Apples, apples, apples!

As you can probably tell, we are swimming in apples this year! Our tree in the backyard produced more apples this year than ever before. I picked two 18 gallon totes full. Needless to say, I made some applesauce. :) I've made three pots so far this year and haven't even made a dent in the apple count, but it sure is yummy. Also, Carol Lewis, Holly and Mac's babysitter, taught me to put a pack of Jello in with a quart of applesauce and dehydrate it for fruit leather. It adds color and TONS of flavor. I actually really liked that applesauce with the Jello in it BEFORE I dehydrated it! I at several LARGE spoonfuls as I was spreading the fruit on the dehydrator. FYI- I used sugar-free Jello. I made sure to take some pictures so that I could share what we've been doing. I also included some of Holly and Mac that had nothing to do with apple, just for fun! If anyone lives nearby and would like some apples, feel free to stop by and grab some!

Holly and Cheetah showing off our haul

Washing and sorting

All cooked down, waiting to be fun through the food mill

YUM!

Super easy and delicious fruit leather!

My sweet, happy boy :) 

Holly practicing to be an RN

Holly being Holly! And yes, that is a dog leash wrapped around her waist (???)

Mac weight...

So I took Mac and Holly with me to run an errand at the hospital yesterday and the ER nurse, Teirza, weighed Mac for me. He's 11lbs 14oz. My little man is growing up! Right now he's taking a snooze in Daddy's chair. How cute!

Mac's checkup

Mac had his 2 month checkup yesterday! He is 22 1/4 inches long. I didn't get to have him weighed, bummer! His doctor is moving into his own practice and doesn't have all of his stuff set up yet, so no weight, and no shots. Which, to be perfectly honest, the no shots part was okay with me! We're having them done on Monday though. I HATE having to get them shots. As a nurse, I know the necessity of it, but it still breaks my heart to have to hold him while they poke him. Knowing that you're the one helping to inflict pain on them is the worst part! Like I said before, I know it's necessary and that I'm decreasing potential pain and suffering in the future but I still dread going. So pray for me on Monday at 10:30. Mac's head is 16 1/2 inches already. It's grown 3 INCHES since he was born! Holy Big Head. He's going to be just like his sister. :) Only two and a half weeks left until I go back to work. Be praying about that also if you think about it. The closer it gets, the more I'm dreading it. These past two weeks I've really been enjoying being home with my kids and am not looking forward to having to leave them. Thank GOD for Carol! She is such a blessing to our family. If it wasn't for her, I don't think I'd be able to go back at all. I know that Holly and Mac will be well loved and well cared for at her house!

Mac is 2 months old!

My sweet little man is two months old today! I can't believe how fast it's gone. He's an incredible little boy. He's very mellow and loves to give us HUGE smiles in the mornings. He's adorable and melts my heart each and every day. I have three and a half more weeks to spend at home with him, then it's back to work. :( After being home with Mac and Holly for so long its making it hard to want to return to work. At the same time, I LOVE what I do and can't imagine not being involved in nursing. *SIGH*. The struggle of a working mom!

Anyway, thought I'd post some more pictures of this past week. Today it's just Mac and I at home. All our company is gone and I took Holly to play with her friends at Carol's for the day so I have some time to clean and relax. So far, I've cleaned the basement, two bathrooms, and the kitchen. I have the living room, and two bedrooms left to go. Hopefully I can get it all done today so tomorrow I can just relax!

 The cousins watching a a movie

 Look at that form! I'm a proud Mama. :)

 The Ohio Finkbeiners

 Playing at the park

Jaclyn, Mac, and Gramma Sue

The Finkbeiner Family

This week we've been blessed by a houseful of visitors! Kieth's brother, sister, mom, and their families all joined us at one point or another this week. As the week is winding down, I thought I'd post some pictures of all the fun things that happened! First, there was Kurt and Justina's wedding. Kurt is Kieth's oldest nephew.

With Papa Warren

With Gramma Sue

 The wedding party

The worlds CUTEST flower girl :) 

The ring bearer and flower girl

Justina, the gorgeous bride!

Next Ken, Kieth's brother, and his family all came to my parents house in Coulee City and stayed one night before heading to Pinehurst. Isaac and Caleb enjoyed picking and digging vegetables out of the garden.

And finally, we made it to Pinehurst! We enjoyed some great weather, played at the park, went to CDA and played mini-golf, took Lucy to the river, and all sorts of great things North Idaho has to offer! I'll post more pictures when I get a chance.

Happy boy!

Just wanted to post a few pictures today!

Chicken Spaghetti...it's what's for dinner!

First of all, I apologize for any spelling errors as I'm typing this with one hand and nursing Mac with the other. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do to blog around here. I'm getting to be quite the one handed typer, by the way.

Anyway, this past week I've been doing some research on freezer meals. I came upon this one, Chicken Spaghetti, on a random blog. As I was reading, I started thinking it sounded awfully familiar when I realized that it's in one of my newer cookbooks! The cookbook is called "The Pioneer Woman." She's now on the Food Network and has some AWESOME meals in her cookbook and on her website. It's a lot of meat/comfort food, which I LOVE.

I was making some freezer meals for a friend, so I decided to double this one and make some for us too. Doubled, it made four 8x8 pans full. I put three in the freezer, and went ahead and baked one for us for dinner. One of Kieth's teacher friends was over and between the four of us, we at the WHOLE THING. Needless to say, it was GOOD! That's when I decided this recipe was meant to be shared.

Instead of typing out the whole thing. I thought I'd just post the website. It has all the pictures, which I also love, so you can follow along visually as well as reading along. I hope you all enjoy!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/