I’ve decided that quilts are the common denominator of summer and fall, and since we are Day Two into fall (pause for exuberant interpretive dance), I figured what better way to celebrate this invisible seasonal transition in Florida than to haul a cozy quilt down to the beach. Comfy and warm and cozy and also bright and colorful and free. Both seasons represented well.

Seems equivalent fractions now, but just wait until we add a few more pumpkins to our doorstep and some mulling spices to our cider and some tights to our legs.

Cozy up. We’re Enjoying…

A few more pics from last week’s Chicago trip:

The Conveyer Belt
FYI: Letting your kids get their own suitcase off the conveyer belt? I might as well have given her the keys to my car and 50 bucks for a fun night.

John Lennon visits The Bean.

Birds in the Park. 
At which point I think it necessary to admit that I’ve only recently discovered that Mary Poppins was not singing, “Feed the Birds, TOPPINS a bag,” but tuppence. Because tuppence, unlike toppins, is actually a real word.

Hide and Seek
Counting to 10 with Grace. Someone’s peeking.

The American Girl Cafe.
The girls had never been to an American Girl store which is basically like an entire city of dolls. The lunch was just precious–little high chairs for the dolls and tiny cups and saucers served right along with the big ones for the humans.

I ate two cinnamon rolls because Bitty Baby passed on hers.

More Summer

Knuckles.

These books that Nella’s obsessed with: Kiki and Coco in Paris and Lulu and Pip. She brings them to us a few times a day to read to her. The photos are so beautiful–and engaging!

And the beginning of fall.
Our first pie of the season.

I’ve been making this cherry pie for years with my mom. It’s a verbal recipe we share and any time either of us makes it, we call to go over the recipe (I think we pretend we don’t remember). I’m sharing it here but it won’t keep me from calling her next time I make it. And the next time. Because that’s what this cherry pie is.

Call Your Mother Cherry Pie

Crust
This recipe is for a single crust. Double this for a top and bottom crust. I’ve actually been tripling it lately to have plenty enough dough to work with for some good crust fluting on the edge.  I roll out any leftover dough, sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar on it and bake for an extra treat.

1 c. flour
1/2 c. Crisco
1/4 c. milk
1/4 tsp. salt

Filling
2 cans tart cherries in water (keep all the water from one can and drain about half from the other)
(Fresh tart cherries are great but seasonal. I use 2 cans of Oregon tart cherries–not dark–in water)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
2 tbsp. flour

Preheat oven to 425°. Mix your filling first and set aside. For the crust, add the flour, Crisco and salt into a large bowl. Using a fork or pastry blender, press the Crisco into the flour mixture until it makes pea-size pieces. Slowly add the milk and fold into the rest of the crust.

Don’t overwork it. If it’s too moist, sprinkle in a little more flour. When dough is well mixed, take out half (for bottom crust), form into a ball and place on floured surface (don’t be shy with the flour). To do this exactly like my mom, at this point you take the edge of your hand and karate chop the dough ball lightly a few times across to get it ready for rolling. Using a rolling pin, roll from the middle of the dough out, turning as you can so that the dough keeps a circular shape as it flattens. Sprinkle more flour if the rolling pin sticks. Continue to roll until your dough is flattened and will fit a 9-inch pie pan. To easily transfer it to the pan, slip a thin metal spatula underneath it, folding the dough circle in half and then into quarters. Transfer to pie pan and unfold. Pour your filling into the bottom crust and add a few pads of butter on top before you add the top crust. Roll out the second half of the dough mix as you did the bottom crust and transfer to top of pie. Trim off edges and pinch together the top and bottom crust with flutes. Cut some vent designs (I make a little feather) and using a pastry brush, brush a little milk on the top of pie crust and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for ten minutes on 425° and then drop heat to 375° for 40-45 more minutes, until your crust is as brown as you’d like. Let pie cool for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

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And speaking of call your mother, I called my mama for some music lesson tips as I was working on this little piece for eHow this week.

This post is sponsored by NatureBox.

One of my favorite movies as a kid was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, partly because Willy Wonka was fascinatingly creepy but also because there’s nothing more fantastic to a child than an imaginary world of endless candy. And not just gumdrops and chocolate bars—we’re talking creative candy. I mean, everlasting gobstoppers? Brilliant.

