Fresh Picked Applesauce

Last weekend we went up to our favorite apple-picking place in Flat Rock, NC called Sky Top Orchard.  We went with the Thomas family, another homeschooling family we know and are friends with.  We had a blast running all over the orchard and just spending the day there.  The weather was beautiful and despite the crowd at the Orchard, by the time we started picking there really wasn't anyone there.

We picked 2 bushels of apples and we are making pies, applesauce and apple butter this weekend with the apples.  As most of you know, I am allergic to raw apples but that doesn't keep me from making all of this yummy stuff, since once the apple is cooked I can eat it. I purchased a nifty little apple peeler, slicer, corer gadget today and with great excitement Adam, Ayla and I put it together and began peeling, slicing and coring our fresh picked apples!  (Avery was asleep!). You may also know that I am also gluten-free, and so I had to go get some gluten-free pie crust mix but ended up with frozen gluten-free pie crusts from our local Earthfare instead.  (I like frozen things! Easy to prepare!). The thing with the gluten-free pie crusts though is that they are teeny tiny and it only took 2 apples to fill it up!  For what its worth, the apples were pretty huge though.  I am using Granny Smith and Arkansas Black apples.  I had never heard of Arkansas Black until this past week when I went to NC to pick them!  I will post more pictures and recipes later today.

Waiting for the delicious apple doughnuts!

These were soooooo delicious.  I broke my rules about no gluten-free, but that was a bad idea! You can say that was the last time I will probably have those delicious, flakey, tender, and sweet, hot, apple doughnuts.

My boy

My boy turned 6 last month, and no, I did not blog about it yet. Its been hard to keep up with life and writing about it is even more difficult.  Its like trying to catch a moving train!  I have been documenting life of course, with photos as usual.

I came across this poem tonight and just had to share.  It pretty much sums up how I feel about raising children, especially my boy. 

My dishes went unwashed today,
I didn’t make the bed,
I took his hand and followed
Where his eager footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring,
My little son and I,
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the summer sky.

We waded in a crystal stream,
We wandered through a wood.
My kitchen wasn’t swept today,
But life was sweet and good.

We found a cool sun-dappled glade
And now my small son knows
How Mother Bunny hides her nest
Where fern and larkspur grow.

We watched a robin feed her young,
We climbed a sunlit hill,
Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky;
We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected,
That I didn’t sweep the stair,
In twenty years no one on earth
Will know or even care.

But that I’ve helped a little boy
To noble manhood grow,
In twenty years the whole wide world
May look and see and know.

~ Ms. Peifer

Here is a picture of me and my sweetie from a few months ago:

Nine Years Ago

July 27, 2001 my life changed forever. In a really, really great way. I gave birth to my sweet baby girl after a very long wait (26 hours). I wasn't in labor for all of that time but from beginning to end, 26 hours. I had my sweet baby girl at home with a midwife named Charlie and her two assistants.  My husband and sister were there as well.  I've come to realize that this was way too many people watching the pot boil and would have had a faster labor if I had limited the people in attendance, because as we all know, a watched pot never boils. And in this case a watched mama in labor has a longer labor.

Anyway, that first night I remember thinking OMGOSH, now what?!  What do I do with this... baby. I just can't believe that this baby is now nine years old, dancing 'round my living room to Michael Jackson songs in her pink and black bathing suit bugging me to go swimming. Lots of things have happened since she was born, as we have all grown and changed (and moved!). But I have had time to reflect on that learning experience and remember my baby girl coming into this world.

Here is a photo from about 2 weeks after she was born.  I scanned this print, as it was taken with one of our film cameras.  I just love her cute little face.  Look at how tiny she was!

Flight

Ballerina had a ballet camp this week which culminated in a short performance.  This image was captured during a practice for that performance. It is the only one I got of Aybelle in the air.  Again not a technical masterpiece {in terms of the photography}.  It is incredible to me how far off the ground she gets.  I love watching her dance and then seeing her in the photos.  I can tell that she enjoys dancing. . . from her heart.  It is this passion and joy that I know she feels, that is the essence of living and loving life.  May we all be blessed with this joy!

