The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

{family} A Field Trip to the Apple Orchard

A perfect day for picking apples and being with family.  We’ve gone to this orchard every year on Grandparent’s Day/Opening NFL Weekend since M was a baby.  And I must say, it was surreal this time to watch my two oldest.  Giggling together with some conversation only brothers can understand.  Walking like “big boys”, needing no helping hands.  Playing “tag, you’re it” and races across the big, open field. 

I love being their mamma. 

And baby J’s too of course!  He wore the obligatory Cowboys jersey in honor of his Daddy’s favorite team.  Our third sweet baby boy to do so!  He’s been teething, so he wasn’t very interested in all the apple excitement and preferred to snuggle up to either his Meme or Poppa instead.

We all had so much fun.  Now to find a yummy recipe for apple pie…. 

{learning} How to Make an Apple Pie & See the World

Today marks the end of our first two week unit!  To catch up all of you new readers, we decided to do PreK at home this year using Five in a Row.  I chose it primarily because it felt like a gentle beginning to school.  I can include lots of extras or we can simply snuggle together on the couch and talk.  

I decided to focus this year on an “Around the World” theme since M is such a fan of different countries.  I chose stories from the first two volumes that fit with the theme and just went from there.  I have spread each book/country into two week units, so we can fully enjoy each place.  And How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World seemed like the perfect place to begin!

Here are some of the details about what we did and learned.  I apologize ahead of time for the horrible pictures…the boys wake me up each morning around 6:30 and hurry through breakfast, so we can “do school!”  So I hope that explains the lack of natural lighting and pajamas!  🙂

(Also, if you are a fellow “FIAR”-er, please check my Pinterest for tons of ideas!)

Our “Art Gallery”
Our two big projects were a “life-size” apple tree and re-creating the lion from Ten Apples Up on Top!  The boys love to paint so they were super excited about both activities.  The lion head was all M’s idea, right down to the pipecleaner curls.  He’s so creative – I learn so much from him! 

A peek into our lapbook…

The books we read:

I was afraid two weeks of apples might be too much, but we actually enjoyed all two weeks’ worth of activities!  We made apple prints, had a taste test with 4 different types of locally grown apples, made homemade applesauce and apple cake, created a lapbook, and even made our own playdough (scented with cinnamon and spices, so it smelled like apple pie!)  

Our field trip for this book will be our annual Grandparent’s Day/Opening NFL Weekend apple picking trip with my parents.  We’ve been going every year since M was a baby.  The boys are so excited and I am too!  We still need to make an apple pie!   


 

{chit chat} Recap Part Two



Unrelated to the post, but I thought it was good food for thought…

So…I forgot a few things I wanted to include in yesterday’s post!  I’m going to blame it on my crazy caffeine withdrawals.  I am trying (for the third time this year!) to kick my diet soda habit and get those artificial flavors/colors out of my system.  But wow!  I had a killer headache for most of the day!  We’ll see how today goes… 

Anyway, here is the recipe we used for the bread in the bread machine:
Oatmeal White Bread (in the bread machine)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup oats
3 cups flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Warm the milk in the microwave, so it’s barely warm when you touch it (for me, it was about 30 seconds).  Put the ingredients in the machine as recommended in your directions (mine says liquids first, then dry, then yeast).  Set your machine for 1.5lbs, LIGHT crust, and Basic/White Bread.  Press start and wait until it beeps!  

Side note: I actually bribed my children with the first slice of bread for whoever picked up their toys the fastest.  And it worked!   

WEARING.  I can feel fall approaching and I am so excited to pull out the sweaters and jeans!  I just ordered a few things from Lands End Canvas and was really pleased with the quality.  Have you ever ordered from them?  

REMEMBERING.  Another fun find from another blog was 280daily.com.  Easily accessible from your smart phone, it’s a way to journal and can be used for many things: a food diary, record of what you did that day, etc etc.  I decided to use it as a gratitude journal.  I get a reminder e-mail everyday at 4PM, so I never forget.  And the coolest part is that at some point, I have the option of printing out or having a book bound with the entries I wrote.  So neat…and a great way to have a gratitude journal for this busy mamma!  

 

{chit chat} Labor Day Recap

How was your Labor Day?  I hope it was wonderfully relaxing and fun.  Ours was great as well!  We did a day of errands and shopping and two days of lazy relaxing around the house.  It was perfect!  A few more things to tell you about:

MAKING.  Through the wonder of the Internet, I stumbled on this creative girl.  She has a bunch of scrapbook how-to videos and I swear to you, M and I watched about three in a row, just oohing and ahhing over her pages.  Shimelle inspired me so much that I actually pulled out some 12×12 papers and tried my own.  So fun!  (And hurray for making some progress on my neglected pictures from the first four years of marriage!)  

BAKING. Over the weekend, we purchased a bread machine!  My mom found an amazing deal.  We go through a lot of bread around here (the boys are big fans of a good ol’ PB & J), so it will be so nice to have bread without all of the preservatives.  We tried this recipe and I actually had to made it TWICE yesterday!

READING.  I finished Heaven is For Real last week.  It was a good, easy read and gave me a lot to think about.  Talk about childlike faith!  My new book is Love Walked In.  I grabbed it (mostly because I liked the cover…do you ever do that?) when we were browsing through Border’s closing sale.  60-80% off!  I was in heaven.  I also picked up In Defense of Food for the husband…he’s already a quarter of the way through, so it must be good. 

LEARNING.  We are into week two of Apples and going strong.  Yesterday, M went on a “Daddy Date” to the grocery store and picked out four different types.  When they came home, we had a family taste test…so much fun.  I’ll be sharing more of our Apple Unit soon. 

I hope you have a wonderful week! 

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