Apple Picking with friends

Last weekend, we went apple picking with some good friends from Fort Riley--Jess and Jeremy were company commanders together in Iraq. We rode go-carts, fed chickens, pet kittens, and, of course, loaded our baskets with apples.

I was reminded of one of the first trips I took to Jess's extended family's farm for their annual apple picking and cider making. While cousins and aunts and uncles got to work, I became Laura Ingalls, or maybe Anne of Green Gables, sitting up in the tree enjoying my apples. If this was farm life, I wanted in! Of course, like I said, those seasoned farmers around me were busy picking, hauling and pressing apples, and probably laughing at the silly city girl. I LOVED that trip, and LOVE that farm!

I'm so happy no one bought this Ella Bella Baby shirt at the last sale I did! It looks too cute on little Addie-that and the pig tails!

transparancy

Blogger is not letting me post pictures. I've tried for two days. I still haven't come to the point where I'll cuss on this blog, but I thought about it.

What I really wanted to tell you is that I miss my friends. I don't want to have a whiny blog, but, just in case you wondered. . . since I never call and rarely email. I don't call because I still think i shouldn't call long distance just to tell you that Pioneer Woman's Cauliflower soup is really yummy, or Josiah pooped in his underwear twice today, or I bought bedside tables for $10 a piece! And so tonight, after the chapel picnic, I just don't feel like filling you in on all the details, I just want to tell you that Midwestern potlucks aren't quite as good as southern ones. For the record, I DID have pictures of the picnic, but stupid blogger won't let me upload them. There, I'm getting closer to cussing. I better sign off.

As I walked home tonight, tired of meeting new faces and trying to put names with the faces I met yesterday or the day before, I was thinking the words of this Sara Groves song:

don’t want to leave here I don’t want to stay

It feels like pinching to me either way

The places I long for the most Are the places where I’ve been

They are calling after me like a long lost friend

It’s not about losing faith It’s not about trust

It’s all about comfortable When you move so much

The place I was wasn’t perfect But I had found a way to live

It wasn’t milk or honey But then neither is this

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt Leaving out what it lacked

The future seems so hard And I want to go back

But the places that used to fit me Cannot hold the things I"ve learned

And those roads closed off to me While my back was turned

The past is so tangible I know it by heart

Familiar things are never easy to discard

I was dying for some freedom But now I hesitate to go

Caught between the promise And the things I know

So there you have it. This is a great place to live, and we're thankful to be here, but sometimes I want to be back in the familiar, and back among friends.

Sam's party

Two down, one to go! Sam really wanted to have a birthday party with all his school friends before we head to Kansas. So we had an early birthday swim party Friday. It was easy, once I convinced my best friend/Sam's kindergarten teacher extraordinaire/ caterer/ babysitter/ baker to make the cake (where am I going to find another one of those in Kansas?!?)

What a cake!!!! Sam was originally very specific. He wanted a cake shaped like "the speed racer thing that Count Dooku used to escape the Jedi knights in Star Wars Episode 2." After an hour of googling, I found out it "Count Dooku's solar sailer" and impossible to make into a cake. He agreed to R2D2 instead and wonderful Tricia came up with this!



Here is the baker-teacher with the party goers, mostly from Sam's kindergarten class:

We got our 3rd Light Saber :-)

Lunch was pb&j or ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, and capri suns. The chips and capri suns are contraband at our house, so this was definitely a party!

Ella will be swimming like a fish by the end of summer. Look at her jump!

It was an easy party, and most of all, Sam had fun and felt special.

Jeremiah 29:11

What?! You're moving?!

I've been hearing that a bit lately at which point I give my standard answer: Yes, we're military, we move. It's going to be a great year for us, and we're looking forward to it, but it will be really really hard to leave Savannah.

I realize I haven't updated everyone on our news, mostly because, as it is with much of our life, there are still a lot of variables out there. But here goes: Jess is finishing up his time with the Savannah District and will be heading to ILE. That's army talk for a one year school for Majors. It's at Fort Leavenworth, KS just north of Kansas City. Yes, there's a big prison there. There is also a beautiful post, a very active Officer Christian Fellowship group, and Nebraska Furniture Mart. It's an amusement park of furniture. We've visited Leavenworth (and Nebraska Furniture Mart) several times in the past, when we lived at Fort Riley. We tried for several months to sell our home here, with no luck, and are now trying to find a renter. We're scheduled to move the second week in July and already have our housing assignment at Leavenworth in the Infantry Barracks. Sounds exciting, huh? They are actually converted 100 year old barracks, but I've heard they are very very nice. Bigger than we have here, but more like apartment living, which will be a challenge with 4 kids and a big dog! We've been busy looking up satellite imagery on maps.live.com and shopping for rugs to cover all of those hardwood floors.

