Good Quotes

"All children behave as well as they are treated."
-- Jan Hunt
"The attention you pay to the other person, and the attention they pay to you – those moments are what your relationship is made up of.  You don’t have a relationship outside of that".
-- Alison Armstrong

"The secret of parenting is not in what a parent does but rather who the parent is to the child.  When a child seeks contact and closeness with us, we become enabled as a nurturer, a comforter, a guide, a model...All the parenting skills in the world cannot compensate for a lack of attachment relationship.  All the love in the world cannot get through without the psychological umbilical cord created by the child's attachment."
-- Gordon Neufeld

Homemade Caramel Apples

Apple awaiting their caramel coating!
This is why I am glad I save all my Popsicle sticks throughout the year! :)

Yum!

In progress - I am so messy in the kitchen!

Our little spoon licker!

Yum!

After getting our pumpkins for this year, we hunkered down at home while our stew simmered in the crockpot and made some caramel apples! With homemade caramel! So easy and so good!

Here is the recipe! (found here at Tasty Kitchen)

• 12 whole Apples (we only had 9)
• ¼ cups Butter
• 1 cup White Syrup (used Karo Corn Syrup)
• 14 ounces, fluid Eagle Brand Condensed Milk
• 2 cups White Granulated Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Assemble all ingredients: wash and dry apples, insert sticks, and butter a cookie sheet and dinner plate before starting to cook.

Heat all ingredients except vanilla in a heavy 2-quart saucepan over medium/low heat. Stir constantly! (Unless you really like the look of scorched bits on your apples.)

When caramel reaches soft ball stage (235°F–240°F) remove from heat and add vanilla. Let cool a few minutes.

Using the stick inserted in the apples, dunk apples in the hot caramel and twirl slowly away from the heat for a couple of minutes. It’s nice to have a helper or two at this point.

Place caramel-covered apples on a buttered cookie sheet. Optional: drizzle with melted chocolate or roll in chopped nuts.

Extra caramel from the bottom of the pan:
1. Can be scraped out with a spatula into a buttered plate or dish to be cut into individual pieces when cool.
2. Can be thinned in the pan with half-and-half and eaten warm, as a dip for apple wedges.
 

Web Finds Wednesday

How Kids Learn to Control Their Emotions

At What Age Do You Start Disciplining A Baby?

Slow Parenting

DIY Mod Podge

Cool blog ---> Play at Home Mom

Mainstream Parenting May Be Hurting Our Kids

Us

Our little family rocks! :)

Delaney's First Pumpkin Patch!

Family Chain

Found this cute quote on a bench in Nashville...very sentimental.

Our family Chain is broken
and nothing seems the same,
but as God calls us one by one
the Chain will link again.

Web Finds Wednesday

grown up pumpkin pie milkshakes

Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey (SOO want to see this!)

 Toms shoes for infants?! Oh Em G!

Day Trip

Packing for a quick afternoon road trip has never been the same now with a little one! Haha! :)

Birthday Hour Sentiments

Celebrating my baby's one year birthday just about broke my heart. How did it go by so fast?? I didn't quite realize how sentimental I would get until the day before  - I would constantly look at the clock and think about what was going on that day at that time. Going to the doctor at 8am, finding out there was a tear and was leaking fluid, going to the hospital, getting the pictocin drip, contractions starting, asking for an epidural at 6pm, not getting an epidural until 7pm, pushing at 10pm, etc etc.

I caught myself eagerly trying to snap pictures of my little one - last pictures before she is officially a year old!

Then as the evening wore on and on - I became more and more aware of what was happening. My baby is turning one. One year. It has been one whole year - already.

I crept into the bedroom around her birth hour 12:46am and quietly picked up my little preciously, sweet, sleeping little one and held her close as I cried silent, happy, sad, sentimental mommy tears.

Catching Kisses

 One of my favorite new games! :) Catching kisses from my little one as she swings! :)

First Apple Orchard Visit

We have a little catching up to do with the posts! Got a little behind! Such a busy time! :) Delaney loves, loves, loves to feed herself! And apples - with a starter bite or two - are perfect for her to carry around and munch on! :)

Happy First Birthday, Delaney!

From an imprompteu photo shoot my hubby and I did ourselves one weekend!
10 months old in this pic!

Happy Birthday Delaney Ruth! I cannot believe it has been one year already! My little baby is fast becoming a toddler! So independent, smart and on the go! Delaney, you are the love of my life! (next to your daddy of course!)

Born October 5, 2010 at 12:46am

8 pounds 9 ounces and 21 inches