Every emotion in the book.

A few weeks ago, while we were out on a walk, McKinley noticed something. SHE HAD A LOOSE TOOTH! As soon as she realized it was loose, she started crying. Bawling her little eyes out actually. David wiggled it a little bit to see if it was really loose, and said, "Kinley! You have your very first loose tooth!" After hearing how excited Daddy was about it, she started jumping up and down and yelling "yay yay yay! My tooth is loose!"
When we got home, she immediately asked to call her Grandmas to tell them the news. She told them that we were going to have a party for her loose tooth!(news to me.)....what? You don't have parties for your loose teeth?
That was quite a while ago. It finally fell out on Saturday night, and we went through the same range of emotions that we had when the tooth was loose.
That night she refused to put the tooth under her pillow. She said the tooth fairy would never find it there. Our tooth fairy was a little unsure what the going rate for a tooth is these days. Does the tooth fairy put a dvd or an Ipod under pillows now or is a bright shiny quarter still good. We asked Mckinley about it, and she said that the Tooth Fairy brings MONEY! We settled on some coloring books, a 10 dollar bill and a silver dollar. Sprinkled her with glitter fairy dust in the night while she slept and fell asleep wondering how the time has flown by so fast. Oh yeah, and the tooth fairy kept the tooth, too. Guess what else? Another tooth has started to wiggle.

Fall Outdoor Film Festival

Last year, in our family, we started a fun tradition that we hope we can maintain every year. We plan a Fall Film Festival where we pick 4 movies that we would like to watch together. Then we plan which 4 nights we would like to have as movie nights. When the night comes, we move our TV and DVD player outside, put our jammies on, and set up sleeping bags and blankies on the grass along with camp chairs. We also make our favorite Caramel Popcorn to eat. We might try some new treat recipes for a couple of our movie nights this year. We have especially loved this activity for some of our family nights or times when other activities are not in the budget. We decided to do this after finding out that watching family movies together is one of Mckinley's favorite things to do. Here is our Caramel Popcorn recipe:

Sea Salt Caramel Devil Popcorn

1 Cube Butter
1 Cube Margarine
1 Cup Brown Sugar
3 cups mini marshmallows ( I don't know why it makes any difference that they are the mini ones but it actually does.)
2-3 bags (3.5 oz) Butter Microwave Popcorn popped with kernels removed.
Dash of large grain sea salt

In a large saucepan, melt together butter, margarine and brown sugar. When melted (Brown sugar dissolved) add marshmallows and stir until they are melted and incorporated. (Doesn't need to be boiling) Pour mixture over bowl of popped popcorn and mix together. Add a dash of large kernel sea salt at the end of mixing. Enjoy!

legwarmers

I thrifted some very cute sweaters specifically to make Mckinley some legwarmers because she has just started a dance class. While making them, I thought they would be cute for the girls to wear with leggings and dresses. This was a very easy project. I just cut off the sleeves of some sweaters and used a small stitch on my sewing machine to sew an elastic wasteband casing into the top of the legwarmer. I then measured around the girls legs and cut elastic wasteband to fit the measurement and threaded the wasteband through the casing. Dolce's outfit is actually a shirt of Mckinleys that I sewed some tulle bows to the upper left side of and added a belt. Aren't these girlies so cute?

Comforts of Fall!

I love it when the weather cools down enough that I can pull out extra blankets and flannel sheets. I love the feeling of snuggling under a bunch of layers when I go to bed, especially if the layers feel a little bit heavy. The only drawback I can think of is that a cozy bed makes it a bit harder to get up and get going on crisp mornings. But I guess you can't have it all.

Burnt Custard Pear Pie

I did try to take a picture of this pie that would make it look appetizing and lovely...Honestly I did. But then the smell of the pie took over and I don't know what happened from there. It's not much for lookin' at, that's for sure. But to taste this pie is heaven, I promise. I have even had some internal conflict about whether I should share the recipe or not. My generous self is winning out for now but I can't promise that I wont yield to my stingy side and delete this post tomorrow so copy it down today. That said, it's actually called Pear Pie, but I've found that when I've given this pie away as a gift, people have seen the ugly thing and thought "what did I do to deserve this? Am I going to die if I eat it?" So, I have officially changed the name to something that would suggest that, actually, this isn't a kitchen accident, it looks like this on purpose. It's not actually burnt at all. The burnt look comes from cinnamon carmelizing with sugar on the top of the pie. I can't imagine what fall would be like without this pie.

