Apples, Apples, Apples

You may recall, that I briefly mentioned (during a much more important post about TV!) that we went apple picking. In fact, it deserves more than such a slight mention!!

We joined 2 close friends and their 3 kids, and hit a great apple orchard/commercial fall play area known as Apple Holler. It's fun, it's a good size, and it's not too far from home. We met there after lunch early last week. The 5 kids get along WONDERFULLY! Seriously. Trevor loves the one girl who is his age. We tackily (is that a word?) joke that they are boyfriend and girlfriend (I swore I wouldn't do that as a mom! Ooops!), and he acts like a big brother to the other little girl. Blake
usually doesn't mind much who we are with, and this time was no exception.

We walked and we walked, and finally found a section with apples still for picking. It was somewhat surprising how few there were, as it was early in the season. We ended up picking 1/2 a bushel for us, and the other 2 mom's shared a 1/2 bushel.

Note for next year: don't be greedy....share!! 1/2 a bushel is too much for us!

Eventually, we found a great section and picked and picked and picked.... Jonathon's and Golden Delicious. The kids ate and ate as we picked, and I think in the end Blake had 3 BIG apples! Then of course, it was time for the commercial play-time. We shelled out money for 'train' rides (a lawn tractor pulling wagons), a maze, pony rides, and more. But the kids really had a good time, so I guess it was worth it.

We brought home our 1/2 bushel, and stuck them in the extra fridge. T & B also got to pick out 1 item from the gift shop, and they chose....Taffy Apples. (An aside, Steve and I have discovered another East coast/mid-west difference: Candy vs Taffy Apples. Holy Hannah....I had no idea it was such a big deal. It's an apple covered with sugar....move on people!!).

Fast forward 1 week...

Oops, I still have 1/2 a bushel of apples in my fridge. Now what do I do????

Ah....make Applesauce, Apple Crisp, and Carmel Apple Bars. YUMMY! The applesauce recipe is an easy one, I found on AllRecipes.com. The Apple Crisp recipe comes from Grandma, and I'm not sure I can share it.... oops, bad blogging protocol probably, but there ya go. Old family secret and all! But the Carmel Apple Bars, well I found that one in the newspaper, so I'll share, willingly.

The kids helped make all 3. They really enjoy mashing the apples for the applesauce after they were cooked down... they really enjoyed that. But it was a little to messy for a photo op (don't want to get the camera covered in apples!). They helped mix and pour all the other things to, but again, I'm not good at getting photos while coordinating recipes! And most importantly (to my sanity and fingernails), they unwrapped all 14 ounces of carmels for the Carmel Apple Bars!! Yay!!


Carmel Apple Bars
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional-I didn't use)
4 1/2 cups chopped, peeled apples
14 oz carmels
3 tbsp margarine

Cream together 1/2 cup margarine and brown sugar. Add flour, oats, salt, baking soda and mix well. Stir in pecans. Set aside 2 cups of this mixture. Press remaining mix in greased 9x13 pan.
Toss apples in 3 tbsp flour. Spoon over crust.
Melt carmels and margarine together. Drizzle over apples. Top with rest of flour/oat mixture.
Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool before cutting.

Oh my goodness....it's like heaven. ESPECIALLY, to a pregnant woman who hasn't been craving any food, or even wanting to eat. I could eat the whole 9x13 pan of this tonight!! Time to stop blogging, and eat!

Quality Time with Blake

As is often the case, child #2 seems to get the short end of the stick. I felt awful SO many times when B was young that I didn't have the energy, time or ability (since he's #2) to spend 1-on-1 time with him. I tried to make myself feel better that WHEN T went to school, we would have our mornings. Alone. Together. Last year it was 2 days a week, now it's 3. Promising thoughts. This is what our quality time amounted to this morning...

We drove home from school, the LONG way, spending 1/2 an hour to save $0.30 a gallon on gas. (I paid $3.01 and filled up for less than $60 for the first time in who knows how long.) Maybe the price of gas was worth it, but the loss of 1/2 an hour....not so sure. Then we got home and came up to the office. This is standard procedure for most school mornings. B 'works' at his desk, and I work at mine. Usually, after a while, B is in my face asking for computer time, wanting to play his "Thomas" game. And he usually gets to, since when both boys are home, he doesn't get much time on the PC.

Well, this morning I had tons of work catch-up to do, and lots of personal stuff too. So, here's the educational, valuable, enriching activity that B took on.





He found a roll of yarn in his craft stuff, and decided to make a spiderweb. It was a wonderful spiderweb.... just maybe in a poor location (such as a hallway, where Mommy wants to walk to get out of the office eventually!). Taz joined in the fun and played with the web making it more twisted together.... but she would not cooperate for the photo shoot (darn cats!).

