Baked Apple Cider Donuts and a Walk Among the Leaves

We enjoyed a beautiful sunny Fall day today. 

The colors of the leaves were so vibrant. 

We had to keep stopping to look up and all around us. 

I think I know a brilliant Painter of such colors. 

Addy has been very motherly lately. 

The babies are everything to her! 

They sleep with her, eat with her and take walks with her. 

She can often be found rocking one and telling them, 

"It's okay, I gotch you." 

I told her after walk we could eat lunch in mommy's car and go to mommy's coffee shop, but she had to eat good bites. She ate everything! Whole wheat tortillas, turkey, cheese. 

So she got her "hot choc." 

Unfortunately she didn't make very great choices afterward, which made me sad. 

She has picked up the word "Stupid." Not that I think it's a slang word, but I don't think it is a good sounding word for little ones to be saying. She knows she isn't suppose to say it and we've explained that when we say that word to people or about people, that it makes them very sad. And we don't want to make people sad. 

So we had some timeouts (plural because she kept saying it during time out). 

Oh these testy terrific two's (do you like my use of "T" words?). 

But today is Monday and Josh has his Life Group tonight. 

So, it's been my goal to bake something for he and his boys every Monday for him to take. 

This weeks treat: 

Baked Apple Cider Donuts with Cinnamon Sugar Topping

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. white-wheat flour

3/4 c. coconut sugar

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. cloves

1/4 t. nutmeg

Mix all of these dry ingredients in a bowl. 

Mix in a small bowl: 

2 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

1/2 c. apple cider 

1/4 c. buttermilk

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just mixed (don't overwork). 

But the batter into a large Ziplock bag and cut a hole in the corner. 

Pipe the batter into lightly greased donut pans. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes 

or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

While their baking, melt 2 T. butter in a small bowl. 

And in another small bowl, mix 1/3 c. brown sugar, 1/3 c. organic sugar and 1 T. cinnamon. 

When the donuts come out, quickly dip them in some butter on the top

and then dip them in the sugar mixture. 

Cool completely on a wire rack. 

Their a super fun, cute little snack and very Fall-appropriate! 

I used the mini donut pans, but you could also use the regular size. 

Rainy Days, Stained Glass Leaves, Candy Land and Ice Cream

Some rainy Fall days just have to be satisfied with cuddles and a good book. 

I snapped this picture of Addy in our rocking chair. She has affectionately come to call it, 

"snuggle rocking chair." On this particular day, she gathered some of her favorite books, her favorite bear, Alice and a few blankies and planted herself in the chair while I folded laundry. 

She was simple adorable. 

She read to Alice her new favorite book, 

"If you give a Moose a Muffin." 

"Alice. Moose Muffin. Okay?" she said. 

And some rainy days you attempt a walk in the midst of a break in the weather. 

And get caught in the rain. 

Nevertheless, other rainy days, you make pretty things to hang in your window. 

This craft project began with tracing the biggest leaf I could find on our walk. 

Before I cut it out, we glued on different fall colors of squarely cut tissue paper. 

I placed a dot of glue at different places throughout the leaf and let her pick what color she wanted where. 

Josh came home from work to help us finish it up. 

When we had it covered, I cut it out. 

Rainy days are also great for learning how to play a new board game: Candy Land. 

She beat her Daddy more than once...just sayin'. 

I hung the leaf in our window and it looked like a stained glass window 

when the light shined through. 

And finally, a few pictures of some Adventures with Josh and Addy: 

A Daddy date to the library. 

They both wore camo. 

Josh opted out of the pink accessory color. 

And lastly, sometimes an after dinner trip to the store for ice cream is nothing short of a necessity. 

Thank you Josh and Addy. 

Memory Verse, Big Girl Cup and Stamping with Pine Cones and Lego's

I've been blessed to take a few early morning walks on my own this week. It's been hard getting out of bed before the family but it's made me feel so good to wake up with the sun and walk at a faster pace than I get to do when Addy and I walk. 

I mean just look at this...

Addy loves her classroom at church and it makes us so thankful for the amazing teachers and staff that make all that she and the other kiddos experience possible. 

Our latest delight has come in the form of a memory verse. 

It's official. Addy has memorized her first verse of Scripture! 

"How you made me is amazing and wonderful." Psalm 139:14

I had the cutest experience with her that made us both giggle hard. I picked her up from Sunday School and her teachers said she learned a new verse. Of course in that moment, Addy played bashful and didn't want to tell me it. But as soon as we got to the car and all the way home and all the way through lunch, she wanted to tell it to me. 

"Tamazing and Wonderful!!!" (hands in the air).

And then she started saying other pieces of it. 

"God!"

"Made!"

"TaMAZING!!"

"WONDERFUL!!!"

We're just so thrilled and excited that she is retaining this and communicating it back. 

And what a great verse to memorize first! 

I've been trying to work with her on taking sips from a big girl cup. I will admit this is the sort of mess I don't like cleaning up. Give me paint and sand any day! I don't know what it is, but I just don't prefer drink spills! 

A new craft we have been doing has been painting with different objects. 

Today's art project involved a pine cone we found outside and a cube of lego's and ended with an item from her play kitchen: grapes.

We first picked out our Fall colors of paint: 

Orange

Red

Yellow

Brown

Green

We put one color at a time on a paper plate and rolled the pine cone in a bit of it. And then rolled on the paper. I loved the affect it gave. 

We added other colors and then tried stamping some paint on a lego and then stamping on the paper. I loved this even more. And she gets to learn two shapes doing this: circles and squares (the four circles make a square). 

Then we tried the grape cluster. We tried rolling and stamping with it. I didn't enjoy this one quite as much but it was still fun. 

Finished product. 

We added more leaves to our Apple Stamp Project we previously did. I had to fix a twig and it left it looking like a hot glue mess. Now I really like it! 

Lastly, Addy has been going potty on her big girl chair now really consistently for about 3 months. She'll go pee pee about 3 times a day and is just starting to go number 2! 

I had a little giggle when she recently was sitting on the potty chair and reading her new "Bible Book" she got for her birthday. She came to a part about Pharaoh and goes, 

"Pharoah...hmmm cute, yeah." 

"Pharoah's cute?" I said puzzled. 

"Yeah, cute." 

Ohhh goodness, this girl.