Fall Treats- Apple Pie

Fall is my favorite season. I love that crisp feeling in the air, warm days and cool nights. I love all the fun fall festivals that take place but I mostly love the dishes that are the essence of fall weather like fresh apple pie. Last Thanksgiving I was searching for a good apple pie recipe. I stumbled across this one at allrecipes.com. It had hundreds of positive reviews and 5 stars so I thought it must be a winner. Luckily, I was right. I have made it a handful of times since then and every time I do people ask for the recipe. You have to give it a try especially if you like caramel sauces. The picture I posted makes it look burned on top but that is just the caramely syrup that has been poured over it. If you like apple pie, you'll love this recipe.

Apple Pie by Grandma Ople (this is not my grandma but I am sure she is a nice lady)

Ingredients:

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

1/2 unsalted butter

3 tbsp flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

8 Granny Smith Apples- peeled, cored and sliced (I used Honeycrisp because I love them. They worked well with this recipe.)

* I added 1 tsp or so of cinnamon because I thought it would be good and it was.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apple, mound slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly that it does not run off.

3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Don't forget the ice cream or cool whip!! Enjoy:)

Bryce at 6 months

Bryce turned 6 months on the 7th of September. It's hard to believe that he is already that old!! Recently friends of ours had twin boys. One was about the same size Bryce was when we brought him home from the hospital, a whopping 5 lbs 11 ozs. As I look at the pictures of this tiny little baby it's so hard to imagine that just a short 5 months ago he was that size. Today when I took him to the doctor Bryce weighed 17 lbs 6 ozs and 26.5 inches in length. The doctor couldn't stop saying how excited she was that this preemie has made such progress. When I think about where he started in life and where he is now, it's hard to not get a little teary eyed. As mom always says, "He's just a little miracle". Although I don't know if she would really say he is so little now:)

Here are just a few things our Bubba Chunks is doing these days. Bryce now rolls from back to front but not so much front to back. He usually gets high centered on his little buda- belly. He is eating solids twice a day now and loving it. I recently introduced chicken but that was not a hit. I don't blame him, have you smelled the stuff? He loves grabbing his little meat sausage-toes and playing with them. He can't quite put them in his mouth but he wants to. He really enjoys putting anything in his mouth he can can get his hands. He loves to babble and he loves a good conversation. I often have to take him out of Relief Society because he loves talking to all the other ladies and gets very loud about it. I think I have another super friendly Kelsey on my hands:) I hate to admit this but one of the things that he has been babbling sounds just like "Hi dada" which he says when he sees John-David. John-David pointed it out to me yesterday and later on in the middle of church Bryce turned to John-David and said it. I am sure it's just a coincidence because surely he would want to say his dear sweet mother's name first, right? He is a good little sleeper most of the time and overall is just a sweet little guy.

Bryce at 1 month

Bryce at 6 months.

Because he is such a popular kid at our house,

it's hard to get a photo all by himself. Every time I

pull out the camera 3 other heads pop in the picture.

This snap shot will have to do for now.

Bryce pretty much has this face every time Kelsey

comes around. It's like he is saying, "Mom, do you really

think this is a good idea?" My brother had this same

look in all his baby pictures. Maybe he had this

same thought about my older sister.

Jackson adores this kid. He wants to hold him in

every photo. Unfortunately it's a choke hold

and we get another scared expression from Bryce.

I promise this kid really does smile.

Although Jocelyn isn't holding Bryce in this photo

(but don't they look cute), she definitely is one of his biggest

fans. Because she plays with him so much he actually

smiles often when he sees her. It's kind of ironic because

she often, accidentally, causes him the most bodily harm.

She loves Bryce and most of the time he loves her.

Soccer Season

In Saucon Valley you have to be 5 and in kindergarten to play soccer so Jackson has just been waiting to play. If any of you have ever played sports with Jackson, you know when I say that he takes his sports seriously, that is an understatement. When we got back from Utah, we got an email saying soccer practice would start in about a week or so. Well, he started his own training camp that include scrimmages and practicing heading the ball. One day when I was chucking the ball at his head he said, "Mom, do you think we are going to do this in practice?" When I told him that I thought this might be slightly advanced for Kindergarten/1st grade soccer he said, "Awe, come on!" He doesn't realize the level of what he really is on. Whenever we pass by the school and see the high school soccer team practicing he says, I bet we'll play them". Again, I have to burst his bubble and tell him that mostly likely you won't. He replies with, "Mom, you don't know. We might". Well, I guess we'll see.

Jackson's team consist of 8 kids: 5 boys and 3 girls. 5 are 1st graders and 3 are kindergartens. He has two coaches that are really nice and very good teachers. I really like the kids on the team and Jackson has a very fun time playing with them. I think Jackson was humbled a little bit his 1st practice because the other kids were all pretty good. They actually play real soccer games and not jumble ball which I am familiar with kids of this age. Jackson has lots of energy and his coaches are trying harness it with appropriate skills now.

