Let's Rewind

So it was a calm and relaxing weekend at home...

What are you kidding me!! I have two boys and it was nothing but calm and relaxing at home.
Those boys were so crazy this weekend.
But I wouldn't want them any other way.

I got off work early on Friday and since my Momma had my boys, I decided to go to the gym for an hour.
I felt great and proud of myself for doing this (because it would of been so easy to just drive on home) and then when I picked up the boys, I pretty much got the "YOU ROCK MOM" from my oldest cause I rented him Madagascar 3!

Saturday we didn't do a whole lot but piddled around the house, laundry, watched some TV, read some books, the regular Saturday routine.

I finished Reflected in You by Sylvia Day (Crossfire #2) book and now I am going to patiently wait for the 3rd one!
If you need a good read and liked 50 Shades of Grey! This a awesome series too!

I baked a couple pies! Ugggh!!! I have a love/hate relationship with baking anything right now while trying to eat healthy and watch what I eat, but the Hubs wants something sweet and we had a church dinner. So I made an apple pie and a pumpkin pie.  Here is my recipe for the Crumble Apple Pie!

Crumble Apple Pie

Ingredients

Apple Pie Filling, Crisco Shortening, Salt, Flour and Water

Pie Crust 

(Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker)

1

cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1/2

teaspoon salt

1/3

cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening

2

to 3 tablespoons cold water

Unbaked One-Crust Pie Crust: Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost leaves side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).

1. Gather pastry into a ball. Shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. Wrap flattened round of pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.
   Roll pastry, using floured rolling pin, into circle 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate, or 3 inches larger than 10- or 11-inch tart pan. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side and being careful not to stretch pastry, which will cause it to shrink when baked.
   
   

Apple Pie Filling
(I canned about 26 quarts this year)

Apple Pie Filling

14 cups apples peeled and sliced

2 cups cold water

1 1/2 TBS. lemon juice

6 TBS. cornstarch

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

4 cups sugar

Put 2 cups cold water in pan with the lemon juice, put in apples and heat the apples and stir them

Mix sugar, corn starch and cinnamon in a bowl. Then pour in with the apples and stir well until it starts to thicken. Put in jars. 5 lbs. pressure for 5 minutes. 

Makes 3 quarts

Oatmeal Crumble Topping

3/4 Cup Oatmeal (I use Quick Oats)

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

3/4 Cup Flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 Cup Shortening

Mix in a pie with a pastry blender or a fork.  Then crumble on top of pie and bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Hubs loves this pie and so do I! It is terrible to have around when you are trying to lose weight!

Hubs is so excited because some of it came home from Church!

Funniest Movie me and the Hubs have watched in a while! Absolutely hilarious and possibly one favorite one out of this group of movies!

On the fitness side of my weekend and eating healthy.....

Got it on with Jillian Michaels both Sat. and Sun. She rocked my world and I felt better after I was done with that workout! I am enjoying Ripped in 30 days and am on Week 1 Day 5.  The only issue I have is the lunges and side lunges.  They kill my knees.  So I just do not go as low as they do.  

On the eating front, I did horrible this weekend. Started off good on Saturday but when I baked the pies, of course I ate the pie crust (alot)! Then it just went down hill from there.  Sunday - church dinner was awesome but bad for the dieting person. I did on my main course, but then I went back for dessert.  I know I should of skipped but I stupidly could not resist!

Then we went to my in-laws for supper. Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, rolls and cherry delight.  Of course I ate a little bit of everything! I did try to watch my portion but I have went over my WW point extra points for the week.  But I am going to let this week roll off my shoulders.  Weigh In is not until Wednesday and I am going to work my butt off these next few days.  If my scale stays the same that is better than going up and I do not want that to happen!

On the Parenting Side......

My little Monkey got a black eye when he fell into the end table!  But he was still cheesin' for the camera..

You can barely see it in this pic

(And yes those are underwear on his head)

My future rock star

(He has sunglasses on the back of his head and wore them there all day)

On a more serious parenting note:

Having children that are 4 years apart can at times be frustrating and at times great.  My oldest is 5 and was the only child for 4 years and really only grandchild for 2 year but the other grandchildren live at least 2 hours away.  To get to what I am trying to say, he is spoiled and has always been use to getting all the attention.  

Don't get me wrong he does good most of the time with his little brother but there are times where is gets jealous his little brother is getting the attention he is not.  

So he gets in your face...

He picks on his brother...

He throws little fits...

He depends too much on us...

He never wants his picture taken till his brother does and then he knocks him over or something...

He takes toys away that he never plays with...

And at times he just acts down right mean.

I know he is not the only child that does this but at times it is frustrating and I feel that I am to blame for this behavior.

Do I not give him enough attention?

Do I seem to favor the youngest over the oldest?

Do I get more frustrated with him?

I think I expect more from the Jacer because he is older.  He is in school, so we are harder on him regarding homework, bed time, reading, etc.  and at times forget he is only 5 and he is a boy! And Monkey is only 1 and still very dependable on Mama and Daddy.

I do not want either of my children to grow thinking that there Mama favored one over the other! I want them to grow up with the great and fond memories of me and their child hood! 

Don't get me wrong, Jacer is a great kid and we get along great there are just those times where I worry I am not doing something right with raising my kids.  But I know in the end, everything will turn out great!

~K~