Burnt Custard Pear Pie
Makes 2 Pies

1/2 cup flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp Nutmeg
2 tsp lemon juice
2 cups heavy whipping cream the old fashioned kind
2 frozen deep dish pie crusts (or make your own crust)
10-12 pears
Ground Cinnamon

Beginning by peeling and coring the pears and piling them into the pie crusts. Then in a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, nutmeg, lemon juice, and whipping cream. Pour over the top of the pears in the pies. Top each pie with a layer of cinnamon. This will form a thin crust when baked with the sugar and cream.
Bake at 425 for 30-40 minutes or until top edges of pie crust are dark golden.
*Pie will bubble over when baking, so put pies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper while baking. You will be glad you did.

Stopping to smell the roses

A while back, I made a flower pillow out of felt. This hair flower follows the same idea. To make this, I just traced 10 circles from the rim of a glass onto a piece of brown felt. I cut them out, and cut 5 of the circles in half. Then, using hot glue, I glued the half circles onto one of the full circles beginning at the outside and working in. The middle of the flower is just 2 of the circles folded in half, and then folded in half again. Glue it onto a hair clip and wear.

I always use to feel like I couldn't wear hair bows or flowers in my hair because it wasn't me for some reason. Now, although I still think that hair flowers are much cuter on my daughters than me, I've tried to wear them a little more often because they make me feel a little more young and carefree.

Welcoming Fall!

Isn't Autumn such an enchanting time of year? I think I look forward all summer long to seeing the leaves change, eating harvest-ee food, wearing hoodies, and decorating for the season. Fall even has it's own smell! This fall, I've decided to put together a few blog posts about how I plan to celebrate fall. I want to share some autumn recipes, easy crafts, and fun ideas, and maybe it will help you feel a little more fallish too! So check back here every so often during the next couple of weeks and don't forget to leave me a note about how you celebrate the season.


Professor Pencil Skirt


Fall is back to school time.If you know me, you might be aware that I love thrift store shopping. (My husband calls this hoarding.) I also love refashioning to make old things new again. I made this skirt from a large men's sweater I found at the DI. If you would like to make yourself one, begin by looking for a large sweater that has a middle section large enough and long enough to fit as a skirt. Cut the sleeves and the collar off and try it on inside out. Pin the side seams at your hips and down the length of the skirt. Take the skirt off carefully to avoid skewering your self with the pins. Sew along the lines you made with the pins using a small stitch on your sewing machine. To make the waistband, measure around your waist and add 1 inch to the measurement. Then from the sleeves of the sweater, cut rectangles that are one half of your measurement x4 inches. Cut 4 rectangles. (2 for the waistband, 2 for a facing) Stitch the side seams of the waistband and facing. Then with right sides together stitch across the long edge of the waistband and facing. Then attach the waistband by sewing it to the top of your skirt. Make sense?

The best part is that this sweater skirt can do double duty as a scarf. Just ruche it up and hang it around your neck when things get chilly.

First Bites!

Baby Rome has entered the realm of real food! Like the girls, Rome isn't as excited about his rice cereal and applesauce as he is about drinking his milk. However, much different from the girls, Baby Rome is a chubby dubby and he will be needing the extra food to maintain his physique. These pictures, if you can believe it, are actual footage from his very first feeding! In the first picture he has donned his winnie the pooh bib and is excitedly taking his first bite, the next picture shows the "what are you doing to me?" face he made after every bite, next is the picture of why it takes so long to feed him-he spits every bite out 7 times before swallowing it, and last, a picture of Rome feeling so proud of himself that he at a whole 2 tablespoons of rice cereal! Yay!

Patriot Day

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing 10 years ago today. Do you?

The Star Spangled Banner

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The third verse of the Star Spangled Banner is often forgotten and interestingly is left out of our hymn book. However, it does seem eerily applicable to this day, doesn't it?

World through her eyes

We made the choice to try seizure medication with Dolce because she began to have seizures almost daily during the month of July. It was a very hard decision because so often anti convulsant drugs can change a person quite a bit. We didn't want to give up any part of our little girl except the seizures that were making each day such a worry. After a seizure free month, however, we're noticing something very wonderful. Dolce is different, but she's happier. She's healthier, she eats better. She's learning words. She's playing more. She's sweeter...more Dolce. We are so happy that we've finally been led to a solution that she has needed for quite a while.

Chubby cheeks

Try to refrain from smooching your computer screen. It's hard. I know. I can't believe how fast this little boy is growing!