Cooking with Freshly Picked Apples

rolling the apples

helping hand

taking turn adding ingredients

the finished product: apple dumplings


the kids LOVED them (and the vanilla ice cream
on top). Mommy and Daddy thought the dumplings
were pretty awesome too! This was a simple recipe
and something we'll definitely make again.

I haven't done my usual crazy baking with all of our apples yet, but I was able to make a couple things last week. I've made several batches of baked apples for the kiddos (that were devoured as soon as they were finished). The kiddos LOVE to bake also and helped make apple dumplings that were 'nummy, nummy' according to Kinsey:).

mono mommy date....

Cailey wanted a 3 Musketeers 'date' with me this week, and boy was it yummy:)! It's a favorite for both of us and we had a great time chatting with each other. I treasure the time we can spend together. Best of all, we didn't have to go anywhere and I could wear my jammies. (Which I've been doing a lot during the last few weeks with mono.)

Cailey (who is standing here) says, "Are you kidding, it was SO good! I want to have another date soon!"

Introducing....

Two Cubbie Bears and Luv E. Lamb! The kids love going to AWANAS and dressing up every other week for different theme nights. A couple weeks ago they were supposed to dress as their favorite character from Cubbies and this is what they chose! They each made their own hat and Cailey picked out her outfit to match Luv E. Lamb (including the purple ribbon around her neck.)

memorable moments

hangin' out watching Poppy work

Daddy and Braden building with one of my
brother's old toys

playing with the crane they made

listening to Poppy play the piano
(something i did all the time growing up)


giving us a concert that evening

Braden has been learning to play piano too!

hanging out with Nonny

Who Stole the Cookie....????

We came home from apple picking to find the cookie cake that Nonny made for Kinsey's upcoming birthday half eaten! Our first guess was the dogs....but it wasn't them. Poppy can't eat sugar so we knew it wasn't him. Nonny and I knew it wasn't us. It wasn't Daddy. That left the kiddos. I REALLY wanted to believe that none of them would have done this! Well, I'm sure by now you've guessed who it was. Yep...Kinsey ate this WHOLE missing part!! She snuck it in less than five minutes between the time we were getting our shoes on and going out the door. Of course she wouldn't admit it for the longest time until I said, "Kinsey, was the cookie yummy?" (with a HUGE smile on my face) to which she grinned and said, "Yes!". The little booger!

She asked for a cookie cake for her birthday and since Nonny and Poppy won't be there for her party, Nonny decided we'd have a mini party at their house for Kinsey. Kinsey, Kinsey, Kinsey. Of course after she ate that there was no mini party...and no more cookie cake for Kinsey. I'm pretty sure she had enough, anyway! We still wonder if she would have eaten the whole thing if she had time.

Apple Picking

kinsey had so much fun!


her favorite part was eating them, of course!




YUM!




kinsey looks like such a big girl to me in this
picture!


on your mark....get set....


GO!


racing through the orchard!

We went to Nonny and Poppy's house so we could go apple picking this past weekend. It was pretty cold and drizzly when we were picking but we still had a great time! This is a tradition that we all love doing every fall.

....till it's gone

After my 5k in June I spent the summer doing my best to keep up the running in the heat and averaged about 10-12 miles a week. It was SO hard for me to run even in the early morning. I wasn't dealing well with the humidity at all but didn't want to give it up.

Beth decided that she was going to run a 1/2 marathon in November and asked if I wanted to join her. At that point the most I had EVER run was 3 miles so I thought there was no way I could do it. I still asked her to send me the training schedule and said that I'd follow the schedule and take one run at a time.

We started training in late July with a midnight 4 mile run on treadmills in a very HOT room...but I did it. That was very encouraging to me! I ran by myself during the week and we'd do our 'long runs' together on Saturday mornings...at 5:30! I did the 5 (after only running a 4 mile one time)for a couple of weeks, then 6, and 7...every week thinking there was NO WAY I'd be able to do it. BUT I kept on training with the attitude of taking one run at a time.

The day of the 8 mile run wasn't such a great one, I had a TERRIBLE time breathing and walk/ran the rest after 6.5 miles. After that I went the dr. for all sorts of tests, ekg, etc, and was diagnosed with exercise induced asthma. I was pretty surprised because I'd been running for a while at that point but never had a problem unless I went over 5 miles. Anyway, so I got an inhaler and kept on running. I did the 9, and then the 10 mile run....craziness! I NEVER thought I'd be able to do this...let me just say that if I can do it than ANYONE can. I had finally signed up for the 1/2 marathon but still didn't believe I'd be able to do it...and by do it I mean run the entire time without walking. I was still taking 'one run at a time' but had to sign up because the race was almost full.

then.i.got.mono.

