Baked Apples

Tastes like the inside of an apple pie! Yummy!

 Ingredients

4 baking apples 1/4 cup brown sugar 4 teaspoons margarine 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

 Directions

Remove core from apples and place upright in baking dish, placing a tablespoon brown sugar, a teaspoon of margarine and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon in the center of each apple. Pour water intobaking dish to 1/4 inch depth. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until tender.

This recipe was taken from www.sparkrecipes.com. One note from a user was to substitute cooking spray for margarine to save on calories. Didn’t try it this time. It was very good though. We also added some fat-free redi-whip. Yum!

Good German family

This past weekend was our local Oktoberfest. On Saturday, they have a small parade. It’s lot of fun because there aren’t many people down there so you aren’t sitting on each other crowded. And you get lots of candy, beads and stickers. It’s amazing how much candy a little kid can get at a parade. Luckily Grandma and Papa came to help us out!

Impatient, waiting for paradeWalking through the park after the parade

 

Just thought this was funny

Vacation Photos

Still want to see more from our vacation? Check out the link to my Picasa album!

Vacation: St. Louis style

We decided that our vacation wasn’t over until we said it was over and we weren’t ready for it to be over on Tuesday! Wednesday was our St. Louis day. We had a full day planned despite the yucky heat and humidity.

Emily actually slept in so we got a late start but after breakfast we headed over to the zoo. We got to see the baby giraffe, baby zebra and baby tiger cubs, among all the other animals. And of course, Emily got a ride on the carousel. Wouldn’t be a zoo trip without a ride on the horsies!
After lunch on the Hill, we headed over to the Magic House. Stephen had never been so it was a fun experience for him as well. Of course, Emily’s favorites were the slides and water tables. It was a real adventure! Everyone had fun!
And what’s a St. Louis day without Ted Drewe’s????? We had to cap our day off with a little frozen custard. I think Emily was more enthralled with the little water cups that you get there though. She loves her ice cream but it took a little coaxing for her to eat it.

Thursday. What can I say about Thursday. Grandma wanted to spend some time with Emily so she came and picked her up for lunch. So Stephen and I had the day to ourselves!!! We went to Nobu’s for lunch and had some yummy sushi! Then headed over to have some fun and look for a halloween costume for Emily. We had a great time- alone together. That doesn’t happen as much as it should. It was nice. And we did find the costume for Emily- after looking at 4 different stores and walking 3 malls!

I love this picture of Emily pointing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wheeee!Hello???

More later..

And folks, I am outta time! I’ll post more later! Stay tuned to Vacation: St. Louis style.

Vacation: Emily funnies

I thought this deserved a post of it’s own!

Emily was a real comedian on Monday. She was cracking me up! Emily was taking her sweet time eating so Stephen was trying to coax her to eat some more. Here was part of the conversation:

“Come on Emily! You need to eat. Put your hot dogs in your belly. You’re hungry” (Stephen)

Emily pulls up her shirt and trys to put the hot dogs IN her belly.

“And that’s why I work at the Crayola Cafe” (Waitress)

 

Back at the hotel later, Emily decided to take her shoes off. She pulls off her tennis shoes and then pulls off her socks. She bends down, sniffs her feet and says “PEEEE-YOU!!!”

That girl cracks me up!

Vacation: Kansas City

We headed out Saturday morning and made good time to Kansas City. We had to leave fairly early to miss Mizzou game traffic. Emily only slept for a short time on the way there and then it was time to go to the Plaza Art fair. We walked around and looked at most of the exhibits. They also had a section for children. Emily got out of her stroller, played with chalk and danced! It was a good time. We had yummy BBQ for lunch and ate at a local place for dinner. If you are ever in Independence looking for a good place to eat, you must try the Rheinland Restaurant. Great German food! And you MUST try the homemade German Chocolate cake. DELISH!
Sunday was a day for Emily! After the longest, most boring mass, we went to The Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead. That was lots of fun! We got to see pigs rolling in the mud, turkeys, cows, an Eagle, and goats among other animals. Emily and I fed the goats. Ok, I fed the goats. Emily was freaked out scared of the goats. They were baby goats so they were very eager to eat. They even tried eating her shirt. I thought Emily was going to climb up mine before we were done! It was a lot of fun though. They even had a playground there so she got to burn off energy.
Monday was a day for Daddy and Emily. We went to Crown Center in KC. It’s a dying little mall in my opinion. We went there mainly for the Crayola Store and Crayola Cafe. We got there shortly after they opened, thinking wouldn’t have too much problem killing time before lunch. Boy, were we wrong. We walked around the mall and then went to the Crayola store. Emily was in heaven! They had a table with crayons and paper. Immediately she said “I color! I color!!” So she did! She colored us a beautiful picture on the huge easel there. It STILL wasn’t time for lunch so we decided to go outside and look at the fountains. Very pretty. Finally we decided to eat an early lunch and blow that joint! The food was good and Emily enjoyed coloring while waiting for her lunch. She even got this cool crayon cup and a balloon!
Then we headed over to the Truman Museum. It was very enlightening and interesting. I learned a lot. Emily did really, really well considering that, to a toddler, we were in a boring, stinky place. I know Stephen had a really good time and could have spent even longer there. I know that after going there, I am going to raid Stephen’s library and read the biography of Harry S. Truman.

