Noah Blake: 17 months

My baby (waaaa!) is almost 17 months old so I thought he deserved a little update. This boy surprises me every day with new things he does and says. Yes, says! I almost never believed parents when they said their one-year-old was talking. All babies babble to some extent and I have always been very critical of believing it is actually words until I'm sure. This time I am VERY sure my baby is talking. Here is a list of the words that I know he says and uses them in correct ways:

Light (points to it, says the word when it turns on)
On (flips a switch and then says "on")
Off (ditto)
Juice (if I give him water he cries for juice - ah!!)
Cheese
Mama
Dada
Papa
Nana
Roro (says this when talking on the phone!)
Dewey (says this very clearly when he sees the dog)
Shoes
Touch
Ball
Up
Down
Book
All Done
Amen

And there is probably some others that I can't think of right now. He loves to run and the boy has no boundaries! When I took the girls outside at this age they would just calmly stay on the sidewalk or driveway but this boy will run wherever the whim takes him!! He is definitely a boy, very interested in hitting his sisters (and sometimes mommy!) which we are working on with him! He is also my most snuggly baby at this age. He will lay his head on your shoulder to rest for a few minutes (which the girls NEVER did), especially if he is being held by his daddy! He definitely gravitates to the male crowd and loves to hang out and do things with his daddy!!

He is still nursing before naps and bed (and during the night). I don't know how long we'll go on but I don't mind it and he still enjoys it and that's what matters. I was always pregnant by this point with the other two kids so I am enjoying the freedom to breastfeed as long as we want without having a pregnancy interfere with that.

He is a joy and a delight . . . a precious and precocious baby boy . . . who is really turning more into a boy than a baby these days!!

Last week = more sick days

Yep, that's where I've been. Taking care of more sick kids. Except this time the good news is that along with the cold all the kids (and I) got, Abigail did not get an ear infection. Hooray!! I was thrilled. :)

On top of that I participated in a garage sale at my church on Saturday. It took every waking moment to price and prepare for that. I made a little money so I suppose it was worth it. Pictures to come.

Everyone is on the mend and we're back to a regular schedule today . . . swimming lessons, school, and a dinner fundraiser.

Preschool at home

That's right. You heard it here. We're "preschooling" at home. Feels like a big deal to me since it seems like everyone I know sends their child to preschool (in this part of the country anyway, not as much where I'm from). Anyway, I wanted to write a little post as to the "why" of this endeavor.

Here are some answers to frequently (or not) asked questions.

1. I'm at home.

My number one reason of wanting to keep Abigail home for preschool this year is that I'm at home. Very simple. I feel like our children's lives with us are so limited in the grand scheme of things, especially these toddler and preschool years. I'm home and I desire to be pouring myself into my children during this time so why would I send her away 1/2 day for 3 days a week?

2. I am interested (gasp!) in homeschooling.

I was public schooled and Andrew was homeschooled. We still don't know what we're doing next year. We have a while to decide. It really depends on which parent you ask and when you ask us. In all honesty, I'm probably 60-40% in favor of homeschooling for Kindergarten and Andrew is probably 60-40% in favor of public school for Kindergarten. Neither of us feels incredibly strongly and I think we'd both eagerly support whatever decision is made.When we know, we'll let you know! We both see both sides of the issue and all the benefits and downfalls of both and we're weighing the best option of our family.

3. Preschool's expensive!!

Not that we wouldn't try to afford it if we really felt it was necessary but it would severely limit our budget. We're able to put both Elsie and Abigail into gymnastics and ballet and we couldn't do this if we were paying for a preschool education.

4. Learning what she already knows.

I've been around a few preschools in my day and so I have a pretty good idea of what she's going to learn. This girl knew her alphabet before she was 2 and knows both Capitol and Lowercase letters. She can count to about 60, recognizes numbers up to 20, can do simple math, and is starting to READ! I'm not saying this all to brag (ok, only a little bit) but to say that since I'm at home with her, and know her well, I can continue to guide her into learning new things and not things she already knows that is mandated by a curriculum structure.

