Apple Count 9:14 am

Three. That was the apple count as of 9:14 this morning. By 9:47 there were two more cores added to the pile. My kids are wild about apples, and I'm just glad they finally like to eat the skin. I was so tired of peeling apples, and really over trying to make a big deal out of how good apple skin tasted.

The Working Conditions...

...make it such that our productivity is very low.

However, we are compensated well.

Because...

...to be honest, by the end of a lot of days, the only creative thing I engage in is cooking our dinner. Stress reliever. And even though it is dark by 6pm, and I'm standing under florescent apartment lighting, I can think of summer time. Or some other distant and lovely time, when the tomatoes and basil might actually come from my yard. I love that Miss Lily sits on the counter to supervise and beg tomato pieces, and Zach comes in to tell me, "Mom, I still don't think I'm big enough to like spinach, but I'll try it again." I think it's funny that all the splatters and mess tend to land on my ever growing belly.

A few months ago Dave and I were reminiscing about the meals of our first year of marriage. All 3 things I knew how to cook involved some sort of creamed soup. But I was good at potatoes...baked, mashed, fried, Au gratin, twice-baked, scalloped, hash browns, wedges, potato soup, potato salad, potato pancakes. We ate hundreds of spuds due to the fact that a sweet older lady at Dave's workplace had a son who was a potato farmer. Pity potatoes for the college students. Boy I'd give anything to have a journal that chronicled those dinner days.

Mud Soup {for the soul}

It rained last night.

For Zachary and Lily that means one thing: mud soup.

They make mud soup for animals. There is lots of teamwork and interesting conversation as they prepare the culinary masterpiece.

Today my children reminded me that I adore the monotony and mess of this beautiful stage in our lives together. I love their simple requests, sweet little voices, and the seemingly endless amounts of time we have together in our cozy little world.

May mud be the soup du jour for many years to come.

Party On

{Chocolate-Almond cupcakes with fudge icing...my favorite part}

{The treasure hunt took us to fun places around town...Zach with a clue map}{sweet faced party go-er} 4th Birthday celebration got four chocolaty thumbs up.