By Request: Easy as Pie, Apple Pie

5 apples (peeled, cored, & sliced)
1 can apple juice concentrate
2 TBS. corn starch
cinnamon
Frozen pie crust
* As you start working, allow the crust and concentrate to thaw.
* After slicing apples, place them in a water bath with lemon juice to keep them from going brown.
* Pour thawed concentrate into a medium saucepan and whisk in cornstarch. Bring to a boil and then continue boiling and stirring for one minute. Remove from heat.
* Drain apples and pour into pie crust (they will be taller than the pie crust).
* Sprinkle generously with cinnamon.
* Pour concentrate mixture over pie.
* Cover with remaining pie crust and seal the edges (pinch it or use a fork.) Cut slits in top of crust to allow for steam vents.
* Bake at 425 for 20 minutes. Cover edges with tin foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes.

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks and it does NOT seem like Autumn! September and October are the hottest months here and so it is actually finally starting to feel like summer! It's been just been a lot of playdates, volunteering, doctor's appointments, and school assemblies around here. Aly tried out for the school talent show by singing a french Christmas song she learned in Louisiana. She only knew the chorus, so she didn't make the talent show, but her teacher said if she could learn the rest by the Christmas assembly then she could sing it by herself. I think it was awesome of Aly even to want to try out!
Things have been coming together with primary: I finally have a chorister - hooray!; I've split the primary closet with the other ward and organized my side; and we finally have teachers for each of our primary classes and all of our nursery workers! (knock on wood. I know keeping a completely staffed primary is the challenge of every primary in the church!)
We've done a few more fun things as a family as well over the past couple of weeks. For Labor Day we went to Point Lobos State Park and saw some of the beautiful California coast.
We saw crabs, seals, and sea otters. There was a lot of fun rock climbing and finding as well. Cool place to go hiking!

Aly also got her braces put on this week. It has gone a ton better than I thought it would. She didn't need the expander put in the roof of her mouth and she actually likes her braces! Who woulda thunk it?

For playgroup this week I went to an apple picking farm, which was a lot of fun. Kate just liked picking the ones up off the ground.

A lady I went with said she would teach me how to make the easiest, best tasting apple pie ever, with only 4 ingredients (besides the crust, but I just buy the frozen ones). So I went to her house yesterday and made my first apple pie ever! I was so proud of myself and it is so yummy! It was very easy but I think it would be harder next time because she had some nifty-noodle apple corer/peeler/slicer thing-a-majiggy that I don't have so the chopping and peeling would take a little longer. But I think it would be worth it and might make another one for Thanksgiving.

On another food note, we got our first tomatoes out of our garden and they were scrumptious! I love fresh veggies!

This weekend we went to the aquarium again and saw the baby Great White Shark and the jelly fish this time. I really like seeing this stuff in little chunks so that we can actually have fun looking at stuff instead of dragging cranky, tired kids through the museum.

We also had fun pretending we were dolphins.

Christopher, the Balloon Slayer

(*Disclaimer: This picture of Kate is not related to the following story. It's just a picture of Kate being Kate.)

This week we had a little incident . . . a friend had brought over beautiful, shiny, purple, mylar, star balloon for the girls to play with because she was sick of it hanging around at her house (you know how long those things last). The girls loved it. There was a small gift bag tied to the string at the bottom, so it became a hot air balloon and the means of transferring toys up to Analise's top bunk and whatever else my children's imagination led them to. UNTIL. They started fighting over the balloon. I told them that if they couldn't share then I was going to take the balloon away. Well, the whining and grabbing continued until I said, "that's it! The balloon is gone." At that exact moment, Chris pulled his switch-blade from his pocket and stabbed the balloon - and the balloon was dead. All three children burst into sobs for 1/2 an hour, giving Chris the puppy dog "how could you?!?" looks. Even the next day, Kate pulled the balloon out of the trash, brought it to me, and said, "Daddy pop a balloon, mama." Quite the traumatic event at our house. So anyway, a few days later the girls started fighting over a kitty stuffed animal and I said, "Do I need to call Dad in here to cut up the kitty?" The girls got these terrified looks in their eyes and said, "NO! We'll be nice!" Chris, in his King Solomon-like wisdom, said he would happily slice any toy the children are fighting over in 1/2 and give each child a piece. Ahh, it's nice to have another bargaining chip when threatening my children.

Now for the Primary update: it has taken over my life. I go to bed thinking about it and wake up thinking about it. I'm working on the program and calling people to fill in the holes. My presidency is great, it's just going to take a little bit to get everything up and running. I do enjoy it though and I know I am going to grow to love the kids.

I've also started helping out with Aly and Analise's classes at school and I love it. I get to go listen to kids read and help out with homework bags. It's nice to feel connected with what's going on with the girl's teachers and classes.

Another major happening this week was the decision to start Aly with braces. She's got an "advanced mouth" meaning her teeth are coming in faster than her mouth can grow to accomodate them. I am really not looking forward to the whole ordeal of ortho appointments and Aly complaining, but I'm trying to stay positive for Aly's sake. Another phase of parenthood, I guess. I also took Kate in for her 2 year well baby appointment and she had yet another ear infection (her third since we've moved here). The doctor said that one of her tubes had come out and she might need to get another one put in. I'm just kind of bleh with dentists and doctors right now. I mean, I'm glad we have them and they're all super nice, it's just that doctors appointments always suck up huge amounts of time to see the doctor for like 15 minutes. Time that I do not have (or do not wish to give to that purpose, I should say.)

But other than that we're doing well. We've had some Daddy-daughter dates going on which consisted of Aly and Chris hiking along the beach, and Lise & Chris going swimming at the community center. Kate and I were feeling a little left out so I took her to the pool another time. I did get my own personal date with Chris last night which was a ton of fun just to get away from all the callings, papers, and children craziness we've got going right now. Yummy mexican, strolling along the shops, Zuka's and a movie with your hubby. What could be better? We're also going hiking along the beach as a family tomorrow for Labor day. I'm excited!

And now for a final quote of the week from Kate. She picked her nose one morning, looked at the booger, ate it, and said, "Mmm, it's a breakfast boogie."