Carter's Mountain is just about 3 minutes away from our home, and so the other day after Pete got home from work, we packed a picnic dinner and went to the mountain to pick the first apples of the season! We've enjoyed baking apple crisp and eating lots and lots of very tasty apples. The girls LOVED picking the apples off the tree and playing peek-a-boo in the apple orchard. I became a little obsessed with getting the prettiest, reddest apples which happened to all be at the very top of the trees, of course. So, Kyla was our main apple picker and climbed up on daddy's shoulders to get the best apples of the bunch! I attempted to climb some of the trees and managed to get one or two from the top...it was a very fun day with temperatures being a very pleasant 70 degrees! Then on Tuesday (baking day), Kyla helped chop the apples for our apple crisp. I think eating it was her favorite part, though :-)

Wish Jar: Winter

A gentle reminder not to wish winter away.

(Which I can already find myself doing...)

Sunday Moments

A little water,

A little rock,

A watchful moment

A big smile.

It was so nice to get outside and enjoy the unseasonably warm(er) day:-) What were your moments this weekend? I'd love to hear! Leave a comment below!

A spring december day

Our girls are just not getting outside enough for free play and time to explore nature. It's really hard to want to bundle two kiddos up when it's very cold outside only have them tell you after 5 minutes that they want to go back inside! I'm such a wimp when it comes to the cold and lately the mornings have been in the lower 30's and the afternoons haven't been much more than 40 degrees....if that.

Yesterday and today we were blessed with some very warm weather for December. Today was kind of rainy and overcast, but it got up to 70 degrees. After the girls woke up from their naps we went down to a little creek in our neighborhood which is behind the playground. There were lots of rocks, sticks, leaves, dirt and mud. The girls had a blast!

The sticks became fishing poles, the leaves became fish swimming in the water, and the big rocks became their house. Avery giggled with delight as she sunk her foot in the mud and then watched it come out all sticky. Kyla spent most of her time gathering different sticks and using them to catch "fish".

I think it's their new favorite place to go...they had so much fun!

CREATIVE GARDENER
Kyla loves to garden. She received some gardening tools for her birthday and every time we go to the park, she brings her tools along. She has quite a look of determination on her face as she scoops the sand and dirt into her pots. Then, she goes over to the nearby water fountain to fill her pot with water. "Now I need to find a plant, mommy," she says, as she takes my hand and leads me to a tree with leaves covering the ground. We look for flowers, leaves and sticks and she continues to garden in the way she loves to the most. With black dirt on her cheeks and a smile, she repeats the process over and over again. I don't know how long we would stay at the park gardening if it was up to her. I don't believe we would ever leave!

I love watching my little girl create. I enjoy seeing her imagination run wild and develop with each new day. She gardens... she takes her "Little People" to the doctor on a regular basis... she puts her baby dolls to sleep, breastfeeds them, and reads them books. She makes "happy birthday cakes" in the sand and lines seashells up at the beach.

Here before us, the creative image of God manifest in a little child.