Fishin' and Swimmin'

Adam took the kids to his parents house in rural Virgina for the weekend.  {Yes I had a weekend free to myself!}  they left on Friday afternoon and got back Sunday evening, so it was really like 1 and a 1/2 days.  Anyway, It was Father's Day weekend and Pop's birthday weekend so they had much to celebrate.  Adam and Pop took the kids fishin' on Saturday.  They fished in the hot sun for about an hour before giving up and jumping into the river.  Then after a swim they ate some grilled food Pop prepared and tried their hand at fishing again (they were using worms as bait).

But no fish!!  Poor kids!  They worked really hard at casting and reeling but the fish weren't bitin'. So they jumped in to cool off!

After getting back to the house the disappointment of no fish was easily replaced by the excitement of baking a cake.  Adam calls this photo  "American Gothic with Cake Batter."  Adam took these all on his iPhone.

So after a short visit my babies and hubby are back at home, fast asleep.  Tomorrow begins our back to homeschool summer session.  I have a lot planned and I need to get some sleep!

Silliness at the Photobooth

Adam and I attended the 6th Annual Contemporaries' Soiree and Silent Auction at the Columbia Museum of Art back in May. There was a selection of art to see from local artists that was juried and a winner was chosen at the end of the night.  There was a silent auction, food, drinks, and even breakdancing.  But in our opinion, the best part was this photobooth they had set up!  It was free and you just had to put on a prop/props and act goofy.  Adam wore a pimp hat and I took the blue feather boa.
Enjoy your laugh for the day!

Old Photos

I scanned some old photos lastnight. Very cathartic and wonderful to see these faces. Even the kids enjoyed seeing the pictures of Nanny and my mom and me from when we were much younger.

{my grandmother Madeline ~28 years old, both photos}

{my mother when she turned 5 and my grandmother}

{My grandmother on New Year's Eve, 1964}

{Late 1950s/Early 1960s Easter, her favorite holiday}

Two Cups of What?

I've decided that Two Full Cups sounds like a store that sells women's undergarments. Ergo, I reworked the title of my blog and I've made some changes to the picture header at the top. Say goodbye to the coffeebeans and a huge thank you to the photog on Flickr who granted me permission to use his photo on my blog for these many, many months.

The philosophy behind the name two full cups as I explained in my now buried-in-the-archives first post, is that when children have their emotional needs met their emotional "cup" will be full and harmony ensues. This is not a perfect state of being of course, its an ideal that we seek on a daily basis with ebbs and flows. When I spend the time to fill their cup up (and it may require multiple refills in one day) the results are worth it. My children are happy and content and know that their needs are important to me. They are respected as a human beings and not treated as subordinates just because "they are kids."

My two children are *my* cups of love, they fill up my cup each and every day.

Two Full Cups

You are probably wondering what in the world does that mean. Well it means that I have Two Full Cups... more specifically it means that I have at least Two Cups that I need to keep filling in order to stay full. Not in a literal way (although 2 cups of coffee is something I do have to have on a daily basis, ok hourly basis).  

If you'd like to know what I really mean see this website. Scroll down to the part that says "Filling My Cup." I've tried to link directly that that specific part but I can't figure that out!

We live so far away from family that I thought they'd want to keep up with us by reading our blog.  One of my friends blogs about her family and I've been wanting to do this for more than a year. I want to have this record for my children to see and for family to be able to follow.  My goal is to blog every single day about something. 

So come join Adam and I and our two sweet babies, as well as the the 3 cats, 1 hamster, 3 chickens, 2 butterflies and 1 baby praying-mantis as we share with you all of the exciting and not so exciting things going on in our lives!

When the cups are filled you have harmony.