Jonamac Orchards Apple Picking

Yesterday was the first day of the fall season. After living in Boston for four years, fall became my favorite season of the year because I loved the kaleidoscope of colors, the cooler temperatures, and, most importantly, the flavors! I loved how the season was filled with hot chocolates, apples, pumpkin, cinnamon sugar, and butter. Now that we are in Chicago and the weather is becoming more fall-like (really though, what's summer weather in Chicago because I missed it), I find myself in that familiar place of wanting long walks outside and baking anything and everything with apples. 

This past weekend we took the girls to experience a quintessential fall activity: apple picking! I had been researching different orchards beforehand and on Sunday decided we would be visiting Jonomac Orchard. This orchard was close to an hour and a half from home, but it seemed to offer the most bang for the buck and I liked that they didn't charge a per person rate for the apple picking. 

We bought a half peck ($13 for about 5 lbs of apple) and went to town picking Golden Delicious, Ruby Jon, and Jonathan apples. The girls had so much fun (we adults did, too) and I couldn't get over how cute they looked picking apples. Little things like this make me so happy we are in Chicago and able to give the girls such unique experiences. The best part of this experience was being able to eat the apples right then and there. We tried all three varieties and Cati determined "delicious golden" was her favorite. 

After apple picking, the girls played in the huge Barnyard that had slides, haystacks you could walk on, a mini maze, a corn shed, and tricycles. Then, we had the crazy idea of doing the corn maze. This was fun at first, but then we couldn't figure out how to get out and our anxiety must have trickled down to the girls because Elina started asking for home and Cati started saying her legs wee hurting. The funny part is that our anxiety was due to wanting to get out before the girls started complaining and here we were instigating that! It was still fun though, but because it took us so long to figure out the first half, we didn't get to do the second half. 

Before we left I knew I had to get us apple cider donuts. The line was out the door by 1pm but it moved quickly. Everyone loved the donuts. I also bought a slice of apple pie and I wish I would have bought more as that pie had the best crust I have ever tasted. 

It was such a great experience. The girls loved it and Cati has already asked if we could go back this weekend. We'll definitely be making another trip before the picking season ends in November. 

See? Adults had fun, too!

Jonamac Orchard is located at 19412 Shabbona Road in Malta, IL. A half peck (about 5lbs) of apples is $13 and a full peck is $26. A half dozen donuts is $4.50, a dozen donuts is $7.95, slices of apple pie are $2.75, and a full apple pie is $12.95. Corn maze and barnyard admission is $10 for kids (2 and under are free) and $8 for adults. The orchard accepts credit cards, but not American Express and all the bathrooms are port-a-potties (Elina refused to use these bathrooms). My advice would be to try to get there early as it's less busy and the lines are shorter. However, as an adult it seems like a fun place to go later because of the live music and wine tastings. For more information visit their website http://www.jonamacorchard.com/

Follow me on Pinterest @steppystar to see what I plan on baking with these apples. Also, give a follow on Facebook and Instagram @thecookierunner to see more about my Chicago adventures!

Merry Christmas!

From my family to yours: I hope you have a great holiday celebrating with those you love and stuffing your face with those foods you love.

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First Day of School

My lovelies are in school! I can't believe I have two kids in school now. It's been quite an adjustment for everyone, especially Elina, but things have been getting better and better each day. I didn't realize how attached Elina was to Cati until school started so we've used that attachment to help Elina transition better to being in school. This involves waking up extra early to get the girls to school when the toddlers and preschoolers are in the same room, but the earlier wake up has been worth it because it means less tears for Elina. I'm already looking forward to the end of the school year just so I can go back and compare how much my girls have grown in nine months.

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A Little Life Update

Nearly a month ago I posted this recipe for Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies. My intention behind the post was to get back into the groove of blogging. You know what happened after that? Cati got really sick and was hospitalized with pneumonia. To make matters worse, Elina got sick and developed bronchiolitis. Then, I got sick and then everyone got sick again. At one point, the three of us were on antibiotics. The past month has been so stressful because all the colds coincided with the end of the spring semester for me so I had a lot of fun working on my finals while cuddling in a hospital bed with Cati. 2013 is kicking our butts in the health department and I feel like I need a perspective change/adjustment. In the grand scheme of things my girls are healthy. There isn't anything chronic or debilitating, but I still have my moments of "why me?" and "can't we catch a break?" Cati's hospitalization has made me so paranoid of every sniffly nose and cough. My hope is that once school is over (next week!) we'll get a break from all the colds. I want healthy, happy, sleep-through-the-night kids again.