We know it will be great. But we're sad. We're very sad. We will leave our church and school where we've been for six (non-consecutive) years. And we have a lot of uncertainty. We don't know who will rent our house. We don't know where we will go to church. We don't know how we will manage without a backyard. We don't even know if we will homeschool the children next year or send them to public school! This isn't unusual for us. It just seems to get harder the older our children get.

Its enough to keep me up at night (oh, wait, that's kind of a bad habit of mine with or without anxiety). Then I think of this beautiful baby.

His middle name is Jeremiah. He's named for his mother's favorite verse about God's providence.

Couldn't you just eat him up? And he'll hug you too. Not like my kids. They squirm.

His parents (and their friends--me!) prayed for him long before he was born. And they were encouraged that God had a plan for them.

I am grateful that I got to meet him, and be reminded that God's plans are for our good, and we can trust Him!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Food. Lots of talk about food.

So, in order to get back into blogging, and after reading Suzanne's yummy story about beets, today I'm going to talk about food. One of my themes lately has been "real food." I have been trying my hardest to stay away from prepackaged, convenient items with long lists of ingredients. I'll tell you it's all about my kids' health. But if you know me, you probably know I am also a bit of a control freak. I LOVE the idea of being able to control exactly what goes in my menu. As I mentioned before, I have given up this in favor of some cream and splenda. But I haven't mentioned that I have almost completely given up this. I know. Wow.

While not too picky about organic verses non-organic food (except for those pesky hormones in some dairy and poultry) my main goal for produce is to buy as local and seasonally as I can find. Now, I don't know that we can give up bananas. But I can hold off for a while on tomatoes--you can't tell me that a tomato in January tastes real. One place I am going for real food is a local organic farm. I got my first box of fruits and vegetables Friday and ooooh it was exciting!!! The children ate every carrot straight from the box before supper. I just have to figure out some good recipes for Kale and Swiss Chard, good winter greens.

Tonight I had my sweet friend and her children over for dinner. (side note: Her name is Sarah. Her husband is Jesse. They are in the army and live in our town. They have a daughter in preschool at Ella's school and a younger one named Adeline. Crazy, huh! We have a the same taste in fabrics and have jumped into sewing, cloth diapering and better eating together. What a blessing!) Anyway, today at the commissary I tried not to buy anything that i could make at home. That included flavored rice packets, soups, yogurt, refried beans, even cereal. And you know what? It paid off! I was happy with my grocery bill and really enjoyed my time cooking at home. I'm thankful that my job as a stay at home mom allows me the time and flexibility I need to fix these menus. I know it's not for everybody. But I'm a big fan of "Do what you can, and don't worry about the rest." And I'm also a big fan of "If I don't want to cook supper and I want Jess to take us out I just say 'We can have salad or eggs tonight.'"

Wanna know what was on the menu tonight?

Chicken and bean tacos--I roasted a chicken yesterday, and mixed half of the meat with some spices. The rest of the chicken will be good for the next few lunches.

The bean recipe was from here. The rice, I adapted from this yummy post from Pioneer Woman (soon I'm going to make the whole Mexican lasagna described--it looks soooo yummy). The kids didn't like it--i think it looked too tomato-y. But I loved it. Add some lettuce, salsa, cheese, and, oh yes! My favorite part! I strained some homemade yogurt in a coffee filter and had some delicious "sour cream"! (I really would have bought sour cream, but I just forgot it--I'm not that picky)

Wait. That wasn't my favorite part. This was my favorite part. But I can't take credit. Sarah brought this (she found the recipe here). And do you know what she did? She brought the cake early and left me alone with it while she ran errands. What was she thinking?!

I promise I just took the wrapping off so I could get a better picture. But it smelled soooo good. So I just had to have a tiny taste.

Stay tuned--hopefully tomorrow I'll post Menu Planning M-Thursdays. Although I might forget, as my mind will be excitedly thinking about the return of the worst show ever (reverse psychology-works every time.) In the meantime, I'd love to hear about what you're cooking!

And since you've made it through this totally kid-less post without complaining, I'll give you a little Addie Lou pic. Guess who's turning 9 months tomorrow?!?!

Beach Trip

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

Psalm 96:11

Ah, the beach! Even in November we enjoy the sand and the sound of the waves. For Veteran's Day we got to visit Jess's brother, Tim and family who were spending a couple of days just south of us at Amelia Island.
the whole Curry Clan

Cousin Ally! It was so fun to see the girls together again. They are quite a pair-as I'm sure their daddies were 30 years ago.