Oh well, it was easy to clean up, although we're not bothering to un-tangle it!! At least it wasn't paint or crayon on the wall, right? And I'm sure he had some educational 'ah-hah' moments while constructing it, right???

New Name Needed

Okay....we need a name.

No, not for the baby....Not yet at least.

I feel the need for a new name for the blog.

A: the current name is boring
B: i'm feeling the urge to privatize this just a little bit. Between my name, and the name of this blog, and weirdo out there could find me and family in a heartbeat, and lately that's been weighing on my mind.

But....I'm useless at creative names. Hence the original name of this blog!! So, suggestions.... PUH-LEASE!!

I keep thinking it should be something more like my tagline below the title, but I know other blogs have already used that. Or it should be something about the fact that I'm outnumbered by all the men in this house (maybe that will change with this baby??). But I need help and suggestions!!

Houston, we have a Heartbeat!

Well, FINALLY I've heard it! The baby's heartbeat that is. It's been 12 long weeks, and I was SO looking forward to this morning's appointment.

I switched Dr's this time around. The other Dr delivered both boys, but something was always missing. After 2 pregnancies, and countless office visits, they still couldn't pronounce my name right. Okay, so this happens alot in my life, all the time in fact, but seriously after all the money I've paid you, and I've tried being polite about it, could you at least try. This wasn't the only reason... There was the fact that not just the first time around, but the second time too, and even 30 minutes before B was born, they were PUSHING me to have an epidural. Really pushing, and not respecting my wishes, my past experience, etc. So I decided not to deal with that again.

Instead I'm going to an awesome midwife. She's been great so far, and I've heard good things. She practices in an office with an OB/GYN but I never have to see him, and she will delivery me pretty much guaranteed (unless something goes really haywire-which I just don't anticipate). So I switched and the only down-side I thought, was that they don't to the early ultrasound (that fun internal one), so I couldn't hear the heartbeat last month at 8 weeks.

So, I go to my appointment today, at 9:45 am. I walked in the door at 9:46....oops 1 minute late. Do you know what time I made it out of the waiting room? 10:48. The midwife made it in to the exam room at 11, and by 11:09 I was back in my car. SERIOUSLY??? Yup, seriously. The full story gets even better....

At 10:40, I walked up to the receptionist to ask when I would be seen. After all, I had to pick-up T from school and needed time to get back there. Now, those of you that know me IRL, can imagine that cranky Mommy would be up there biting her head off, being rude and pushy. So what happened? When I tried to talk to her, no words came out, just tears running down my face. I couldn't spit the words out to ask. Who knows why....I'm an emotional basket case right now! 10 minutes later they called me back.

She walks in and asks me how I am. Thru tears (still) I tell her I was crying a lot less an hour ago. She apolgizes for the wait (that's good) and then complains about her tough/busy morning with all her sick patients and double-booked appointments (bad). Bad....because that's not my problem, and it's not what I want to hear right now. So we ran thru the basics, she took out the doppler and listened to the heartbeat, answered my questions and was gone. SERIOUSLY?? And how much is she gonna charge insurance for that? Can I charge her for my time? And my babysitter's time??

I really just wish that when you got there and checked in, they would tell you, "Oh, it's been a busy morning she's running x minutes behind." That gives you the warning you need, the option to reschedule if you have a busy morning, and it's just plain courteous! Maybe I could have run out, done my errands, and come back..... I think next month, I'm going to call first thing in the AM and see if she's running on time or is double-booked. I recall from my days as a dr office receptionist, that a few patients would do this so they didn't have to just sit there waiting (and wasting their time!).

On the plus side, the heartbeat was pure music to my ears. 160 beats per minute to be exact. I knew how much I wanted to hear it, and it didn't let me down. The relief flooded thru me, and more tears too! Only later, when talking to Steve, did he ask, "Just 1 heartbeat?" to which I said yes. I forgot he'd been joking, and other friends too, that we were going to have twin girls just to even things out around here!!! Oh my wouldn't that have been fun!

I think for a few minutes in all the emotion this morning, it also hit me how close I am to the original due date from when I misscarried earlier this year. Baby would have been here on 10/25.... so I'm sure that's adding to my emotional baggage!

The REAL reason I haven't been blogging...

Well, I've come up with MANY different excuses in the last few weeks of why I haven't been blogging. None of them are the real reason. But until now, I was VERY reluctant to share the real reason.

I've also been thinking about and planning this particular post in my head for weeks and weeks. Wondering just what the right way was/is to make the announcement.

So....any guesses yet? Y'all tired of me waffling on and not making any point.

Well, we're THRILLED (words don't even do justice) to announce that Baby Kappel #3 is on the way! He/She is due to arrive April 26, 2009!!!