The big news around here is that we'll be moving to Chicago in July 2014!! Alex matched there for fellowship and we are all very excited. Half my family is up there so I am looking forward to reconnecting with them. It's going to be interesting moving up there with the girls and dogs, but we'll make the best of it, especially the cold! So if you are from Chicago, please let me know about things to do and child-friendly places to live in Chicago.

Other than that, things have been moving along steadily. Trying to make the best of everything and trying to enjoy the girls. Hopefully we are done with colds and hospitalizations and surprise expenses for the year. I haven't baked in a long time so please share recipes too!

Blue Velvet Cupcakes

For her third birthday Cati requested blue cupcakes with M&Ms. I thought of making plain vanilla cupcakes with blue food coloring but I remembered coming across this Blue Velvet cupcake recipe. The cupcakes came out just as requested and even had a hint of chocolaty flavor to them. My only regret was not having more blue food coloring to give the cupcakes more of a rich blue color.

Blue Velvet Mini-Cupcakes
Source: amyBITES
Yields about 4 dozen mini-cupcakes (halving the recipe creates about 12 standard cupcakes)

2½ cups sifted cake flour
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 ounces blue food coloring or color of choice
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350. F. Prepare four mini-cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Beat in eggs one at a time. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk. Beat in food coloring and vinegar, then add vanilla.

Using a Tablespoon or small cookie scoop, distribute batter among all mini-cupcake cups. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 pound confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese and butter. Beat in confectioners’ sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla.

Fun & Fit: February

February was a great month for fitness events. I started the month with 5K Foam Fest, which was an obstacle run but with lots and lots of foam. After doing Superhero Scramble in January alone and meeting people along the course, I wasn't nervous about doing this run on my own. Foam Fest was the almost the opposite of Superhero Scramble because it was so much more laid back, all the obstacles were manageable, and there were no consequences for not completing an obstacle. And the foam. There was so much of it. My only complaint is that I wanted more obstacles!

The day after Foam Fest I did a 5K, 5K for the Kids. The best part about this run was going with Cati. She is always asking when the next race is and gets pretty upset when I go for runs without her, so I knew that I was overdue for taking her to a run with me. This was probably the best run to do with her too because there was music, a bounce house, free face painting, and toddler attention-grabbing snacks. It's been exactly a month since that run and she still asks me if I remember the race with the face painting. Doing 3:1 intervals while pushing Cati in the stroller, my time was 32:38.

The last run of the month was, by far, the best: Disney's Princess Half Marathon. We drove up to Orlando the Friday before the run, went to expo on that Saturday, and then I ran my heart out Sunday morning. Some people had complained about the expo being really packed on Friday so I am happy we went on Saturday because it was less crowded and overwhelming.  Prior to the race I had read of the importance of corral placement in these runs because most of the people in the first few corrals are running for time and, therefore, won't stop for pictures. Whereas people in the later corrals do stop for pictures, creating longer lines. My goal for expo was to get my corral changed from G (corrals went up to H) to anything better than G. I was so happy that my ING half marathon time of 2:30 was enough to get me bumped up to corral B.

I'm a princess!

Meeting Jeff Galloway

The day of the run was really exciting. Disney goes out of their way to create a truly unique and enjoyable event. The course was great; running through the parks and Cinderella's castle will forever be a favorite memory of mine. Entertainment on the course was fantastic with all the characters and music. Those 13.1 miles didn't feel like 13.1 miles when all was said and done. I had told myself that I would stop for pictures with Belle, Jasmine, Ariel, and Aurora/Sleeping Beauty but I only made one stop because I didn't see any of the other princesses on the course. Even with a five-minute stop for a picture with Belle and two bathroom breaks I managed to beat my ING time and finished this half marathon in 2:25.

The funny story with my time is that Alex was tracking me and Disney estimated me finishing at a certain time, but I finished sooner than expected. By the time Alex, the girls, and my aunt were settled in in the cheering stands, ready to cheer for me based on the estimated time, he got a text  message saying that I had already finished. So they may or may not have seen me actually cross the finish line.

The one thing I kept saying after the run was that a Disney run is the way to go, in terms of overall experience, for a first half marathon. The runs are pricey but the experience is great and the energy pumps you up for a great run.

This month I have a 5K and another half marathon lined up. Have I told you how much I love running?

Three.