Sleep was an issue at the hotel for us. For Emily anyway. The last time we stayed at a Marriott property, they had metal folding cribs. Now we know that not all Marriott’s are the same. We already knew that but it was very evident when the brought us up a dinky pack n’ play. There was NO way Emily was going to sleep in that. We ended up at a few different stores looking for a toddler inflatable bed. No go. We settled on a Dora (shaking head) fold up bed. Emily loved it. Although she still calls Dora “Elmo”. We tried it on the floor, she cried. We tried it on the bed, she cried. Saturday she ended up with the Dora bed on the bed with the door open and the living room light on. After lots and lots of crying. (We got a good deal on a 2 bedroom suite.) Sunday was a little better. The door was cracked and the light was still on. Same for Monday. We were supposed to stay over in Columbia on Tuesday night and decided to change our plans and come home a day early. As we were putting Emily to bed on Monday, I asked her if she was ready to go home. Emphatic “YES”. I told her that she needed to go to sleep then and we would head home after breakfast.
5:45am Tuesday morning our bedroom door comes FLYING open. “UP MOMMY!!!!” “UP” I think she was ready to go home.

Look closely at Emily’s face. Does she look like she’s having a good time?

Check out the cow!

We’re back!

It’s back to reality after vacation. Vacations are never long enough. We had a really good time though. I will probably split my vacation recap into a couple of posts so it’s not boring jumbled. It will still probably be boring for many people. But, one of the reasons I blog is for me. My memory stinks like rotten eggs and this is my way to help myself remember and for Emily to know what she did when she was little.

It’s good to be home. Emily was glad to be back in her crib and the dog was excited to get home today. It was a mad house today. Without further ado, let’s start with the recap!

Going on hiatus

Emily loves helping around the house!

That’s my type of attitude!

  Vacation. Break. Holiday. We will be relaxing, loafing, lounging, slacking off next week. Jeez, I love the thesaurus! A much needed vacation, that’s for sure. We aren’t going too far; as our plans changed at last minute but it will be nice to take a break from reality and breathe.

We are going to Kansas City for a few days and staying in Columbia for a night as well. It will be fun! And I will take lots of pictures of course and report back when we get back!

Have a great weekend and week!

It’s not always fun and games

Emily is a really, really great kid. If I am only to be blessed with one, I have a GREAT one. I know I talk about how wonderful she is and really, she is. But she isn’t perfect; as no child is. I just choose to leave out some of the mean stuff. She’s a mischievous, sneaky, angry sometimes toddler. I don’t want anyone to think that Emily never gets into trouble, because she does. She gets put into time out for pushing when she wants her way and taking toys from others just like any other kid her age. Toddlers are maddening little humans, aren’t they? We love them with all of our heart and they take all of our patience. As a parent, we think that we are the only and/or first person to deal with it. Truth be told, if you have to leave your cart in a store, some mom has been there, done that. They understand.

There is a point to this post and I got off track, as normal. I want my friends to know that Emily is just like their kids. And I wanted to share a maddening toddler story. For some reason yesterday, the red hair was coming through. I don’t know if she wasnt’ feeling well or what but she was just frustrated and angry. I thought the nap would help but I think it made it worse. Before dinner, she got mad at her doll stroller and she BIT it. Yes, you read that right. She BIT it. I don’t know why, I was just glad that it wasn’t my leg that had her teeth clamped down on. Then, as we were getting ready for bed, she got mad at me. She hit me in the shoulders and scratched my face. I was stunned!!! I don’t know how to deal with this! I am not used to it. So I am like every other parent on the planet, muddling through, trying to find what discipline program works best for us.

My friend Chris gives the best words of advice that I hear in my brain every day- “NEVER, ever negotiate with terrorists.” And your toddler is a little terrorist. They see your weak points. You give in once or twice and it’s all over. Might as well hand over the keys and hide in your bed, under the covers!