Yummy Apple Pie Bars

Mom let me have one of her Family Fun magazines the other day, and I found a very yummy recipe. I usually am not one for cooked apples, but for some reason I like this recipe. Maybe it was the icing on top. Anyway, while we were eating these, the thought came that they would make really good treats for lunches because they would freeze easily and they stay together well. We were able to just pick them up and eat them with our hands. Hope you like this recipe too:

(this is not my picture, but I think it looks a lot like the one I made)

Apple Pie Bars

Crust: (this recipe was fine, but I might try and use my own pie crust recipe next time. It was just hard transferring this crust to the pan. It tasted just fine.)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 egg
Milk (about 2/3 cup)

For the Filling:
1 3/4 cups cornflakes ( I used rice crispies because that's what I had)
8 cups peeled and sliced cooking apples ( I used my fuji apples that I just bought)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

For the topping:
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Step 1. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flour and salt. using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is crumbly. Separate the egg yolk and white, reserving both parts. Beat the yolk in a liquid measuring cup, then add enough milk to measure 2/3 cup an blend well. With a fork, stir together the yolk-milk mixture and flour mixture until the ingredients form a sticky dough. Halve the dough and flatten each half into a 3/4 inch thick disk. Cover the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate them until well chilled, at least 30 minutes.

Step 2. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour corn flakes into a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to lightly crush them.

Step 3. On a sheet of waxed paper, roll one portion of dough into a 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle. Transfer the dough to an ungreased 15 by 10 inch jelly roll pan. Sprinkle the crushed cereal over the dough, then layer on the apple slices.

Step 4. Roll out the remaining dough as in step 3. In a small bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg for the filling. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples, then lay the dough on top. Use the tines of a fork to seal the dough edges.

Step 5. In a small bowl, use a fork to beat the reserved egg white until foamy, then brush it over the dough. In another small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon for the topping and sprinkle it on the crust.

Step 6. Bake the pastry until lightly browned, about 50-55 minutes. Let it cool for an hour, then mix the confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla extract to make a glaze and drizzle it over the top. When the dish has completely cooled, cut it into bars and serve.

Samuel's writing

Samuel has taken to writing notes/letters now. Just a year ago, it was like pulling teeth to get him to write in his school journal. He was too worried that he didn't know how to spell words correctly. One day he stuck little notes on bedroom doors, walls, and the desk telling Aaron and I that he loved us and appreciated what we do for him. He came up to me today with this:

I like to run. I run with Frloun, Fedy and jocdy (Froylon, Freddy and Jacoby are friends from Ontario). we are super fast in fact we are the fastes one in our class. no one can bete us. So don't even trie. Noone can bete us. reale. it is turu I'm faster then my Dad because ones I raced my Dad befor. and I won

I thought this was cute and wanted to share!

Ellen and "WE"

Ellen has her own unique way of talking. As we leave the house you might hear her say, "Bye WE house!" or as we are driving down the road and see a white van that looks like ours, she'll say, "Dare's WE car!" I will try to correct her and say, "There's OUR car?" and she'll say, "Yes, dare's WE car!" I think its kind of cute now, but probably not in another year, so I will have to keep working on that.

Another time, we were at a friend's house for dinner. Ellen wanted to say the prayer and the mom was helping her. The mom said, "Thank you for the food." and Ellen said, "That THEE for the food." I was happy to hear that. We work really hard on trying to use the proper pronouns, and she had learned them. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but there was a smile on my face as I listened to her say her little prayer.

I got checks!

A while ago, I noticed I was running low on checks, but it was a very busy time in my life. We were moving = packing and unpacking, getting address change, getting ready to have a baby, having the baby, and adjusting to having a baby. Anyway, the last check came and went and I didn't have any new ones ordered. I remembered getting an add in the mail from Designer Checks and they looked really neat, plus they were a lot cheaper than ordering checks through the bank. I have had just plain boring checks for 8 years, and I wanted to do something a little different. Well they took about 3 weeks to come. Aaron kept wondering why it was taking so long for them to get here. I finally broke it to him. We were not getting just any ordinary checks we were getting these:



Yes, we were getting Lightening McQueen checks!!! No more plain, ordinary, boring checks. I told him this over the phone, and there was a pause. I guess I took him by surprise (he wasn't home when I had to order them, so I couldn't have asked him his opinion. Besides if I had asked his opinion, I know he would've wanted the BORING type of checks.) His reply was, "Tia...that seems so out of character for you!" Looking back, yes I was in a hurry, and I probably shouldn't have gotten 4 BOXES of these. I still would've gotten something like the precious moments, or a pretty landscape. But oh well, it's done! Aaron's embarrassed to use them. I told him he hardly ever uses checks anyway. Its always me paying the bills. He said, "Yeah, but the one time I need them...you mean I'm going to be paying my tithing on Lightening McQueen!!!" I told him that I think the bank will give him a few free counter checks, and that seemed to make him feel a little better. Maybe I'll have to order a box of plain, ordinary checks for Christmas!! So tell me...was I wrong in getting these?

