Unimpressive Pie

I thought I would let you in on a little secret. Fruit pie is EASY to make. Like, ridiculously easy! I say “unimpressive” pie, because once you realize how a simple fruit pie is made, you’ll never be impressed by one again. You’ll just think, “Well, I can do that!” Here is how you make a simple, unimpressive to those in the know, pie. (I realize I am revealing one of my secrets and now no one will be impressed when I bake a pie. But it is still tasty. If you want to be impressive, you may want to keep the recipe a secret.)

Pick a fruit. Blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries are super easy since they require no cutting- just wash them! Peaches work beautifully. You can try any fruit, but these 4 seem to work best to me. (For peaches, just wash and then cut them into smaller chunks that will cook quicker.)

Get a package of rolled pie crust. (They come in packs of two, and you’ll need both for your fruit pie. Pillsbury makes a nice one or the Kroger brand is good.)

About a cup of sugar to pour over your fruit.

About half a stick of butter.

Wash your fruit. If you need to cut it, do so. Put it in a bowl and pour about a half a cup to a cup of sugar over it. You can let it sit like this for 24 hours if you want, or go ahead and use it.

Unroll the first pie crust into your pie pan. Dump the fruit and sugar in. Cut pats of butter and place around in the pie. Put them wherever you like, just space them out. You can use as much or as little as you want. Unroll the second pie crust over the top of the pie. Roll the edges of the top crust over the edges of the bottom crust and press to the edge of the pie pan. Cut a few slits in the top of the pie crust.

Put your pie in the oven. (I usually bake mine at around 400 degrees. To keep the edges from getting too brown, you can take it out after 15 minutes and put aluminum foil strips around just the edges.) Bake until the top looks done.

That’s it. It is that easy. You can let it cool, put it in the fridge, or serve it hot. If you serve it hot out of the oven, you are going to have a lot of “juice” in your pie. The easy remedy is to cut one piece of pie (for the cook?!) and then either carefully drain by pouring straight from the pie into the sink, or you can use a small ladle to scoop the extra juice out. If you let your pie cool completely, you won’t have this problem- but I cannot resist pie straight from the oven, so I end up draining mine so we can eat it right away.

Now you know how unimpressive my simple fruit pie really is. It usually takes me longer to decide what fruit to use than it does in actual labor making the pie. Here are some really good fruit combos you should try:

Triple Berry (Blackberry, Raspberry, and Blueberry)

Blackberry Peach

Lemon Blueberry (Just squeeze a little lemon juice and put some lemon zest in your blueberry sugar mixture. Usually one lemon is plenty!)

Play with it and figure out what fruit you like best! And you can tell yourself it is semi-healthy since you made it with fresh fruit. (I know that is how I justify my second or third piece!)

Guess The Date!

For fun, we always guess the sex of the baby and the date the baby will be born. We spoiled one of those surprises this time. However, we can still guess the date! And this time, we decided we’d keep tabs for everyone to guess! I will get a prize for the winner (closest to the date he is born). If it is between two, we’ll draw a name! I’ll try to keep this updated so you know who has already guessed what.

Information you may find pertinent to your guess:

My due date was first determined to be August 1st, by dates.

Early ultrasounds gave me the dates of August 10th and August 12th. (Early ultrasounds were done between 5 and 7 weeks of pregnancy.

My official due date has been decided on as August 12th.

A woman is technically “due” two weeks before and after her due date.

37 weeks is considered “full term.”

Aidan was born at 37 weeks. Imogene was born at 35 weeks.

At 24 weeks, my perinatologist said Emery is big- both in height and weight. He thought that was due to incorrect dating. However, my due date was not changed because early ultrasounds are much more accurate than the later ones.

Guesses:

July 14th: Jessica

July 27th:  Lindsey

July 28th: Adams

August 1st: Elizabeth

August 2nd: Lisa (around 3 pm)

August 8th: Bonita

“What do you need for Emery?”

That is a question I have been getting a lot lately, since Emery’s arrival is getting closer! The short answer is: cloth diapers. However, since cloth diapering is very personal and not very many people are familiar with it, the short answer doesn’t seem to help much. For the long answer, you can check out the kid’s blog.

23 weeks

Vacation

The Beautiful Imogene

The Handsome Aidan

Aidan and I getting warmed up. I made the moo-moo I am wearing. It was not intended to be a moo-moo/maternity swim suit cover-up. It was intended to be a dress. I did not mess it up, it just didn’t turn out as I would have hoped. I’m glad I got some use out of it! If I had used a stretchy material and made it a few sizes smaller, it might have been the cute dress I thought it would be. However, I used cotton and made the size I wear, so it is a moo-moo.

