Tis the season . . .

Tim and the kids before the Bears game they attended

The Kids' Tree

Nana, Dom and Scout

I know I probably say this every year, but this time I REALLY mean it - I can't believe it is already December!! I am in better shape than many years past though, so I can't complain. The halls have been decked (with a lot of "help" from some very eager elves.) The stockings have been hung by the chimney with care. Go with me here, okay. I realize we don't have a chimney. And we're missing a few stockings that somehow didn't make their way back into the tub of Xmas decorations. But, the tree is up and decorated. How long it will stay that way is mystery, though. Scout hasn't taken much of an interest in it yet, but given the fact that she crawls like the Energizer Bunny and is (shakily) starting to cruise along furniture, I think it will be a matter of time.
The kids were very proud to decorate their own "Kids' Tree" in the basement, complete with hot pink glitter ornaments, popsicle stick creations, twinkling multicolor lights and homemade paperchains. This is one good looking tree. Trace is very good at the "cluster method" of decorating in which he hangs several like ornaments on the tip of one poor, wobbly branch of our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I am fairly certain this method is an offshoot of his father's present wrapping technique, the "consolidation method." What is this, pray tell? Step 1 - Find the largest, most beat-up shipping box from work and bring it home. Step 2. Dump all your wife's presents in there (mixing bowls, shower gel, hat, gloves, it's all good.) 3. If it won't shut, give it a good dose of packing tape. 4. Wrap up that bad boy!
I am admitting before the word leaks out and you are all in shock - I was among the crazies this "Black Friday." Let me just say, it was fun and I would do it again, just to have my shopping done early and get a few deals. However, I will never ever set foot in a Walmart again during Thanksgiving and Christmas. My time in there lasted a whole five minutes, and I left empty-handed. I'm still reeling from the things I saw in there. I felt dirty. We have significantly scaled back on the gift-giving this year, which made shopping that much more pleasant. Instead, we're trying to not just tell, but SHOW the kids that the time spent together looking at Xmas lights, watching a movie, decorating the tree, baking cookies, giving to others and just being together - those are the things that Christmas is about. I think they really get it . . . and in the meantime, I listen to Carter as Max & Ruby is on commercial break. Every "boy" toy that is advertised, he asks Finley, "Can you get me that?" and every girl toy he says, "Fin, I'm gonna get you that." Tis the season . . .

Big Warm Up

Check this out. Watch to the end, and then pay it forward...

NOOOOOOOvember

So here we are. Where you ask? November. And I pose the question, "How the hell did we get HERE?" I am fairly certain I blinked and we went from the first day of summer to the last day of summer to Halloween and now here. This sort of crappy in between time only rivaled by the period between January 2nd and April 1st.

I managed to take down all our Halloween decorations on November 1st. And I wonder, "Now what?" I don't have a wreath for this, you see. I have an Easter wreath, a Fourth of July wreath, a Halloween wreath and a lovely Christmas wreath. I have nothing for this time, so I have two choices - I can leave my front door bare or plunge in headfirst and be like the aisles of every major retailer. You know what I am talking about - the way the Christmas decorations slowly creep in before even half of the general population has bought their Halloween costumes. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. I like the decorations, the festivities, the music, the baking, the catalogs and the palpable excitement within a family with 5 kids. But I just feel like I'm jumping the gun by breaking out the decorations. I'm aware Thanksgiving comes between Halloween and Christmas. I am. But I refuse to buy "harvest" decor no matter how thankful I am. And for the record, you will NEVER see the Johnson yard adorned with an inflatable turkey. So I guess the door will stay bare. I'm just warning you to not be offended by my lack of decorations, okay?

