Fall Festival

I went on a field trip to Ft. Worth with my Aca Deca kiddos yesterday morning, and Will and Daddy stayed home and played HARD. By the time I got home at 5:15, Will was completely conked out. We had to wake him up, though, because my school's fall festival was last night. Roused my sleepy boy, got him dressed (with major protest) in his costume, and drove to Grandma and Granddad's for dinner before we all headed over to the carnival.

We had gone to the carnival last year, but this year, Will wasn't so sure about it. He moped around for a while before he finally decided he was having fun. By the time we were ready to leave, Will wasn't. He was only consoled by the prospect of cake and ice cream back at Grandma's.

Here are some pictures from the night:


My little firefighter in front of the school bus


He played "Pin the Bowtie on the Ghost" - no blindfold for the little guys!


Will is still not so sure about the carnival at this point


That changed when he threw a strike in bowling and got to pick three pieces of candy for himself


We ran into Will's friend Jack while we were there. They refused to pose together.


Will took the longest turn at ring toss EVAR.



Walking back out to the car with Grandma and Grandad. He had a blast (and slept late on Sunday to boot!)

Apple Cake

Will has turned into quite the baker. This morning, he helped me make pancakes for breakfast, and this evening, he helped me bake a cake from my great-grandmother's recipe.

My parents went on vacation through New England, and on the way back through Virginia, they stopped at an apple orchard. We have more apples than we'll eat, so I dug through my recipe box, found this old recipe my mom had written down for me, and we got to work. My mom hasn't even made this cake before, so chances are, this was the first time in fifty years or so anyone has made it.

I didn't get any pictures of the prep because I was too busy keeping Will's fingers away from my knife, but here is the finished result:

Lovely chunks of apple throughout





Will's first tentative taste


Hey, Mikey - he likes it!



A thumbs up from the master baker


For those of you interested, here's the recipe

Grandma Gill's Fresh Apple Cake

4 c. chopped, peeled cooking apples (I used Golden Delicious)
2 c. sugar
Mix in a large bowl and let stand.

After 15 minutes, add

1 c. oil
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. pecans, if desired (we omitted these)

Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 350 degrees from 1 hr, 15 minutes (I think it could have come out 5 minutes earlier and been fine)

Good recipe, although as we sampled it, we started trying to think of variations on it - brown sugar vs. white, caramelized apples, adding other fruit (cherries, maybe?), etc.