Buying Local!

Today D and I ventured about 45 minutes north to pick up 100 pounds of naturally and locally raised beef, chicken, and pork (we split it with another family). It was a beautiful drive, D and I listened to Dr. Jean and chatted about all the birds we saw. When we arrived at the farm there were lots of signs to drive slow because of the dogs (and cats!). When I opened the door on what I thought would just be an office, D and I walked into where they were actually cutting and wrapping the meat! Blood was everywhere, although gross it was a reminder on how fresh the meat was. D had fun chasing all the kittens around while we loaded the meat into three coolers. She was a little upset we couldn't feed the cows. I am so happy to not to have to worry about meat shopping for awhile!

Pumpkins, fairy butterflies, and lighting?

It was a busy weekend in our house. We got D dressed up as her berry fairy/butterfly Friday night and headed over to our gym for their Halloween party. D got to trick or treat around the gym and then play some games.

On Saturday we carved our pumpkins and helped our friend celebrate his birthday. D had fun turning her pumpkin into a cat and paint the other one.

Sunday we decided to change not one but seven lights in our front foyer! The big chandelier was just plain ugly....brass and so 80's (and our house was built in the 2000's)! Unfortunately we couldn't find a new one that matched or came close to matching our wall sconces.....so we changed them all. It looks so much better.

Sunday evening we went back to church for their annual Trunk or Treat. The kids had fun walking around to all the cars and collecting goodies. The car trunks were all decorated and a lot of the adults were dressed up. We had the perfect weather for it, 70 degrees!

D has her Halloween party at school on Thursday, she is so excited!

More progress on the house.....

We hired someone to come and paint the front door, columns, caulk and paint the deck this past week......it turned out great! He painted more than he was suppose to on our front door, only the door was suppose to be black, but he painted the side windows too. I was in shock at first, but have slowly started to like it. We hope to start painting the guest bedroom next weekend and then start on our room! I am hoping to pick out colors this week.

Busy, Busy!

It is turning into a very busy fall for the Majiros family! We have started the process to become foster parents, with the hopes of adopting as soon as possible. We have attended one orientation, we have one more and then two full days of training! Hopefully with the help of our social worker back in NY, we will quickly be certified.

D started AcroDance last week as part of our community education classes offered by the school district. We weren't able to watch, but she came out happy and excited about all the things she got to do. She is also still swimming on Saturday mornings, which she is also enjoying.

We have been blessed with a beautiful fall here in Michigan! The leaves are slowly turning into beautiful shades of red, yellow and brown. We have enjoyed temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's over the last week. I am sure it will turn cold again in a matter of days but we are soaking up all the sunshine we can right now!

As I type our deck is being painted.....I can't wait to see it done! After painting and staining two different decks in the last three years I am overjoyed that we are paying someone to do it this time! Now if I can just convince Big Daddy to hire someone to paint the bedrooms. :-)

Happy National Fire Prevention Week!

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!