Apple Treats

Fall is a time for apples and all the yummy, warm treats that you can make from them. Recently, our family took a trip up to North Carolina to Justus Orchard (my sister-in-law's boyfriend's family owns the farm). My husband and I had a great time picking our own apples with the kids and playing in the orchard.

We ended up leaving with what I think was a 5lb bag of assorted apples, a 1/2 gallon of apple cider, a dozen apple donuts, and a jar of honey. So far I have made 2 sweet treats with my bag of apples, with still some to spare!

My first creation was an apple pie - of course! (notice how I braided the crust, I got that idea from pintrest)

Ingredients:

2 pie pastry crust

4 to 5 large apples sliced

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

butter

a drizzle of maple syrup

Directions:

1. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg; add apples and toss well to coat.

2. Place bottom pastry in a pie a 9 inch pie pan and add apple mixture.

3. Dot with butter. Then drizzle maple syrup on top

4. Place second crust on top of pie filling, cut slits in top of crust to vent. Seal the edges of the crust. Or create your own crust design.

5. Brush crust with melted butter, then sprinkle with sugar

6. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes.

7. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake 40-45 minutes more or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

My second yummy treat were these apple ciders in an apple mug

Ingredients: 

2 apples, hollowed

cinnamon sticks

pre-made apple cider

Directions:

1. Hollow out your apples

2. Heat up your pre-made cider (I bought mine at the orchard)

3. Pour cider into apples

4. Garnish with cinnamon sticks

5. sip and enjoy!

I would love to add more apple treats to my recipe book, so please feel free to share your recipes in the comment section below! :)

(Wordless Wednesday) Little Brevards

Play At Home Mom

My children need more than just a stay at home, they need a PLAY at home mom. Making them a priority in my day, to put them first could truly build up their self worth! Sitting down with them to play dolls or legos will let them know just how much I value them and could only increase the bond that we share. It's the little things like involving them in cooking and cleaning that could help promote their independence, confidence, and make them feel special and important.

Everyday when making my to do list there will be a time of play. Here is what will be popping up on my to do list:

*Teach the kids how to ride a bike without training wheels. (We've tried this just about every summer, this is harder than I thought it would be)

*Play soccer in the backyard

*Cook together and take pictures

*Make bead necklaces

*Go on a bug hunt

*Make homemade chalk paint

*Teach Skylar how to crochet.

What is on your to do list?




I am linked up with:

Sweet Aroma

Though I prefer the seasons spring and summer over fall and winter, I do love the warm colors and the smells associated with this cooler weather. Welcoming in the fall weather means breaking out the vanilla, cinnamon, and pumpkin scented candles. I love these smells. It also means apple pies, warm apple cider and peanut butter cookies, treats that are created in the kitchen and yet fill your entire home with a sweet and warm aroma. Cooler weather also means more indoor gatherings with a cup of coffee in each hand. So as you gather together with friends and loved ones this season I would like to encourage YOU to be the sweet aroma of Christ's love. Let your presence fill each room with his grace and knowledge of Him. Take advantage of each gathering, for Heaven is real and I wouldn't want anyone to be missed.


2 Corinthians 14-15
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing."




Don't want to waste your money on those expensive candles? Here's an alternative that I LOVE using: in a coffee mug fill with warm water and mix in 2 tbs of vanilla extract and 2 tbs of allspice. Put the coffee mug on a cookie sheet and place in the oven at 300 degrees F for one hour. This sweet aroma will fill your entire home for a fraction of the cost. 


God Bless!

" I FELL OUT OF A TREE!"

"I FELL OUT OF A TREE!" is what my son is now proudly yelling out at people as they ask "hey, what happened to your arm?" You can almost see a strut in his step as he walks around with his broken arm wrapped up in a splint and a sling.

