Tradition- With a Twist

For the past 4 or 5 years Ben and I have gone to the Chatfield corn maze. This year, for the first time, we took the girls on the entire corn maze. Last year we took them to the little kid maze, but this time we went to the big maze. As usual, we had a great time, and of course- I have the pictures to prove it!

Audra and Claire kept going up to the corn and saying, "yum, yum, yum!" and pretending to eat it. Audra said, "don't worry, mom. We're just pretending."

 In a corn maze, I have learned to let Ben lead while I follow. Why? Because the entire time we were in the maze he made one wrong turn, and we only walked for about 4 yards and then he realized his mistake and we turned around.

 Claire does not look too happy, but she is. She actually did really great, but about 2/3 of the way through she said "I want carry me" (that's how she always asks to be carried). I told her I wouldn't carry her, so she walked for another 12 minutes, then went to Ben and asked him. He complied- what a nice dad.

 

 Can you find Claire? She quickly decided that hiding in the corn was more fun than simply following us on the path, and soon all we could hear was, "I'm hiding in the corn!" It did get annoying after awhile, but it was pretty cute as well.

When I was a teenager I used to dream of going in a life-size maze. I love this little tradition of ours, and I love that we get to start the kids on this tradition as well.

Baked Pancake

Does this not look melt-in-your-mouth-this-is-better-than-anything good? Well, it tastes better than it looks, so I thought I should share the recipe (plus, it is on a piece of magazine paper that I am sure will get lost, so this way I will always have the recipe). It is basically fried apples in a German Pancake, and it was good enough for Claire to have TWO helpings, and both Ben and I to have THREE. Audra was skeptical, but once she tasted it she did eat her helping as well. But, no seconds for her. Sigh.

Big Apple Pancake
Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 15 minutes
Serves: 2 (this is actually accurate- I doubled the recipe and made two of these, and we ate 1-1/2 with two adults and 2 small kids)

2 T butter
1 large sweet apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch wedges (I didn't peel them and it was fine- gala or golden delicious apples work great)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
3 T sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
Powdered Sugar

1. Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 450 F.
2. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat, then transfer 1 T to a blender. Add apple wedges to skillet and cook, turning once, until they start to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Arrange wedges around edge.
3. Meanwhile, mix milk, flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt with butter in blender until batter is smooth. Pour over apples and transfer skillet to oven. Bake for 15 minutes, or until pancake is puffed and golden. Dust with powdered sugar and serve immediately.

Optional Toppings:
nuts, yogurt, syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon

YUM!

"Well, That Was Fun."

Yesterday we had a crazy day.

Ben and I went to a matinee showing of Les Mis. Of course, how can that not be wonderful? We took the light rail downtown and had a great time. They changed the show a little bit for those of you who have seen it before. They no longer have the rotating stage. Instead, they took some of Victor Hugo's paintings and used those to create a new stage setting. It was pretty neat, but I did like the rotating stage, too.  I guess either way you can't go wrong.

Then we rushed home to go on our first family camping experience. This is something we were not looking forward to. In fact, yesterday morning Ben told me he and Claire would just stay home. I told him he at least had to go up at night to help me set up the tent and come back on Saturday to help take it down, but if he wanted to go home to sleep he could. After all, if Claire was at home sleeping than I knew we would all get a better  night's sleep. Audra had been begging to go camping for sometime and experience this crazy thing known as sleeping in a tent, though, so there was no backing out for me.

In the end, he and Claire ended up staying. We brought a playpen thinking Claire might sleep in that because she did when we went to Leavenworth in August. Last night, though, she refused. She finally fell asleep (around 11) half in my sleeping bag and half out. Audra fell asleep slightly before that. It took her awhile, though, because she "couldn't close her eyes" and she "wanted mommy to help her." That did pose an interesting problem.

It was a church camping trip, so there were LOTS of little kids for the girls to play with, and there really was no way for the girls to get into too much trouble which was impressive and nice. In the morning the men from church made us breakfast which was nice. Then we hung out while the kids ran around, and then Ben and I played some volleyball, which was a lot of fun. We may need to play some more volleyball.

On the way home, Ben said "Well, that was fun!" and I looked at him- shocked- and said "Can you say that again?" Ben is not known for his wild camping adventures, because he has none. He refused to say it once more, but I am now recording it for posterity's sake.

Here is what we decided:
Camping is fun for ONE night ONCE a year. That's it. I don't think we want to do it anymore than that.

We asked Audra is she liked it and she said it was a lot of fun and that her favorite part was "setting up the tent." I found that a little funny since she didn't help with setting up the tent, but the girls really did think the tent was great (last night Audra kept crying and saying that she never wanted to go home and wanted to live in the tent forever. Ughhh....NOT going to happen, sweetheart!)