Since I'm not ready to move forward in the season just yet, I'll move backwards a bit and tell you about our Halloween. All in all, really good. Let's just say Halloween can be a bit scary (pun intended) when you're committed to certain dietary standards. I know some people think I'm nuts, but we did manage to have a festive and fun Halloween even without any candy containing any artificial ingredients. Obviously the degree of difficulty is raised here, but the kids were really good about it, and Tim was so supportive. Carter and Piper have reached the point where they know how they feel when they eat food dye, and they just won't do it. Like Tim says, "Why can't I have that kind of discipline when it comes to cheese fries or hot wings?" Finley will literally interrogate the neighbors (sorry Frank!) about whether a particular item contains dye. Trace is on the fence. He'd eat it if no one was looking, but will (begrudgingly) toss it in exchange for another "approved" candy item.

The kids' costumes were a hit this year. They were respectively, a cave girl (thanks to Nana's handiwork,) a pioneer, a dinosaur, a kitty cat and a caterpillar. Trick-or-treating didn't last very long thanks to the wind and cold, but we made up for it with a fun Halloween party the same night.

10 years of Little Things

I have a cute little sign on my end table that reads, "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." (You may never have seen it, which is perfectly understandable since on any given day it is likely to be buried behind a box of kleenex, one baby shoe, half a dozen Matchbox cars, 2 pencils, a naked Barbie, a stack of catalogs and various other objects that are simply woven into the fabric of our daily lives.) But I digress...

I love that sign. I am fortunate enough to be celebrating 10 years of marriage with my wonderful husband tomorrow, and that sign got me thinking. Its funny how we focus on the little things that are negative (the empty toilet paper roll, the dirty socks on the floor, or the cap that just couldn't quite make it back on the tube of toothpaste. Love you honey!!) But the positive little things are often overlooked because they are just part of our every day life. I want to take this opportunity to say that I consider myself to be one of the luckiest people in the world because of all the little things with which I am blessed. Days get stressful and we think, "If I can just get through this day..." Well, I am lucky to have spent the last 3,650 days with Tim. Believe me, he deserves some sort of award for having the sense of humor that he does to put up with me some days (especially considering that I have been pregnant and hormonal for combined total of 3 years and 9 months during our marriage.) Each morning, my husband gets up and makes coffee and brings me a cup in bed. EVERY MORNING without fail. Then he goes to the kitchen and empties the dishwasher and washes any stray dishes. He does laundry (boys can wear pink socks. Really they can.) He changes diapers, he coaches basketball, he plays Barbies, he gives baths and cleans up vomit.

I'm not a fancy restaurant, flowers and champagne sort of girl. I'm a homebody and creature of habit. I like what is familiar. I'll take the everyday little signs of love over the grand gesture any day, because I truly believe that in the end, we look back and realize that the little things really are the big things! I tell the kids all the time that you never know how one smile, kind word or gesture can impact someone. How it can totally change the tone of their day. We've all heard the stories of the people who because of one little, seemingly insignificant thing, were late to work at the World Trade Center on September 11th. And because of that, the course of their lives were changed forever. Switching my major to communications after my sophomore of college was what caused me to cross paths with Tim (granted I now use that degree to negotiate who gets the blue cup or which bowl of yogurt has more granola sprinkled on top.) A little thing that has turned into a big thing.

Happy Anniversary to my hubby Tim (aww, mushy mushy) and to everyone else, don't forget to appreciate all the little things in your life. Have a great weekend!