The Pastor with the beautiful children

I am very glad we had the opportunity to go an a family vacation. We usually use our “off” time visiting family and friends that we live away from. Not that I don’t enjoy catching up with people, but it tends to rob us of ever getting real vacations. We have not been on an actual vacation in quite some time. We did spend the first half of our “off” week visiting family and friends. We did get the second half of the week to take a little family vacation to Tybee Island, Georgia. It has been nice. A mom’s work is never done, so even on vacation, I still have to do my usual “mom” work. However, The Pastor is around to help with some of my duties. So, while it has not been an “off” week for me, I have enjoyed this little vacation with my family.

Fluffy Butts

We have been slowly switching over to cloth diapers from disposables. With two in diapers, it can get expensive to buy diapers and wipes every month. Compound that cost with the fact that my babies have slightly sensitive butts, and it can really add up quickly. Cloth diapers seem like a perfect alternative for us. Plus, they are so cute and seem so much more comfortable on tiny tushies. I have also told Imogene, she has to quit wearing her diapers because her new baby brother will have to wear her diapers. I couldn’t tell her that with disposables. Plus, the cloth diapers feel wet to her and made her quickly aware of her bodily functions. She is now very well on her way out of the diapers. I am very proud of her progress. I have now tried several one size pocket style diapers and thought I would post my thoughts on each. We decided to switch the older two to the one size pocket diapers because they would have a greater weight span and would be easily used on each child. Emery will still require his own special newborn diapers until he gets big enough to fit in the one size diapers, but those can always be reused next time we need newborn diapers. (For anyone interested, I have a cloth diaper registry for Emery on nickisdiapers.com and jilliansdrawers.com.)

First up is this Rocky Mountain One Size Pocket. This diaper has the shortest rise of all the diapers we tried. The inside is colored suede cloth (the same material in a bumGenius 3.0 OS Pocket). The quality of the fabric of this diaper is not up to par with the others I tried. It also did not come with an insert. This diaper cost me the same as a bumGenius or Happy Heiney diaper, and fell short on delivering. I will say the snaps are great and I have no problem with leaking. However, the outer PUL seems very thin (you can see the insert through the diaper). If I had paid about $5 less for the diaper, I would have been happier with it. However, I felt a little ripped off with this diaper. I really wanted to like them because they come in lovely color combinations. Unfortunately, I do not like them enough to purchase another. I do not recommend this diaper unless you find a fantastic clearance deal and are aware you’re getting an inferior diaper.

Here is my Happy Heiney One Size Pocket. This is another example of a diaper I really expected to love that just fell short. This diaper has the tallest rise of all the diapers I tried. Unfortunately, it is also impossibly narrow for the chubby one (that’d be Aidan). It does fit Imogene perfectly and is now used as her primary nighttime diaper. I do like the contoured inserts for Happy Heineys. They are nice and wide. I’ve had no problems with leaking while Imogene was wearing this diaper. (Aidan is another story.) The inner is a nice thick fleece. It pills pretty bad after several washes. The main problem with this diaper (other than it only fitting one of my children, which defeats the purpose of buying one size diapers) is the aplix or velcro closure. It is very wide, which I thought would be fantastic, but that causes a problem. The problem with the wide velcro is that it warps in the dryer. After a couple wash and dry cycles (and I dry my diapers on low heat), the velcro no longer lays flat. You have to really work to smooth it out when putting it on the child and the laundry tabs will not stay closed for anything! Because the laundry tabs will not stay closed, the outer PUL has several places where the Velcro has snagged it in the wash. Overall, this diaper is not a good choice for us. The lime green, as you can see, is very lime! The pastor loathes the color of this diaper. I thought it would be fun, but apparently it is really made for night wear so the tots don’t get run over by a car.

Pictured above is a Blueberry One Size Pocket and a Swaddlebees Econappi. (The Blueberry is the cute cow print and the Econappi is the green.) These are basically the same diaper. They are made by the same company and have the same insert style. The  inside fabric is different. The Blueberry has a plush fleece fabric inside and the Econappi has a super soft organic velour inside. The inserts are the same style, but the Blueberry is microfleece and hemp where the Econappi is an organic combination. They are both extremely absorbent and very soft. I think the Econappi is my favorite of all the diapers I tried. The fit for both is fantastic. I will admit, that I was not impressed with the look of the Blueberry when it first came in, but it has exceeded my expectations. The snaps are wonderful. The company claims they can be used as an all in two, but when I tried that it didn’t work out at all. These are the most expensive of the diapers I tired, but are well worth it in my opinion. We will be buying more of these. 

The two pictured above are both bumGenius diapers. The first (the lighter green) is a bumGenius all in one organic diaper. It is the only non-pocket style we tried. I like it. It has snaps and is very absorbent. The inner layers are organic cotton, which are not as soft on the tush but work well. They do feel wet very quickly in this diaper. The only problem, and the reason the Pastor is against these, is that they take quite a while to dry. It wouldn’t really be a problem if we had several of these instead of just one. To dry completely in the dryer, this diaper takes 3 cycles. Now, I normally run 2 with my diapers. (I run one shorter cycle on low heat, remove all the exteriors and then run one cycle on medium heat.) After the second cycle, this diaper is not dry. One more makes them dry. I typically hang dry it the rest of the way dry. 

The second, darker green diaper above is a bumGenius 3.0 One Size Pocket. I like the fit of this diaper and I like the function. The main problem is the aplix. It is small and wears out very quickly. In the short time I have had this diaper, I have already seen more wear on it than I would expect to see after a year. The Velcro tabs are small, so they don’t warp- they just quit holding as well as they should. The laundry tabs occasionally come undone in the wash and have created several snags in the outer PUL. I am not a big fan of the suede cloth interior, but it isn”t a problem, just a matter of preference. If they could make this diaper with snaps, I’d be all over it. However, they don’t, so I won’t be buying more. 

These are the most recent addition to our stash. I got them on clothdiaperclearance.com for a great deal. They are Haute Pocket One Size Pockets. I got mostly firsts, but the two brown ones are seconds. The difference? The brown ones have 9 snaps across the front and the others have 11. This does mean that the brown ones do not fit Imo. The manufacturer of this diaper says the snap weight range is up to 30 pound, but Imogene is 35 pounds and they fit her. The rise is similar to the bumGenius. They have snaps and I love that. The interior of these is a super soft fleece. Seriously, the fleece is SO soft! The pocket opening gapes a little bit and I wish it closed better, but I have had no problems with them. Because the outer PUL is breathable (and slightly stretchy) they are not good night time diapers. When the kids wake up in the morning after wearing this diaper, even with a doubler, their pj bottoms are damp. They don’t leak, but after 12 hours at night, they do let some moisture out. These are great daytime diapers. I really do like them. So, if you can get a few before they are all gone, do it!

And The Results Are In

I’m going to go ahead and warn you, this may be to much information for you!

I had an appointment yesterday with my regular OBGYN as well as with my perinatologist. Everything is going perfectly so far with this pregnancy. The baby is doing well and I am doing well.
I’m sure you’ve heard by now that baby number 3 is a boy! We are super excited. (We’d be excited either way!) He was very willing to show us his man parts, although hid his face the entire time! So, while we are certain he is a boy, we are not sure how many eyes he has. We’ll have another ultrasound in 5 weeks to see how he is doing! We were informed that there is little reason to think that I will not be able to make it to at least 37 weeks (maybe even a little longer). I may go into labor before then, but since they have successfully stopped that before, they are confident that they could do it again. So, we will hopefully make it to at least the last week of July!
In other, medical, news, I am even more of an anomaly than they previously thought. If you don”t care for medical details, you should probably stop reading here. After I had Aidan, I was informed that I had a unicornuate uterus. They told me at that time that I did have a remnant horn on the right. This explained why my babies are born early. It is also the reason I am having to see a perinatologist with this baby. They just weren’t quite sure what to expect because my anomaly is so rare. Well, at my ultrasound yesterday, we were given a bit more news related to my anomaly. It turns out, the right remnant horn is not a remnant horn at all, but rather an entire functioning uterus with a cervix and all. It does connect. So, I actually have two uteri. We are not sure if the right one “works” for child bearing purposes, since I have only gotten pregnant in the left one so far. It is rather interesting, though! Hopefully I will not end up in any medical textbooks!

An Update

I’m so lame. It has been forever since I posted and all I can come up with for a title is “An Update.” Lame, really lame!

I did replace my sewing machine. He just wouldn’t behave, so it was time for us to part ways. He is still in my house, just not being used. If anyone needs a basic sewing machine and you don’t feel the need to use it on a daily basis, he’s up for grabs. The pastor wants me to keep it for Imogene, but seriously, it will be a long while before that child needs a sewing machine! I bought a Babylock and I love it! It is the smoothest, quietest sewing machine ever! It could probably sew an entire outfit all by itself without any help from me! It is fabulous!

