Recapping our week on the blog! Dentist appointment, doctors, end of soccer season, and a birthday!

Monday October 24
Started off the morning with a smiley babe. I swear he hasn’t woken up in a bad mood in eight months! He’s the best. I headed to the dentist for a regular cleaning, it had been four years and I had zero cavities! I was so excited. I’ve never had the best teeth, and this was such great news to hear my home care is right on for once. Mailed out some happy mail, Hadleys birthday invitations! Hadley missed Friday and Monday of school this week, she had some white spots on her tongue that made me think she had strep but tested negative. Just a viral infection, and it went away on its own after a few good night’s sleep, the humidifier, Tylenol and a few cough drops. After the doctor’s office, we stopped at Frisch’s and got milkshakes for the drive home. She was super happy to have just her and I in the car, it’s a rare occasion these days. For dessert, I made this cherry thing that wasn’t that great. I always make Hadleys lunch the night before. On this day, I gave her random notes, and this one was to remind her to drink her water! And a night mask for the start of the week!

Tuesday October 25
Worked out in the morning after school drop off. After school pickup, we headed to our cousin’s house to drop off a small goodie bag for Kevins godson. We always switch up the places we do homework, today we read outside in the garage while we fed Huley his afternoon snack. Somedays he is so good at holding his sippy cup!

Wednesday October 26
Another morning workout! After school, helped stuff the goodies for Hadleys class treats for Halloween. All the siblings love to hold little Huxley. Went home to knock out some homework, and then back to school for her end of the season soccer party! Due to the rainy weather, they played dodgeball in the gym, had pizza, and just hung out!

Thursday October 27
Lately, I’ve been trying so hard to get in workouts that are 20 minutes or so. It’s a little hard when Huxley is awake, and when he’s sleeping, I try to get other stuff done. Hadley was a rockstar making up her schoolwork while she was out sick, it amazes me how much they really get at this age. And Huxley using big sister’s princess bath towels because you know #secondkid. I’ve been on a roll with the nighttime skincare routine, lots and lots of face masks!

Friday October 28

Kevin and I both volunteered at Hadleys school for their yearly walkathon! It was fun to be there with her and help out at the school. It was a tad chilly, but lots of fun! After school, Hadley just loves to hold Huxley on her lap. He will sit still for about five seconds and then he wants down. Blew some more leaves in the backyard, which has become a weekly thing with all the trees we have back there. Kroger Boost is seriously the best thing ever.

Saturday October 29
Busy Saturday for us. Hadley subbed for the other indoor team, since her team didn’t have enough to play. Went home, chilled for a little bit and then went back out after Huxleys nap to cheer on the other outdoor soccer team. They were in the championship tournament and headed to state! Hadley convinced me to get Cancun (white cheese) for take-out. Facetimed Kevin at the firehouse on his birthday, I think Huxley somehow managed to screenshot his face, and then bed. It was a long day.

Sunday October 30
It had been three days or so since I had worked out and I could feel it, just felt like poo after not doing anything. Even if it’s a short workout, I still feel way better than doing nothing. This morning I woke up before the kids and did an intense 20-minute workout and was sweating. Some mornings, Hadley likes to climb into Huxleys bed and play with him, he just loves it. Right before Huxleys afternoon nap, Hadley went with her friend to watch the other school soccer team win the championships! It’s so exciting for her grade. Later in the afternoon, we celebrated Kevin’s birthday. It was sort of last minute, but we had my parents and brother and family over. Hadley and I had decorated in the morning, not knowing anyone was coming over, because I always feel that birthdays should be celebrated! We were going to celebrate just us four, even if no one came over. It was fun, Hadley loved making her dad random signs, hanging up banners, and wrapping his gift.

Happy Monday everyone, have a great week! And Happy Halloween to those that celebrate it, be careful out there!

