Fam updates

Summer has officially come to an end. 

It ended on a difficult note. Brad ended up in the ER one day for what turned out to be a 2-foot-long blood clot. Yes, you read that right. I freaked out and the ER doc put him on a strong anticoagulant medicine. He unfortunately wasn't allowed to finish out his baseball season; his last baseball season (so he says). 

And they won the championship...

After a few weeks I finally convinced him to see a vein specialist. He told Brad that the ER doc was overreacting and that it's not a big deal. (NOT A BIG DEAL?) He has to wear compression stockings ..

(moment to laugh at that, since I work in Orthopedics)

.. for about 6 weeks and then can have surgery on the affected vein. Between Camden's broken leg, ENT appointments, my gall bladder surgery, and this, we've definitely met our deductible so I'm glad it's being taken care of this year at least.

As for school, I'm finishing up a rough and busy semester on Friday. One. More. Final. Then I am going to do nothing but relax and enjoy the fall weather and my family this weekend. My next courses do not open up until Monday so I can't even print things or see what the next 8 weeks look like so I don't want to know. ;-)

I'm excited to go from two clinicals a week to one, but I am also starting part-time at work (mainly for benefits) so I will be even more busy than before. I wanted to get used to working more as well as get the benefits my hospital provides since they are way better and affordable than my husband's. If we do the premium plans for all (medical, dental, and vision) plans with my company, it's less than the cheapest and highest deductible plan with Brad's. I consider that a HUGE advantage!

Also, I found a GREAT baked french toast recipe that is easy, quick, and uses regular sandwich bread! YEAH!

Tuttle Orchards

With the end of summer (and baseball season), comes fall.

Fall means delicious apples, homemade apple sauce, beautiful fall leaves, pumpkins galore, and lots of yummy not-so-good-for-you treats. :)

We decided to visit Tuttle Orchards last weekend after I learned about them from a friend. They provide everything you need to pick the apples and even have tons of red wagons which the kids end up riding in by the end of the trip.

They even had a huge play area with two mazes, a red tractor, a few play sets, swings, and more. Camden loved that area and when we left kept asking to go back to the "apple trees" over and over again. If I have ever been to an apple orchard, I don't remember but this seems like a great place to go every year!

Camden loved to play with the corn hole set as well!

They had two barns of delicious goodies and treats. We all split an ear of corn and a caramel apple. Brad wanted a cold apple cider (YUCK!) and I wanted a hot one so we each got that. I wanted to try the slushy, but we saved that for next year. They also had a neat little honey bee hive case you could see the bees. Cam really loved that!

 So far, fall at home has been wonderful and our little man is growing up so fast! *tear*

If you are as excited and ready for fall as I am, I highly suggest visiting Tuttle's for apples and in October they open the pumpkin fields! We usually always go to a certain farm for our pumpkins, which we still love, but this place just had much more to offer and is slightly closer. It's so hard to break tradition, but Camden loved this place!

Indiana State Fair

The Indiana State Fair has long been an annual must-do activity for my family. Brad, Camden, and I went this year and it was fun!

 

Side note: I wish the Fishers Train had a better schedule with closer times as we barely made one lap around the fairgrounds and had to run to catch the train (or stay another 2 hours when it was Cam's bed time).

 

We will most likely drive next year to avoid that and be able to come and go whenever we want. This was the year of Popcorn, which was a little disappointing that I didn't see more popcorn-themed food or displays. I couldn't find the giant ball of popcorn everyone posted pictures of and I only saw two popcorn stands. The Kettle Corn was still pretty amazing!

 

What I enjoyed most was the fact that Cam was so into everything and could even ride the kiddie rides! He loved the giant slide and the rides so much I can't wait to take him to an amusement park.

 

We haven't had much time to do any kind of vacation so this was a nice break from studying and work to be able to enjoy some time together. It was a perfect day (and $2 Tuesday) so we really enjoyed the weather! 

 

Brad and Cam waiting to board the train!

 

Camden was pretty excited to ride the choo choo train, as you can clearly see.

 

Riding the fair Shetlands!

 

Picking up some seeds in the kids area.

 

Enjoying his hot dog and fries. :)

 

He LOVED this slide! LOVED!

 

The yearly DNR photo. Man, he's getting too big! ;)

 

Saying bye-bye to the train.

 

All in all we had a good time and it was pretty inexpensive since it was $2 Tuesday. $2 entry and $2 food. Win-win.



Camden's 2nd Birthday

 

Camden celebrated his second birthday a few weeks ago with so many friends and family! We were so happy to see everyone that made it but missed those who couldn't. The theme was a super hero party. We had super suckers (blow pops and tootsie pops), mask-making, a pool, ladderball, food, and good friends.

 

Of course the morning of his birthday weekend we gave him our presents because we were gone all day Saturday at a wedding. He couldn't wait to ride his bike! (aka "Bicyc")

The floor pillow I made him. Tutorial here.

Brad got Cam a pair of binoculars. (aka "knockers" LOL)

Three gen's of Marcov's. My dad, brother and nephew. <3

Hey, it's his party and he can pick his nose if he wants, right?!

 

This year he was SO into The Incredibles and super heroes which is why we chose this theme. I wonder if next year he will request anything and what fun stuff he will be getting into. :) Not too soon, though.



Elephant Ears, at home

Elephant ears are always a must for me at the state fair. I can never resist the deep-fried cinnamon deliciousness (we won't get into the debate, but they're MUCH better than funnel cakes). Anyways, I saw the other day a friend posted on FB about how she made some homemade and I guess I never really thought to do that. It's one hot summer here in the Midwest but we are anxiously awaiting the fair so in the mean time, make a batch of elephant ears and relax by the pool.

 

Elephant Ears 

Source: Allrecipes

Yields: 15 (freeze the extra)

 

Ingredients

 

1.5 cups milk

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp white sugar

3/8 cup shortening

2 Tbsp active dry yeast

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 quart of oil for frying

3 Tbsp ground cinnamon

8 Tbsp white sugar

 

Directions

 

In a small saucepan on medium heat, combine the milk, salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, and the shortening. Mix well and heat until shortening melts and sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow to cool to lukewarm, approximately 110 degrees F. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit until foamy.

 

Transfer the cooled mixture to a large bowl and stir in the flour to make the dough. Knead until smooth and cover. Allow dough to rise for 30 minutes.

 

In a large skillet, heat the quart of oil (about 1 inch) on medium-low heat until mixture reaches about 350 degrees. (Note: I turned my heat down quite a bit after the first two because they were so unevenly cooked so I recommend no higher than 350 F.) Roll dough into 1-2 inch balls and flatten into a thin sheet. Fry the sheets until brown on the bottom, around 40-60 seconds. Flip and cook around the same amount of time.

 

Place cooked elephant ear on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the extra oil. Mix the sugar and cinnamon to make an even mixture and sprinkle on the warm elephant ears. Enjoy warm.

 

Now I made about 6 of these ears (some for us and the neighbors), but I froze the excess dough. I will certainly update this to see if that works when I try to make them again.

 

These were so tasty and you just have to have a nice, deep-fried treat once in a while. They were flaky and messy, which of course made my toddler absolutely love them. <3