Apples, Apples, and more Apples!!!

We have an apple tree in our yard and it has several apples on it this year so I decided to pick them and make some homemade applesauce. Me an my hubby picked a bowl full last night in the dark and I decided to make the applesauce today. I made some at my mother-in-laws house last year with her help, but I have decided to tackle it this time by myself. Well I peeled the apples and cut them up into small pieces. I then put them in a large pan and covered them in sugar. I turned them on low and they cooked down and the sugar melted and made a syrup. I cooked them until they were all mashed up and looked somewhat like the applesauce you buy in the store. I got it really hot and put it in a jar and covered it with a lid. I heard the jars pop so I know they sealed. I hope that it taste good. I use it when I make apple tarts. You just buy canned biscuits and flatten them out and put the apple sauce on the biscuit and fold it over and seal the edges with a fork. Then fry it until it is a light golden brown. My family just loves them. It is neat that I am able to use apples from my own tree.

Transamerica Mission Trip

I forgot to blog about a youth group that we met in the parking lot of the Great Sand Dunes while on Vacation. We had just come back from climbing the dunes and some kids came up and offered us some Pepsi to drink. We accepted and thanked them for we were parched to say the least. In conversation with them we learned that they were a youth group from Burnt Hickory Church of Christ in Marietta, Georgia. They were very sweet and gave me a card with their information on and told me that they had a blog about their trip. I thought that was neat to be able to read all about their trip. They told us that they were on a Transamerican Mission Trip and their mission was to experience life outside of the community which they lived and their focus was to appreciate the wonders of God's creation and the people that they meet. The card that they gave me thanked me for helping them on their journey and asked if I would pray for their trip that they would grow closer to God and to one another along the way. I just thought that was an awesome thing and they looked like they were having loads of fun!!! If you would like to check it out the website is BHYM.org and click on the blog.

School Days

I am a home school mom of three very different little girls. We officially started school on Monday. I decided to blog about our first few days of home school. I guess I need to give a quick overview about my decision to home school(some people thought that I had completely lost my mind). My oldest daughter went to the 3rd grade at a Private School where we live and my twins went to K-5. I just decided that I wanted to try to home school because my oldest daughter came home upset most days after school. It also was very expensive for Private School. I must admit it was a hard decision to make at first, but well worth it now.(I had to give up my freedom that I had waited so patiently for when my girls were little) I have been homeschooling for 3 years now and it gets a little easier every year. I had a 3 year old when my twins were born and I had a lot of long days. I know that God is in control of the decision I made to home school my girls. He had been laying it in my path for years, but I just did not realize it at the time. I can see the difference it has made in my girls life. My oldest daughter is in the 6th grade and my twins are in the 3rd grade. I use the Abeka DVD program for my home school curriculum. It is a christian program and we have a bible class first thing in the morning. It is great to be able to worship God freely and allow my girls to pray. It is one of the great things about homeschooling. The bible class is good for me because it starts out my day with Gods word. It makes for a much better day for all of us. It has been a little hard to get the girls to understand that summer is over and school is now in session. We had a great day Monday because they were excited to start school and see who their teacher was going to be for this year. Tuesday was not as good as Monday(the new had already worn off)and it took a little longer for them to finish. Today I think they(the twins) are just out to lunch. I will be here all day trying to get them to finish. My oldest is doing great because she has figured out that if she gets her work done she will have all afternoon to do what she wants.(now if the twins will just figure that out we will be doing great!!) I hope I have a better day tomorrow.

zucchini Baby

When we came home from vacation and checked the garden , we found a rather large zucchini. The girls decided that they wanted to make a baby out of the zucchini. They had me draw a face on the squash. They wrapped it in a blanket and put a hat on its head. They had so much fun with the zucchini.

Headed Home!!!!!!!

We got up at about 5:00 a.m. and headed home. We have a 2-day trip back to Alabama. I had a wonderful trip, but was so ready to go home. We stopped in a small town and had breakfast at a little cafe. The food was good and it had a mural painted on the wall that was very pretty. We were still traveling on the old Route 66. Outside the restaurant was a phone booth that you get in and I haven't seen one of those in a long time. I just had to take a picture. We stopped at a Logans Roadhouse to eat Dinner and What did I see but a hobby lobby and I was so excited. My sweet wonderful husband let me shop for about 30 minutes. I bought some ribbon for the girls hair to match some fabric that I had already made dresses for them out of and some new cute fabric. Oh yea and of course a magazine to look at and my husband says that I have a magazine obsession. I can't help it I just love reading magazines. We spent the night in a nice little hotel in Oklahoma. The lady and her son were very nice and the hotel was very clean. We headed out the next morning and drove all day. We arrived at home around 11:00 p.m. and I was so excited to see my pets and my home and garden. Soooo good to be home!!!

Ice Caves and Banderas Volcanos

After we arrived in Grants, New Mexico we found a campsite to spend the night. It was really nice and cheap, only 15.00 a night for a full hook-up. We got up the next day and ventured out to see the ice caves and volcano. The ice cave was cold when you got close to it and when you came up on top it was hot. On the walk up to see the volcano and lava rock we met a super nice family and their friend. She had been a teacher on the Indian Reservation and she was very nice and interesting to talk to. We chatted on the walk up the hill and we later exchanged e-mail addresses. She said she would send me some information about the Reservation that I could use to teach my girls. The girls did another Junior Ranger Program at the El Mapis National Park. We ate lunch at a neat little restaurant in the Park and the food was really very tasty. We had a great family day. We were planning to get a good nights rest and leave out early the next morning heading home!!!!!!!

Route 66

We were traveling on the old Route 66 on the way home. If you have ever seen the movie cars you remember lightening McQueen was lost on Route 66. They call it the historic Route 66 on the roadsigns. I thought it was really neat and it made me think of the movie. The town just went to nothing when they bypassed Route 66!!