The Alphabet Lives Under My Refrigerator

The alphabet magnets should live on the refrigerator...But no...

They live under it.

Caught in the act! She looked pretty guilty when she saw me.

(If you ever wondered what real-life mornings were like, well, let's just say she and I were both in our PJ's.)

Books don't fit under the refrigerator, so they stay clean and well-read.

I love how intense and expressive she gets while reading a book. The sounds and voice fluctuations she has are incredible!

Pre-nap, she'll lay down on the floor, just to be cute and silly.

I love how my mornings are spent, and I love my 14-month old sweetheart!

Favorite Things

I've been seeing these posts about Favorite Things cropping up in blogland. (Melissa at 320 Sycamore and Emily at Jones Design Company are my favorites.) To echo another blogger, the first thing that pops into my head when you'd ask what my favorite things are would be, "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...(something something something)...brown paper packages tied up with string; these are a few of my favorite things..."

Sorry. I got little lost singing in my head. Back to business:
Here is my own list of favorite things. If you make one, please let me know in your comments. I would love to hear what you love!

1. My family
The Best Husband Ever, The Darlingest Daughter Ever, and the Most Loved Baby Ever.

2. Hoop Earrings
These have become my dressing up staple. I feel almost glamorous wearing them. :) My sister didn't wear these, and was kind enough to give them to me.

3. Blistex Silk and Shine
I have an obsession with my lips. Weird, I know, but I always have this on or near me.

4. Cinnamon Sticks
Anything that smells of cinnamon. Spiced cider, cinnamon in candles, I really like the smell of cinnamon.

5. Candles
Speaking of cinnamon scents, it's almost time to pull out my very favorite candles and celebrate the chilly weather with warm smells.

6. Hobby Lobby
This should be self-explanatory. It's on an even favorites list with Target.

7. Eggnog
My favorite drink ever. I wish it was made year round. Perhaps I do appreciate it more because of its limited availability.

8. Lysol Kitchen Cleaner
My kitchen's best friend. Counters, under the cabinets, around the sink, the fronts of my appliances.

9. Netflix
This has been our biggest money saver, believe it or not. $9 a month, and we get as many movies as we like. Love it!

10. Swiffer
And last but not least, this is my top cleaner. My floors smell amazing. I love the lavender wet Swiffer wipes. Mops are SO yesterday!

Gift cards to win!

I love the idea of winning $500 to Amazon.com! The best part is that you could too! If you link to this site, not only can you be in on a chance to win, but if you get friends to sign up through your referrals, there's a good chance you would get $25 to Amazon just for that! (Which means that if 15 of you lovely people link through here, I could win $25.) :-)

Go here to check this out: itsthoughtful.com

Thank you! :)

Happy!

On a side note, here is how my daughter plays. All the time, with everything wherever she can get it. It's recently been found out that alphabet magnets fit perfectly under our refrigerator. Yay! (groan)

Big Girl

I love her personality.
She spends long stretches of time studying one page of a book or magazine,
then the next thing I know she's pulling magnets off the refrigerator and smiling at her cleverness.
One year olds are so fun.

Here's the official big girl bed, originally owned and used by Aunts H and E. They are a bit too grown up for bunk beds now, so they have been passed on to the niece.

Mommy got to used a big ol' screwdriver to help daddy get the bolts in right, and it was fun! Ava loves her new bed!

"Girltalk"

I am really, really hooked on girltalk. I realize how that sounds, but seriously, if you are female you should check her out.

Discovering this post on Anxiety made my day. I am thankful for people who post insight and wisdom to share with others, and encourage them in the Lord!

Traditions

"Although we can’t bequeath God to our children, we can help them know Him and understand Him in ways that prepare them to believe in His name. ‘Everyday’ and ‘especially’ traditions in a family are an important part of that teaching, of picturing who God is and what He’s done in our home and in the world. Traditions are a vital way of displaying our greatest treasure, of showing what—Who—is most important to us."-Noel Piper

Whirlwind of Grace

This week has been a whirlwind of emotions.

People have made decisions I find to be completely wrong. They have disappointed me, and I believe hurt God. I know things are not as they should be, but God has shown me ways to truly love these people and hold nothing against them. He has shown me how to show grace.