We then asked Claire if she had fun and she immediately replied "nope." Can't please everyone, I guess.

 This is the part I hate most of camping: Unpacking! It just takes SO MUCH work to camp- which is why once a year is about all I want to do!



You're Beautiful

THIS article is being circulated on Facebook, and like most things, I have a different perspective on this.

The basic gist of the article is to emphasize to girls how smart they are, and not how pretty they are. Because I have girls, this discussion is important to me.

I do not necessarily disagree with this article- I think it is important to say how smart girls are, and I try to do that with both of mine. But, I also think they need to know they are beautiful. Allow me to explain before you jump all over me.

Every girl and woman wants to feel beautiful. How many of us swoon over James Blunts "You're Beautiful" song and secretly wish he had written that song about us? How many of us love hearing from our spouses or significant other that we are the most beautiful girl in the world? We all do. If we didn't want to feel and be beautiful, we wouldn't spend all the money we do on make-up, hair coloring, and clothes.

This is not to say we don't also want to be smart. Of course we want to be valued for our brains as well. I don't think one has to diminish the other. But, how many of us long to hear, "Well, at least you have brains." Of course not- we want to be smart AND pretty.

In the article the writer asserts that by telling girls they are pretty we will have them dieting at age 5 and having a boob job at age 17. I completely disagree with this. Girls don't get boob jobs because they think they are TOO pretty- they get them because they don't think they are pretty enough.

Every girl/woman should feel beautiful just the way they are- with their beautiful freckles, their little extra weight, their acne, or whatever.

But society tells all of us that we are not good enough. That we have to be a size 2 to be beautiful. That if our hair color isn't just right we can't be loved. That if our bra size isn't a 32DDD we aren't worth anything. We are bombarded with an onslought of what we SHOULD look like constantly.

And so are our little girls.

So if we don't tell them they are the most beautiful things in the world, who will? Nobody.

No, wait. When they turn 13 they will meet a 16 year old boy who just wants to get laid (there are plenty of teenage boys who do NOT think like this, but unfortunately there are some who do) who will tell them they are pretty- and since nobody ever told them they were pretty, just that they were smart, they will do whatever he asks to FEEL pretty. Why? Because all girls have a desire to be pretty.

Personally, I want my daughters to feel pretty from me and their daddy. Studies show a direct link between fathers opinion of their daughters and their teenage daughters self-esteem. I want my daughters to KNOW they are our princesses and they are beautiful and they are smart- and I want them to know it from those who love them and truly want what is best for them, not from some guy who just wants to use her. If they know who they are and have a strong self confidence about their looks as well as their brains, then I think they will be less prone to peer pressure, less prone to seeking for compliments of the world, and less likely to get a boob job at 17.

That Time Of Year

It seems like all the little 4-year-olds started preschool today, and Audra is no exception. We took the standard pose, which seems to always be at the front door. Why is this? I don't know, but I figured that is where we had better take her "first day of school" picture because that is where everybody else took theirs.

Anyway, I was already to cry, but Audra would have none of it. In fact, she ran into the teacher's house without so much as a backwards glance, good-bye, or hug.

Some of you may remember that I wasn't ready to let Audra go to preschool last year. It just didn't feel right- we didn't feel ready. This year, I feel completely different. She is ready, and I am ready. I am so excited for her to begin this stage of her life (well, alright, I am a little sad, but not as much as I could be). She is anxious for school, to make new friends, to be a big girl. I am glad we waited to put her in, but now the time is right for her to begin her independence!

A First

Tonight for date night we really mixed things up. We went on a double date to do something I had never done before: Play golf. Real golf. No windmills golf.

Admittedly, I was very skeptical. It has always seemed so BORING. And, it's not really a sport.  A skill, yes, but not a sport. And certainly not a skill that I would be good with. But the couple we went with insisted it would be fun so we decided to give it a go.

Let me tell you guys something that I never thought I would say: I LOVE golf. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!! And, I'm just going to say it, I wasn't that bad. I was actually pretty good. I scored par on two holes- and we only played 9 holes so I think that was pretty good.

Granted, this course was a perfect one for people who have never played golf before. It is only 9 holes, and the longest fairway is about 100 yards- so not too far. The cost is only 8 bucks a person, so it is an incredibly affordable hobby on this course. Plus, you can borrow their clubs for free! The weather was perfect and the company was great. It was really, really, awesome. I can't wait to go play golf again!!!

A Glimpse

Many of you commented on that adorable picture of the girls- my favorite picture of all time. It is from a family photo shoot we did while in Seattle.  Here are a couple more great ones (I only have a few on electronic form until I get our pictures in the mail and then I will try to post more). I think they turned out great!