Starting November 1st, I’m going to be doing thirty days of thanks! I have done something similar a few years back but wanted to bring it back this year because it was a lot of fun. And it gets you thinking every day of the small things. Every day for the month of November, I’m going to be posting a photo with text on something I am thankful for that day. It can be something super simple and small, or something bigger. Whatever is meaningful and works for you. Just something to get my mind off of the mundane everyday things, and why not?!?!

Follow along on my Instagram account which can be found here!

Last weekend for our small last minute football party, I decided to bake a pie and mark it off our Fall Bucket List! It was the first time I had ever baked a pie in my life! I was a little intimidated, having so many excellent pie bakers in my family. Both my side and Kevins side has some excellent pie bakers, and they are both named Aunt Lori! After a totally random search on Pinterest, I found a recipe and just thought, let’s try it! Had no idea if it would work or not, but I did it. I baked a friggin pie.

The first thing I would highly suggest you do; is read the recipe you are following pretty closely. Because I did not! I bought five pounds of gala apples, and the recipe suggested buying a variety of different kinds of apples to give it more of a better taste. Like apple crisp, granny smith, etc. Oh well, you live and learn right?!?!

Peeling the apples took the most time, and when you are not an avid apple peeler it took a little bit longer than most people I’d imagine. And try throwing in an eight-month-old baby that crawls like crazy, and your firefighter husband is sleeping from his shift before, so I had to dodge the baby trying to pick up the apple slices that fell on the floor because I was trying to peel these apples like a speed demon to get it done! Whew. Anyways, I digress.

After you peel the gazillion apples, you have to chop them! You better have some good sharp knives for this process, or it’ll take some time. After the first two apples, I had the chopping down.

Tossed all the peeled and chopped apples into a large pan.

You make this really yummy mixture and cook it on the stovetop. Oh my goodness, you could seriously do this part as potpourri for your house. Our place smelled glorious!

Next was the hardest part for me. You take your pie crust and spread it over your pie plate. If you are like me and inpatient as hell and don’t read directions then take it from me, read the directions! On the pie crust box, it says to let the pie crust get to room temperature because if you don’t, it’s really hard to roll out the crust on the pie plate. I’m glad I bought like three boxes of pie crust, because I just had a feeling, I would mess it up. Luckily, I only ripped one of the pie crusts!

Then you pour the yummy, cooked apple mixture into the pie plate.

I failed to take a picture of this next part, but you’ll want to flour your cutting board or countertop area and roll out the pie crust you’ll be using for the top layer. I decided to do a lattice top, and it wasn’t too hard. I didn’t measure or anything, I just took my pizza cutter and cut long shapes that were longer than the pie itself so it would fit across.

Here is the lattice covered pie, and I tucked in the sides as best I could. Photos on the internet make it look super easy to get your crust super smooth. I’m not there yet but was happy with how it ended up looking. Once you get your pie top the way you want, you’ll make the egg mixture to coat the top before throwing it in the oven.

After you coat the top layer with the egg mixture, you’ll sprinkle straight up sugar on top. How much or as little as you’d like.

If you follow the recipe I did, you’ll understand this part a little more. After the pie cooks for 15 minutes or so, you’ll take it out and put a crust cover on top to protect the crust from burning. You can google or look on Pinterest how to make your own out of foil like I did.

This is how the pie looks with the crust cover on, you’ll crinkle all the sides down, so it stays covered in the oven. I didn’t really understand this part until after the pie came out of the oven. It really does help protect the crust from burning!

The finished product! As you can see on the top part of the pie, the filling cooked out a little bit over the crust, but it still came out okay! I was so shocked! I was like oh my goodness, I just baked a pie. I’m a big girl now haha! I’m anxious to try another apple pie with the different varieties of apples, or a different kind of pie. Everyone seemed to love the pie, I even tried it, and it was really good. It was fun, and I’m glad I tried it!

The recipe I used is from The Food Charlatan. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly, except for the varieties of apples!

Have you baked a pie before? How did it turn out?