That's all for now. I get asked CONSTANTLY from random strangers about where she goes to school and what grade she's in (yes, I know she looks like she's 6 or 7 but she's 4!!!!). So it always takes a while to explain that she's not in school . . . then the mommy guilt starts on me. Yes I feel like I'm doing the best thing for her and our whole family but going against the grain is never easy for me to do, at least publicly. Those of you who know us well know that we've chosen an "against the grain" path for our kids starting from their very first moments of air-breathing life, which meant no drugs for me during labor. It's continued from there! I feel that this fits right in. :)

Gift of helpfulness: Abigail

This girl is blessed with the gift of helpfulness. She'll even run up to me in the kitchen and say, "Mama is there anything I can do to help you with dinner?" Boy, I sure hope that lasts through the teenage years! :)

She can be a little TOO helpful at times but I still try to always applaud her spirit.

Last week = sick days

Abigail has really been struggling. Each cold she has gotten since July 1 (which would be 3) has turned into a nasty ear infection. It seems like each one keeps getting worse.

On Tuesday the two little kids started getting colds but it wasn't bad. Then on Wednesday Abigail started with a runny nose. In the middle of the night she vomited 3 times (as well as having cold symptoms) so by mid-morning on Thursday, I decided to take her in to the doctor.

(So blessed and thankful that my mother-in-law could come and babysit the little two and feed them lunch. I couldn't imagine having to bring them as well.)

Our doctor didn't have any open appointments (boo!) so I took her to the Urgent Care.

She felt so miserable!!

See?!




This time, not only did she have an ear infection, she had an infection in both ears and one ear drum was almost ready to burst! Wow! I have had that happen to me and the pain is extreme. I remember!

We got her on another antibiotic (her 3rd since July 1) and headed home to rest. She didn't bounce back from this one immediately either. It has taken several more days but she's finally on the mend now.

It's been crazy! Crazy pain for her and crazy sleepless nights for her dad and me. We are going to try an alternative allergy treatment at our doctors to help her with this chronic problem (we are thinking it is food allergy related). If that doesn't work, I would imagine we'll consider tubes for her ears.

So . . . that's what we've been doing. I'm hoping for a few weeks of health here before/if the next round hits us.

I'm trying not to let this get me uptight and picky about her getting sick but it is bound to happen. For my other kids, a cold is no big deal. They can catch one and have a runny nose for a few days and then feel better. But for Abigail these are turning into nasty infections that really knock her out so we'll be sanitizing for a while at least, to just give her body a break!!

Three wolf moon

My husband is not one to pick out his own clothes. He usually tells me or another family member that he needs something and then it will appear for him! haha! Anyway, I was surprised when he told me that he'd ordered a shirt for himself from Amazon. This is what he bought. Good thing I appreciate his sense of humor!!

(On a side note, my husband has lost almost 20 pounds. Doesn't he look skinny here? And look at my darling baby boy!! He's in his favorite spot . . . his daddy's arms!

New Era: Grocery Shopping

For the longest time, it was the two girls riding up here when we were at the grocery store. Now Abigail is too big and Noah loves to drive his little car. I think it's so cute I had to share!! The greatest thing about our grocery store (not the organic food selection) is the wide selection of kid carts!

Poo story

I tried repeatedly to get a good photo of Noah this morning for this blog post. The boy NEVER stops moving except when he's asleep so this is the best I got. Haha!

I've had requests for the poop story from last week so here it goes:

DISCLAIMER: this is pretty graphic and nasty so if you don't want to read a detailed description about kids and poop you may want to stop reading now.




Thursday morning began quite normally. Elsie was fussing up at storm for no reason that I could quite figure out so before I even made breakfast I was sitting in the living room holding her and saying my usually line, "Why is Elsie crying?" Never did figure it out.

Anyway.

While doing this Noah come walking out of the downstairs bathroom and is drenched and chewing on something. The only conclusion was that he played in the toilet water and was chewing on (fresh, I think) toilet paper.

Great way to start the day. (I always try to leave the lid down and the door closed, not sure why it was open).

So then we had breakfast.

After breakfast I thought, I'm going to put Elsie in panties today and see how it goes. I took her into the bathroom several times in the coarse of an hour and put her on the potty and showed her how to pull down her own panties. No luck.

Abigail and I got things underway with our school work while the little two played in Elsie's room. I hear a scream from Elsie and ran in there to discover a pretty giant size poop on the floor by her bed (big enough to clog the toilet later!). I immediately set Noah in Elsie crib to keep him away from any poop action, cleaned Elsie up and cleaned up the poop. I figured out that Elsie had taken her own underwear off during the coarse of play.

Did not resume the underwear wearing for Elsie. I thought she'd just pooped a lot and wouldn't need to go anymore. Abigail and I got back to school work and Elsie and Noah wandered upstairs to Noah's room to play.

