Apples & Mamas

There is no store-bought applesauce that compares to the flavor & texture of homemade applesauce!

We've been out for at least 6 months & I was about to cave & buy the store bought when I saw that a local business had the apples we love for sauce, & they were on sale for 15.50 a bushel! 

I'll take about 4 of those, Please & Thank you!

These 2 were kept busy filling bowls with apples as fast as we could slice & cook them...

Thank God for Mamas!! And I don't say that lightly.

The day we had apples to do, I woke up with one of those, make-you-sick-to-your-stomach, headaches & had about zero energy!

Mama came to help & kept putting apples through even when I needed to stop every now & then to rest so as to avoid becoming a heap on the floor.

A job that would likely have taken me several days, only took us about half  a day with her help.

This year I used an organic, crystallized, cane sugar to sweeten my applesauce.

We use the "Ginger Gold" & they require very little to no sweeteners, but we like our sauce extra sweet & the cane sugar worked great! 

Applesauce always comes towards the end of canning season so I feel like I'm finally winding down from the hustle & bustle that is canning season.

Grape juice & apple pie filling are still on the "to do" list, then I can rest assured that I can hibernate for the winter  & my family won't go hungry ;)

What have you been canning & preserving this Fall? or am I the only crazy canning lady out there?

Labor Day Weekend

Disclaimer: There will be tons of photos-that's all.

This post should have happened 2 weeks ago but I made like a crazy person trying to get all the produce from our garden preserved & into the cellar!

Labor Day weekend, we took the children to Columbus Saturday morning to watch the annual softball tournaments that our church family participates in every year, got a room at the same hotel as the team that evening & let the kiddos swim to their hearts content.

In the morning we ventured out to what looked like a very rainy, zoo day.

We prayed with the children that morning, asking God to give us a day with no rain.

One minute is was pouring down rain & as we pulled into the parking lot of the Columbus Zoo, it all stopped. Not only was there no rain but the sunshine poked through the clouds & we had a beautiful day for watching animals!!

Greeting us at the Zoo...Hello Mr. T!

The sting rays & giraffes were a highlight for us all! touching the animals was so freakin cool!

We were all alittle hesitant with the sting rays at first, but once we started feeding them & being able to touch their backs as they swam past us...priceless!

3.00 for 3 pieces of lettuce=crazy! 

The children were afraid to feed the giraffes, but there was no way that I was missing out on this!

It may have been one of the coolest things I've ever done!

The animals all seemed to be sleepy, especially the cats.

This guy was posing for me :)

We saw sharks! & the coolest saltwater fish-beautiful colors!

Although super stinky, these little guys intrigued me :)

This was one of the children's favorite things there. We almost couldn't get Dawson to leave, he loved feeding the birds.

The dinosaur boat ride was fun too, whats not to love about water-spitting dinosaurs!

The boys making sure we're going the right way ;)

2 days of non-stop fun for these three got the best of them on the way home.

we left the 2 little boys at home with Grandma so we could spend some one-on-one quality time with the older children. As much as we all love the littles(& fought who would get to hold them 1st when we got home), they tend to monopolize all time & energy & it was so much fun having these few days with the older ones.

I'm a kid at heart any way but experiencing these 2 days through the eyes of our kids a beautiful thing!

About 10 minutes from home, God blessed us with one of the most beautiful sunsets!

We live in God-country! #countrygirl :)