I never realized how badly I wanted to run that race or even run at all until it was taken away. I haven't run in over a week. I haven't taken that much time off since I started running. I had been doing over 20 miles a week...and now nothing. I'm so disappointed and afraid that I won't be able to run again. I don't want to get out of shape and have to build up my cardio again. I don't want my legs to get weak again. This is such a 'mind game' for me and I finally felt like I was winning the game. I was running 5 miles by myself during the week..and 3...and 4.... and then my long run with Beth (without her there is NO WAY I could have done it!) I'm so bummed!

I guess the main reason for writing this post is so I can remember how much I came to love running. How I CHOSE to get up EVERY Saturday morning at 5:00am to RUN so I could make it to Cailey's soccer games by 8:00.

I know I can run another race and it could be MUCH worse than mono but I am still annoyed at the whole thing. Because of this I did learn that I LOVE TO RUN! I NEVER thought those words would come out of my mouth, but I do. It's not easy. Even 3 miles can be hard some days. I don't have many 'easy' runs. BUT I get them done and go out for another run again and again...so I must love it:)!

Hopefully I'll be able to rest enough and get back my strength so I can run again.

Gotcha Day Celebration

Happy Gotcha Morning! Braden's request: waffles
for lunch he had ice cream:)

Braden's favorite restaurant is Champps, so we
TOTALLY surprised him with it! He was so happy!

my goofballs with 'bandana bibs':)

then another surprise...we had them sing "Happy
Gotcha Day To You" and bring him dessert!
It was SO neat to us that they were all singing
that instead of Happy Birthday

all the kiddos loved the sundae:)

after dinner we took him to Barnes and Noble
and let him pick out a book to buy. He picked
a book in the Flat Stanley series. We had such
a great time together!

excitement all around

my new Spark...who has learned SO many verses
since this was taken and earned his patch, wings, and two jewels!
(they've changed things around since Cailey started Sparks)
it has definitely helped that he heard cailey practice hers
over the past couple years because somehow he knew most
of them. braden's teachers say that he offers to help the other
kids learn their verses.

since this was taken she's already earned her third
crown, a red jewel and a green jewel! she's always been
able to memorize things quickly (MUCH better than
i ever could:)

Last year I helped out by listening to the kids in Cailey's class say their verses before going to a bible study on Wednesday nights. This year I am helping out full time in her class (complete with shirt and all:)...which has been really fun. I love getting to know all the kids and helping them learn their verses.

Braden

First impressions tell you a lot about a person which is why folks often talk up the importance of them when you go on a job interview or meet you girlfriend's father for the first time. Generally speaking first impressions are have no bearing when you meet your children for the first time because in most cases your child is a wet bloody mess screaming at the top of their lungs because someone just pulled back the covers and turned on the lights.

With adoption it is different, especially when the child is six months old when you greet them at the airport. Braden was sleeping when we first met him and you would be too considering you spent the whole day on the plane from South Korea to Dulles Airport in Washington, DC. Braden did not even stir when they took him from the carrier he was strapped in and placed him in Heather's arms. He simply layed his face against his shoulder and his cheeks which to this day are still rated the best cheeks in the Barbour family, him pressed against his new-found mother causing his lips to stick out. He was also chubby which is quite the contrast from the thin fellow that bounds down the stairs at 7 AM every morning.

Our impression of Braden in the first minutes and first hours have carried through these first five years he has been with us. Braden is the quiet one, reserved and meticulous the very polar end of what you are told boys would be like. Young boys are often rambunctious and wild. When there is a group of them Braden remains the quietest kid in the room. If a classroom full of boys could be considered a hurricane, Braden would be the eye sitting in the middle reading a book or building Lego car or asking how he might help while the tempest swirls around him

Braden is also the eye in the hurricane in the Barbour family wedged between two sisters who on the elder side is assertive and makes herself known and the younger side is the mischievous one bound for some type of trouble. In the midst of the constant swirling created by his sisters, Braden is the one content to sit and read a book. When there is work to do he can be depended on to do it. He was born with a servants heart and takes up whatever cause we set him to without complaint or argument.

The part of the adoption process that has always been the most powerful is the way you see God ordaining a child and destining him for your family. When I look at Braden (and the same is true of Kinsey as well) I see a child God chose, a little boy who God, in His omniscience and foreknowledge selected from the countless options on the table. We could have received any child but we did not receive just any, we were given Braden whose fit into our family is as perfect as those chubby cheeks pressed against Heather's shoulder in terminal at Dulles five years ago this day. Happy Gotcha Day, Braden!! We love you!