Halloween + Preschool = FUN

Calista loves preschool. Sometimes I ask myself, "Why should I do preschool with her. She already knows everything she needs to know for Kindergarten?" But Calista loves it. She is always asking when she can do her learning. At first I thought it was because she liked to play on the Internet site, starfall.com. But I only let her do that once or twice a week. On the other days when I just want to spend time having her read books to me, she pleads with me, "Come on mom, just print off the papers where I practice writing my letters!"

Well this week, I've found something fun to do. Jacque came home from school one day with a really cute scarecrow and frankenstein, so we decided to make our own halloween crafts. We used Jacque's scarecrow as a pattern and made our own yesterday. (I don't have pictures of Jacque's yet. I'm not sure where she put it.)


I cut out Ellen's pieces and she helped glue them together. Then she colored her scarecrow with crayons.

This is Calista's scarecrow. She did most of the cutting. I would draw the shapes on the construction paper, and then she'd cut it out. I was surprised how well she followed the lines.

The girls had a lot of fun yesterday, so we did our own today. Calista wanted a pumpkin:

Samuel has really liked drawing lately. Every week he's been bringing home a new "How to Draw" book. One week it was horses, then cats, and this week it was funny people. I used the book to make this Frankenstein.

Ellen wanted a witch: (I actually did all of this one. Ellen didn't want to help, she just wanted it when she was done. This witch got to watch a movie with Ellen, and she took it around the house, teaching it to walk!)

A picture of all of them together:

Sarah and Ellen

Sarah had her two month check up today. She is 13lbs and 24.5 inches long! She's growing so well. She is definitely my easiest baby. She sleeps all night long and still sleeps good during the day. She loves to get attention and just smiles so big when someone gets down to talk to her. She is also cooing a lot which is so fun to listen too!

We got to go to a friend's house for lunch and playtime today. It was a lot of fun. On the way home, Ellen almost tripped over a rock, but since she was holding my hand, she didn't actually fall all the way down. She got up and said that she didn't like rocks. I told her it was good that we had rocks and we like rocks. She wasn't convinced. She said, "No, I don't like rocks." I told her if we didn't have rocks, then we wouldn't have roads and we'd have to walk in the dirt and mud. She still replied, "No! I don't like rocks." I told her that we do like rocks because they are pretty and we get to put them in our pockets. That seemed to do the trick. She said that she wanted to pick up some rocks. So we stopped and she picked one up. She started looking for her pockets, but I told her she didn't have any pockets. She said, "Yes I do!" and tried putting the rock where her zipper goes! With her pants, there isn't really a zipper there, but it opens like a zipper would. I just laughed at her. She tried to get the rock to stay there a few times and finally gave up on it.

Scripture Cookies

The kids came home from church on Sunday all excited because we were going to make Scripture Cookies for Family Home Evening. It sounded like fun to me, but we had to wait until last night to make them. It was fun to look up the scriptures and actually find the name of the ingredient! I didn't use the recipe listed because I didn't have all the ingredients. I've included both recipes down below:

Scripture Cookies
1 cup of : ____________ (Jeremiah 6:20)
1/2 cup of: ___________ (Psalms 55:21)
1 of: _________________ (Isaiah 10:14)
1 1/4 cup: ____________ (1 Kings 4:22)
1 tsp: Baking Powder
1/4 tsp: ______________ (Amos 4:5)
1/2 scant tsp: ________ (D&C 101:39)
1 cup: ________________ (D&C 89:17)
1 cup: Rice Krispies
1/2 cup: Coconut
1/2 cup: ______________ (1 Samuel 30:12)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together Jeremiah 6:20 ______ Psalms 55:21 ______ and Isaiah 10:14 ______. Add remaining ingredients and bake cookies for 12-15 minutes.


Emily's Cookies (the recipe I used)

2 cup of : ____________ (Jeremiah 6:20)
2/3 cup of: ___________ (Psalms 55:21)
2/3 cup of: shortening
2 of: _________________ (Isaiah 10:14)
3 1/2 cup: ____________ (1 Kings 4:22)
1 tsp: vanilla
1 tsp: ______________ (Amos 4:5)
1 tsp: ________ (D&C 101:39)
2 cup: ________________ (D&C 89:17)
1 cup: ______________ (1 Samuel 30:12)

Mix all but last two. When mixed well, add D&C 89:17 ______ and 1 Samuel 30:12 _____. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen.

After looking up the scriptures, you can check your answers at this blog:http://atkernsfam-puzzleanswers.blogspot.com/ But its more fun if you look up the scriptures first. Most of the answers are obvious. There was one that I might've messed up on (Amos 4:5). Have fun!