Katy and the Tale Of Candied Apples
Hey friends! I accidentally sent you the wrong link in my email today. This post is a story about the apples but doesn’t contain the actual recipe. To get to the recipe, please click here. Sorry about that and thanks for understanding!
You know, my life has changed a great deal over the past couple of years but in many ways, it hasn’t changed one little bit. The best part is that no matter what goes on outside of these four walls, inside them I’m just Mama to my kids.
While Brady (who is eleven) understands a great deal of what has gone on with Southern Plate, Katy Rose is another story. I remember when the Southern Living feature came out. I was so thrilled to see my kids inside and especially to see Brady and Katy Rose on the table of contents.
I showed it to Katy and said “Look Baby, you’re in this magazine! See how pretty that picture is? You’re here, too…”
I went on through the magazine, showing her photos of herself.
She begrudgingly sat still long enough to look and as soon as I was finished she was off again, clearly not impressed.
The next day she came home from Kindergarten and said “Mama, a teacher showed me one of those magazines at school today.” I lit up with pride and waited for Katy to go into a story of how it felt that others were seeing her in a magazine and such. But instead she looked at me with a shocked expression and said “Did you know there were TWO of those magazines?”
For a brief moment I contemplated explaining to her how important Southern Living was (I often say every Southern household is required to have a Holy Bible and subscription to Southern Living), but then I just nodded looked at her sweet little face and smiled and said “Really? How cool is that Katy Rose!”
~chuckles~
That is when I realized that to my kids, none of this is a big deal and none of it should be. The important thing to them is whether or not I’m going to be able to chaperone on their field trips, be there for school events, or be here to tuck them in at night. To them, that is the important stuff and I’m so thankful that I have the good sense to see my worth and value in their lives through the eyes and wisdom of my kids.
Today I have another cute story to share with you about my daughter’s lack of understanding of all things Southern Plate. I was sitting at the computer a few weeks back and Katy walked into the room holding my book with the back side up. She handed it to me and pointed to the photo of candied apples on the back cover.
“Mama?”
“Yes Baby?”
“Do you think you could read this book and figure out how to make these for us sometime?”
I turned to see what book she was holding and my heart melted as I smiled at her sweet little face. Taking the book from her I turned it over and pointed to the photo of me on the cover.
“Katy, baby, look. Who is this?”
She looked and shrugged “You.”
“Katy baby, this is my book. I wrote it. These are my recipes in this book.”
She didn’t even pause as she took the book from me, turned it back over to the back and pointed again to the candied apples.
“Okay but do you think you could read this book and figure out how to make these for us sometime?”
I just smiled and pulled her into my arms.
“Yes baby, I think I could do that.”
Of course, I’ve made candied apples for Katy Rose before but as it turned out, she was just too young to remember. So this past Monday I worked as fast as I could and then set my work aside a little over an hour before time for the kids to get home from school. I still had deadlines to meet and projects to get done but all of that was just going to have to wait because I had work to do in my kitchen.
When they got off the bus I was waiting at the front door.
“Close your eyes, I have a surprise for you.”
I led them to the kitchen and had them stand around the table while I got my camera ready for their reactions…
“Okay, open them!”
This was a good Mama moment for me!
Katy said they tasted even better than the picture in “that book” looked!
and Brady said they tasted even better than they did last time I made them.
Thank goodness for “that book”.
~winks~
The moral of this story is:
Your kids don’t really care whether or not you are a great engineer, a published author, or an award winning ______. All the accolades on your resume mean nothing to them. While it is important to enjoy your career (whether chosen or happened upon as in my case), It is much more important to let your children see that you enjoy being their parent.
Special thanks to all of the members of my Southern Plate Family. Without you my book would have never happened and I would have never had this wonderful moment with my kids. **This recipe is now on SouthernPlate.com! Get it by clicking here**
Gratefully,
Christy
Christy, I never regretted the sacrifices we made for me to stay home when my son was born. I went back later part time after running a craft business from the home but after Malinda came along, just did part time. She turned 5 and the memories of losing my mother at age 6 hit me and that was for sure time to leave law enforcement. Children are little for such a short time and the memories last forever. Now I am blessed to hear “remember when it snowed and we made cookies” or whatever. Work can come later and you are oh, so smart in knowing that. Love you so much!
That is just the sweetest thing I think I’ve ever heard! Our children have a way of reminding us what’s important, don’t they? thank you for the story!
I’m with Art Linkletter, Kids say the darndest things!
This is so precious, and we will never forget those moments with our own kiddos either no matter how long it’s been 🙂
Love your stories and memories Christy. When my youngest son (now 43 and a Cmdr. in the Navy) was in high school I was one of the few stay at home moms among his friends and the norm was after school to go to Jack’s house because “his Mom is home and there’s always something good to eat there”. I still love “feeding” everyone. 🙂
They look delish! Love the pretty red color. Sincerely, Cindy Eckhart
I know exactly what you are talking about Christy. My grandson told me last week, “Nana, I want your culinary team to do get at competition, but I sure hope ya’ll don’t win” I said “why is that?” He said “Cuz if y’all win, me, you and Papa won’t be able to go to the beach for spring break like we do every year” God answered his paryers by letting my team come in second…by 1/10th of a point….God gave me as close to first as he could without breaking a 10 year old child’s heart! I called my grandson as soon I could and told him we’d be going to the beach. God always knows best!
HI Christy, such a sweet story! I have been both a stay at home mom and a “working mom” at different times throughout my 18+ years of mommying and now that I have the opportunity to be a full time stay at home mom again, I realize how much I’ve missed out on in the last couple of years. I recently had a child-free friend ask me how anybody with kids ever gets any work done and I promptly told her that the the most important work I’ve ever done is my life’s work, being a mom.. things like candy apples after school and our simply being there are the things that they’re going to remember forever. I feel so blessed to have this time to give my babies (18, 15, and 11), and I’m so happy to see that there are so many others, like yourself, that share the appreciation for this gift!