Traditions & Activities - Apple Baking Day

When we went to the pumpkin patch last week, we also bought quite a few pounds of apples for an apple baking day with my mom. So yesterday, my mom and two little brothers spent Saturday at our house baking. Mmm... the house smelled so good! We made apple pies, apple dumplings, and yummy applesauce. Thankfully, we had enough apples to freeze a few pies, dumplings, and containers of apple sauce to eat throughout the fall and winter. But of course, we just had to bake a few right away, because who wants to peel, cut, and season apples all day without tasting some warm, gooey deliciousness?

My little brothers were such a huge help. I don't know how my mom and I would have done it all without just collapsing on the couch half way through (which we did at the end anyway). They were so excited to help that they even volunteered to peel the apples while mom and I walked down to Market to buy a few more apples for the applesauce. Now when I say a few, I mean a whole box! The shop owners at Market were very generous, though, and gave us a a great price. It was fun showing mom Market, as she had never been there before. There are rows and rows of stands with fresh produce, mostly local or organic, baked goods, ethnic foods, flowers, and all kinds of handcrafted items. I love going to Market for the energy, community atmosphere, and refreshing anticipation of life that seems to pervade the place. It was such a beautiful, crisp fall day to walk through the city, too. It brings such peace into my being to step outside and breathe in the cool air, feeling the sun on my skin. I'm such a sucker for scarves, a flannel shirt and puffer vest, too. Just a perfect combination for a memory-full day with my mom and brothers.

With flour and sugar all over ourselves and the floor, gashes in our fingers, the freezer stocked, and the house smelling like apples and cinnamon, we popped The Grinch (the new one!) in the Playstation and cuddled up on the couch while the pies were baking for a warm-fuzzy inducing Christmas movie. I am so thankful for days when we can gather with family to enjoy a cozy day of baking, activities or whatever brings us together. We need each other. That's why we were given family, and I don't want to forget that. It can be so easy for us to go about our daily schedules, staying inward, doing what needs done and what we want to do on our own. It's easy to forget about those who love us and who we love because we're so wrapped up in our struggles or whatever we're trying to figure out. Days like yesterday remind me that without our loved ones being around us, our lives are really in vain. I'm so thankful that God gave us two wonderful families that are now our whole family. 

After working all day, my husband was so excited to come home to an apple dumpling baking in the oven, just for him. I love when I have the opportunity to do special things like that for him. He works so hard and is so loving to me; it warms my heart when I can express my love for him by showing him that I was thinking about him and went out of my way to have something ready in the oven for him just when he came home. The anticipation of this small gesture was on my mind all day as we were baking. He loves apple pie and I just smiled as I was putting the pies together, knowing he would be bouncing around the kitchen, all excited if he were there.

Traditions & Activities - Pumpkin Picking

Nearing the end of our second year of marriage, we are beginning to formulate the traditions that we want to have as our own family. As it started to get colder this fall, I've gotten so excited for the holidays. A few days ago, I actually snuggled up and wrote down pages upon pages of seasonal traditions and activities I would like for us to do. They don't have to be done every year, mind you, but I love the idea of having something fun and seasonal ready to go for the occasional afternoon that we're looking for something to do (ha! Does that ever happen?). 

This particular list came after a refocusing discussion between my husband and I about the cost of activities. I am all about "moments." You'll often hear me say, "But it's about the experience!" or "Just think of the memories we are creating." My husband appreciates that, prefers that our experiences and memories are created while not squeezing the life out of our bank account. Concept understood. So I took it upon myself to create five activities lists (Fall, Christmas, Winter, Spring, Summer) with three sub-lists under each one (Free, Low-Med Cost, Splurge). Then, I went nuts on Pinterest and searched all kinds of seasonal activities. There are so many fun activities that I wrote down for once we have kids - just think of the wonder that will be in their eyes and faces! But I made sure to write down plenty of activities and traditions for Ozzie and I to do as a couple now. I'll be sharing some of these different ideas with you as we try them out, but this weekend, we decided to go on one of my favorite fall traditions.

Ozzie and I went to Cherry Hill Orchards for the day for our pumpkin and apple picking tradition. We love Cherry Hill, because they have everything all in one place for a really reasonable price, which makes it so fun to enjoy without worrying about how much every activity is costing. After getting advice on which apples are best to use for baking apple dumplings, pies, and apple sauce (baking day with mom next Saturday!), we walked through the tasting arena of apples in their shop. They had every kind of apples you could think of! We ended up with about 20 tart, baking apples and 14 large, dumpling apples, which I'm sure we'll end up mixing. After looking around the shop, we got our ticket for the hayride and climbed aboard.

I just love watching the children on the hayride. They each have a different way of taking it all in - whether they're fascinated by the hay, the tractor, the bumpy ride, or all the pumpkins and apples we were passing, seeing it through their eyes is just so precious. I think that's part of what I enjoy about pumpkin picking, and many of our other traditions as well! I love the idea that someday we will get to teach our children these traditions and they'll know that mommy and daddy have been doing these things forever. They'll get to look at the pictures of when it was just us going to the pumpkin patch, wearing funny clothes and smiling like cheeseballs. 

We of course picked out our pumpkins, stomping through muddy ground, while Ozzie insisted that we go to the very end of the pumpkin patch so we don't miss anything. We found the cutest pile of little pumpkins at the end, and I wanted so badly to bring them back to the middle of the patch so the kids could find cute pumpkins amidst all the rotted and squashed ones (there really weren't many left). We ended up finding two cute pumpkins sitting next to each other - Ozzie liked a light orange, small pumpkin and I had my eye on a beautiful dark orange and taller one. We laughed and said they were like each other! 

Last year's pumpkin picking - Our first time!