10 on Tuesday

1. Had a hard night with Benj who is either teething or getting an ear infection or both...at 5:30 I had reached the end of my patience so turned him over to Dave (who loves to get up early anyway) and crawled back in bed for a precious few hours before the kids needed to be fed. When I got up at 7:45 Dave had fed the kids, packed their lunches, gotten them all dressed and they were all cleaning the house together, sweeping & vacuuming. What a wonderful husband I have!!

2. With my double jogger now fixed I really have no excuses to not jog every week. Today is Dave's day off so we went on a great jog through the neighborhood. He didn't even complain at the snails pace I kept, and pushed the kids happily, encouraging me to make it up the hill. We had a little downpour when we were out and it was so refreshing.

3. Ben took a good morning & afternoon nap today (because he was up all night) so instead of cleaning bathrooms I caught up on my Martha Stewart episodes (the one thing I tivo just for me).

4. Martha gave me a GREAT idea for our halloween dinner (which the kids look forward to every year. Last year it was spiderweb soup & the year before Monster burgers.

5. My mom came to visit today on her way home from costco. -I love living close to her. Gone are the daysof talking once or twice a week and missing her terribly. Now I can show her my great idea from Martha right on my very own tv.

6. David has been struggling with wanting to do his homework. Today we had a big "discussion" about how being free does not mean you can do your homework sloppily on the bus and mom won't get mad.

7. We're still the neighborhood fun house, being new and having a trampoline-I am sure the novelty will wear off but I do enjoy listening to the kids playing happily from the basement toy room or outside.

8. Dave is at a meeting tonight which means easy dinners...I love that my only choice for drive through food is no longer Burger King & McDonalds (as it was for 3 years in Germany). What did my kids choose??? Burger King (I was voting for Panda Express our Taco bell, but David learned about democracy at school today and wanted to vote...tomorrow he's going to learn about monarchys)

9. Early showers & beds since Dad is gone and we're going to have company Wednesday night & Thursday night. Bella is SO looking forward to Gabby & Hyrum staying over.

10. CARAMEL APPLE CAKE-A MUST TRY! (See last week's Indian Summer post)

2 c sugar 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c oil 2 t vanilla
3 eggs 3 c baking apples, peeled, pared, cored and diced
3 c flour lemon juice
2 t. cinnamon 1 c. walnuts, chopped (or hacked ha ha)
1 t. baking soda
Mix sugar and oil. Add eggs one at a time beating well with each addition. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Add to egg mixture, gradually, beating constantly. Add vanilla and combine thoroughly. Sprinkle apples with lemon juice and add to batter with walnuts. Batter will be very thick. Spoon into greased and floured Bundt or tube pan. Bake at 325 for 75-80 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes and then invert onto serving platter.

Caramel Glaze:

3 T butter 3 T brown sugar 2 T milk 1/2 t vanilla
In small saucepan melt butter. Add brown sugar, milk and vanilla. Bring to rolling boil and boil rapidly for 2 minutes. Cool slightly and spoon over cooled cake allowing glaze to run down sides.


Enjoy...take to sister as a thank you...do not tell brother-in-law that you brought cake to sister so he won't know what a delicious treat he didn't get to share.