It's an hour past Cati's birthday, February 14. My oldest "baby" has turned three and I find myself struggling with time. I want it to freeze, speed up, jump forward, jump backward. More than anything, I just want to feel like it's not slipping past me. I can still remember the day of Cati's birth and can still feel the raw pain of those first few months with her. I remember the joy I felt when she rolled for the first time, spoke for the first time, walked for the first time. I have all these fragments, these memories, that I can vividly recall and yet years have passed by and I am still left numb with the sensation that I missed something. Or worse, I did not enjoy something enough. The older my children get, the more bittersweet the milestone will be. Birthdays are those twilight days where one foot is stuck in the past and the other foot is ready to approach the future. On Cati's third birthday I looked at pictures from the past year. My, how she's changed and grown! I also, however, began to wonder about the future; what changes await us? How much will she change in the year to come? And again, time, you tricky thing. You've created a day where I struggle with staying present, with simply enjoying and celebrating not just a birthday but a birthgiving day.

Happy third birthday sweet Catarina. The past three years with you have been a beautiful journey, from newbornness to unprompted I love yous. Please forgive your mom for making a wonderful thing like your birthday this profound, philosophical event. Here's to continuing this journey together and to lots of cake along the way.

Austin Trip

We flew out to Austin December 6th. Following a stressful week at school, I was so excited about being able to take a break and visit some place new. It was just the girls and me on this trip and, if I knew then what I know now, I don't think I would have gone through with the trip.

The plan was to visit Austin in October with Alex but things got complicated and I was afraid I would be even more stressed out going on a trip like this in the middle of the semester so the trip was postponed to December. I don't know what I was thinking when I booked the trip, but the reality of having to entertain two mobile and short attention spanned children on a plane and be the only adult they feel comfortable with for close to a week, did not sink in. The weekend before the trip was when I became nervous. The morning of the trip I was an anxious mess. Timing was bad and there was no one available to take us to the airport. With the help of so many kind strangers, I managed to get two kids, a stroller, a big piece of luggage, a duffle bag, and four small bags checked in and on the flight to Austin.

When we got to the terminal I went into one of the stores with the girls and let Cati pick out something for Elina and herself. Elina got a blue stuffed teddy bear and Cati picked out a Crayola backpack full of crayons, markers, chalk, and paper. I will forever be thanking Cati for this choice because that backpack was all we needed on the flight to Austin. Well, that and lots of snacks. We had a row to ourselves (no one wanted to sit next to us!) so once the seatbelt sign went off, girls were free to crawl and walk around out little row. I tried to treat the three-hour flight like we were playing at home, just in a much more confined space.

My dad surprised us at the Austin airport and my sister drove us home. For six days, my sister had three car seats in the back of her car. We did as much as we could sanely do and my girls took turns being cranky whenever there was a car ride. We spent the last two days there just hanging out at the house because I could not bring myself to another car ride.

While there, we visited The Capital and walked around the downtown area. We visited Pioneer Farms and ate at The Salt Lick (delicious!!!). We ran Color Me Rad and had a girls night out. I got to cuddle with my niece and see how my girls interacted with their cousin.

It was so much fun but so exhausting. Getting the girls to sleep in a new environment is always fun and for the three of the nights I slept with Cati and the other three nights I slept in an inflatable bed in the girls' room. Elina woke up each morning crying like a banshee (she was the house's alarm clock). The girls wanted to be with no one other than me and my dad would joke around and call them my shadow. The last two days were particularly rough because that's when Elina started teething so she was even  clingier and, in general, my patience as the parent doing everything was running dangerously low.

I was nervous again the day of the flight back. Luckily, the flight back had more kids so I didn't feel as bad if my girls acted up. I had more help from strangers and was soon on my way home. When I spoke to Alex that day he asked if I missed him or if I just missed the help. The truth was, I missed both and I missed that feeling of being able to walk away knowing my daughters wouldn't cry out for me and that feeling of having someone else feel the responsibility of parenting this children as much as I do. I missed him having my back and I felt so lucky I got to come home to this amazing man my daughters felt so comfortable around.

The flight back was just as smooth as the flight to Austin. We didn't even need the Crayola backpack on the flight back because the girls were more entertained with playing with each other and eating snacks. The girls did, however, pass out as soon as we were in the car driving home.

What's funny or sad or ironic to me is how quickly we can step back into the old roles and routines of everyday life. I was happy to be home but within hours of being home I was already stepping back into the frazzled-ness that I feel characterizes me at the moment. Again, the trip was great and I am so happy we survived, but I think I will be waiting a long, long, long time before I travel by myself with the girls again.

And after all that has been said, here are pictures from our memorable trip to Austin, Texas:

Flying to Austin

At Home & Out and About

The Capital

Pioneer Farms

The Salt Lick

Flying Home

Again, it's feels so good to be home. I love my family and am so thankful for all the time I got to spend with them, but there's no place like home. I think even the girls were starting to miss home. I was afraid they would be thrown off, but even they have gone back to their roles and I can happily report that there has been no banshee crying here.