The church is going. We found a better place to meet at the beginning of the year, but it is also temporary. We are meeting at Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Park. They have a nice meeting hall facility there that we rent. Unfortunately, we cannot seem to rent it every single Sunday, because some are already booked. So, we really do need something a little more stable. We have had several visitors since we’ve moved out there. It is much more appealing to outsiders than meeting in someone’s living room. We still need your prayers. We are so busy all the time! I still think a 10 day week is in order!

The kids are getting bigger and bigger. Aidan has finally decided to swallow his pride and try to walk. He falls a lot. He staggers around like a drunk man and tries to do so at top speed. He might have more luck if he didn’t insist on running, but that just isn’t his style. He also talks a lot more, although his enunciation is terrible. But you can usually figure out what he was intending to say.

Imogene’s vocabulary is always growing and changing. She can hold a conversation pretty well, now. Although she does like to talk about strange things. She is very excited about the new baby and is very insistent that she is having a sister! We are finding out the sex this time around, so we’ll hopefully know in a little over a week if she is right.

I am having to see a perinatologist for this pregnancy. I have my first visit and ultrasound with them in a little over a week. Nothing is too terribly wrong, they just want to monitor me closely since I am an anomaly. You always knew I was different, huh? So, they’ve labeled me high risk. The good part of it all is the super duper ultrasounds that come with being high risk. It is always fun to get to see the baby before the big day!

As The Pastor and I plan camp, I realize I am getting older and loosing my cool. I know. When you become a mom, your cool factor plummets. Now, I have trouble figuring out is something is indeed as cool as I think it is or if I am just weird. Usually, I find that I am just weird. Age has not changed my uniqueness in the least. I still find that I am one of a kind. But I do have to run things by the youth to ask if they are cool or not. I am just getting old. (Mom, that makes you REALLY old!)

I need to go. Adam and the kids are waiting on me at the bakery around the corner for cookies! Yeah! Cookies! Joey and I are excited about that! (Joey is the baby’s nickname until birth!) That remind me, to let you all know, since we are being so kind as to tell you if we are having a boy or girl, we are not discussing names with you. We know we have weird taste and we will just surprise you with the fantastic chosen name when you can see our cute little bundle of joy! If you ask, we’ll probably tell you we don’t know yet, just so we’re not rude. But know, we are not discussing this for a reason! (To be honest, it was the only way I could convince the pastor to find out the sex. I had to promise him we could keep the name top secret until the baby is out.) Sorry to bum you out. If you’d like, you can just assume is will be Josephine if its a girl and Joseph if its a boy!

I made the pajama pants these cute kids are wrestling in! They are wrestling around in a pile of fabric that was waiting to be washed! I got such a good deal on it at Joann’s!

What Have You Been Up To Lately?

I’ve taken up alligator wrestling. If I can raise two toddlers, I can certainly wrestle an alligator, right? Okay, so I am joking. Although, did you know that there are only two kinds of alligators according to Zoo Books? They say there is an American Alligator and an Asian Alligator.

So, what have I really been up to? Well, I’ve been sleeping as much as I can with two toddlers. I have been sick most of the time, although I’m surviving. In 2 to 4 weeks, this stage will pass and I will be able to eat normally again! Yipee! (Those of you not in the “know”: A urine test, 2 blood tests, and 3 ultrasounds confirm that we are expecting our third baby- to be arriving sometime at the end of July 2009- I hope the end of July and not sooner.)

The kids are growing very fast! They are both learning more and more each day. It really is surprising the things they learn. It is hard to believe that they are both so big already. Imogene is pretty funny. Today she thinks there is a little monkey after her to steal her nose. (I did, sort of, perpetuate this belief at first. It was funny. Now she needs her Daddy to be on his guard to cut the monkey’s tail off it he comes around.)

We had a good Christmas. Imogene learned a few Christmas songs- well, parts of them. Aidan was actually interested in what was going on this year. They had fun, which made it fun for us.

I must admit, I did not get my Christmas gifts finished. I was sewing some things and they didn’t get done in time. My sewing machine and I have been fighting. It is on the verge of getting replaced. So, it really should start minding its P’s and Q’s.

Life Sure Moves Quickly When You’re Tired

I know I have not updated very much since moving back East. Sorry about that. Life is crazy and hectic. I am doing all I can to maintain my real life relationships. Sorry to say my virtual relationships have suffered. A girl has to have priorities, right?

As a mother, I am tired. My children are doing well and fabulous, though. You can check out their blog for cute photos and such! Imogene is getting so big. She and I have the funniest conversations. She is trying to better understand her world and I am doing my best to help her understand.