Then you get older and watch the movie and realize that this amazing world of candy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For starters: cavities, sugar content, hydrogenated oil. This disappointment was recently fixed with our introduction to NatureBox, also known as Willy Wonka for Real People—a giant selection of delicious, healthy snacks that are sent to your home—healthy equivalents to the everlasting gobstopper. Like sriracha roasted cashews, banana bread granola, salt and pepper lentil loops.

Let me tell you how this works with our family.

Brett pulls a chair up to the computer while I’m snack browsing on the NatureBox site and gets way more involved than usual in my online shopping. He gets very excited about cheddar and onion sunflower kernels while I root for citrus kick almonds and lemon tea biscuits. We settle on five choices, compromising on things we know the kids will like.

They like the Granny Smith Apple Circles because they’re tasty and make cool glasses.

NatureBox snacks have been great additions to my kids’ lunch boxes. I try to get beyond the old sandwich, Pirate’s Booty and grapes routine, and NatureBox has provided some healthy variety to my kids’ snacks. They ate Granny Smith Apple Circles and Barbecue Kettle Corn and had milk and Lemon Tea Biscuits for an after school snack. And the Soft Baked Cherry Granola turned our plain yogurt into a much more interesting treat.

NatureBox works as a subscription service that offers you the ability to discover and enjoy healthy snacks on a monthly basis, and it’s all conveniently delivered directly to your doorstop with free shipping (as little as $15.95 a month). Plus, for every box of snacks that’s delivered, NatureBox donates one meal through Feeding America to help the hungry. Every month, you get to select 5 different snacks (3-5 servings per snack) from over 100 to choose from. All products are made from wholesome ingredients with strict quality standards: no high fructose corn syrup, no partially hydrogenated oils, no trans fats, no artificial sweeteners, no artificial flavors, no artificial colors. You can narrow your search to nut-free, gluten-conscious, vegan, etc.

If you join NatureBox today, you get a free sample box of some of their most loved snacks. Click on this link to get started (free trial is available for new and US subscribers only. Not valid on gift subscriptions and may not be combined with any other offers).

Willy Wonka has a little golden ticket giveaway for you too. Two winners will each win a free 6-month subscription to NatureBox. Enter the giveaway by browsing what snacks NatureBox has to offer and then comment on this post what snack you’d like to try. Please include a contact e-mail address so that you can be notified once you win (open to US readers only. Must have a US shipping address. Contest will remain open for one week). I will remove all comments with e-mails from site once giveaway has closed. See Giveaway Terms and Conditions here.

Cheer up, Charlie! Happy Snacking!

Note: Giveaway winners have been selected and comments have now been closed for this post. 

This post is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of NatureBox.

Last night, the kids crawled up on the couch with me to listen to the reading of a brand new book. All three attempted to climb into my lap at once which commenced a short brawl, but it was quickly solved with an awkward arm reach that pulled each of them close and made them all feel like my favorite. I was one page into the book when Lainey interrupted.

“Wait–does it have a bad middle?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You know, in the middle of a story when something bad happens.”

I smiled. Ah yes, second grade writing curriculum. My girl’s learning about narrative writing and the arc of a good story–a problematic middle that gets worked out in the end.

“Oh, I get it,” I answered. “Well, I think the little girl in this story gets lost. Do you want me to read it to see if the problem gets fixed?”

She nestled in a little closer. “Okay.”

We finished the book with Story Arc Detector oh high alert for problem and solution: Girl gets lost. Girl finds her way home.

Though we might not learn the most important life lessons at school (–except the quadratic equation. Thank God for the quadratic equation because I use it every day.), I decided this one’s a pretty good one to remember, and I’m tucking it away to remind my kids later when their hearts feel a little broken: Good stories have bad middles. When life hands over some terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days, you have to remember it’s just a middle. And you’re writing a good story. And when it’s your story that has a bad middle, you get to be a part of writing the ending. Of making sure that the bad middle has a purpose and a resolution and a character that finds her way home.

The idea of a life full of bad middles for my kids makes my insides twist, but when I think about it as a life full of good endings, that’s not so bad. They’ll be the authors of so many good stories. As a writer, that makes me proud. As a mother, that makes me happy.

I’m prepared for the next heartbreak, my parenting talk cued and ready: “Baby, this is just a bad middle in your big story. We’ll help you fix it and you’ll write a good ending.”