happy {early} halloween...and kemry's first costume

Happy Halloween!
Our house has been filled with pumpkins, Scared Shrekless {for the Kemster, naturally}, and lots of candy.

Here are some precious Halloween shots the Kembot and I took for today...

 

And as for her costume this year...

Since she is only 9 months old and can't eat candy yet, we decided to do the dressing up early so we are home to pass out the candies to the childrens.

She giggled when I drew on the mustache but accidentally smeared it on the way to Tyrel's parents.

She thought it was great, especially since she got so much attention :)

why i am excited for christmas {1}

I am spending the day making new headbands for Kemry.

And I will probably listen to this new album the entire time.

Oh, my poor husband.

9 monthsies

kemry's magic mirror

Kemry has this little plastic toy mirror that she loves to play with.

She hits it on her head, licks it, and rubs her nose on it.

Life couldn't get better.

Since it is a cheapy kiddie mirror, it has become a little warped.

Today Kemry was toting it around everywhere we went in the house.

So I snapped a few pictures.

And laughed my butt off.

Remember when you first played around with Photobooth on the Mac?

And it was hillarious?

Right?

Yeah.

I still think stuff like this is funny {and maybe need to mature a little...

but I will save the growing up for later}.

Have a good day!

with love, apple pie {joy the baker}

We have somehow ended up with apples out the wazooka here in the Murri household.

Since I got to enjoy a lovely Sunday at home with my hubs and babychunk, I decided I would put some to use and make an apple pie.

Now, I am not a pie maker.

I don't really know if I had ever even made one without my mom doing half of the work.

The thing is, I really don't enjoy pies.

Unless they are apple in variety, are gooey with pumpkin, or are filled with chocolate {duh}.

And Tyrel enjoys pretty much the polar opposite.

But I made an apple pie anyway {which Tyrel enjoyed, thank you very much}.

I used a recipe from Joy the Baker.

I wish I had time to make everything from this blog.

My thighs gain 10 pounds just by looking through her reicpes.

Make this one for yourselves.

It is a little time-consuming but sooohohoho worth it.

{I used frozen pie crusts, too, since they were already in my freezer. You can find her recipe for buttermilk crust on her original posting}.

With Love, Apple Pie
{from Joy the Baker}

2 1/2 lbs baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/4-inch thick.  I used a combination of Granny Smith, Fuji and Pink Ladies.

1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 – 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, preferably fresh grated

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

In a large bowl, combine the apples, lemon juice, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and toss to mix.  Allow the apples to macerate at room temperature for a minimum of 30 minutes and a maximum of 3 hours.

Transfer the apples and their juices to a colander suspended over a bowl to capture the liquid.  The mixture will release at least 1/2 cup of liquid.

In a small saucepan (preferably lined with a nonstick surface), over medium high heat, boil down this liquid, with the butter, to about 1/3 cup (a little more if you started with more than 1/2 cup of liquid), or until syrupy and lightly caramelized.  Swirl the liquid but do not stir it.  (Alternatively, spray a 4-cup heatproof measuring cup with nonstick vegetable spray, add liquid and butter, and boil it in the microwave, 6 to 7 minutes on high.)  Meanwhile, transfer the apples to a bowl and toss them with the cornstarch until all traces of it have disappeared.

Pour the syrup over the apples, tossing gently (Do not be concerned if the liquid hardens on contact with the apples; it will dissolve during baking.)

Roll out the top crust large enough to cut a 12-inch circle.

Transfer the apple mixture to the pie shell.  Moisten the border of the bottom crust by brushing it lightly with water and place the top crust over the fruit.  Trim the overhang of the top crust so that there is only 1/2-inch of overhand.  Tuck the overhand under the bottom crust boarder and press down all around to seal it.  Crimp the border using a fork or your fingers and make about 5 evenly spaced 2-inch slashes starting about 1 inch from the center of the pie and radiating toward the edge.  Cover the pie loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour before baking.  This will chill and relax the pastry, preventing shrinking.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F at least 20 minutes before baking.  Set oven rack at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on top of it before preheating.  Place a large piece of greased foil on top of the sheet to catch any juices.

Set the pie directly on he foil topped baking stone and bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until the juices bubble through the slashes and the apples feel tender but not mushy when a take tester or small sharp knife is inserted through a slash.  After 30 minutes, protect the edges from overbrowning with a foil ring.

