Field Trip to the Apple Orchard

D and I had a fun trip to the apple orchard with her preschool class today. We took a tractor ride out to the apple orchard, picked some apples and then headed back for a donut and cider! The kids also got to feed some animals and play on their playground.

It was nice to get to chat with other moms and dads and see which kids D gravitates too. I bought some extra apples to try out a few new recipes and make a pie.

On a side note the orchard was in Romeo, MI--home of Kid Rock.

Freezer Cooking

My friend Melissa and I got together yesterday to freezer cook, we had a very productive day! We were able to make: meatballs ( 2 bags per family), pizza soup (2-3 meals worth), Chicken Macaroni Bake (2 meals for my small family, one for Melissa's bigger family), Enchilada Casserole (this should end up being 2 meals for us), Easy Chicken Marinade, 2 fish marinades, mashed potatoes (these did not turn out well-boo), and 3 rice mixes (1 Indian, 2 Mexican). It took us about 5 1/2 hours and cost us $60 each! Both Melissa's family and ours are trying to buy more organic, less processed, less chemicals.....and we were able to come close to 100% in our purchases for cooking, I would guess we were about 85%! It is so nice to have a freezer (and pantry) full of things I can pick and choose from and not have to do much prep work for.

I want to thank my friends from NY who let me into their freezer cooking group and showed me how much fun and rewarding it is to freezer cook! Love and miss you all!

Another week of school under our belt...

It has been a busy week here in Michigan. D had school M-Th as well as went to a gymnastics class at our library today. N has been going to the gym every morning before work and I have been to two classes (Zumba and Water Aerobics) as well as did some running/walking on the treadmill this week. Hopefully this will be our new norm!

Tomorrow I am freezer cooking with a friend. I am looking forward to stocking our freezer! We are trying to go as organic/non-processed as possible......I will let you know how we do! It is going to be a little bit more expensive, but worth it for our health. I will try to blog on this on Sunday and also share our recipes.

Have a great weekend!

Back to school

It has been a busy week here in Michigan! My friend Jennifer visited us, D started Sunday school and preschool! Unfortunately with the first week of school also bought an unknown virus, poor D has been exhausted, achy and not able to eat since Thursday. She is finally feeling better today.

My friend Jennifer (formerly our Michigan neighbor when we first lived here) flew here from Boston to spend the week with us, this was a wonderful birthday present! We enjoyed some shopping, eating out, and most importantly catching up.

D loves her new preschool, she has two great teachers. She seems to be adjusting to a new school just fine, but this isn't surprising since she has been going to "school" since a week before she turned 2 (in Tokyo). The teachers think she should be reading by the end of the year!

We are hoping to get into a routine this week: gym, school, story time, swimming, etc.... wish me luck!

Are we settled?

We get this question a lot, and I am never sure how to answer. Are most of the boxes unpacked? Yes! Have we "decorated" the walls? No (except D's room!). Do we have a schedule? We will once school, story hour and swim lessons start. Have we met lots of people? Not yet, but hopefully that changes with the start of school.

This is our fourth house and I can honestly say I don't think I have ever felt settled in any of them. There is always something that needs to be done (the joys of home ownership) and we never know how long we will live there (our longest stay was 5 years). Hopefully we will be mostly settled in this house for awhile!

Our little Hokie.....

6 Months Old

18 Months Old

3 Years Old

4 Years (April) Old

4 Years (September) Old

Birthday fun--girl style!

D and I had a fun day celebrating my birthday! I took her to get her hair trimmed and ready for the first day of school on Monday! We then met my friend Melissa and one of her sons at Jungle Java for a lunch play date. And the icing on the cake was a pedicure!

Tomorrow is the parent orientation at preschool and then open house on Friday, D can't wait!

LABOR of love (Happy Labor Day!)

After and Before!

Our smart girl.....

D continues to amaze us everyday! She loves to sit and draw, cut, paste, and write her name and our name on everything. She is so ready to go back to school on the 13th. She will have the opportunity to see her classroom and meet her teachers next Friday.

We are working on her recognition of lower case letters, as well as writing them. She is very interested in knowing what the small letter is for all the big letters. She also wants to know how to spell everything! We are so happy she enjoys writing and creating.

Beating the HEAT!