We did have a funny incident recently with a snake skin. We saw a very large snake skin outside our little house. I pointed it out because I knew the Pastor would be scared. (He is so scared of snakes.) As a joke, later that night when he was going to take out the trash, I said, “Watch out for the big snake!” Of course, it did freak him out a bit. But Imogene really got concerned about the “sswake.” She said, “Oh no! A swake get a Daddy!” I told her the snake was not going to get her Daddy. She replied, “Oh no! A swake get I-gene!” (She refers to herself as I-gene. Please continue to call her Imogene. She will eventually learn to say her name as long as people don’t reinforce her cute mispronouncing.) I told her the snake would not get her, I was simply joking with her Daddy about the snake to try to scare him! She then got it in her head that the snake was going to come eat her. She jumped up on the couch and started screaming, “Oh no! A swake eat I-gene! Oh no!” The only thing I could think to do was to go ask the snake if it wanted to eat Imogene. She would not listen when I told her snakes don’t eat people- well, at least I doubted this snake would eat her. So, out we went to look at the snake skin and look for the snake. This part, she did not find scary at all. When we could not find the snake (thank heavens!) I told her he must be in the woods with his family doing snaky things. She asked “What swaky sings?” I told her, “Well, like… slithering around and looking for nice bugs, lizards, mice, birds, and other small animals to eat.” That was fine with her. She had no compassion for the things the snake would eat- just so long as she was not on the menu.

Aidan is getting big. He just celebrated his first birthday. (And by “just,” I mean “over a month ago.”) His first birthday really snuck up on me. I kept crying trying tp pick his first birthday card from me and the Pastor, so the Pastor had to pick one out. He is just so big! He is getting around really well, although not yet walking (please don’t rush him!). He is also starting to talk. He can say mama, dada, bye-bye, hi, and no. He is working on others. I can get him to mimic me at times, but he doesn’t really know what he is saying. He is very much a Momma’s boy and it drives his Daddy nuts! Although, he will only let the Pastor put him to bed these days! If only I meant his bed when I said to bed. Oh well. He’ll move out of my bed before college at least. He is still a happy little breastfed baby. We’ll probably be working away from that in the coming weeks.

I’m not sure how things are going with the church. It is really hard to gauge how you’re doing on a church restart. Numbers don’t mean much of anything at this stage. Money is only what we use to keep the ministry going. I think we are making a difference. I think things are going alright. They could be going better. Of course, if you ask me, things could always be better. I am always trying to improve and revamp and move forward. Keep praying for us. We need it. We really need an extra couple days in the week. Anyone up for a ten day week? I guess this is church related, and I really feel like I can share this with the world. I am having to overcome big, personal hurdles in this church restarting/planting business. I am naturally not inclined to make friends. I am naturally very social while holding people at a safe distance. I am slightly agoraphobic and do have panic attacks from time to time about meeting new people or being in settings that I cannot control. A lot of church planting is about building relationships with many people. I am finding this increasing difficult for me to do. My aversions make me a wonderful asset in existing churches when determining what is or is not visitor friendly. But in this new world of going out to meet new people, I am poorly equipped. I am trying, but I am finding it increasingly difficult. I don’t just make friends. I’ve never been that kind of girl. I know, you’re thinking “Wow. I’ve never met an agoraphobic pastor’s wife.” I know. Pray for me on this.

The situation I asked you guys (and beautiful gals) to pray with me about last time is still not resolved, but it is looking promising. We have had to come to the realization that we are not right for everyone and not everyone will want to come with us on this next leg of the journey. While it is easy to say that for those theoretical people out there we have yet to meet, it is difficult to say it about those that have always been a close part of our fellowship. I have a vision. We (the Pastor and I) have always had a vision for Faith Methodist Church. I would like for people to be all on board with the vision- but not everyone will be. That doesn’t make them wrong. That doesn’t make me right for everyone.

I have made some things lately, I just haven’t taken pictures of them. I made an awesome bulletin board for the Pastor’s 5th grade class. I have made hooter hider sets (hootys, butties, burpies, and diaper clutches) for Jesse & Steven and Janna & Brian. I made Imogene a bag for her Gigi doll. (The name on the box said the doll’s name was Genevieve. Of course Imogene could not say that, so we call her Gigi.) I also made myself a pink dress. I like it. It is cute. I’ll get the Pastor to take a picture of me wearing it and post it some other time.

This is the closest thing to a family picture in the recent days. Well, I think Marshall took one of all of us, but I don’t have it yet. So, here’s my adorable little family.