Applesause

So, I wrote in yesterday's post about how Becky and I spent the day in the kitchen after apple picking, making applesauce and apple pies. I thought it would be fun to share with you all a simple recipe, modified from Joy of Cooking to match as closely to how we made ours.

Ingredients:

3 pounds cooking apples (we used Cortland)-peeled if desired (we left skin on), cored and cubed

1/2 to 3/4 cups apple cider

1(or more. I think we used about 3-5/pot) large cinnamon stick

Optional ground cinnamon, ginger or nutmeg to taste





Directions:

Place apples, apple cider, and cinnamon sticks in a large pot.
Cover and simmer, stirring often, over low heat, until tender but not mushy.


Remove from heat. Discard cinnamon sticks. For chunky applesauce, break up the apples with a wooden spoon. For smooth sauce, pass it through a food mill. Add extra cinnamon to taste. You could also add ginger or nutmeg. One batch we made we added fresh and ground ginger, which gave it a nice kick and spicy after taste. Yields 4-6 servings



While cutting and cooking the apples down, Becky was telling me about how every year in her family they would make home made applesauce...enough to freeze for months and months. This seems like such a fun tradition for the harvest months, and one I'd like us to continue with Lily as she grows. And really, there is nothing better than fresh homemade applesauce! Thanks Becky for suggesting we spend the day cooking!

Apple Picking

We've been quite busy this week! I have a bunch of stuff in mind to post about, but for now I'm going to start with what we did yesterday. Yesterday morning we got up early and first took Lily to her Little Gym class (She learned how to do a backwards roll. She thought that was fun!) After class we met up with Becky Jon and Kyan to go apple picking. We all had a great time picking our apples and watching the kids play. Both Kyan and Lily LOVED the apples! We gave them each an apple to play with, and next thing we knew, they had bitten into their apples and were snacking away! Who knew their little teeth could work so well already! They had fun riding in the same wagon together, and kept trying to steal bites from the others apple. I love seeing the have so much fun together!
After picking we went back to Jon and Becky's house and spent the day cooking up apple sauce and pies. There is nothing better on a fall day than the smell of apples and cinnamon boiling down on the stove!
Onto the pictures...I ended up with over 400 pictures from the day, so please excuse the over abundance I'll be sharing with you all!

Lily in the wagon heading out to the orchard:


Kyan trying out the apple:

Lily wasn't saure what to do with it at first:

But she soon figured it out:

The kiddos riding in the wagon together:

Kyan Loves apples now!

Apparently he also loves Lily! Watch it mister, no stealing kisses from my baby girl!

Of course we had to get pictures with the pumpkins. We couldn't get the kids to surrender the apples though!

Kyan stopped his snacking long enough to check out one of the pumpkins:

Lily and Daddy on our way back to the car:

Fall is quickly becoming on of my favorite times of year because of memories like this! Expect to see a lot more fall themed posts in the month to come. We've still got the pumpkin patch to go to, the aquarium's Sea Scare, and of course Halloween its self. Nothing beats the colors, smells and fun that surrounds this special time of year!

Ho Ho Ho

So I know it's not even Halloween, but my minds already on Christmas! Today I did a practice test run for X-mas photos. I'm trying to figure out what will work, and get some practice in before I take our actual holiday photos. A couple came out cute that I wanted to share:

What did I learn from this test run?

1. Lily is not going to be fitting in this dress much longer. I guess Becky was right when she told me OshKosh runs their cloths on the smaller side...that's a 12 month dress and it's already short. Lily fits fine in any other brands 12 month size!

2. If I use this rocking chair for the actual shoot ($15 lawn sale find by the way...Score!) I'll need to back up more or use a different lens to see the whole chair.

3. I'll need Sean to help me with this shoot if I want the "perfect" picture. Lily doesn't pay attention to me otherwise!

I Got Tagged!

So my friend Kelly tagged me on her blog, so here it goes...
The rules are below…
Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog.

10 years ago I was:
1. A Sophomore in high school
2. Singing in choir and playing the Clarinet
3. Hanging out after school at my best friends house
4. Reading "A Separate Peace" in my Sophomore English class
5. Being a wall flower at the home coming dance

5 things on today’s to do list:
1. Put the laundry away (done)
2. Get out to the store to buy paper towels
3. Make dinner; Eggplant towers
4. Load some pictures onto snapfish (done)
5. Go for a walk with Lily (done)

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Ice cream
2. Dried cranberry's
3. Salt and vinegar chips
4. Crust bread and cheese
5. Strawberry's

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Donate to charities, and start up our own non profit foundation and college funds
2. Make sure everyone in the family is taken care of
3. Buy a nice house back home
4. Travel to all the places we've always said we wanted to visit
5. Save save and save for Lily's future

5 places I have lived:
1. With my parents and Andrew
2. In a dorm for several years at College with many different people
3. In and apt with Sean and another friend
4. With Sean and the cats in a really crappy apartment
5. With Sean and Lily in the apartment we are currently living in

5 jobs I have had:
1. Baby Sitter For many different kids
2. At Bath and Body Works selling lotion
3. Pre-School assistant teacher
4. ORC Macro telephone operator, (calling up people to do market research surveys...worst job ever!)
5. Stay at home Mommy

Asha, Josephine, Heather, Ann and Michelle...you're it!

