Just Levi

Signs of the times...

As you can see, fall is upon us.  Levi was bundled up, but at least it was nice enough to go outside for a while.  The sun was shining, the leaves were starting to fall, and there was a brisk wind.  But what a wonderful day it was!!

I LOVE BIG TRAINS!!

Franklin Library had trains set up last weekend.  Rob was working, so Levi and I jumped in the car and took a ride to see the choo-choos.  He loved them!

More APPLES!

Still haven't made it to the APPLE ORCHARD yet...  All of the APPLES will be gone by the time I get there, it seems.  I still had a few APPLES left from my quick trip to Adrian's that had to be used up.  I was going to make another half recipe of the APPLE Dumpling Dessert from my previous post, but, instead, I thought I'd make some APPLEsauce to go with our Mozzarella Chicken (another yummy dish) dinner last night.  So, I found this recipe, cut up the APPLES, added the other ingredients, threw it all in the Crock Pot (my best friend!), and went to prop my feet up!  (Okay, I wasn't able to do the last thing.  I have a 2-year-old, you know...)  When dinner was ready, I opened the crock and ummmmmmm ~~~~ nothing smells better than hot APPLES with cinnamon!  (Rob actually had to ask if he could eat it.  He thought it was potpourri.  I had to laugh at that one for quite a while.)  It was very yummy!  In fact, I got some APPLES today at the grocery to make more on Sunday for our lunch with the college kids.

Rob will be going to a men's conference tonight and tomorrow, so it's just me and Levi tonight.  Probably going to run to the library after dinner to return some books and videos.  I have several train books and a train video waiting for me, too.  Then, CVS and Walgreens maybe?  Oh, also have to go to Office Max to make copies of our church bulletin for Sunday.  

Tomorrow, my mom and Mrs. Holloway (a.k.a. "Mickie"  ~  I don't call her that.  She was my 3rd grade teacher way back when...  I still call her "Mrs. H.") will be going with me and Levi to the Covered Bridge Festival.  We'll be heading to Bridgeton for a COLD day of eating, shopping, eating, walking, eating, talking, and... oh, did I mention eating?  Okay, I won't be eating that much.  But, maybe some hot chocolate, some soup in a bread bowl, and definitely PUMPKIN ICE CREAM!!!  I don't care HOW COLD it is outside ~ I'm not leaving there until I get my PUMPKIN ICE CREAM!!  I look forward all year to this ice cream.  It's the best I've ever had!  (Kind of like waiting all year for Pineapple Whip at the State Fair...)  Anyway, enough about the food, the ladies from our church will be going, too.  Hopefully, we'll meet up with them this time.  (We went to Edinburgh last month with the ladies from our church, but we never saw them!)  

We hope to be going back to the Covered Bridge Festival on Tuesday with my parents, my aunt and uncle, and my husband.  He took off work for this.  Hope the weather is nice!  (We originally were planning to go today, but we changed the day since it is RAINING.  I'm not complaining because we really needed it...)

I still have some pictures I need to post from our recent doings.  Maybe I'll have a chance tonight after Levi goes to bed.  Also, now that October is close to the halfway point, I'll finally get around to posting my October menu plan!  I'm just a little behind...

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful time of year ~ the changing colors, the brisk fall wind, etc.  It will be gone before we know it!  Then the dreaded SNOW!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

APPLES!!

I love apples!  Haven't been able to actually go pick apples, but I did stop by Adrian Orchards on Friday to buy some apples.  I needed to use them up, so tonight I made my newest favorite apple recipe.  It is called "Apple Dumpling Dessert", and my husband said it tasted better than apple dumplings.  (Don't anyone tell Bro. Dean...)  That's saying a lot!  Here is the link, if anyone is interested.

  www.applerecipes.us/apple-dumpling-dessert.html

ENJOY!

Happy Fall!

I'M DREAMING......

Can you believe it's October already?  It sure felt like it today!   A little bit too cool...

Made me get a CHRISTMAS cd out!  And, oh, did it sound good!  I sure LOVE that time of year, so I thought I'd get a little taste beforehand...

When Rob got in the car and heard what I was listening to, he couldn't believe it.  But, what's funny is, when we got home, he took the cd in the house and we LiStEnEd to it some more...

LOVE it!  (And, him, too, of course)   :)

Where have I been?

Wow, it has been a loooonnnngggg time since I've posted something here.  Where have I been?  Well, I guess I've been busy...  Time just seems to fly by!  Everyday, there seems to be something going on around here.  For example, here is last weekend's schedule:  Saturday was a cook-out with the college class at church which took most of the day;  Sunday was church, college lunch, nursing home, church, and church fellowship afterwards.  Busy, busy, busy.  I know I'm not the only one.  Those of you with more than one child certainly have your hands full!  Don't know how you do it!

On another subject, has anyone else noticed how fall snuck up on us?  It is here!  But where did summer go?  I do love fall, but it just seems too early for it.  I'm not quite ready.  Oh well, can't go back, so I'd better just enjoy it!  I do love to have the windows open and let the fall breezes blow through the house, but these last few days have been too chilly and windy to do that.  The temperature in the house with all of the windows closed has been in the low to mid 60's.  Hoping it warms up a little bit soon!  Looks like tomorrow will be very nice, then rain on Friday and Saturday.  We still need the rain, so I'm not complaining about that.  My tomato plants have new blooms on them; not sure if they will make it, but I'll wait and see.  My strawberry plants are still growing, blooming, and producing.  They are spreading everywhere.  I'll have to try to contain them, so I can have other things, too, in my garden next year.

It is time to pick apples!  What will I be making this year when I get some apples???  Hmmm....  Gotta look at my recipes and choose.  I need to get over to the orchard.  We were heading there this morning in Grandma's car when Levi threw up all over the place!  So, needless to say, we turned around and came back home.  Had to give him a bath, wash clothes, etc.  (You know the drill, Moms.)  Grandma had to clean out her car, too.  Fun, fun!  (Glad we weren't driving my car...  lol)  Levi isn't showing any other symptoms of illness, so hopefully this too shall pass.  I hope he doesn't get sick!  I was really looking forward to taking him to the orchard to pick apples!  And he was really wanting to go, too.  For the last two days, he's been talking about going to the "farm, pick apples".  I'm hoping we are able to go tomorrow afternoon (if Levi doesn't get sick).

Tomorrow evening ~ DAVE RAMSEY!!  We have been looking forward to this for several months now.  We have had our tickets for about 6 months!  Dave Ramsey will be at the State Fairgrounds for a seminar.  We have been working on getting out of debt for a while now.  Still have a little ways to go, but we are getting somewhere.  We just have my car loan left, and the house, of course.  Dave Ramsey has given us some great ideas on how to budget, pay off debt, stay out of debt, pay with cash/debit, NO CREDIT, etc.  Of course, all of this is common sense, but sometimes you need someone to smack you in the face with it!  He doesn't hold back, that's for sure.  He says it like it is!  Can't wait to hear him live.  Maybe it will give us another little push...  Looking forward to it!  Several families from our church will be there, as well, so it will be a good time.

We have an appointment on Friday to get Levi's two-year pictures taken at Penney's.  I know I'm a couple months late, but... (I think I lost another couple months somewhere.)  I'm hoping he will be more cooperative than last year.  He wasn't happy at all last time, but they still managed to get some great shots.  We'll see...

I have some pictures that I need to post from Saturday.  (When we went to the cook-out at church, Levi went to a train expo with my parents.  Levi LOVES trains, of course!)  Also, since October starts tomorrow, I probably need to work on my monthly meal plan today...  I'll try to get that posted soon, as well.  

Hope everyone has an enjoyable day!