One of the men at church gave his testimony last night. Something that was shared with him during a particularly hard time in his life was this: "What is the point of having a God if you will not trust Him?" That hit me about 3 different ways. Ultimately, I have to trust God in this situation, in every single aspect of it. He has shown me how He longs to give grace.

I was blog cruising this afternoon and was stopped in my tracks by this woman. Her take on grace was exactly what my heart needed today. God gives us grace no matter what, because He loves us. He has shown me how He unconditionally distributes grace.

I'm calling this week Grace Week.

Life has seriously been a whirlwind of grace, and I cannot help but praise God and thank Him for showing me this!

Apple Turnovers

There are a few ways to make apple turnovers. One is to make a pastry shell, similar to a pie crust. Another option is to make a puff pastry. Some people just use refrigerated biscuit dough. My favorite option (because I could use less butter and knew how to make it from scratch) was the pastry shell. So, here's my figured-it-out-as-I-went recipe for Apple Turnovers.

Preheat oven to 400*F
Crust:
2.5c. flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Sift all dry ingredients together, then cut in 1c. butter to make coarse "crumbs". Add 6-7 T. water to make a pie-crust like dough. Put it in the refrigerator.

Filling (make while your dough is refrigerating):
4 honeycrisp apples
2T. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Peel and core apples, cut into slices, and half the slices lengthwise. Cook apples in butter until just tender (don't cook them all the way, they will finish in the oven). Add brown sugar and cinnamon. Then take a little flour, and use it to thicken the sauce. Go for a texture similar to ice cream topping; not too thick, but not too runny. Remove from heat.

Now take the dough out of the refrigerator, and roll it into a rectangle. I made 7 turnovers, but you can make whatever size you want. Cut the rectangle up into squares (mine were roughly 4 inch squares). It's important to make them as square as possible so you can fold them into an even triangle-this makes sealing your turnovers easier.
Once you have your squares cut, put a spoonful of filling in the center. Do just one at a time, since you will need to fold the top over and put it on your baking sheet before the warm filling melts your crust and makes it gooey. Once you have the edges sealed, use a fork to completely smoosh the edges together. (Folding your turnovers is tricky, since your filling will try to ooze out. It takes practice to figure out what works best for you, and how much filling to use per square of dough.)
Now put those turnovers on your baking sheet, about an inch apart, and bake them for 25 minutes (the time may vary based on oven types).
Enjoy the delicious pastry you've made! I would love to know if you experiment, what you do differently, and any other kinds you might make.


*Note: the filling may still leak out of your crust while baking. It came off of my baking sheet well, but you may want to bake on parchment paper if you don't want your baking sheet stained.

Hello, November

November is colder than October. (Yup, I figured that out all by myself!)
Remember the hat, mittens, and coat I picked up for Ava at Target? They are perfect...well, almost. She was getting her hat off by turning her head every which way. That meant daddy had to be our retrieval system while on a walk once, and that's just not something we want to make a regular habit.
I made a trip to my local fabric retailer (Walmart, yippee), and picked up some white fleece and velcro strips. I did a rough measurement of the ear flaps for a pattern, pinned them in the hat and stuck it on her head to get the length right for the straps under her chin. Sew, turn right side out, and stitch to the double seam that runs just above the ear flaps. Attach velcro after again putting the hat on your child to make sure the ear flaps are just right.
The final fitting:

Goofball, if you hold still for a picture so mommy can blog about this, I promise I won't put your hat on for the rest of the day.

In other news, we (meaning Scott) installed this at the top of the stairs. K*Mart, you are my new friend.

Ava likes the box. The gate she's not so sure about. :)

Food cravings usually mean that I bake. Apple turnovers were my latest attempt. If they taste as good as they smell and look, well...let's just say I'm ready for breakfast now. (Yes, I am planning to eat an apple turnover for breakfast.) I did want to make them healthier so I bought honeycrisp apples in order to need less brown sugar. Then I made a cross between a puff pastry and pie crust, so there is a whole lot of butter in the pastry shells.

I sent some home with the quartet guys...lucky people, getting to be my guinea pigs.

Operation Christmas Child

Consider helping a child today:
Samaritan's Purse, and Operation Christmas Child