Apple of My Eye

Its fall and I find myself humming a little tune as I make my way through the day. I LOVE Fall! I love the colors outside, the cooler temperatures, the smell of leaves burning, the fact that there's no chance of it being so hot that the back of my legs stick to a lawn chair as I try to stand up. These are valid reasons, okay? With fall comes my insatiable need to create in the kitchen! I think no matter how technologically advanced we become we still have a little Flinstone in us! I'm stocking up for the winter here (Tim is a happy man when I go into this mode!) I love all foods fall - soup, chili, pumpkins, apples, cranberries, you name it! We spent a lovely 39 degree day on Saturday at our favorite orchard in Malta. After making three bottles for Scout, spilling an entire one on the floor, cleaning it up, forgetting the other two in the fridge, and making a bathroom stop halfway, we finally arrived at the orchard. We watched the temperature on the rearview mirror in the burbie drop degree by degree as we got closer. We were so unprepared for how cold it was, we put on every remotely warm article clothing we had brought along, it was reminiscent of Clark Griswold locked in the attic in Christmas Vacation, minus the turban! Our comedy of errors continued as we waited in line for tractor to take us to the pumpkin patch, got too cold, went into the "Country Store" to warm up, saw the tractor coming, ran back out (as fast as we could with five stay-puff marshmallow children, 4 pecks of apples, a gallon of apple cider, a diaper bag, a camera bag and two strollers.) You know where this is going, don't you? The tractor was filled up by the time we got back out there. So, as Finley's running nose actually began to freeze on her face, we decided to call it a day. After packing up, driving 10 miles down the road, realizing Tim forgot one of the strollers, turning around to retrieve it, and finally getting home, we just bought some pumpkins and gourds from a nice farmer in Monee. But, I did have an amazing variety of apples and a hankering to do something with them. So here is my creation . . .

Crockpot Apple Butter

Start with about 18 apples

(I used a mix of Jonathan, Ida Red and Stabrite, I like mine more on the tart side)

Core, and slice apples (Leave peel on)



Add 1/2 cup apple cider and 2 tablespoons mulling spices to crockpot. Cook on high 3 hours and you will end up with this:



Here's where you need the best kitchen tool ever - the food mill. Mine was purchased from a hardware store for under $20 dollars. Nothing fancy, but it does the job!



Working in batches, run apple mixture through food mill, you will end up with an applesauce like mixture. All the seeds, peels and whole spices remain in the food mill.



Return apple mixture to crockpot, add 1/4 sugar, 1 tablespoon good cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon each of mace and cloves. Cook two more hours on high.



Now if you're a fan of apple butter, you know what makes it different from applesauce is its richness and velvety texture. If you have an immersion blender (got mine for $9.99 at Jewel,) here's where you use it. Put that bad boy right in the crockpot and make some apple butter!! This makes all the difference in texture, believe me!! Now taste your creation. If you like more sugar, now's the time to add it. Then finish cooking another hour or so, stirring occasionally.





Your house will smell so incredible when you make this (if you had a scratch-n-sniff computer screen, you'd understand!)

Crockpot Apple Butter
18 apples
1/2 cup apple cider
2 tablespoons mulling spices
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon mace
1/8 teaspoon cloves

Enjoy!!

Seasons of Change

Scoutie in Wisconsin over Labor Day

Carter not too happy on his first day of school

Trace catching a toad while we were apple picking

Piper picking apples

Nana riding her bike while Carter drives Finley in the Jeep

Finley taste-testing

Seriously, this happens several times a year, but every time I am still baffled by it. The change of seasons and the upheaval it causes still smack me right in the face. I'm left dazed wondering what the hell happened to my carefully planned routine and structure. Its dark too early to get in an entire soccer practice, the shorts we laid out the night before are being swapped for pants and hoodies, and the kids are out of their minds! Not to mention this is all happening as we go through 6 boxes of tissues a week because the kids have brought home every germ between here and Indiana. I am craving soup and pumpkin bread, yet still longing for Corona and watermelon. We are in the midst of a transition and I think we're all digging our heels in. I don't have anything particularly insightful or witty to share, perhaps due partly to the fact that I am still recovering from a nasty sinus infection and dreading a scheduled root canal tomorrow. So instead I will just share a few recent pictures and a funny story. Finley discovered last year's Easter wreath in the storage room the other day and I then overheard her telling Carter to be quiet when he was in the basement, because the birdies were getting ready to hatch. I didn't have the heart to tell her that those were fake plastic speckled eggs hot-glued to a twig wreath. So sweet!

Eliminate food dyes, artificial flavors and preservatives for healthy happy kids

Eliminate food dyes, artificial flavors and preservatives for healthy happy kids

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