Thanks for reading!

Recapping our week on the blog! Sick kiddo, soccer tournament, doctor, anniversary, and a bonfire!

Monday October 17
Most mornings on the way to school, we listen to the KidNuz Podcast. It’s a short six-minute podcast that says current news for kids to understand. It’s pretty cool, and they have a short quiz after each one to see if the kids pay attention. We can usually listen to almost an entire one before Hadley gets out of the car. We are spoiled with such a short drive to school!

I absolutely hate waking Huxley up from his naps, but some days I have to in order to pick up Hadley from school. He pretty much sleeps like clockwork now that he’s used to the schedule. Like I’ve mentioned before, I try to feed Huxley his baby food in different spots at home to get him used to eating in different environments. Hadley is such a great helper with him!

Tuesday October 18
We have lots of red and black tumblers in our house. Before Hadleys first game of her soccer tournament, we had an early dinner and I had to take a photo of her eating a taco. She wasn’t the biggest fan, but she said it was okay. At the tournament game, it was in the lower forties, so it was freezing! Huxley doesn’t love to be covered up, so he wasn’t the happiest camper, but he did good. They won! All the girls were so excited. Before bed, I’ve been doing different face masks each night. This night was under the eye masks.

Wednesday October 19
Wednesday was the busiest day of the week! Kevin and Huxley snuggling together before I left for my doctor’s appointment. Kevin filled in for me for lunch duty at Hadleys school. All her friends loved having Huxley there! Any time I bring out the vacuum, Huxley goes straight for it. He loves that thing! Treated myself to a Starbucks on the way home. For our ninth wedding anniversary, Kevin sort of surprised me with going out for just a short time to get out of the house just the two of us. We literally went down the street, but it was nice to be together without any interruptions. It’s been way too long since we’ve been able to do a date night! And when you go out on a school night per say, you pass out on the couch snoring. God love him.

Thursday October 20
Worked out in the morning. Sometimes I post them on here, and sometimes I don’t. I try to post a daily photo on Instagram, I do it for myself to hold myself accountable. It helps me! We needed diapers, so we made a trip to Sams Club. After school, Hadley didn’t feel the greatest, so we let her chill on the couch with her frosty from Wendy’s. Kevin made the first fire of the season, Huxley was mesmerized!

Friday October 21
Hadley woke up with a mild fever, so we kept her home from school. She pretty much chilled on the couch all day. Kevin chopped some wood since we love to do fires in the winter so much. When Huxley is in the family room, we call it his giant playpen because he always tries to get up on the step into the kitchen and can’t just yet. I know it’s coming soon! Kevin washed both of our cars; the weather was so nice. Huxley tried the lovely puffs for the first time and was a fan. Kroger boost is just the best. We still had movie night, despite Hadley feeling a little icky. She seemed to feel better as the day went on, she went outside for a little bit to get some fresh air.

Saturday October 22
Hadley had her second soccer tournament game, they tied 1-1 and then went into sudden death where you play until the first team scores and no goalies. They lost. It was a tough loss, but so proud of them to see them go as far as they did. Hadley didn’t play her best with not feeling 100% still. Later on, we went to one of Kevins friends bonfires he has every year. I usually leave places early with Huxley, or Kevin will, sometimes we switch off and on depending on what we’re doing. I dropped Natalie off at a haunted house with her friends, then Huxley and I headed home so he could go to bed. Hadley stayed with Kevin and Brady to see the bonfire for a little bit at least.

Sunday October 23
With Kevin working, I had to take the kids with me to a mandatory parent meeting for Hadleys first reconciliation. Pointless meeting if you ask me. Not sure why it was mandatory, was a waste of my time. Hadley still wasn’t feeling 100%, so she took it easy off and on all weekend. After the bonfire, she sounded so hoarse with her throat. Lots of chilling on the couch, fresh air breaks, and popsicles.

Happy Monday everyone, have a great week!