This was breakfast on Sunday morning. It was cold out and I wanted something fall-ish and yummy to go along with the coffee that was brewing. Coffee in the morning is rare in our house but it was decaf so no need to worry; I wasn’t bouncing off of the walls all day with a caffeine high :-) I did a quick search and found a recipe for apple muffins but it wasn’t quite what I wanted… so I played with it and let’s say I was happy with the results! Since I am not one to hoard recipes, here it is in all of it’s glory (with my changes). I suggest that you make some at your earliest convenience; your tummy/ hubby/ 9 month old (yes Jay got to eat some too) or whomever you care to share with will thank you.
Apple Muffins- the original recipe made 18-24 but since I think muffins are better warm from the oven, I halved everything. The recipe below will make 12
Cream together:
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup of oil (I used vegetable)
1/2 tbsp Vanilla
Sift: (I am occasionally lazy, especially in the morning, so I didn’t sift and they still turned out well)
3/4 cup wheat flour- you could use all white flour but I have been trying to incorporate whole grains into all of my baking lately
3/4 cup white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon – I used apple pie spice which is a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice but you can use plain ground cinnamon
1 medium sized Granny Smith apple, diced (I like tart apples for baking)- about 1 1/2 cups
Brown Sugar for topping- about 1/4 of a cup
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. The batter will be very, very thick- think cookie dough consistency. Add the diced apples. Mix until well combined.
Spray or line a muffin tin. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 (or more if you like larger muffins) of the way full. Sprinkle with brown sugar. I put walnuts on a few of our which was good but not great- it’s a take it or leave it thing in my opinion- doesn’t taste bad but doesn’t add anything to the muffins either.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes (mine took almost the full 25 minutes and our oven usually bakes faster). Take out of the oven and enjoy the warm-apply-fallish-goodness!
Since we stayed up late to snuggle in for a movie, since our little guy woke us us at 4:50am and then again at 7am, and since my eye lids are heavy and I’m having a hard time focusing you will be getting a view of our weekend in short (possibly fragmented) sentences and pictures. Enjoy- there are a lot of pictures; it was a long weekend for us…
we had lunch with this guythese guys were there for lunch too (and Grandma and Aunt Nancy who aren't pictured)we knocked down towers made by this guywe hung out in the hammockwe had a bunch of wagon rideswe got some great veggies from the farmers marketwe got to wear hoodies because the weather was chillywe worked in the gardenand we spotted this little beauty! (it's a squash in case you didn't know)we had a serious case of bed-head after our napwe were super cuddly after our nap- Mama didn't mind one bit!we were also super silly and smily after our napwe got to check out the birds on the lake after lunchwe got to play with HDH cups while sitting on the tableMama attended a beautiful baby shower while the guys watched footballhosted by this cute one ^ for this adorable Mama to be ^we made some yummy muffins with the help of this guy- recipe to come soonwe wore pants that were too big and thought it was funny when they were pulled up to our armpitswe played with Dolce, string and baskets...
We had dinner at the Knights and took each other’s Holiday photos. I would show you- they are too cute- but I am a little traditional about the photos and think you may have to wait until the card comes in the mail to see it. I will tell you one thing though, I LOVE them, that’s for sure!
we played with the kitties some morewe drank juice from a cup- with a huge amount of assistance and only for a short while
We hung out around the house on Monday
Had lunch with Grandpa again- lucky ducks are we to have lunch twice within four days
And Jamie and I celebrated out 5th year of knowing each other. That’s one whole hand’s worth of time!!
All in all it was a great weekend. Hope yours was too!
A few months ago (yes I started early) I was trying to figure out what Jay should be for Halloween when I stumbled across a Blue Bird pattern. That was all I needed for the search to be over, what could be more perfect a Blue Jay costume for my little Jay Bird- um… I am pretty sure nothing is! I worked on his costume a little each night last week (I looked early for the idea but I am really sort of a procrastinator) and am thrilled with how it turned out! The pattern was not really good at all, thanks Martha Stewart for nothing, but Jamie and I were able to put our heads together and come up with the finished product- if you want to know how we did it feel free to ask but I won’t bore everyone else with the details.
It was a great first Halloween for all of us which included a wagon (nest) ride to visit Jamie’s family and deliver some yummy treats, a visit with Grandma and a few dozen or so photos to document the event…
Daddy pulling our nest and little Jay Bird
Jay Bird and the bird watchers
bird watchers and their cute find- nice job Mimi on the pictureJay in his nest (Jamie and I had fun nesting this morning)"ohohoh" making his owl noise- wrong bird but...Daddy looking for rare red crested Jay Birdswatching the airplanes go by in the front yard
I have been toying with the idea of setting up a photo booth in our house for quite some time- just for fun and for something different. It still needs a bunch of work (not all of the kinks are out yet) but I did take a few shots with it this afternoon before going on tour with Jay Bird…
I have had a few photo shoots recently that I have scheduled during the day while Jamie is working (it’s a great way to still keep our weekends free and get to work). So what have I done? I have brought with me the absolutely cutest little helper out there. I mean really you can’t higher anyone this adorable!
keeping track of the equipment for me
I know he doesn't match, don't judge, at least the sun is off his pretty little "working" head.