I took a picture right before I yelled, "GET HIM DOWN FROM THERE! ARE YOU CRAZY?"

Curry Girls

Wow! I have mentioned the kindness of our Savannah friends before, but let me say again-wow! What do you say when someone shows up at 8:30 in the morning with a lasagna for your freezer. . . and a crock pot roast for the evening. . . and shoos you off to enjoy a day of guilt-free shopping, resting, coffee-drinking, reading, time alone! And then does it all again the next week! Thank you? That just doesn't seem sufficient.

So, besides spending the day remembering what it's like to run errands with an "s" instead of heading out the door an hour later than planned, struggling through errand #1 and then giving up and going home with tired and hungry kids, I've been sewing LOTS of ACU purses and watching the Olympics. Sam even stayed up til midnight with me to watch girlnastics. Oh, and I've been reminiscing. Looking through old pictures for my sister's project, I came across this one: Holy Cow! I don't even remember him having a beard.

then. . . and now.

in which i attempt to be more transparent. . .

my childhood home, from Sunday

"You can't go home again." But I did. . . and it was fun! My parents moved from my childhood home in Memphis to Nashville right after I married. In fact, I remember waiting for out of town wedding guests while sitting in lawn chairs in my front yard as prospective buyers looked at the house (lawn chairs in the front yard-insert redneck joke here). I love Nashville, but it's not really home. That, and moving around with the military, and I don't really feel like there's a place I can go where I have history. No one, besides my family, who has known me for more than a couple of years. And I've wondered what it would feel like to sleep with my children in a room where I slept as a child. Now I know that my experience is far from unique. But it's very different from my husband's experience when he goes home. Marissa, IL was home to J until he left for college. He has known his best friends since elementary school, and the people we see around town were his teachers, coaches, and babysitters.

Anyway, I went to first evan this past weekend and got a little taste of this kind of homecoming. I have been 2 times since I was married in the church 9 years ago. I loved the friends of my parents who would ooh and ahh over my baby and say "Is she your first?" "No, 4th." (with wide eyes)"Ohhhh." And then they would see my oldest. "He looks just like David!"(my brother) I even got to catch up on the latest gossip with an old youth group friend. Nothing that day was a disappointment--I feel blessed to have such happy memories!

It did start me thinking. Our children will not have one specific place to call home either. They will not live in one place for more than a couple of years. There will be people in their lives who we'll keep up with, but they will be scattered all over the globe. I have yet to think of moving around as a negative thing, but then again, my oldest is not yet in kindergarden. I think I will still always try to focus on the postitive aspects of these moves. More friends in more places! More excitement! More adventure! More opportunities! I will also try to make every place we move a comfortable, peaceful, beautiful place to call home. And then there's our large family. I think that's great! The children will have their siblings along everywhere they go.

And I guess it's a reminder that none of us should get too comfortable here in our temporary home on earth. That's what I love about the military. It doesnt allow me to get too comfortable. Cause when I get comfortable, the Lord always stirs things up!

Walkin' in Memphis

We're back! I have more to write about, but right now, just some pictures from our trip to Memphis to visit our dear friends. Time with my grown up BFF is always refreshing, although i wish i had at least one more day. Our oldest kids have been friends since they were toddlers, so it is always a blast to see them together. Oh, and S got little Lou to take a pacifier! Yippee! Next we work on the bottle.

what a sweet way to start a friendship!

then and now. . .

when taking 4 young kids to the pool is relaxing. . .

We have some amazing friends here in Savannah. Every day I'm blown away by their care and concern. Somedays i think, "do i really look that desparate?" but mostly I appreciate all of it! Today we spent almost the entire day at the pool. It would not have been possible without the previously mentioned fisher price dome tent and some good friends. First we went to a pool birthday party, where the kids had at least 3 sets of parents looking out for them, helping them get their lunch, putting on their sunscrean and splashing with them in the water. Then, after a short nap at home, our good friends nathan and jax came over and we went to our neighborhood pool where we stayed for hours. the kids need a nathan everyonce in a while to wrestle them and throw them in the pool. mommies just arent as good at things like that. the oldest is picking up where he left off and swimming well, although when he gets too deep, he gets nervous. the princess will be swimming by the end of the summer for sure. she is confident and has no problem getting her head wet. her favorite thing tonight was getting on nathan's shoulders while he bounced her in and out of the water. the monster is recovering mentally from an unintentional dunk last week, so he's very timid, but honestly, i'd rather him be too timid than too bold.

then n&j helped make supper/bathe kids/ put them to bed. they are going to make great parents (soon!)

nathan juggling the two littlest ones (and right before the 2 big kids jumped in as well).