A few minutes later Mr. Noah comes wandering back downstairs and comes over to me while I'm sitting at the table. I think I smell a poopy diaper so I get up to change him in Elsie's room. While in the midst of the changing, I discover that he does NOT have a poopy diaper but yet I still smell something . . . foul!!! So I sniff around only to discover the smell is

COMING FROM MY SON'S MOUTH!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

He also had some on his hand. GAG. ME.  I called my ever helpful daughter, Abigail, to me and had her check upstairs for more poop (which, she found) and to try to contain Elsie while I gave Noah a bath. That boy got scrubbed and got his mouth rinsed out!

I got my baby boy upstairs, wet from his bath, only to discover that Elsie . . . after pooping foul smelling poop on the floor of her brother's room . . . which he proceeded to EAT, decided to scoot down the stairs on her bottom, instead of walking, and therefore left poop streaks down about 5 or 6 carpeted steps before getting herself fully carpet-wiped.

She had also went potty in a HUGE puddle right at the top of the stairs.

All the kids got placed into Noah's crib while my massive cleanup effort began. Lots of resolve carpet cleaner and screaming ensued!

My biggest fear was that she had pooped somewhere that I had not yet discovered. I had found two spots but was worried about more but after a big search effort on my part, I did not find more.

I was pretty distraught by this time . . .thinking my son was going to die a terrible death by disease from EATING HIS SISTER'S POOP so I did what any half-crazed American mother does and called the doctor.

That was an interesting conversation:

"Oh, hello nice Dr.'s office receptionist. Yes, my 2 year old daughter pooped on my floor. My 1 year old son picked up the said poop AND ATE IT (and yes I was crying by this point, out of fear and humiliation). Is he going to die?"

They were very nice and assured me that pooping on the floor during potty training and the poop eating was very normal for kids that age. They said he'd be fine.

And you know what. . .

He was. Not a sign that it even phased him.

I called my husband to tell him of the events while he was on his way to a company golf outing (and no I'm not bitter about that AT ALL) and he had a good laugh, especially at my crying.

I slapped a diaper on Elsie and called the potty training quits for a while!

And that's the story, folks!

I suppose it goes without saying that Elsie and Noah will always have a special bond!

Preschool

We've been busy here! We're doing preschool at home this year for Abigail. I was already busy without trying to work in a hour or so of attention captivating school work every day (or so). I guess the blog is what has suffered. We're getting to be on a pretty good schedule, and as long as I don't fall behind on other stuff then I should be able to write an update now and then. I have more thoughts and more pictures on this preschool at home business that I will try to share sometime!

Off to work on reading with a certain little girl!

Family Trip

You know I just can't bring myself to say the word "vacation" when it comes to traveling with little kids. I don't think I'm alone in this! :) I love them and spending quality time with them is definitely what enjoyment is to me on these trips but boy, they can be a handful!

Anyway, we've been in Gatlinburg for a few days exploring the area and I am blogging this in the car on the way home. We had a wonderful time despite all the kids coming home with runny noses!

We did some hiking, lots of eating, some people when tubing and ziplining, and we managed to make it to the aquarium one morning. It was very well done.

Fun trip but I'm ready for my own bed and some sleeeeeeep!

What I've been up to

After being home for only four days, I packed my bag (and Noah's) and headed to Chicago to see my new nephew and his family.

I did a lot of staring into this precious face and playing "cawrs" with the big boys and visiting with my dear sis.

Then we came home.

The end.

We're Back!

No, I haven't forgotten about my blog. I was just super busy trying to keep up with everyone and everything while we were traveling!! :)

We had a wonderful wonderful wonderful trip! I feel sad if I dwell too much on the fact that my kids won't get to see their beloved RoRo, Papa, Uncle Brett, and Grandma Fern for months on end. I don't feel so bad when I plan out the next fun trip out there. Won't be too long and I'll be able to do it by myself, I'm thinking.

I am headed to Chicago this weekend (where I'll bump into my parents again) to visit my sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and new baby nephew Aaron!! I'm excited even though it will be a short trip.

While we were in Kansas, my wonderful Aunt Ronda drove to Downs and picked up my wonderful Great Aunt Flo (weird to think she's my kids Great great Aunt - anyway). They drove down for a visit and it was so wonderful to see them. The kids all had a lot of fun playing with them. Elsie even got confident enough to say "Aunt Flo" and "Ronda" but she had a hard time putting the "Aunt" in front of "Aunt Ronda's" name. Still cute to hear!