By the way, he really is the best little boy when we are out shooting. He usually just sits there watching me shoot; once he even crawled between my legs and poked his head out at the little girl I was photographing… melt my heart kiddo, seriously!
I blinked and month 9 happened upon us! Seriously month 8 flew by; maybe because I spent the majority of the month trying to keep up with this cutie patootie!
Stats:
Length- 28 inches- 50%(an extra inch longer than last month)
Weight- 17lbs 6oz- 10% the Doctor said that it was normal for some kiddos to go down in weight at this age and not to worry at all about it. My guess is that he was lucky enough to have inherited his Daddy’s genes- the skinny kind.
Head- 45cm- 50% Not that this is real important but I have the info so I will share it.
Teeth- 6 although he is trying really, really hard to get his other bottom two to pop through
Hair- Red and Curly- the longer it gets the more curls he grows out the back, it’s sweet- so sweet
Things of Note:
*I know I said Jay was fast last month but seriously this kid can move! He has gotten to be one fast crawler. He can get anywhere he wants and quickly now- I am pretty sure watching him play in the family room resembles somewhat of a time lapse video sped way up.
*We are pulling up on everything we can get our hands on right now- tables, couches, cribs, dogs, trash cans (eww- his is currently sitting up in his wagon right now so he can’t get to it), toilets (yuck- but they do make really great drums with the lids down), etc. He cruises a little bit, taking a few steps at a time but hasn’t gotten too adventurous yet.
*We are deliberately waving now. He will wave right at you after being told to “Wave Bye” or “Wave Hi”. He also waves randomly- maybe he’s hinting that he is done with whatever the task at hand is or doing it just because- I am not sure. He is still clapping but the wave is his only prompted trick to date, we are working on others…
Likes:
*Kitty and Puppy Food Dishes- He will make a mad dash for these every time he is in the kitchen and thinks he can get away with it. I mean they are really fun- especially the kitty ones that shower you with all kinds of little “prizes” when you dump them over (Piper’s are always empty when he gets to them).
*Shoelaces, Ribbons, Strings, Cords- actually anything long and skinny- frequently he drags our shoes around the house by the laces or will stand at the coffee table with them dangling at his feet. This is all well and good, except for when he gets excited and is holding a string/ribbon/etc since he effectively turns himself into a crawling kitty toy.
*Humming and “talking” while his ears are underwater- he loves the sound and we think it’s pretty funny too
*Watering the Garden with Daddy- flaps his arms up and down in excitement (true Jay Bird style) when his Daddy gets home and takes him outside. I mean what could be better- hanging out with Dad, being outside or um… both?
*Our new carseat- we sit higher, we can see out the window more- enough said. Seriously, we have one curious, curious little boy on our hands.
*Mama’s Singing and Dancing- he will stop just about anything that he is doing and smile when I start singing. I think it’s because he loves the sound of my voice; you can choose to think otherwise just don’t tell me! He also thinks it is absolutely hilarious when I dance- seriously he would have fallen out of the highchair multiple times already from laughing if he wasn’t buckled in. Both of these things make the lunch and dinner hours much, much more fun.
*Feeding himself- Jay really enjoys feeding himself right now which is fun and new but can be rather messy. Especially when he grabs the spoon from my hand (he has quite the death grip folks) and bangs it on the tray over and over again. This is usually the point during his feeding that I give up and let him have the spoon until he is done playing drummer boy and we can resume eating. The Doctor gave us the go ahead today to try anything that we wanted with Jay food wise (aside from things that would be choking hazards, Nuts or Nut Products, Shellfish and Egg Whites). He basically said that we could look at our plates, ask ourselves what Jay couldn’t have and let him try anything else that was on it. Yahoo- let the taste testing begin!!
Dislikes:
?? Again I am not really sure what to put here although he is starting to dislike when we take things away from him that he shouldn’t have. I have started using the word “No” much more frequently now- this is going to be an uphill battle I am sure!
I wish, I wish, I wish you all could hear his laugh during these pictures- it just gets me!helping Daddy put the blocks away after the shoot
and two from the Doctor’s appointment today…
Daddy helping to entertain Jay while waiting for the Doctor
On Tuesday when Grandpa was over having lunch with us I thought it would be funny to see Jay’s face when he tasted a dill pickle. So after he finished his lunch I handed Jamie the rest of my pickle to give to him. Much to our surprise Jay loved the pickle and didn’t make any silly, squishy faces while eating it! So yesterday I gave him another after he was finished eating and he gobbled it up again. Guess I will have to put in his baby book that his first real table food was a pickle… Enjoy the pictures, I think they are too funny!
If you thought Saturday looked like fun you should be jealous of our Sunday. To top off our weekend, Jamie, Jay and I spent the majority of our day at Mimi and Pepere’s house hanging out with Aunt Nicole, doing a little bit of swinging, watching Jeremiah cook and filling our bellies with the most delicious food! Did I mention that Jeremiah is a chef? Well he is and he’s a darn good one; I think all of us could have been rolled straight from the table to bed that night! It was such a wonderful (food coma inducing) day filled with family and laughter, and seriously, nothing tops that!
Yesterday, after going through the half gazillion pictures I took (a lot of which were food pictures- btw, I am more of a people-picture-taker than a food photographer but it was fun to try something new) I played around with aperture for a while. Enjoy a storyboard of sorts from our Sunday…
the perreault family 