Last week he learned how to climb a tree for the first time. He was so proud of himself. Of course when I found out I was a nervous wreck. When I first saw him I begged him to get down and to be careful. High up in the tree he could tell that I was nervous and said, "Mom! You're freaking me out!" Well, he was freaking me out! Here's a picture of him at his highest. I had my phone on me at the time and just had to take a picture for proof to show his daddy just exactly what our little boy has been up to.

That was Monday, on Wednesday Maddox went outside with our dog to play. I watched him through our window as I was washing dishes. Soon, I saw him go back into the woods and a few moments later I saw a tree starting to sway. I went outside to check it out and of course he's up in that tree again. I asked him to get down, but being the boy that he is, he took his time, swinging and playing on his way down. Then it happened, his hand or foot missed a step and he came crashing down. The way  he landed I feared that he broke his neck! I picked him up and rushed him inside. Mud was caked in his nose and mouth and he was screaming and crying. I got him cleaned up and checked every bone on his body. He told me his arm was broken and that he couldn't move it. I prayed that it wasn't broken, but it soon swelled and his poor wrist was bent in a way that I knew that it had to be. So off to the hospital we went. Poor Skylar was  in tow. X-rays were taken and sure enough it was a broken wrist. We were then sent off to another hospital for his bone to be reset. Poor Maddox. The fell happened at 4 pm, we weren't seen by a doctor until 6 pm, and then he didn't get medicine for the pain until about 9 pm, but by this time he was laughing and talking with us as if he wasn't hurt at all. He even got to watch his favorite cartoon "Johnny Test" in his room. Right before 10pm the doctors were ready to reset the bone. They had to put Maddox to sleep for the procedure. This part truly scared me. As he was going under his eyes stayed opened and he looked as if all of him had left him, like a vegetable child. It broke my heart and frightened me to see him that way. While in the waiting room I prayed and prayed that there wouldn't be any complications with him being under. 15 minutes later the doctors were done and he started to wake up. As he was coming to he was hallucinating! He told me I looked like a lizard, that daddy looked like he had two heads, the doctors looked like robots, spiders were everywhere, and that he felt gooey. I questioned the nurses in the room, and they told me that this was normal and that Maddox would be saying some crazy things for awhile. It took a whole hour for him to become normal again.  The doctors had his arm wrapped up in a splint, and told us that he would wear this for a week to allow swelling, then we would come back for a cast that he is expected to wear for about 6 weeks.

That night we didn't get home until after midnight. We were all exhausted. The next day he stayed out of school, played all day catching bugs. Back to school on Friday he enjoyed being show and tell. My big brave boy hasn't let this injury phase him. He's still running around and being the little boy that I love. 

If you're keeping count, this is our 2nd ER visit in 2 months! If you'll remember he was just in the ER from a 4th of July pool accident where he split his head open. I'm glad that he's a big, brave, tough boy, but momma is not! If he keeps this up I'm going to have to wrap him in bubble wrap or I'll die of a nervous break down. Please be praying for me! I'm a mom of a dare devil son. 

Cozi

I have recently discovered this great little website and phone app for all of my to do lists, shopping lists, and calendar. So I just had to share! It's called Cozi. Have you heard of it? For me it's a time saving tool for homemaking. I love that I can carry this neat little app of all my reminders around with me on my phone and in my pocket! No more lists and lists of to dos and shopping hanging on my fridge only for me to rewrite them over and over again, now I just click, type, check off, and delete. It is so perfect! Probably one of my favorite features of this app is the journal, I can jot down precious moments with a photo that happens within our family and then have those moments sent out monthly as a newsletter to friends and family. There have been so many times where my kids have done or said something cute or funny and I wish I would have jot it down to remember, now its convenient and I can share it too! This simple app is a time saver for me and best of all it's family shared, so my husband can log in while he's at work and put in items he needs from the grocery store as he thinks about it, and together we can keep our family calendar updated. If you make lists as much as I do, then you'll love this website! The site and app is free, easy, and helpful. It's call Cozi and you can check it out here.

Here is an example of what it looks like online:

And this is what it will look like on your phone: