When I had gone to the kitchen to get the girls their milk, both Lilli & Corinne were on opposite sides of the couch watching their morning movie, and Eleanor was playing on her floor mat. This is how I found them when I returned:

Lilli has a habit of moving Eleanor to where “she is more comfy, mommy!” Thankfully, and amazingly, my five and a half year old knows how to carefully handle Eleanor..as if she herself were a little momma.  She even has insisted that she learn how to change a diaper. If Eleanor weren’t so squirmy when getting her diaper changed, I bet Lilli would have that down…and cloth diapers aren’t the easiest thing to change in comparison to disposables, anyway!

I thank God that I am able to teach my girls how to be keepers of their home & family.

My dear hubby is a HUGE peanut butter fan and I am a GINORMOUS chocolate fan. Put the two together and you have irresistible Peanut Butter Blossoms!

Lilli and I made these ever so delicious cookies today and her favorite part of course, was licking the bowl…literally.

In the words from Sally McDodd from Horton Hears a Who: “That’s one of my girls!”

Another holiday past, another “How To Combat” moment. I’ll just dive right in, ’cause it’s a good one!

Lilli: I had some trouble with [relative].

Me: Really? What happened?

Lilli: I told [relative] that she was beautiful, but you were more beautiful than she was

Me (closing my eyes only imagining how this was going to turn out): Oh, well thank you for thinking I’m beautiful, but that probably hurt [relative's] feelings…don’t you think?

Lilli: I don’t know.

Me: Well think of it like this. What if I told you that you were beautiful, but Corinne was more beautiful…how would that make you feel?

Lilli (eyes big): That would make my feelings sad.

Me: Yea…sometimes it’s hard to remember, but we always should think about other people’s feelings. What did [relative] say when you told her that?

Lilli: She said, “Well, I think your mom is fat.”

Me (really, really…really trying to control a laugh…I thought I might have slipped back to elementary school…lol): Well, Lil, not everyone shares our beliefs about treating others nicely.

Words cannot express how thankful I am for the life God has given me, so I’ll let the pictures below do the talking (Even though there’s so much I want to share…but I promised Michael that I wouldn’t blog about a specific one until he gave me the “okay.” Be sure to check back for the most exciting news ever!)

These were from last night during our “Clarke Girls Dance Party” …this time, even Poppa joined in!

A couple things worth mentioning: I was excited to snap Lilli’s port de bras…and yes, Corinne’s dress is inside out & backwards - not too bad for dressing herself!

Finally after 6 months of waiting (remember when I bought my tickets?), Michael, Lilli, & I enjoyed an late afternoon of Cirque du Soleil entertainment- Kooza!

It was nice to have some time with Lilli - Corinne & Eleanor were at Great Grandma Jo’s house, where we ended up spending the night (she is so hospitable and I cannot tell you how much I love spending time with her!).

However, there were some pros and cons about the show:

Pros
* AMAZING talent!
* Non-stop action…other than intermission.
* Incredible costumes
* Not a bad seat in the house - but I was excited that we were only 4 rows from the stage

Cons:
* WAY too expensive snackie foods (a Pepsi was over six bucks!)
* I’ve been spoiled by La Nouba and Kooza didn’t have the same “wow” moments. (This act was left out…which I was REALLY looking forward to seeing!)
* Too much adult humor. Even though the kids didn’t *get* the jokes, I still could have done without them - especially when one clown fainted and another went to give him CPR…well let’s just say that them rolling around on the floor while kinky music playing in the background is not something I wanted to watch or have to distract my 5 year old from. It’s too bad that from now on I will have to call ahead to make sure there is no inappropriate content - and then explain what I mean by “inappropriate.”

Overall though, I’m thankful we were able to see a show and spend some fun time with our oldest gal

The past two days have really been Autumn-like….cold, windy, with an occasional rain. Even though I don’t like venturing out into the cold, I’m so excited that the colder weather is here! I’d rather stay inside where I can feel the warmth of a fire, drink hot cocoa, and smell a cinnamon-apple-something baking.  Speaking of apples, we still have so many apples from our apple picking outing about a week and half ago. I came across this apple bread recipe and, after trying it out, thought it would be perfect for the girls to lend a hand in.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I always use olive oil)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups apples - peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

1) In bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

2) In large mixing bowl, place oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and apples.