His team is called the "Lighting Bolts " because of the ultra bright yellow jerseys they get to wear. His first game was on Saturday so we decided we better get some cleats or "clayats" as Jackson refers to them as. As we were walking to the car after purchasing the shoes, I was telling him that he had to be careful where he kicks so he doesn't kick people in the shins because cleats can really hurt. I was more referring to when he plays with the family in the backyard who wouldn't have shin guards on but he replies with "Mom, If I hurt other kids they have other players they can send in". He said this in a very matter-of-fact tone. I am so glad that my son has loving compassion for his opponents.

Jackson was so excited for his game that he had a hard time sleeping that night. His coach jokingly said to the kids that there were to be no late nights on Friday so they would be ready for the game on Saturday. Jackson took it very seriously and said that we couldn't have movie night because he was not to stay up late. He is a very dedicated player.

Jackson loves to play defense and although they don't have goalies, Jackson plays like one minus picking up the ball. He really likes defending the goal. Must be a family thing because John-David and I both liked playing goalie in our soccer days.

Warming up with part of the team.

Getting ready for a kick off.

They divide the kids into two groups of 4 and they each play for 8 minute quarters. They don't keep score officially but the kids all do. The game was really fun to watch and it's so funny to have your kid out there playing. You are yelling out there for them to do all sorts of different things and for now, he actually tries to listen to it. Even though the ball got past him a few times and the other team scored, he had a really good time playing.

This is his buddy Calix. Jackson assisted him in making a goal.

The team after the game.

I think that this was my favorite thing of the whole game. The brother of one of Jackson's teammates obviously wasn't as interested in the game and decided to climb the fence. He slipped trying to get over to the other side and got caught by his shirt. His dad I think was annoyed with him because he looked over, shook his head and went back to watching the game.

Eventually I think he went over to help him. John-David couldn't pass up taking a photo when he noticed him dangling there. Looks like there will be lots of entertainment at the soccer games this fall.

Jocelyn's First Day of Preschool

Jocelyn has been anticipating this day for the last two years. She didn't do preschool in Columbus because I was already doing a co-op with Jackson for preschool and could commit to another co-op. She didn't do preschool last year because it was too expensive to send both of the kids so her day has finally come!!!!

Jocelyn anxiously waiting to go to school.

Side note: I started doing the girl's hair like this for some

reason this week. It just dawned on me that Jocelyn's

Cabbage Patch doll has the same hair style. I guess

I am trying to make Jocelyn look

like her Cabbage Patch and I didn't even know it.

She has nice little cheeks for it!

Don't mind the camera strap.

We are about to enter her school where she'll be spending

her mornings at three days a week. Look at that smile.

When I arrived to pick her up, she was zooming outside on this

tricycle. One thing I really like about this school is that for the last 15

minutes of the day the kids play outside, even when there is snow on

the ground. This will be great for Jocelyn.

You can see from her smile that she had a great day. I was so

proud of her when she told me that she even introduced herself

to another girl who was playing at the water table. This is huge

for Jocelyn who tends to be really shy at first. I am so excited for

her to be in preschool this year and she is too!!!

Go Cougars!!!!!

The Lessons of Job

This post is mainly for those of you who got a strange text message from John-David last week. Apparently John-David sent a text that wasn't as clear to some and some wondered if John-David was taking out someone's appendix or if John-David was having his own appendix taken out. Unfortunately it was the latter.

Last Wednesday night John-David complained his stomach wasn't feeling great and went to bed at 9:00 P.M. I was awakened at 2:00 when he got up to go the bathroom and came back to bed to say he thought he had appendicitis. He let his pain slowly get worse until finally at 3:30 a.m. we called our diligent home teacher to come give him a blessing and a ride to the hospital. Thanks in large part to the exercise of a righteous priesthood holder, the remainder of the day went as expected and without complication. Sure enough, being worked up by his friends in the ER, John-David was told that his appendix was indeed enlarged and inflamed and would need to come out. Having worked with the general surgeons for 4 months he picked Dr. Schadt to do his surgery. Two small incisions and plenty of anesthesia later he came out of surgery. Because they thought his size would impact his metabolism of the anesthetic they hit him with a big dose... which only lead to 2 hours in the recovery room before he was really awake.

Dad and his little monkeys prior to surgery

You will also notice in these pictures that his left arm is wrapped with an ace bandage. That is because a week prior he had somehow contracted an aggressive impetigo, which had kept him from operating. John-David knew that bad things tend to come in threes, so when he was discharged from the hospital he said to himself, "Self, I can't wait to see what #3 is all about." Well, within a few hours of returning home, and John-David feeling relatively well with the impetigo clearing and the incisions not too painful, #3 struck with a vengeance. Bending down to put Bryce in his bouncy chair John-David's back suddenly seized, warping him from a 30 yr old to an 85 yr old man in an instant! He's been struggling to get up and get moving ever since, but has seen some slow progress. As a result, however, he has yet to return to work. Now that he's started with some Physical Therapy he hopes to return next week.

The irony of all of this is that this past week's Sunday School lesson was about Job, a man who suffered far more than John-David has. This slice of reality, perspective and humility is tough to swallow, but we feel grateful for all that we've been blessed with. Thanks to all of our family, friends and ward members who, unlike Job's family and friends, have not abandoned us. It's nice to know that Heavenly Father knows us, loves us, and has a great sense of humor as well!