Here are the Aunts and Noah! His shirt says "I love my aunt" which I felt was appropriate attire for that day.

Noah and Papa Kurt! They shared quite a bond this trip. Noah would follow Papa around wanting to play. He guess they had a male bond thing going on! :)

While Elsie was napping we got this photo of Abigail, myself, Noah, and Aunt Flo.

Abigail was playing "doctor" here with Aunt Flo. She spent a good part of her life as a missionary nurse in Nigeria so she enjoyed playing this game. (I think). :)

Abigail loved playing dress-up and Grandma Fern loved seeing her outfits. :)

Grandma Fern's hip and knees were feeling better during our visit so she enjoyed wrangling some babies with me. This is an especially cute picture of Elsie! Yes, the girls are still in their jammies. Oh well.

We had a great time! I could use several weeks of solid sleep to catch up but then I'd be ready to do it again!

Everyone slept through the night last night. I had forgotten what it felt like to fall asleep and wake up when it was morning but I got to do that last night. This morning we have been busy as well, doing laundry, grocery shopping, discovering old toys, picking up toys, vacuuming, etc. I tried my hand at making homemade almond butter. It didn't turn out as good as I hoped but I think it is because I have a very cheap (like $20) food processor and it just wasn't up to the task. I may have to borrow one for next time. I processed the almonds for about an hour and then called it good. The recipe I was using said it would take 15 minutes but mine never did get as "buttery" as hers.

That's all for now!

Kansas Trip

We're here and we're busy!! Of course! :)

I've tried posting a few times with pictures from my phone but it won't upload for some reason. I also had an issue with my SD card and lost some pictures. Bummer! Oh well.

The kids and I are really having a blast despite the Kansas heat. It's been over 100 degrees everyday so we're busy staying cool inside although a swimming trip is planned soon. We're slowly discovering all the lovely ways for Noah to get into things in this house and making it a little more babyproofed. I didn't forsee this being so much of an issue.

We miss Daddy so much. Noah has especially had some bad nights here and with Abigail having a lingering cough it has made for some long nights. I am looking forward to Daddy getting here so he can at least deal with Abigail's issues at night! :) He might not know this. Haha!

Schechter's Visit

This last week has been fun and busy! Andrew has had lots of family visiting from out-of-town. His Uncle and Aunt and their families were here for the last week. Lots of get togethers and eating of course, etc. We also got several good games of tennis in as well! I love a good tennis game.

Anyway, they left today. Sad to see them go but thankful for a wonderful visit!

Now I'm very busy preparing to travel to Kansas on Monday to visit my parents, Grandma and brother. The kids and I will be there almost 3 weeks so I'm taking the packing very seriously! I don't want to bring too much but I definitely don't want to forget anything essential. I made some headway on it today and so that made me feel better.

Andrew's mom is going to help me drive the kids out there (bless her!) and Andrew is going to fly out for the last week and then drive us back. I don't think I'm quite ready to drive three kids 4 and under for 850 miles! I can picture myself being able to do it someday but . . . not yet!

I'll try to blog during the trip but no guarantees. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures, etc, although I'm bad at that too!

Personality Part 2: Energized!

This is probably one of the more well know parts of personality: Extroversion vs. Introversion. I think people can misunderstand it, though. Being an extrovert doesn't necessarily mean you're the life of the party or you talk loud or are boisterous. I was raised in a self-controlled and conservative family so I'm not usually loud in a crowd or wild and crazy! I just get my energy from being around other people. Introversion, on the other hand, doesn't mean you're a weird recluse (I have to remind myself of this! haha!) but it just means you gather energy by being alone and quiet. Like . . . batteries.

When my husband and I first took these personality tests I was 90% extrovert and he was 90% introvert. Ha! This is one of those categories that has softened a little over the years. I'm now about 61% Extrovert and I don't remember his but I don't think it's quite where it was. I've learned that I can enjoy the peace and quiet (have kids taught me this!) but it is a conscious plan on my part. I still do not like being alone for too long. Having children has helped this, especially as they've grown and can converse now. I remember times when my husband traveled before we had kids and the horrible feeling of having to spend an evening alone!!

