An Apple a Day...

It has been quite the week for the littlest Legers. As you know, Jack currently has three stitches below his lower lip as a result of a fall over the weekend. Eve has had a cold for the past few days and has not been feeling well. Grace tripped yesterday afternoon and as a result of her fall she has a huge cut on the bottom of her foot. So, we spent most of this morning at our pediatrician's office. Sweet baby Eve has an upper respiratory infection and her first ear infection. Gracie girl's foot was examined and has to be watched closely over the next few days for any sign of infection. Our pediatrician debated about stitches but decided against it because of the placement of the cut. Finally, Jack will need to have his stitches removed on Friday. Oh my...my poor babies! Once we returned home we all changed into some comfy cozy pajamas, sat out on our deck to soak in some of the warm sunshine and did a simple autumn activity of apple prints. It was a nice way to spend our quiet afternoon at home. I also hope that the expression, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" holds true for us! :)

A Jack Update...

Our Jack-a-roo is doing well today. His bottom lip is a bit swollen but his stitches look good and his cut is healing nicely. Jack sure is one tough little guy...he talked more about a mosquito bite on his leg today than he did about his stitches!!!

The Emergency Room

Our Saturday plans changed drastically this morning when Jack accidentally slipped off of his stool after breakfast. During the fall, Jack's teeth cut right through his bottom lip. Bob rushed Jack to the emergency room while I stayed with the girls. Bob took these pictures of our sweet Jack-a-roo while he was in the ER this morning.

We sometimes call Jack "tough guy" and he certainly was one tough little boy this morning. Jack never cried after the initial fall. Bob said that Jack smiled and talked right through his first (and hopefully his last) emergency room experience.

For those of you who know our three little Legers, this picture says so much. As the doctor was getting ready to stitch Jack's lower lip, Jack pulled himself up to watch and to ask the doctor lots of questions.

Jack ended up needing three stitches to close the wound. They stitches will be removed next Friday. We are all so relieved and happy to have our sweet Jack back home with us now.

Hello, Autumn

We celebrated the arrival of autumn today by making homemade cinnamon applesauce in our crockpot. On the first day of autumn our home is filled with the scent of fresh apples and cinnamon -- just the way it should be!

Crockpot Cinnamon Applesauce Recipe:

8 peeled and cored apples cut into pieces

1 teaspoon cinnamon (we added slightly more)

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional). We decided to omit this ingredient in order to enjoy the natural sweetness of the apples.

Place all of the ingredients into crockpot and cook on low for 4-6 hours until the apples are soft enough to mash with a fork.

Goodbye Summer

Jack

End of Summer Fun!

Eve

It is so hard to believe that tomorrow is the first official day of autumn. All this week we have been spending every warm and sunny moment outside to celebrate the end of our fabulous 2011 summer season!

The Last Day of Summer

Grace

Baking Bread

We made whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread yesterday afternoon.

Grace read the entire recipe and worked with Jack to measure all of the ingredients.

Jack's favorite part was kneading the dough.

Eve loved playing with the flour while Grace and Jack measured the ingredients for the bread. I love how the flour sprinkled the floor below Eve's chair. :)

Grace and Jack worked together to place the bread dough into bread pans.

Kneading!

The recipe that we used for our cinnamon raisin bread was taken from a book called Horn of the Moon Cookbook - Recipes from Vermont's Renowned Vegetarian Restaurant:

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water

2 tablespoons dry baker's yeast

2 tablespoons organic honey

6 cups of organic whole wheat bread flour

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon salt

2 cups organic raisins

In a large mixing bowl, combine the water with the yeast and honey. Stir and allow to dissolve for 5 minutes. When yeast begins to foam, add 3 cups flour to form a moist sponge and stir in well. Cover with a towel and set aside in warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Add the oil, cinnamon, salt and raisins to dough, and mix in. Add 3 cups more flour and knead dough about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic, adding more flour as needed to keep it from sticking.

Divide dough in half, form into loaves, and set in oiled 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees after bread has risen in pans for 30 minutes.

Bake 50 minutes, or until bread is golden on top. Remove bread from pans and knock on the bottom of the loaf; if the bread sounds hollow in the center, it is done.

I'll be back tomorrow with some new pictures!

Making Clouds

Don't you just love all of Jack's necklaces?!!!

He wanted to be just like his big sister. :)

We made our own puffy cumulus clouds today by mixing together 3/4 cup of shaving cream and 1/4 of Elmer's glue. Grace, Jack and Eve used this mixture to make clouds on their sky blue paper. The best part of this cloud activity is that the cloud mixture dries puffy!

Ballet Class

Gracie girl had her first ballet class this morning at Maine State Ballet. She was extremely excited to practice at the barre and to meet Miss Juliet and her fellow dancers. I loved watching Grace dance today. She is so graceful, especially the way she uses her arms and hands while she dances. Grace can also be seen in the picture above -- she is wearing the short-sleeved black leotard with pink tights. Our Gracie girl had two little admirers watching her from the doorway throughout her class! Jack and Eve had fun watching Grace dance. Jack has been watching Grace in dance classes since he was a baby. Once Jack turns three in December he can't wait to join a dance school too...and just wait until you see that boy dance! Jack-a-roo is quite the little dancer. He has amazing rhythm. :)

Cloud Paint!

Since we have been learning about clouds and cloud formations I thought it would be fun to incorporate a sensory activity -- "cloud paint!" This has always been one of Grace and Jack's favorite sensory activities. This was Eve's very first time experiencing cloud paint. She immediately crawled over to where Jack had put some of the cloud paint on the grass to explore.

Eve did not hesitate to touch the cloud paint. She sat in the grass for a long time to play while Grace and Jack played with the cloud paint in their little pool...

Grace and Jack kept saying, "Look Mommy, we are making cumulus clouds in our pool!"

Eve stopped playing in the grass when she heard Grace and Jack in the pool. She took one quick look at her big brother and sister and quickly realized that she was missing out on some really good fun over there!!!!

Eve crawled over to the pool and stood to get a better view of exactly what was going on. Without hesitating, Eve proceeded to climb over the edge of the pool and went right in to join Grace and Jack!

Grace and Jack welcomed Eve with open cloud paint arms!

I just LOVE how much fun Grace, Jack and Eve have together. Grace and Jack are so sweet to Eve.

Eve loved the cloud paint just as much as Grace and Jack. She squealed and giggled the entire time she was in the pool. Eve was delighted that she could slide her hands and by her slippery crawl!