Eyes and Little Gym

This past week Lily has developed a new obsession. She is fascinated by eyes! She's loved poking at peoples eyes for a while now, but this week she made some connections. She first discovered that she had eyes, and has been poking herself in the eye and pulling at her lashes. Then she made the connection between my eyes and her own eyes. She would touch her own eye, then poke my eyes. Then she made the connection in books and her dolls, and now pokes at eyes in pictures and on her dolls. Then she learned to say the word eye, and will point to eyes and say the word. She's also following directions and points to eyes in books when we ask her "Where is the eye Lily?" It's been amazing watching her make these connection this week! We're now working on teaching her about ears!

Lily playing during a bubble bath:

We took Lily to the Little Gym for the first time this week. Little Gym is a chain of gyms across the country that teach classes in gymnastics, karate and dance for all ages. Right now Lily is in the younger child-parent program, where Sean and I go into the gym with her and help her with the skills. At her first class we worked on hanging from a bar, and doing somersaults. Lily was a little uneasy at first, because it was something new, but she warmed up to the gym once she was able to explore it a little bit. She really liked climbing up the mats they had set up with steps and ramps. She also loved hanging from the bar. We liked it so much that we've signed Lily up to continue with this class for the rest of the semester (till January) So every Saturday morning we'll all be heading to the Little Gym! We think it will be really good for her, and hopefully she'll be able to make some new friends, and learn some new skills!

Look at how long Lily's hair is getting in the back!

Here a sneak peak at Lily's Halloween costume this year:
Have a good week everyone!

For the Love of the Game

Sunday afternoon, Sean, Lily and I went to the Red Sox game. It was suppose to be the last game of the season against the Yankees. They ended up canceling Saturday's game though, so they replayed that game after ours on Sunday. It looked like our game would be cancelled due to rain too! It rained all morning on our drive up, but the skies cleared for a bit once we got to the park, which gave us hope. We got into the park and enjoyed the ambiance while we watched Daisuke Matuzaka and the rest of the team warm up.

Lily and I with Wally: The tarp being pulled off the field right after we got to our seats! HOORAY!

Sean and Lily at our seats:

Lily taking everything in:

Matuzaka Warming up:

We were SO excited to see Matuzaka warming up, because we had read that Wakefield would be pitching, and if you know us, you know how much Sean and I can't stand Wakefield!

Jason Varitek Warming up:
Lily needed to warm up too for a day of cheering!

It was Pesky day at the park, and before the game started they held a ceremony to retire Johnny Pesky's number, #6. He's there in the middle:
Unfortunately during the ceremony the skies opened up again, and we were in a rain delay. We hung out under the shelter where all the food is for a good hour.

Sean taking Lily to a drier area:
Hanging out with Mommy, waiting for the rain to stop:

Lucky for us, the sky cleared up again! The game was on! Unfortunately it was a pretty boring game...Lily actually slept through the WHOLE game!
Here are a few pictures from the game.

Dustin Perdroia making a dash for first base. To bad he got selfish and tried to make it a double...he got tagged out :(

Matuzaka Pitching:

Hideki Okajima warming up in the bull pen:

Jonathan Papelbon warming up in the bull pen:
8th inning, Yankees taking their time making a pitching change. They changed their pitcher many time during the 8th inning.

Unfortunately the sky opened up again while the Yankees were making the 8th inning take forever. This is when Lily woke up, and our rally started!
Fenway in the rain:


We ended up leaving in the middle of the 9th because it started to rain pretty heavily. We didn't want to keep Lily in the rain, and we were losing anyway. We heard later on the ride home that we had lost 6-2. Oh well...you can't win them all. I guess Lily isn't the Red Sox lucky charm after all! They did go on to win the following game that night though...too bad we didn't have tickets to see that! Go figure, that was the game Wakefield ended up pitching!

Even though it rained, and the game was pretty sad, we still had a great time! We feel like true Red Sox fans for sticking it out in the rain as long as we could during a losing game to the Yankees. A fun experience no matter the outcome!

Finger Painting

Today I set Lily up with finger paint pudding. (Just regular vanilla pudding which I added food coloring too) and let her go wild. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Needless to say, we both had a blast!

Getting Started:
Taking a little taste:
Digging her hands in:
Of course soon the "paint" was knocked over, and Lily had fun pushing the bowls around the deck:Then the neighbors doing yard work become more interesting:
Clean up time!