We've found a balance through the years of Andrew going to bed shortly after the kids are in bed to recharge himself and I do things for myself too to enjoy my "people" time. I have been going to exercise class, mom's groups, getting together with friends, having people over and even saying to Andrew "can we talk?". And by that I don't mean it is something serious, I just mean, I haven't talked to another adult all day! Help! :)

I feel that this is one of the personalities differences that we really understand in each other, recognize the need, and try to fill it. It's a good balance now, although I can always use more people time so if you're in my area, stop by!!! :)

Personality Part 1: Approaching Life

I have been doing A LOT of reading about differing personalities lately because the subject is absolutely fascinating to me. I have been using the Myers/Briggs test to "label" my personality and my husband has taken the test as well. We knew we had opposite personalities when we got married and even after 9 wonderful years of marriage, we're still learning about each other, as everyone is. I have found the study of personalities to be so helpful to this cause!!

I do believe personalities can change a bit over time. I will address this more in another post.

Here's the link if you want to take the test yourself:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

I'm going to start out with my strongest personality trait: Judging/Planning. I am around a 90% Judging/Planning personality type. Thankfully my husband is right on the border at 50% (he understands both sides of this issue) but is slightly on the side of the Perceiver/Journeyer (more of a free spirit . . . life is an adventure type of person).

The Judging/Planning personality traits that I identify with:

• I am extremely conscious of time and schedules.
• This is extreme in me . . . so much so that if I'm at the store and I have plans to be somewhere (even if it's not important) after I finish my shopping and I find myself running out of time, I will leave without getting everything on my list! Weird, I know but my inner calendar likes a schedule! I'm not one to try and "fit things in" if I have somewhere to be . . . or even if I don't!!
• My entire day is mapped out from the time I wake up until bedtime.
• I don't usually map this out on paper (takes too much time so it is in my head) but I actually remember making a schedule for my summer days when I was in the 5th grade . . .yes, this has been "me" for quite some time.
• One of my biggest life annoyances is if something messes with my schedule (which is everyday all day long).
• Sometimes I have to plan to be spontaneous . . . helps me cope with my plans being disrupted! My "plans" don't always include something tangible such as a trip or place to be but in my mind that doesn't make them any less important!
• I think of money has something that provides security. I measure success and progress by growing savings account numbers!
• Journeyers tend to view money as only worth the pleasure it provides and this is very difficult for me to grasp!
• I like to work hard first (get everything done!) and then play."
• I have to be careful of this because I often run out of "play" time.
• I am destination focused on trips/vacation!!
• This means I want to get there without ANY delays, dillydallying, stops, or side excursions. These things feel like extreme wastes of time to me!

Recognizing traits relating to this personality type that I can work on:

• I know that I need to not be irritated by changing of "plans".
• I need to develop my sense of comfort when "going with the flow". 
• I need to work on enjoying "surprises". 
• I need to focus on the here and know and not worry about the distant future. I need to focus on "enjoying" and sitting back instead of always accomplishing, succeeding, planning, doing.

Recognizing traits relating to this personality type can help when relating in marriage:

• Thankfully my husband and I aren't complete opposites on this point (cause we've got other ones to work on understanding each other through) but we have struggled some with changing and making plans together. He tends to bring something up by being very excited about it "let's do this" which irritates me since my plans are being changed. He's learned to say "Consider this for a moment . . . ". It doesn't take me long to be able to think through some plan changes and agree to a better or different plan and having the space to think about that is so helpful. That's why I love that phrase!

These traits aren't bad! I actually enjoy them in myself (ha ha)! They've made me more self-disciplined, self-aware, prompt, hard-working, etc! I just need to be sure that I'm not stuck in the "my way or the highway" approach to life, as I can so often be.

If you've made it this far in reading . . . bless you! I'd really love to hear from anyone who knows what their personality trait is (from the test or you just know) and any self discoveries you may have!!

First Swimming Lessons

A few weeks ago Abigail finished her first session of swimming lessons. She did great! She had no problems going under the water and completing what the teacher asked of her. Will she do it now with just us in a pool? Well she hasn't yet!!

I tried to sign her up for the next session but they were full and we were put on a waiting list. Haven't heard anything so I'm not hopeful that we'll get in. Hopefully we can find more soon because I don't want her to lose what she has learned!

So proud of my little girl for passing her first swimming lesson class!!

Baby Boy Growing Up

Noah turned one at the beginning of this month. Andrew took Noah's official one-year pictures a few weeks later in our back yard. They turned out so good. I will just share a few with you!

