An Apple Picking We Will Go!

We bundled up this morning, got our boots on, packed a lunch, and headed towards the mountains this weekend to go to the apple orchard.  We met my parents there for a day full of picking, and eating lots of apples!  I feel like my husband and the boys go more for the eating at the orchard than the bringing them home. $40 later and way too many apples, we headed home!  Guess I'll be baking some pies!

Baby Girl all bundled up!

LOVE HIM!

How cute is Caleb's outfit!

That is my mom climbing a tree!!  Priceless!  Just to get an apple for her grandkids!

Picking an apple on Daddy's shoulders

Micah climbing up to the top of the tree to get an apple...and then we got called out by the apple police!

Caleb ate SO many apples!  And ate each one to the core.

I personally love this pic, so this is just more for me!  But yes, this is my man, in his element!

My Daddy with Haleigh girl...they spent a lot of time together.

First time eating an apple whole...and she LOVED it!

So incredibly thankful for this girl!!

Yes, folks, those are apples on her outfit!  Did you think I could take my girl to the apple orchard without an apple outfit?!  The only problem was I didn't realize she didn't have her bow on until we were on the mountain!  That's what happens when Daddy gets her out of the car! 

Great Pic...if only, Caleb were looking!

I love my parents!  I'm so glad they came to meet us!  Their grandbabies LOVE them!

Meal Planning

Some of you may have already mastered the meal planning mountain or maybe you just fly by the seat of your pants like a lot of us.  Maybe you eat out every night or maybe you just eat whatever's in the pantry.  I feel like we've been through phases of all of those.  So recently I made an attempt to make my meal planning a little bit easier and faster.  I absolutely hate sifting through my recipes trying to find things to make just so I can go to the grocery store.  It always seems to take so long, and I never know what to decide on.  

So I created themes for each night.  Every night has a theme that is repeated weekly or on a rotation.  For example Sundays are my crock pot days, so I just go to my "Fix It and Forget It" cookbook and pick something to make!  It makes things easier for me to just pick a dinner and make my grocery list.  Here is a list of our themes...notice Ed decided to name a few!

• Mama Mia - ravioli, spaghetti, lasagna, calzones, tortellini, stuffed shells, chicken parmesan, penne pasta
• Rice Bowl - beans and rice, stir-fry, veggies over couscous, chicken over rice
• Rotisserie Chicken - serve as is with sides like rice or potatoes and salad, or use any recipes calling for cooked chicken:  chicken and cheese quesadilla, chicken tacos, wraps, bbq chicken sandwich, chicken pizza, any chicken casserole
• Build It Yourself - tacos, burritos, baked potatoes, burgers, pizza, salad
• One Pot Wonder - chilis, soups, any other crock pot meal
• Fast or Frozen - leftovers, fast food, mac and cheese, sandwiches, cereal, anything in freezer like chicken nuggets and french fries
• Sandwich - grilled cheese, french dip, subs, pbj, blt, wraps
• Casserole - chicken, mexican, breakfast, italian
• Traditional Meat 'N Potatoes - pork chops, steak, tenderloin, ham, pot roast, turkey

Try planning out your more involved recipes on nights that you are home and don't have to be anywhere later.  And your quicker meals, should be on busy nights.  Fast and Frozen is our Wed night since Ed is usually not home and we are running around trying to get to church, etc.  The important thing is to make it work for your family!  
 

Wordless Wednesday

I LOVE THEM!

Learning As We Go

Well now that we are in our sixth week of school, and things seem to be more "normal" (whatever that is!), I thought I'd share a little bit about our school year.  Micah doesn't start Kindergarten for another year, but we decided this year to keep him at home and test the waters of homeschooling.  We are praying through what to do next year and have not really made up our minds either way.  We decided this year not to send him to preschool for several reasons, but one being I wanted to "try out" the homeschooling thing.  So we are using a curriculum I found for preschoolers that I was actually looking at for next year if we do decide to homeschool.  The Sonlight curriculum is literature-based and this year is called "Exploring God's World".  I'm also tacking on the Kindergarten language arts and reading program because Micah was ready for it. 

It's been fun so far!  I enjoy it most days.  Every week I can honestly say I am looking forward to starting school again on Monday.  I definitely do have those days though when it just doesn't seem to work.  Sometimes I wonder if it is the best learning environment for Micah with what seems like constant interruptions from Caleb.  Sometimes I feel like I'm completely neglecting Caleb and I'm not able to "teach" him.  I realize that I'm very new to it, and I have a lot more figuring out to go before we decide if it's right for our family or not.  Some days I'm sold, and some days I'm not.  But that's all a part of our journey. 

Here's some pics of school so far...

Water Play

Practicing writing his name

Counting with beans

Martin Man Camping Trip

Two years ago was the first ever Martin Man Camping Trip.  Ed took Micah for an overnight camping trip in Shenandoah National Park to experience life in the great outdoors.  Caleb at that point was only 3 months old, so he did not go.  Last year it rained literally every weekend last fall, so they never got to go.  So all three of them packed things up and left for the mountains last weekend.  Ed will have to explain more about the trip itself, since I was not there, but here are some pics from the boys' weekend.

Martin Man Camping Trip 2008

Martin Man Camping Trip 2010

Caleb roasting his first marshmallow

Breakfast

On the way home

Summer Ain't Over Till We Say It's Over!

To Infinity and BEYOND!

It's the Season Baby!

Around these parts, aka-our house, we are NFL fans! While others are jumping on the bandwagon of the latest "America's Team" - Cowboys - No! Patriots - Done! Saints - So Last Year! We are still cheering on the team we have stuck with since birth! We are proudly Redskins fans. You can debate about whether it is worth following a team with such ups and downs, and lately (as in past 10 yrs) its been mostly downs...and I don't mean 1st downs! We are beginning this new season with high hopes! As with every new season! So here are the boys decked out and ready to go last week when we played the wretched cowboys. And yes, we won!And this is what the boys looked like last night, when we almost had a win, and couldn't pull it off! (Note: Cowboys lost!)And this is what being a redskins fan does to you! It just makes you crazy, but we still love them! Seriously! We are scoring touchdowns! Can we complain?!