A little bit of our day . . . and night ~

A full day of celebrating started with the girls at a carnival this morning,






. . . an afternoon of making preparations for a special birthday . . .








. . . followed by an evening with lots of trick or treating!!

jack-o-lanterns ~ the first lighting

Here's wishing everyone a safe, fun, and happy halloween!!

family night ~ pumpkin carving

Donned in our rain coats, rain boots, and umbrellas, the five of us trek out to a local store on Monday night in search for our halloween pumpkins. On the way home, we ask the kids to draw the face on paper that they want their pumpkin to have {something new this year instead of using someone else's template drawing}. I was quite pleased.











Happy preparing for Halloween ~~

Apple Bread Recipe ~

Upon my son’s request, I baked another loaf of apple bread for breakfast this morning. Here’s the recipe I promised you last week:

Apple Bread

½ stick butter (room temperature)
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1-2 tbs of oil
2 apples grated (allowing juice to drip into batter)

Preheat oven 350 degrees
Grease loaf pan
In a bowl, mix together butter, sugars until smooth, then beat in eggs

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves
Mix into butter/sugar mixture until smooth
Mix in oil
Grate apples into batter (allowing juice to drip into batter)
Pour into prepared loaf pan

Bake 45-60 minutes until inserted toothpick or fork comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

a wintry peach pie for Sunday ~

I knew right away what I was going to make this weekend for Sunday’s pie when I found frozen “fresh” peaches at the bottom of the freezer. I was even more delighted when I browsed through my recipes and came across a more wintry version of a peach pie. This recipe includes ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and brown sugar. Every year, these spices get pulled to the front of my spice cabinet with their frequent use in seasonal dishes. I’m so looking forward to eating our Winter Peach Pie this evening.

{recipe can be found in Joy of Cooking. Rombauer, Becker, and Becker p. 876, 1997.}

friendly cookie swap ~

This afternoon we've been getting ready for a friendly cookie swap we're going to this evening at a friend's house. At my house, when I use my mixer, the girls complain {a lot!} about the sound hurting their ears. So there were a few complaints as I made the dough. But they quickly stopped once they saw I needed to roll out the dough.



Elise communicated very clearly that she could help roll out the dough. Standing up on the kitchen chair, she rolled and rolled. I commented to her, "you're a natural" and she kindly replied, "I know me am."



I realized that this was my chance to break out my halloween cookies cutters which marks my annual cookie festivity making with the kids each fall through . . . valentine's or easter. Lots of cookies to be made this year . . .

a quiet afternoon ~

The tone of our afternoons has shifted to a more quiet, focused atmosphere. Jonmichael surprisingly has emerged into a different place in his reading over the last two days. He surprised us this morning after breakfast announcing that after he went to bed last night, he "sneaked" (as he said) and read 5 chapters of his first Magic Treehouse book {by Mary Pope Osborne} by his closet light. He went on this afternoon to finish it and has since read 4 chapters of a 2nd one tonight.







With the big talk around our house of Jonmichael's instant attraction to the Treehouse books, Lena was inspired to write her own chapter book this afternoon and read it to me.

I'm still wiping my eyes in amazement. Is this really happening??

I'm very happy that the tone of our house is turning into what I had always hoped ~ a love for reading and writing. It only inspires me to do more of the same. Hopefully we will adopt a time each day where we all sit at the table together with journals and write, as well as have family reading times after dinner in the family room, always filling that time that so easily a TV can fill, with more meaningful and nurturing activities.