The Princess turns 1

Yes, I have a ton to catch up with my blog. It hurts when your laptop cord was packed for months!! Sigh. And blogging on your phone is s..l..o..w.. 

Scurrying about with a pending move, it's hard to plan a party. So we just loaded up the kids and took them to the standby- Chuckecheese. 

Umm, Princess?? You're sleeping through your party!

Happy Birthday, Julianne! 

Apple Stuffed Pork Loin

We love fall! No, really... We LOVE fall!! One of our favorite fall activities is apple picking at Sky Top Orchard. This year, our trip was pushed forward due to our Disney trip. One thing I love to do is cook with apples. Here is my take on Apple Stuffed Pork Loin. 

Ingredients:

1 5lb Pork loin

1 large onion

4 cloves of garlic, minced

6-8 firm apples

Raw Honey

Cinnamon

Apple Cider Vinegar

Salt & Pepper

Slice the onion into rings. 

Spray the inside of your crockpot. Place sliced onion rings on the bottom.

Slice 3 apples. These are 2 Honeycrisp and 1 Gala that we picked at the orchard.

Layer the apples on top of the onions. Sprinkle with salt. 

Mince 4 cloves of garlic and sprinkle on top of apples & onions. 

Take your pork loin and slice into it about an inch to inch and a half in.

Place apples into the cuts

Place loin on top of apples. 

Layer the rest of the apples on top. 

Sprinkle with cinnamon and add a splash or two of apple cider vinegar. 

Drizzle the loin and apples with Raw honey, salt, and pepper. 

Cook on low for 7-8 hours! Enjoy! 

Our Farm!!

Since January, we've been trying to purchase a new home. We've had four homes under contract (various contract lengths), and three fell through for various reasons. The fourth could have, but we persevered and closed November 22nd! 

Our first night in our new home was Thanksgiving! We have SO much to be thankful for! 

It's 13.3ac and included the house and an outbuilding affectionately called "the Boathouse," a duck pond and the back border is a river & cypress bog. 

There has been so many ups and downs but we have been so blessed!

How Tall This Fall 2013

No fall trip to Asheville would be complete without our favorite orchard, Sky Top Orchard. We usually go up twice, once for the Apple Festival, and then to the Biltmore Homeschool Days. Due to our housing purchase, we opted for just a late trip the weekend of the festival.

We were disappointed in the selection of apples at that time so we definitely will make more than one trip next year!!

Wow! Look how much they have grown!!

Recap from Last Year:

 

To this:

My, how much they have grown!!!! 

Biltmore Homeschool Days

We love Biltmore's Homeschool Days!! We changed our times and went to the afternoon session. The moment we pulled up, a bus heading out to Solar Panel Fields was ready to go. Immediately they wanted to "Take the school bus." So off we went to the Solar Fields!

On our way we saw the Hatchery house on the property where baby chickens are hatched. 

Remember these from school? The middle school girls that sat beside me could not fold them! What is wrong with kids today???

I have more photos on the other camera. More are coming!

We upgraded our tickets to pass holder tickets. The kids were PASSED OUT so the parking attendants let us park up front and switch off getting our new passes. 

Love this house! 

Fall Trip!

Every year we head to the Biltmore Homeschool Days in Asheville, NC and this year was no different. We started out visiting our favorite pizza parlor, The Brick in Columbus, NC.

Mmmm... Gluten free pizza!!! 

That Supreme looks soo yummy!

We had a beautiful, two bedroom suite at The Residence Inn.

We stocked for groceries at Walmart. They even had a gluten free section!!

Princess loves the baby in the mirror!! 

Proud Mama

It doesn't take terribly much to make me proud of my children, mostly because I'm proud of them all the time. But there are times when my heart beams with joy. Today is one if those days. 

We have been struggling with Joshua and his reading and writing. Since starting this new school year (July 1, 2013) he has just grown by leaps and bounds. He has made 100 on each week of his spelling tests. Then came today.

I purchased these journals to use with our Science. 

Today I asked Joshua to get his journal because we needed to get caught up with writing words to go with his pictures. He told me "Look, Mommy. I already used these letters and wrote the words."

At first I saw gobbledygook, then I saw it:

It's "Box Turtle"...

And "Hummingbird"

"Cat on the van"

"Squirrel"

"Bear"

And finally, "Magnifying Glass."

He drew most of those pictures without any supervision (the turtle and hummingbird were part of a yet-to-be published Science lesson), and all of the words were written unbeknownst to Joe, my father, or myself.

I'm so proud! He has come so far just in the last 5 weeks and I can't wait to see him bloom & grow more. 

Wool

I LOVE wool for cloth diapering. I got quite a bit of knitting done while I was pregnant. Here are some of the Princess's woolies

Purchased online. Knitted by LaurelLove using the Molly Bubble Romper, on Mosaic Moon Autumn Custom with Violet trim on Merino 3ply, size NB

Knitted by me on Patons Classic Heather Jade in left and custom dyed by me in right. Pattern is variations Sheepy Skirt, size NB.

Custom dyed by me diapers and top to match skirtie.

NB/Small set purchased online in the Iced Giraffe color way. 

NB dress & bloomers set knitted by me using the Molly Bubble Romper pattern and Bloomies pattern by Mandie Harrington of Sheepytime Knits. Cream is undyed Mountain Meadow Worsted (from a co-op) and colored is Manos de Uraguay Maxima purchased at Fiber & Friends in Asheville, NC

Newborn sleep sack knitted by me using the Sheepytime Knits Sheepy Sack pattern, Mountain Meadow Worsted undyed and scraps of purple cotton.

Slippers knitted by me in Mountain Meadow undyed worsted.

Julianne at the hospital in her mama knitted dress

At the Children's Museum of the low country wearing her Mosaic Moon dress

Lobbies I received in trade. Unknown knitter/vase/colorway. Christmas-like colorway and mama dyed top

X&Os NB lobbies purchased online. Cream trim and Purple colorway. Unknown knitter/base/colorway

Above Longview with mama dyed top

Top from above with mama knitted skirtie in Manos de Uraguay Maxima. The leftovers went to the trim on the top above.

Mama knitted & dyed set. Patons base, Molly Bubble Romper and Bloomies patterns used. 3-6m size

Christmas longies with a different top to match- Carter's

Christmas Eve in her Christmas longies and embroidered top.

Iced Giraffe longies set with a Carter's top

Mosaic Moon Ravenswood colorway (possibly Gaia) Gymboree top

From L-r, T-B- Purple XOs, purple Lovebums, wooly bottoms up cycled with embroidery, Woolybottoms with ferries, MM Ravenswood, Cream Stacinatir, Bloomies, NB peach colored longies, Green soaker, cream Aristocat soaker.

Woollybottoms Upcycled with embroidery & Carter's top

Mama knit Patib's Jade Heather & Gymboree top

Mosaic Moon Tangled colorway (left bottom yarn) Ravenswood center and MM Birthday girl on right.

Mosaic Moon Anwens Gown on Gaia, Size 2t, matching cabled longies. Unknown knitter

At the Great Cloth Diaper Change wearing her MM Ravenswood and Gymboree