So far this fall...

Let's see...oh, first how are we already so far into fall?  Wasn't yesterday summer, as in July?  Where does the time go?

Of course Fall means Ava's birthday planning and party and that is pretty much what we have been doing this week.  Pre-folding and tying tissue paper pom poms, making and dying fondant, preparing favors, piecing together her birthday outfit, etc, etc, etc.  Tomorrow is cake day...bake, trim, ice, cover, decorate.  Although October means Ava's birthday and it's crunch time we have actually done a few other things.

Apple picking despite us all having pretty crappy colds.  It was worth it 100% and it's tradition.  This place was pretty amazing and went off an honor system.  You picked the apples and bagged them and left your money in a slot.  They gave you pricing based on how much you picked.  We gave a little extra because we thought it was so cool.  So much better than standing in long lines to pay at overcrowded orchards.

 Cleaned and ready to devour.

 I made some dip that night.

 Ava and I also made apple dumplings.  In fact to my surprise after showing her how to assemble one she was able to do the rest herself.  Here she is counting her bounty.

 Baked and bubbly

 Served best with ice cream right out of the oven.

 A trip to Nan's...We got there while she was at the doctors and little miss immediately helped herself to some cookies.

 Who stole the cookie from Nana's cookie jar...Ava Rose that's who

 Ava's must have sparkly shoes.  No average maryjanes for my girl...she had to had the silver sparkly ones.

 A few days later they laid the Pop's plaque.  It's been long awaited and Nan called and asked if I'd bring my camera and take her over. I stopped and picked up some pretty fall flowers to put in the vase.  No more dollar store plastic ones...Pop now has a beautiful brass vase. 

 I love this picture...I took it last November on Nan and Pop's 60th anniversary.  I can't believe it's been almost a year now.  I was so stressed that night because I was trying to get pictures of all the Grandkids and Great grandkids for Nan and Pop's Christmas gift.  Had I only known to enjoy the day and let the fact that people were late and the sun was setting go.  Turned out we got the pictures and Nan and Pop loved it (Check out the photos here and them opening their present Christmas morning here).

 I love this...Ava is one lucky little girl.

 Here I am being yelled at because Ava did not want her picture taken.

 I took Nan over to the beautiful mansion that backs up to the cemetery but it wasn't open.  I need to call and find out why since it was supposed to be.

 These things were all over the ground...no clue what they were.

 The back door.  We wanted to see up close the side of the house we see when we visit Pop.  In the spring there were peacocks all over these steps.  (See the peacocks here)

 Ava and I baking Aunt Bev's birthday cake...She is wearing my Great Aunts apron.  So that would be her great-great-Aunt Viola...pretty cool.

 Oh and yes she is still is jammies with bed head.  We had a long day of baking ahead of us and she was sure to get covered in powdered sugar anyways.

 The cake pops...didn't finish those until 10pm because Aunt Bev paid us a visit and I had to hide everything since her party was a surprise.  Of course Ava still told her we baked her a chocolate cake...good thing at almost three she isn't taken too serious. 

 The cake all covered and ready.

 The table is set...now for the guest of honor to arrive.

 A little music

 Time for cake

 Ava of course wanted to help blow out the candles.

 Oh and this wasn't supposed to be in the album but since it's here...all the tissue paper pom poms folded and waiting for party set up.

Ahhh well now I feel like I've caught up before the party.  There will be a ton of photos being taken this weekend for sure.  I can't believe my little baby is only two for one more day...so bittersweet.

Well that's all for now because it's late, I'm tired, I just realized I still haven't had dinner, and the office comes on in a half hour.  See you soon with Ava birthday goodness.

Kalencom Potette Plus...this Mom's review

Back in July in a pre-vacation post I promised to come back after vacation and give a review of the travel potty I had bought for our trip.  Well I guess this is after vacation but it's not quite as soon as I had hoped.  Guess I kind of forgot or just simply didn't get to it but here you go....my review. 

I purchased the Kalencom Potette Plus from amazon right before our vacation because I was looking for something that could be used in the car (we were traveling back country roads with no where for stopping) and could be tucked in a bookbag for hiking, train rides, etc.  Well let's just say this little potty MORE than delivered.  Ava loves using it in the car and it's small size makes it fit easily and discretely on the backseat and then can fold back up for easy storage.  I have read other reviews that said the seat was too small but it seems my almost three year old should be able to use this for some time to come.  I like that I can stash it in a small tote and take it everywhere with us. 

