A Taste of Fall

Easy Apple Crisp

Ingredients: 4-5 baking apples (I used Golden Delicious, but any good-tasting baking apple will work.)

1 box of "Jiffy" yellow cake mix

1/2 stick of butter

Cinnamon, I don't measure I toss enough to coat the apples

Sugar, I don't measure this either, I toss enough to coat the apples

With my handy-dandy apple-peeler-corer-slicer from Pampered Chef, I do magic to the 4 apples. Otherwise, slicing by hand will work the same but you may have to change the "easy" part of the name of this dish.

After the apples are in the Pampered Chef Baking Stone Dish (again this is optional, you may use any other dish but may want to grease it.), I coat them with Cinnamon and Sugar.

Then dump in the yellow cake mix and toss the apples to coat evenly.

Finally, add cut up peices of butter evenly throughout the dish....sometimes you can be generous with the butter for a yummy taste!

Stick it in the oven at 350 degrees and cook for 20 min. or until bubbly.

Eat while it's warm and enjoy a little taste of fall!

(We enjoy it with ice-cream, whipped cream, or milk.)

A Hiking We Will Go!

Jester Park: Round 2

We liked Jester Park so much, we came back for more. This time, C-man guided our hike into the woods and showed us habitats of different animals and insects. We saw a cool spider that C-man called a "crab spider," upside-down mushrooms, and lots of acorns! After our hike, we played on the playground and gave the dogs a break.

Say "leaves!"

Proud leader

Catching a Daddy-Long-Leg

Dog-gone tired!

Annual Fishing Trip

3rd Year up in Minnesota....and Paul had the record catch: Northern at 5lb 7oz! Right up until Thursday, when my Dad caught a Northern at 6lb 4 oz. But, you can't pass up this great big Bass that Paul caught though.........

Sounds like the guys had a nice time up north. Paul was designated cook for the week. Conveniently, Paul's birthday landed right on the week of the trip......what another great Birthday trip! The men treated him well by not making him clean any fish that day! They also celebrated with "grill-your-own-steak" that night. I think Paul might be fished-out, but we are looking forward to some fish in our future! We will also be looking forward to a fish-fry hosted by Dad, phew just 1lb and 1oz. away from hosting the fish-fry!

National Naughty Day

No one told me that last Wednesday, the 23rd of September was National Naughty Day. It wasn't on my calendar, no memos, no e-mails, and no one "face-booked"* me. I talked with some co-workers and in fact, their toddler/pre-schoolers were also naughty. I'm not sure if there are national requirements in the naughtiness, but this is what our three year-old's antics were:

• refused to sit in the wagon on the way to taking C to school, screamed in my face in front of the kids and parents because of this. (After some negotiation, got her to sit)
• refused to sit still at Library hour, took her out for a talk and she screamed in my face.
• refused to hold my hand, walking in the parking lot and screamed at me.
• refused to get in her car-seat on her own and with much talking and her resistance, finally got her in her car-seat.
• went to Target to buy some time before going out to lunch with my friends, refused to stay in the shopping cart.
• walked beside the cart and then decided to push the limits by running in front of me and running away from me. I had to run after her, pick her up and take her out of the store; leaving my cart and items behind.
• made a big, big mess in her room; instead of taking a nap (this one I'm used to).
• refused to sit in the wagon to pick up C from school.
• refused to hold my hand crossing the street
• Took her seat belt off while we were driving.

Please note: she was the sweetest during lunch with my friends and when we went to Perkins for dinner.

I sure hope she doesn't celebrate the holiday next year, because I'm not sure what her antics will be. Has she been talking to someone in preschool and taking notes? Will the antics only get worse with her age? AND, is this holiday celebrated once a year, or will it come back to haunt me later? I guess I'll find out and maybe this time I'll get a notice.

*face-booked; may not be a verb at this time but probably will be a new word in Webster Dictionary soon.

Empathy

Pack Meeting: (September)

Learning: empathy for those with disabilities.

Hearing impairment
Visual impairment.

While the boys were learning, we gathered for an informal den mtg. We officially have a den leader appointed by his wife and ........


it's not Paul......had you going for awhile didn't I?
Miss-O met some girls. She may seem timid and shy, but she wasn't shy last night. "Hey Mom, what's her name?" "Hey Mom, what's the other girl's name?" (twins). Then she socialized and made herself comfortable, just like her brother.

Duck, Duck, Duck, GOOSE!

We went to the pond near by and walked the trail. We fed the ducks bread and one "MEAN" goose was a bit greedy. He followed us around and harassed us with his HISSING! We finished feeding the birds and then walked the rest of the trail. We watched the ducks and geese land in the pond, met a golden-doodle named Gracie, and played "Going on a bear hunt." Not to mention, we filled our hands with signs of fall; leaves & acorns (peanuts according to O). What a beautiful first day of fall. Hope it stays with us as long as it can.