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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Teeter Totter

We've all heard that life is like a box of chocolates, but in our case I think of my life more like a teeter-totter (seesaw, whatever you want to call it - I don't want to get into the soda versus pop debate...) Its all about balance, which seems to be such an elusive goal. I suppose the more kids you have, the more difficult it becomes, simply because of the sheer amount of time it takes to accomplish simple tasks when you multiply them times 5 kids. I have been very focused on creating and implementing a routine for our family with the beginning of the new school year, and I have to say I think it is working very well. My main objectives are to create the most stress-free environment in the morning by picking out clothes/shoes, packing backpacks and lunches and at least having an idea what's for breakfast the night before. Piper now has a dry erase tile on her wall with a morning checklist, just in case somehow during her slumber she forgets that we do in fact brush our teeth and make our beds every morning. Yes, every morning. Seriously, they look at me like I'm dropping a bomb each morning and this is a completely foreign practice I'm asking them to complete. Really??? The clothes being picked out the night before was essential for everyone's sanity. Trace would wear a paper sack if I laid it out for him, while Piper has some, shall I say, very definite opinions about fashion. Backpacks need to be emptied and put away as soon as the kids get home. Homework gets done before TV viewing, and I try to have a healthy meal planned and prepped. All these components are working together well, I must say. However when you add in 4 soccer practices, religious ed, and gymnastics each week, plus the normal stuff like baths, playing with friends and taking the dog for a walk the end result is not pretty. It usually consists of Tim and I surrounded by a heaping pile of soaking wet bath towels, two baskets of folded laundry waiting to be put away, two baskets waiting to be folded, and two more baskets waiting to be washed and dried. Oliver is having a field day with the fallout from dinner under the table, and the dishes are laughing at us from the sink. And the rest of the cycle goes a little something like this: Clean up the kitchen, dive into laundry, pack the lunches, sign the papers that need to be signed, lay out clothes for tomorrow, grunt at husband as I pass him in hallway, take out dog one last time, fall into bed, get child a drink of water, put child back into bed, fall back into our bed, put another child back into bed, fall into bed again, scoot over and just let this child sleep next to me, remove child's foot from up my nose, just get up already - COFFEE!!!! and start all over again. The moral of the story being that everything is never all perfect at once, which is just fine since perfection is not really the goal here. I guess something's gotta give, which is a concept I'm definitely more comfortable with as a mother of 5 than I was as a mom of just one. I know the laundry will still be sitting there when I get done folding the "Flying Ninja" from Trace's paper airplane book. At least as I'm folding the laundry, I get to hear him and Carter cheering and laughing as they launch it off the top of the stairs. I may not have the cleanest kitchen floor in the neighborhood, but I managed to be crowned "the bestest mom in the whooooole world" when I made them spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Yes, we fish clean socks out of the dryer, clean spoons are often housed in the dishwasher and you could probably find a few stray sippy cups under the couch, but that's just how we roll around here. We're just seeking that elusive balance between chaos and calm, but we're enjoying the ride together... (insert circus music here.)