Now I had also packed Ava's regular potty seat to be used in our vacation cabin.  It's a pretty standard seat that fits onto a larger toilet to well make the hole smaller so little butts don't fall in.  The problem though is that it doesn't fit well on elongated toilets without slipping around and not feeling sturdy.  Low and behold our cabin had elongated toilets and the dora seat wouldn't work.  So I ran down to the car and got the Kalencom Potette Plus or yelllow potty as Ava calls it.  It can be laid flat and fits snugly on larger toilets.  The gray rubber on the bottom of the legs keeps the seat from sliding and the legs also double as handles for the child to hold onto.  They are nice and thick too so that your child can hold onto them without touching a gross public toilet seat. 

Now my almost three year old has been potty trained for about a year now but hates public toilets.   In the last month she has used a handful of public toilets as long as she has her trusty potette plus.  In makes her feel safe and it works everywhere.  I could not have been happier with this travel potty.  We have used it everywhere and anywhere.  If I were to go back and start potty training over I would purchase this toilet seat only and none of the others.  I recommend it to all parents who are potty training or will be potty training soon. 

Sick as a dog....

What does that saying even mean.  I don't think I've ever known any dog to really get "sick".

Quick break to look that up to settle my own curiousity led me to find that it refers to when dogs literally vomit when something disagrees with them.  I guess in Britian (where it originates from) being sick means to vomit and feeling ill refers to a cold.  So if I looked at it that way it makes sense but not really in my case.  Hmmmm so maybe I'm not really sick as a dog after all but instead under the weather....uh oh...hahah there is another one.  Ok I looked that one up too and that one works.

Straight from medicinenet.com

Under the weather: Colloquial expression for sick or ill as, for example, to be under the weather with the flu. The phrase "under the weather" came from British sailing ships. When a sailor became ill he was confined below deck out of the weather, so it was said that he was under the weather.

So that settles it...I am not sick as a dog but more under the weather.  In fact Ava seemed to have picked something up from gymnastics last week and then I came down with it.  Now Aaron and Kate seems to be getting it.  Ava seems to be about 80% better so there's hope in that for the rest of us.  

Even though Ava and I felt like crap on Sunday we put on a brave face and went apple picking.  Ok well actually I figured that Ava really needed to nap and she hasn't "napped" since she was about 1.5.  My logic behind the trip was that Ava would nap either on the way there or back and would rest more in the car than at home.  It worked out well and she got a nice nap in and got to pick apples.  I made some apple dip the other night but we have only gotten through a few apples with that.  So I think we will be making an apple pie today or tomorrow to use up some more.  If I can find a few small jars I will make some small jars of pie to stash in the freezer for a later date.  If not I may just make a spare pie and freeze it.  Of course I have to make apple dumplings because everyone LOVES my apple dumplings.  If fact I have been told by my Mom, Uncle Doug, and Grandad that my apple dumplings taste like my Nanny's so that to me is quite the complement.  Nanny was German and German's know a thing or two about pastry.  Yummm apple dumplings...sounds like a good dessert for Sunday.

Now to get caught up on pictures...here are some from my cousin's son Collin's first birthday.  I didn't get as many as I had liked because my flash is broken and I haven't invested in a speedlite yet (maybe Christmas) so I could only really get them to turn out outside and it was a bit cold and rainy.  Darn September weather.

The birthday boy

 The kids went to the playground for a bit before the rain started.

 Ava enjoyed playing with her cousins

 I wish Ava hadn't pulled me away down to the water right after these because he started dancing and singing and it was so cute. 

 Hard to believe those "leggings" were pants last year.  Time for new clothes.

After the party we went to see baby Reece Aaron.  Aaron's sister had her second son on September 13th.  He was 8Ibs 13oz and 21 inches long.  Photos of baby Reece to come in a separate post :)

Last week Aaron was having a bad day so Ava and I decided to bake him a chocolate cake from scratch.  Yum this cake and icing were to die for.  Definitely my new go to chocolate layer cake and icing recipes.  

Ava loves to bake so I normally get things started by measuring everything out for her ahead of time.  This was I can tell her what to add and she feels like she is making it all by herself.

 Yum!!

 Watching her cakes rise

 Double Yum!!

 Ready to make the icing

 It spread like a dream

 We added fall leave sprinkles as a quick decorative touch.

 Snug as a bug in a rug..or well as a cake in a cake container

 While I was doing dishes Ava was "cleaning up" some spilled powdered sugar ;)

Well that's all for now.  There is lunch needed to be made, a laundry room floor needing to be mopped, and some Ava clothes needing folding.  I'll try to get back on this afternoon to catch up some more.

Wait quick recipe share then I'm off...

From the fine folks at Hershey

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe follows)

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
   
2. 2 Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
   
3. 3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.
   
   VARIATIONS:
   ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.
   
   CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.
   
   
   "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
   
   1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
   2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
   3 cups powdered sugar
   1/3 cup milk
   1 teaspoon vanilla extract
   
   Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
   Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

**Give it a try....it's super easy and comes out perfect....yum yum yum  Oh and most likely the ingredients are already in your pantry.