Tis the Season for: Pumpkin Pie

I love the idea of making something from scratch. Everything is better when you make it yourself.  It would be great to have a garden with enough vegetables to make homemade spaghetti sauce to last the year.  My dream would be to make my own pesto, I LOVE pesto.  And what's better than that...homemade dessert.
 Last year, we bought 2 pie pumpkins and made real pumpkin pie.  I can't remember where we found the recipe, but I know we used one.  It was really good, but I thought it needed some more spices to give it a more rich pie taste.  A couple months ago, we tried another version.  Once again, we bought 2 pie pumpkins (you think we would have learned the first time, we still have pie filling left over) I followed a family recipe.  I was really pleased with the spice combination of this second recipe.  I just know there is a perfect recipe out there, I'll just keep trying.  I would love to make my own, but I don't know if I am confident enough as a baker for that.  At least the pumpkin pie season runs all the way through the holidays, that means lots of time to perfect the recipe.

Such is a mother's life, I suppose

I can usually tell when the day is going to be bad by the way E wakes up.  If she's in a good mood when she rolls jumps out of bed, it's a good omen for the rest of the day.  If, like this morning, she wakes up screaming, I can usually bet with some certainty that I will not enjoy the day.  So, given the tell-tale signs of a rotten day, I was not at all surprised that E and J took turns being cranky.  I admit it's probably my fault that J is cranky.  He never wants to be set down.  He would be perfectly content to ride around all (ALL!!!!!) day in the arms of whomever.  Today, was not his lucky day.  E claimed she had to go potty.  When a child says the P word, they automatically become top priority.  J just had to cry it out for a little while.  After a successful piddle in the potty, I could attend to the hyperventilating screaming 3 month old.  I thought maybe I could get him calmed down and sleeping if I nursed him a bit.  Kinda, he just wanted to be held.  As soon as I put him down he started up again.  I eventually rocked him to sleep and turned my attention to my first born.  Luckily, she was half asleep already.  I made sure both of them were sound asleep before I moved a muscle.  I said a little prayer and laid them both down...

My definition of a perfect day:
Getting both children to nap at the same time.

Today is the day...well tomorrow, actually

Due to the price of diapers, and the simple fact that changing 2 sets of diapers numerous times during the day has effectivly lost it's appeal, tomorrow will be known as Potty Training Boot Camp.  Schedule should go something like this:

8:30am  E wakes up
8:31am  Put E on the potty
8:45am  Breakfast (with lots of milk)
9:00am Ask E to go potty
9:15am  Refill cup with juice
9:30am Ask E to go potty
9:45am  Refill cup with juice
**you get the idea**
noon Lunch with lots of juice
** follow same procedure as after breakfast**
2:00pm Put diaper on for naptime
4:00pm  E wakes up from nap
4:01pm Put E on the potty
**same as the morning routine**
7:45pm  Put diaper on for bedtime
8:00pm Bedtime
8:30pm  Relax....finally


Whew.  That doesn't look like as much fun as I thought it would.  Wish me luck...hopefully all goes well.

The Good and The Bad

Having recently moved 3/4 of the family 8 hours away, I have come up with a list of things I left behind.

Things I miss about Ames:

1. Little Cesar's
2. JoAnn Fabric and Hobby Lobby being within 5 minutes (now I have to drive an hour)
3. Super Wal-mart (the little one just isn't as nice)
4. Babysitters galore (I don't know any of the babysitting aged kids anymore)
5. My small church
6. Friends my own age
7. Air conditioning (we haven't needed it a lot, but there are a few days where it would really be nice)
8. But, most of all, I just miss being a whole family.  (Daddy we miss you.)

But, that's kind of depressing.  So to go along with that list, I have made a list about what I like about living in DC.

Things I can now enjoy about Door County:

1. Going to the beach
2. Having Grandma and Grandpa to help out/keep me sane
3. Seeing old friends (and being able to set up play dates with our kids)
4. Being in a bigger house
5. Having a good size yard for the dog to run
6. Having a job (even if it's just a few hours)
7. Saving on rent
8. The weather (it's a lot less windy and hot)

The Word Wednesday

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

— Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)