In other Noah news, he had his doctor's check up earlier this month and is a very healthy baby boy. He is around 50% for all his measurements so that's great. He seems big to me but I suppose it is all relative. He is starting to be a little more consistent with sleeping through the night. He will sleep through the night several times a week (by that I mean not wake me up and since his bedtime is at 7 pm he will sleep from 7pm until around 7 am sometimes later). Otherwise he just gets me up once a night to nurse and that's fine with me!

I did notice today that he's starting to get his canine teeth. This boy is the earliest teether I've ever had. The girls didn't get those until 18 months old or older so I was surprised to find one on my 12 month boy.

He is such a joy. He is very physical and into climbing anything he can, walking everywhere, playing with balls and cars. He does love his sisters, sweet boy that he is. We were just playing in his room today when he heard their voices and he "talked" to them and headed towards the door to go find them.

My heart is so full with all these sweet babies. I'm making sure to savor every fleeting precious moment!!

Noah's Birthday Cupcakes

For my babies' first birthdays I attempt to not include much, if any, sugar in their cakes. I've gotten a little more relaxed about this over the years so this frosting does have a little sugar in it but the cupcakes do not. I have used honey sweetened cream cheese frosting before and I'd probably do that again if I were to make these again. I chose not to do it this time because I didn't know how well I could decorate with the honey sweetened cream cheese frosting but I will experiment sometime!! These were yummy and easy to make!

Enjoy!!

Original link:
http://www.thekitchn.com/maple-cupcakes-from-baked-expl-128758

Maple Cupcakes

Ingredients
for the maple cupcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, slightly softened,cut into chunks
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, at room temperature
2 cups pure maple syrup (I use grade B to bake with but any grade will suffice)
3 egg yolks
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

for the cream cheese maple frosting
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons maple syrup

assembly
Whole toasted walnuts (optional)

Baked Note: Do not, I repeat, do not use imitation maple syrup in this recipe. Actually, avoid imitation maple syrup at all times. It is usually composed of corn syrup and food coloring and, sadly, contains very little, if any, real maple syrup. In short, it’s hard to think of a more disingenuous grocery store product.

make the maple cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two 12-cup cupcake pans with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and shortening until ribbonlike. Turn the mixer to low and stream in the maple syrup. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is nearly uniform in color, about 3 minutes.

Add the egg yolks and egg, one at a time, and beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until incorporated. Stream in the milk. Stop the mixer, add the rest of the flour, then turn the mixer on until just combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and fold in the walnuts.

Fill the prepared cupcake pan about three-quarters full. Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Note: These cupcakes take longer to bake than traditional cupcakes due to the maple syrup.

Allow the cupcakes to cool for 15 minutes in the cupcake pan, then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely.

make the cream cheese maple frosting
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter until it is completely smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.

Add the sugar and the maple syrup and beat until smooth. Be careful not to overbeat the frosting or it will lose structure. (At this point, if you want to, you can tightly cover the frosting and refrigerate it for a day. Let it soften at room temperature before using.)

assemble the cupcakes
There are many ways to frost a cupcake. If you have a pastry bag, simply fit with the largest tip, fill the bag with frosting, and pipe enough to cover the cupcake in a big mound. If you do not have a pastry bag, use an ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to scoop the frosting and dispense it onto the top of the cupcake. You can also use an offset spatula to frost the cupcakes. Top with whole toasted walnuts.

Refrigerate any leftover cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Bring cupcakes to room temperature before serving.

9 years . . .

**Updated**

Happy Anniversary to Andrew. 9 years ago was our wonderful music filled day!

Thanks for choosing to love me each and every day, darling!!

To celebrate our plans include trying a place we've wanted to visit for quite some time, Terry's Turf Club (not fancy but should be yummy!), known for their burgers. Since the 9th anniversary is traditionally pottery, we are going to go to a pottery place after dinner and pick out some pieces of pottery to paint. Sounds like fun to me!!

Sadly, I can't find a lot of our digital pictures from that day. Andrew is going to look around and some of our backed up files tonight. I did find the wedding video today and I will make Andrew watch it even though he doesn't like to see himself cry. Abigail watched it with me today and said, "Deedo (her nickname for daddy) is crying because he doesn't want to marry you." Hahahahahahaha!!!

Picture of Jennie Schechter removed upon request. :(