry you into the house :)  

  well, i could go on and on about what i miss about you and recalling fond memories from our time together but i'm going to keep this brief.  i love getting updates from your new mom letting me know what you are up to.  i know you are doing great.  i could not have picked a better family for you.  it makes me feel so good that you are with people who can give you the attention that you deserve.  we all love you and miss you (even wolfgang) and wish you the best!

now, if we could only find a home for your brother, wolfgang...

friday + saturday

Friday

took a trip to mansfield to visit with corey's parents and some friends  

the weather was beautiful

spent a lot of time outside

relaxed

jagger took several trips around the yard on the riding lawn mower with grandpa.  

he loved it :)

went to the kingwood center & watched the homecoming parade

we also had a big bonfire when it got dark

i love bonfires

it was ginormous at first, but it burned down quickly and was quite nice :)

our friends dave & tanya came over

we cooked hot dogs, bratwurst, and smores (oh my!) and drank hot apple cider.

Saturday

the kids had a terrible night

they all have colds and weren't feeling good

we were woken up by the smell of bacon.  yum!  

terry made a delicious breakfast for everyone

grandpa played his sax for jagger

jagger was impressed

then jagger was introduced to The Eliminator-- a battery operated go cart just his size

this was a huge hit!

he still doesn't get the concept of steering so he just drove around in big circles

except for the one time he ran into the bushes :)

we relaxed outside, talked and read

in the afternoon, corey and i went to visit with our friend jon while the grandparents watched the kids (thanks grandparents!)

we don't get to see jon very often so it was so nice to spend the day with him

we also got to see our friends joey & brian

then it was back to the parent's house to collect our kids

i raided terry's bookshelves and movies :)

and we drove back to warren late into the night

p.s.  thanks for the corn, terry!  it is delicious!