Visit from Grand-dad and Grandma VanDervort

Today we got to visit with Bryan's Grand-dad and Grandma VanDervort. We haven't seen them since just before I got pregnant, so they have only seen Avery by way of pictures and video. They live in Florida and have been traveling all summer, so Bryan and I were happy that they were making their way through Indiana. Although we only had a brief visit over lunch, Avery got to spend some quality time with her great-grandparents, who came bearing a piggy bank and a pink teddy bear. We had a wonderful visit and hope to be able to make it to Florida to see them in the near future.

A week in pictures

I don't have anything exciting to report this week. I started back teaching full-time this week, and boy, am I glad it's Friday. I have all 8th graders this year, and I am looking forward to seeing what the students can achieve.

I've posted some pictures of Avery that I have taken over the course of the week. Her new favorite activity is playing "dress-up." She starts every morning by watching the Wiggles while I get ready for work, but quickly proceeds to find any stray article of clothing and start the dress-up marathon. She is also enjoying trying on her Aunt Sarah's hand-me-down headbands. Avery has also enjoyed getting in and out of a basket that Grandma Bert gave to us. I tried to use it for toy storage in her playroom, but Avery proceeded to take out all of the toys and sit in it instead.

Some Avery milestone updates:

Words added to her vocabulary-socks, daddy, MOM-MOM-MOM, bye-bye, woof!, bath, banana, Bru (for our dog Brutus), monkey, egg, apple, ball, bottom, bear. Of course these are the "real" words. She says some version of these words.

New skills-climbing on our futon, couch, and coffee table, brushing her own teeth (kind of), organizing my laundry, playing with her belly button, picking-up her own toys, and using a fork.

Jethro Jeans

I got some great deals on some very cute, but too big clothes for Avery. I was busily trying to get Avery to model all of my garage sale finds when she grew weary of this and started to read some of her books. At the time, I was trying jeans on her, particularly overalls. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of her looking very "country" in her shirtless and overalls look. My little Jethro baby.

Bloomington Again

This weekend we helped Bryan's brother Eric move. After a little grunt work . . . not much though, he's a college guy who lives simply, we went to the Bloomington Hospital Employee/Family Picnic with Grandma Bert and Eric. Avery got her first taste of cotton candy (not impressed) and chowed down on a hot dog. Bryan got a free "Dr. Seuss" hat and Avery playfully added to the fashion statement by offering her hat as well. It was a beautiful day for a picnic. Bryan, surprisingly let us take a picture of our family without any fuss. It is actually the first picture of our family taken since Christmas. We had a rushed, but great day.

Tigers

Aunt Tanya gave Avery her first Tigers t-shirt for her birthday. Until now, it has been too big. Here is its debut.

By the way, Avery is now climbing on everything now; our futon, coffee table, and couch. Notice her first "shiner" that she has near her right eye. She fell on our porch trying to climb up her slide. Here is the proof . . .

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet . . . I mean Avery . . . sat on her tuffet, reading her books all day!

Avery must have decided that the floor of her playroom was not comfortable enough, so she took a pillow from the couch and used it as a seat today. She sat on it reading books, inquisitively pointing to animals asking, huh? I've also posted some pictures I took this weekend with Avery wearing her new hat.

Apple Pie

I've decided to start blogging about my adventures in food. Yes, I am a total chef wanna-be. I grew up with a mom who cooked nearly every meal for our family. My mom is my inspiration as a cook, mainly because of her own try-it-once attitude toward recipes. I have always enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen, not just for the express purpose of cooking, but for time to chat and catch-up with my family. I thought I would share some of my successes and horrible failures. I'm not one for recipes (except in baking), so a lot of the creations I post here may not be measured in exact terms, but rather in proportions.

I blame my mom for my fear of pies. Let me explain . . . I love eating pies. I LOVE PIE, my favorite being a three way tie between cherry with crumb topping, black raspberry, and chocolate-brownie pie. Alas, my mom is a pie queen, a master, if you will. She has been making pies en mass for as long as I can remember. For her, it never seems to be a chore. Perfectly rolled out crusts evenly pinched along the rim, just waiting to be filled a variety of homemade fruits or custards. Then when filled, a perfectly crunchy crumb topping or a beautifully cut out crust adorning the top. Now, for the irrational fear. From top to bottom, pie making seems to me a daunting task. You know why . . . you've eaten the hard-as-a-rock crusts and flavorless, dry fillings of some homemade pies. Its sad . . . you eat the pie begrudgingly and tell the baker how much you enjoyed it. You didn't. I don't want to be that cook. I want to live-up to my mom's pie legacy. To add to this pie fear, I have had more than a few pie failures, most of which my husband ate, but never seemed to comment on. Plus, you know its bad if there is still pie in our house after a couple of days.

To conquer this irrational fear, I started with the crust. I have to admit I've had mild success with the store-bought crust, but I feel that to live up to this legacy, that would be cheating. If you choose that crust, no hard feelings, but I can't bring myself to do it, I have a guilty conscience. I have discovered that the Alton Brown crust recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/) is the easiest and best-tasting crust.

Since I have an abundance of apples on my apple tree, I peeled, cored, and sliced about 6 cups of apples, added 1 1/4 c. sugar, 1/2 c. flour, a little cinnamon and allspice, and filled the crust. Finally I topped it with crumble topping made with 1/2 c. butter, a little cinnamon, 1/4 c. walnuts, and 3/4 c. of each of the following: brown sugar, flour, and oats. For once, this pie lived up to my high pie standards (of course after it dripping in the over causing really smoky kitchen). MMMM!