We've kept this under wraps until today because I'm now at the 12 week mark, and theoretically past most chances for bad things happening. My confidence level in this pregnancy making it has risen dramatically over the last few weeks, and will really get a boost on Wednesday, when I FINALLY hear the heartbeat at the midwife's office. (Love the midwife - not always a fan of less technology! I'm sure my old OB could have heard it at about 8 weeks, but they drive me nuts and it's not worth it just for that!).

This is one of my methods of announcing this pregnancy. I've thought of a billion others in the last 3 months. It's been hard not to announce it, but I will say this... Those of you who have asked me point blank if I am, I have not lied to you. If you've hinted around me expecting...well now you know!! My Halloween costume will be a second announcement of things to come. So stay tuned for photos!!

For those of you that know how strangely my brain works, I will also share this lovely mathematical fact with you. I have 2 VERY close friends -from grade school) and 1 cousin born in April (They are the only 3 birthday's I can name off the top of my head in that month. There may be others, but not that I can remember off the top of my head. SORRY!). The three birthdays are: April 3, April 12 and April 17. (Now here's the strange part of my brain working...) If you add April 12 and April 17, you get April 29; then subtract April 3; and you get April 26....my due date.

So that's what I've been doing instead of blogging.... figuring out weird April birthday math, sleeping, and growing a baby!!

Apples and Dancing, and Cubbies, Oh My!

Well, another week and a lack of blogging. I'm really slacking here aren't I? No new excuses, see last week's post for my pathetic list of reasons!

Anyway, I must do a little update, mostly on my reality TV watching.

**********************************************************************************
Amazing Race....good episode. Sorry that we didn't lose either the blondes, or the newly dating couple-Terrence and Sarah.

The blondes drove me a little nutty with the boat challenge.....if you don't think you can do it, fine....go do the other one!!

The divorcees, Kelly & Christy, drove me CRAZY with their lack of reading-skills.... geez! How many more clue blunders can you make in an episode.

But Terrence & Sarah took this cake this week. Seriously, he's got issues....a baby after the cab trunk hit him in the head-demading 'mothering' from Sarah; over-emotional in line for the airplane (not that Tina wasn't a PITA!); rude to Sarah constantly; goes the wrong way leaving the detour and then has a fit in the middle of town; and they end up coming in third!!! GEEZ... I could stand to see them leave!!

***********************************************************************
I quite enjoyed DWTS tonight. My favorite 4: Lance & Lacey-I'm glad they went traditional, Maurice & Cheryl, Warren & Kym-god he can dance, and Brooke & Derek. It was sad to see Misty go, and I hope she'll recover and come back to jive on a future season results show. Sorry to say, it's still time for me to see Cloris go. I don't really appreciate her humor and bottom line it's a dancing competition and she didn't do much dancing!

***********************************************************************

As for baseball..... Damn the Cubs. What a depressing end to a phenomenal season. And when my darling, but sports inept, husband says to me, "Why are you surprised? It's been 100 years!", I want to smack him!! Aside from that response, I think it's harder for me this year because they were so good and so consistent all season long. To go 3 and out is just killer. Add to that 9 straight post-season losses, well.... 'nuff said. Trevor is bummed, and if he continues as a Cubs fan, I guess he'll learn that is a way of life.

***********************************************************************
Finally.... on a much more interesting note, and less TV related. The boys and I enjoyed a gorgeous fall day picking apples. We picked a 1/2 bushel....that's a lot of apples! And had a great time. We met friends there, and thank god they brought cameras, cause I forgot. So pictures will be coming soon. Trevor ate about 3 apples, while picking, and Blake probably 2. They adore this kind of stuff, and now I just have to figure out what to make with so many apples!!!

Is TV her life??

Looking back at the last few weeks of blogging, the answer to the above question would be yes.

In reality, I've been working, sleeping, ferrying the kids to school, and trying to get out from under a bunch of stuff I put off while enjoying the summer. So, sorry that the blogging has been less than thrilling, and not much about the family. I'm not sure what me and the kids have done in the last few weeks that is really interesting or noteworthy. Oops!!

As for TV....

Biggest Loser - I thought this week's challenge - camping - was just interesting. It was SAD to me to see how uncomfortable all those people were out in nature, and that they couldn't think of any ways to exercise!!! DUH!!! I also thought the no-vote, lowest percentage sends one home was interesting. I guess if my team has to be split, I'd rather decide it with my partner, than have the rest of the teams decide it. I was sad to see either of the Yellow team go, but it makes sense to pick Jerry as his injuries were slowing him down.

