What? Me, Busy?

The love of a family is life's greatest blessing ~
~ Unknown

In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
~ Alex Haley

I don't know that I'll ever, ever.... EVAH get this SAHM + part time job thing figured out. I'd like to think that I follow routines pretty well... but when that routine gets messed up... watch out!

We've had a busy busy few weeks. I figure it's easy to update today with some pictures.

My mom called one day and invited Mac and I to go apple picking. My parents have HUGE orchards (peaches, apples, pears, plums, etc) but with a lot of thought behind it, they decided to stop spraying their trees. The spray was nasty, and while it was great for the crop... it scared us that you have to wear a protective suit, masks, gloves, etc to use it. All that spray goes onto the fruit, drips into the ground, enters our water table, etc... it really is quite scary. Their crops used to be GORGEOUS... and as they fazed out the harmful spray... the quality of their fruit lessened. To make a long story short... their apples are pit'y, and not that large. Mostly the deer get to enjoy them.... they aren't worth selling or eating at this point. It's time now that we can start looking into safer and more organic sprays. The peaches and pears, however, were a GREAT crop.


So... this year we went to their friend Ed's orchards. My dad often helps out there so we can pick what we want and take them.


Okay... back to my mom's call. When she asked... I really didn't want to go. I was in my comfy clothes, Mac was playing quietly, (and I really wanted to catch up on The Hills).... but right when I was about to decline... I remembered "THIS IS WHY I MOVED BACK HOME!" so I could do these things. So my children could experience these things with my parents.... so we went... and had so much fun. Poor Madi... school is just a bummer when you miss the fun stuff.

So here are some pictures from that afternoon.

This is my FAVORITE PICTURE!!! And FYI, taking a 5 year old Apple Picking... basically means that YOU do the picking while they do the taste testing of the different varieties... as seen in the pictures below.

Mr. Apple Taster, Himself.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

It's hard work.... picking all these apples!

Reason # 2643 why I moved home.... so Mac can remember this day ... spent with Mom-Mom (my mom...)

This quote sums up what I felt that day.... it meant the world to my Mom to have us join her. If not, she would have gone on her own. It took 2 hours... but it was SOOO worth it.

Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted.

~ Paul Pearshall