Deliciousness from my kitchen...

I've been drooling over this Apple Crisp recipe for a while.  Finally I remembered and made the recipe tonight.  This recipe is simple, but also more complex than the recipe I have previously used.  I was particularly excited about the fact that it used apple cider in the coating for the apples and that it called for ginger and nutmeg in addition to cinnamon.  I always love a good apple crisp in the fall.  It's the perfect way to welcome the cooler weather and at the same time enjoy the deliciousness of the apples that God has given us!

If you will excuse me now, I'm going to go dig in!

Recipe - complements of King Arthur Flour at their blog, Bakers Banter. 

Daniel's new bed!

Josue has a co-worker with two boys who are slightly older than Daniel and so we have been blessed with some hand-me-downs at different times.  The most recent blessing, however, was a toddler bed.  While we had not planned on using a toddler bed (we were just going to switch Daniel to a twin or full size bed), we thought that perhaps it would give us a little more time to keep the guest room a guest room.  We haven't switched Daniel over to the toddler bed yet and will probably wait a few months still.  But here are some pictures of him having fun with it. 

He seems to think it is great that he can get on and off it all by himself.  And, of course, he likes to stand on it and bounce on it!  We tried to get across to him that it was for sleeping, and he humored us a little bit with laying down on it.  Enjoy!

Interprative Bible Story-telling

Tonight's interpretive Bible story went something like this:

Daniel:  "Boom, boom!"  (Indicating thunder and the storm in the story of Jonah and the whale.)

Josue:  "Yes, boom, boom.  You see, God told Jonah 'Come!'  And Jonah said 'No, no!'  And so God had to spank Jonah!"

Me:  Hysterical laughter.

Josue:  "Well, I think that's a pretty accurate biblical interpretation!"

Daniel Visits Milburn Orchards

Just down the road from where we live is Milburn Orchards.  It is really a great place to go for kids.  Besides apple picking, berry picking and other U-pick fruits and veggies, they have animals, a great playground, a huge sandbox and other fun things for kids to do.  The day that Daddy was sick, Daniel and I took advantage of having access to the car and went over for a fun filled afternoon.  After much playing, examining pumpkins, talking to the animals and exploring the "bale trail" (think corn maize but with huge hay bales), Daniel and I ended our afternoon by picking out some acorn squash (which Daniel LOVES) and buying some oh so yummy apple cider doughnuts in the farmers market.  Here are some pictures from our outing.

Daniel enjoying the kid-friendly aspects of Milburns.  Our little wormy!

Exploring the rows and rows of pumpkins!

Playing in a wooden airplane, he loves planes!

Barely humoring Mommy with a picture.

Inside the pumpkin house, literally a structure with the walls and roof filled with pumpkins!

Selecting a pumpkin!  He really tried to pick up the one next to this small one, but no luck, too big!  :)

It was a beautiful day and a lovely time with my boy!  We'll hopefully do it again soon!

Daniel Helping Daddy...

About a week ago Josue wasn't feeling well and so he worked from home to try and give himself some time to recover.  Daniel and I love having Daddy home, but it really does throw our routine for a loop sometimes.  Daniel in particular always wants to be near Daddy and see what Daddy is doing and "help" Daddy!  Actually, all he really wants is to get his hands on Daddy's computer!  So here's a picture of Daniel's idea of "helping" Daddy while he works from home.

Definitely fun having your kid's bootie right in your face!