Dancing With The Stars - Seriously! Cloris is still here. I'm sorry, I guess I just don't appreciate her humor, cause I find many of the moments on camera (such as the final 2 waiting to find out who would go home) painful and annoying vs. funny. I do think that Kim didn't do a great job and I was not a big fan/supporter of hers. I don't think she got my vote last night so I guess I'm part of why she went home. I thought she could have improved, but now we won't find out. Sad to see Mark go, he's a cutie!


****************************

A few random kid-ism's from the last few days:

While changing Blake's diaper, he points down and says "That's my pen!s". "Yes dear," I respond. His response, "I want 2 pen!ses!" HA HA!!! I think he just summed up what most men have been thinking their whole lives!!!

Trevor over the last 2 weeks, has been whinny each morning when he learns it's a school day. He fusses from wake up until I drop him at school and run out the door, leaving him crying (or nearly) and usually with a teacher holding him from clinging to me. Today, his friend Shayla told me after school that he stopped as soon as I left. So I asked Trevor about it in the car. He says, "I just cry to make you stay. I'm not really sad." GRRR.....kids!!!

I promise I'll try and have interesting life moments with the kids the next few days so I can have something besides TV to blog about. Oh wait, the playoffs start tomorrow.....nevermind!! No life for me, just CUBS!!!

SNL.....and Palin

SNL.... gawd, I haven't really watched this show since High School. You know, you get old and go to bed early, the show seems to lose that something it used to have. And somehow, in the last 15 years, I just haven't watched it much.

Lately, I've started checking the web to see what skits they've been doing, relating to the presidential race. I'm glad to see SNL is back in FINE format, and I love the work of Tina Fey.

This clip is just too perfect. Especially the part about using a "lifeline".....it's worth waiting til the end for that one!!!

DWTS Week 2

Yay, more dancing. But I have to say, the Rumba is not a dance I enjoy. For me, too much posing and posturing and not enough foot movement. I don't care how much their feet move, it's still boring. With that in mind, it's hard for me to judge tonight's dances, because the 6 couples that did the Rumba are kinda getting a rough deal in my head. Anyway...

I was quite impressed with Brooke & Derekand Warren & Kym (these football players keep doing SO well).

I thought Cloris & Corky and Susan & Tony did much better this week, each of those being relative statements. Cloris finally did more dancing than acting this week, which is what the show is all about. THANK YOU!

I thought Rocco & Karina, Kim & Mark, and Maurice and Cheryl deserved higher scores.

While I like Lance & Lacey being original, tonight's dance was NOT a Paso Doble, so their scores are appropriate.

I want to like Misty & Maks, but they need to connect to each other better....she's kinda un-engaged emotionally with him.

Yet, again I have to say I see Cloris & Corky deserving to go home. She did much more dancing than last week, especially dance #2, but it's still a contest of who is the best dancer, and she's just not going to win that. Sorry....

Amazing Race 13

Thank god it's back! I LOVE this show! I would so be on it if my kids weren't so young. Maybe in 10 years if they're still doing it!!

Last night's season premiere did not dissapoint. I was surprised to see only 1 married couple, and older at that. Usually there are a few married couples who've been together 5-ish years. I guess I should count the pair from Florida, Ken & Tina, who are separated, as married...but we'll see at the end of the season. I expect their relationship issues to affect their race performance, but last night proved me wrong. However, it's still early!

I was not at all surprised to see a token set of blondes on the show. I think the last few seasons have always had the pair of "more-concerned-with-our-looks-or-getting-guys" type gals, who also happen to be blonde, and this season is no different. I predict Marisa & Brooke, the "Southern Belles" will not make it very far....maybe 7th place at best.

Another team that came to my attention, but not necessarily for positive reasons, the 'Frat Guys'. They came to my attention due to one team member wearing a Delaware t-shirt. Great publicity for my home state - NOT!!! Dude, is he actually from Delaware? Ugh! I am not expecting much from these guys, except maybe some girl chasing of the southern belles.

My top 3 picks:

Toni & Dallas- Mom & Son - I think the fact that she's raised him alone will help them get farther than other mother/son teams. So far, they seem to have a positive respectful relationship which is definetly more than other parent/child teams in the past.

Nick & Starr - Brother & Sister - While the opening footage of them doing cheerleading moves together, leads Steve and I to question certain things, those things are not relevant to the winning of the race. They seem to have a close brother/sister relationship and also are quite athletic.

Kelly & Christy - Divorced Friends - I think there is a possible strength in these two females due to what they've dealt with personally in the last few years. I base my choice soley on the fact that you shouldn't mess with pissed-off women, so watch out for these two!!

I was sad to see Anita & Arthur go. I've seen some gerat older couples do quite well at this race over the past seasons, and I honestly thought they had a chance to be one of those. In fact, they were my #4 finisher pick. Oops, guess I'm not that good!!