Col the pie on a rack at least 4 hours before cutting.  Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

kemry's first trip to feed the ducks...and life as of late

I got to spend the whole day yesterday with my sweet Kemster.

I wish every day could be like that.

We went with Lyle and Melissa to the Greenbelt and decided to feed the ducks.

Kemry loved them.

Well, I think she did.

She kept panting (which is what she now does when she is excited) and yelling (which she does all the time, regardless of her mood) at the ducks...The yelling was the best part, I think!

Here are some pictures of our day out.

 -----------------------------

And as of late...

nothing has happened.

Thus, no blogging has been going on.

Our little Kemry is crawling, though!

{even though it is still on her belly...}

And she eats Puffs like it is no one's business.

I also have a video to post of her showing all her "tricks" {as if she were a dog}.

She likes to wave, pretend she is an ape and pound her chest, fake cough, give "fives", and dance.

Oh dance dance dance.

Oh. And she also likes to talk on the phone.

Just like her mommy and daddy :)

a short story. in pictures {3}

 

Play-Doh. Enough said.

Every kid has got to do it once, right?

if i could choose again...

Tyrel saw this on Pintrest while I was spending my "addicted" time browsing various Pins.

We looked at each other sweetly.

Tyrel smiled and said, "If I could choose again, I'd still choose you.....

And Reed's Dairy Chocolate Milk."

Ain't he sweet?

sickly

We have had an under-the-weather baby this week.

And it was no fun.

We put Kemry to bed on Wednesday night, in the height of the most grumpiness I have ever seen.

She just need a good night's sleep.

I was sure of it.

And a good night's sleep she got.

She usually wakes up between 6 and 7.

Thursday morning came, however, and I had to go in and wake her up myself at 8:30.

She seemed a little out of it, and you could tell she just rotten.

Tyrel buzzed off to work, and I got a bottle ready for my ickly one.

We went downstairs to cuddle and watch cartoons as she drank her bottle.

After she drank it all, she just lied there, all spralled on my lap.

If you know Kemry, she always wants to be going goning going.

No crawling. Just walking.

After just lying for a while, I sat her up...

Where she just zoned out, cuddling with my arm.

And then it came.

Heaves and heaves and heaves worth of baby barf.

All over me. And her. And her blanket. And my blanket.

I bundled her up and ran into the bathroom.

 I plunked her into the tub (where she thought she was getting a bath and got all kinds of excited) and stripped her down to her skivvies (oh those sexy Pampers!).

She acted a little better but was running a fever and wasn't drinking anything.

Tyrel came home early from work and took care of her since I had to close the store that night.

When I got home after work at 10:45, she started crying so we got her a bottle.

She was all kinds of perky...

Until it came again.

Once again, all over me.

Tyrel has yet to be barfed on.

I can't believe that.

After a few days of barfing, fussiness, crying, the-other-end-ing, I think we have our baby back to normal.

I have learned a few things:

1. She prefers me to rock her to sleep and hold her while she snoozes, but she loves when Tyrel puts her in her crib with her blanket. She freaks when I do.

2. Pedialyte = eww. No wonder Kemster hates it.

3. Water = YUMMMM. Why water? Who knows.

4: Baby puke stains your dry-clean only comforter.

5. She really likes to have her temperature taken. I guess it is because we take it through the ear in our house...none of that armpit or butt stuff.

6. Kemry realized that puking means baths and cuddling. She gets whatever she wants. I am slightly concerned that she will get "sick" every week now.

7. No matter how hard you try to contain the baby-runs, they will {always} end up all over the car seat, you own pants, and, of course, all the way up their backs.

8. Tyrel thinks he is all cool that he hasn't been puked on. For this reason, when Kemry wakes up at 6 wanting a bottle, I bring her back to bed, placing her in between Tyrel and I. She likes to play with Tyrel's nose before falling back asleep, so every time she is facing him and coughs/gags, Tyrel bursts from half-sleep and  moves like a madman to block his face from impending projectile puke {which never came but was hilarious to watch}.

9. No matter what, you feel like the most helpless, worthless mommy.

10. It is all kind of worth it, though. Especially when she crawls over to you just to put her head in you lap.

1:36 PM UPDATE:

Just got puked on again.

Me.

Not Tyrel.

Delicious.

At least she acts happy, right?