Fall Break Fun....

Kelsey and I made a much needed trip to see the grand kids over fall break. We had to leave Caleb behind in Norman to begin his new job, yeah for Caleb! But, we sure missed him tagging along with us. The boys looked liked they had grown soooo much since we had last seen them!
Just look at those sweet faces!!! Jamie had been saving gallon milk cartons for a Halloween decoration, so soon after we got there--out came the markers. Jamie, Kelsey, and Grayson showed off their drawing talents!

We laughed so hard watching Grayson draw a face on the carton, he was having a blast!

The idea is to draw Halloween faces, cut a small opening in the back to insert tiny stringed lights inside and then put them outside in the yard or on the porch.

Grayson is really concentrating, trying not to giggle.

I was very impressed with Kelsey's faces, she really got creative.

And, she did a GREAT job!

I forgot to get a picture of them on the front porch all lit up! I'll have to beg one from Jamie. I'll post pics of our cookie house soon. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Apple Dumplings Supreme

By request, I'm adding the recipe for Apple Dumplings. I got the recipe out of a Quilter's Recipe Book I have had for years. Along with my favorite cookie recipe book, it's one of my all time faves. The recipes all call for common ingredients you most likely would have on hand in your kitchen, and the recipes always turn out yummy!

Apple Dumplings Supreme

Pastry:

2 1/4 cups sifted flour

3/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup shortening

5 T cold water

(I cheated, I used refrigerated pre-made dough)

Apples:

6 medium tart apples

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 T butter

Syrup:

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

4 T water

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1. To prepare pastry sift together flour and salt. Cut in shortening. Add cold water and form into a ball. Roll dough out into large rectangle and cut into 6 equal squares.

2. Peel and core apples. Place whole apple in center of each square.

3. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and fill cavity of each apple with this mixture.

4. With water moisten 4 points of each pastry square and bring opposite points up over apple, overlapping them. Seal well. Arrange about 2 inches apart in 9" X 13" baking pan.

5. To prepare syrup combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Pour hot syrup over apples.

6. Bake at 425* for 40-45 minutes.

ENJOY!!!

Anniversary Adventure

I can't believe its been so long since I've checked in here. I guess school is keeping me as busy as I thought it was!!! I'll try to be better about updating, but no promises!

We decided to take a short day trip Saturday for out 12th anniversary. We didn't really have any set plans, just wanted to get outside and enjoy the nice weather. We began with lunch at Hideaway. It's always so yummy. And.....we ran into our neighbors there, that was a nice surprise. After lunch we decided to check out the Livesay Orchards in Porter. I've been there before on field trips with the elementary kids, but Roger had never been. I've always been during apple picking time, usually in September--but was curious to see their pumpkin patch. I was also hoping to see some fall colors, but all of the trees looked just like the ones in my front yard.....not pretty, just dying and brown. They did have a lot of pumpkins around for photo opportunities and it was fun to see the little kids get excited about picking out just the right pumpkin to take home. We decided not to go to the pumpkin patch since you could only get there by paying for the wagon ride to take you there! We settled on some tiny pumpkins for decoration:

...and some apples for making apple butter! I'll let you know how that project goes!!!

They had some cute activities for the young kids and a hay maze to explore, we opted out. Who knew a trip to the orchard would go so quickly for 2 adults, and no children to join in the festivities. It was kind of a strange feeling, like something was missing...

As we were leaving we spotted the pumpkin patch down the road a bit. Roger stopped so I could take a couple of pictures. He didn't think it was even the "real" patch. It looked liked someone had gone along and tossed pumpkins out the back of the truck!!

We made it back home to watch the OU game and enjoy our Sonic ice cream! A fun and relaxing day was had by all!!!