3) Stir into flour mixture - mix (I also add just enough water to allow all the flour to mix in.)

4) Divide mixture between two greased 8-in. x 4-in. bread pans (I used a muffin pan). Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until bread test done.

5) Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack before removing from pan.

What recipes do you like to make during the Autumn season?

These days, meals come in prepackaged boxes…everything from potatoes to cakes…just add water, perhaps an egg or two, and voila! - dinner is served. Our society is just go, go, go! Maybe it’s due to the fact that I live in the country, but I love baking from scratch. It’s less expensive, healthier (I know exactly what ingredients I’m putting into a dish…and can pronounce them for that matter), a great experience for the girls (educationally & emotionally…a wonderful chance to bond with my girls), and fun! If it can be done, I will do it - or at least attempt to :)  I didn’t have the luxury of having this taught to me. Instead, through trial and error, I learned how to bake from scratch just in the past year - it’s become very important to me that I pass this down to my daughters.

On Friday, Lilli and I made chocolate pudding from scratch. We used the “Hasty Chocolate Pudding” recipe from Allrecipes.com. Here it is in step by step instructions, with photos
Ingredients:

1 c. white sugar
2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
6T. cornstarch
4c. milk
4t. vanilla

(note that T.= tablespoon and t.= teaspoon)

1. In a microwave safe bowl (this can be done over the stove as well but it would just take longer - see my “go, go, go” comment above…lol), whisk together the sugar, cocoa, & cornstarch. Whisk in milk a little at a time so the mixture does not have any dry lumps.

2. Place in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on HIGH.

3. Stir. Then cook at 1 minute intervals, stirring between cooking times for 2 - 4 minutes, or until shiny and thick. Stir in vanilla.

3. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming (the pudding will be HOT, so be careful!)

4. Chill in the fridge. Serve cold. Enjoy!

What do you like to pass down to your children?

Ever since Corinne bumped her head, our house has been a little bit more busy. Even though she’s been back to her old self after returning from the hospital, for some reason, things have been busier. Michael stayed home on Wednesday to keep an eye on Corinne (and to give me some time to rest…between going to bed late from Corinne’s accident & nursing Eleanor, I think I got about 3 1/2 - 4 hours of sleep on Tuesday night). Lilli, Eleanor, and I still went to the assisted living community - where the majority of the residents asked where my “other girl” was - and handed out “Autumn Trees” that we made from construction & tissue paper. As always, we had fun and look forward to next week!

Lilli has her second to last day of gymnastics tomorrow. She’s been doing it for two years and although she has enjoyed it, she is starting to loose interest - we feel it’s time to move onto something else. Come November, Lilli will be taking swimming lessons. After swimming, who knows? I’m inclined to say that it will be ballet. During one of our “Clarke Girls Dance Parties” yesterday afternoon, Lilli busted out a temps leve & an arabesque:

So she’s (way) turned in and she landed on a rolled in plie…we can work on that. But look at her line in her arabesque! Must have good genes….
Corinne is almost potty trained! We’re into our second week and she is doing MARVELOUS! We still use a cloth diaper for nap & bedtime, but other than that, Corinne loves her “big girl” undies & tells us when she has to use the “big girl” potty. Another plus - Corinne’s head is looking better. The swelling has gone down drastically, but of course there is a nasty bruise.

I thank God that we were able to see a doctor immediately. Do you know how many children are not able to get the medical attention they need? Do you know in many countries, there is a language barrier? Do you know that many children die from a single mosquito bite? I feel so silly worrying about a bump on the head.

I am thankful for this coming weekend….time with the family, coffee with my pastor’s wife, church, a picnic, & of course - more apple picking
What are your plans for the weekend?

Woo Hoo! It’s Friday! I really don’t have anything to post, other than the fact that I am so excited to spend the weekend with my crazy nutty family!

What Eleanor did while I went to get a diaper from the dryer...look closely...lol

Corinne in her new knitted longies.

Lilli using her towels like "a big girl."

A good morning message from my hubby :)

And since I hardly post pictures of myself...why not. (Next time I should wait for the steam leave...lol.)

Alright - ignore the mismatched PJs and bedhead Can you guess what Lilli is imagining her bear to be?

A snail. Boy do I wish I were 5 again