Thankfulness 2013: Day Seven

I love my Keurig!  I am not a coffee drinker.  Now that I've confused everyone as to why I even own a Keurig, let me explain...

I love hot chocolate and I love hot cider.  I do not like pretty much any microwave version of said drinks.  I've tried a lot of choices out there and none are quite as good as the Keurig as far as instant goes.  My wonderful husband got me a Keurig as a gift one year and I've been happily consuming hot beverages through the cold months ever since.

The only thing that beats out having a Keurig is having creamers with it.

So this holiday season, I'm thankful for the return of seasonal flavors of coffee creamers to add to my hot chocolate!!  Mmmmmm.

Thankfulness 2013: Day One

This is a year full of firsts in our house because we moved in less than two weeks into this year.  So for the day after Halloween:

I'm so thankful for the family-friendly neighborhoods we live in the center of!

We went from a college neighborhood (two blocks from the university and surrounded by apartments), that partied all year long and didn't participate in holidays in a way that the children could participate, to our new suburb filled with families of all ages who celebrate holidays with lights, decorations, and trick-or-treating even.  We were able to walk rather than drive last night to enjoy the holiday that is so fun for kids who want to show off their costumes and of course get treats.

It is just such a nice change to have such a calm area!

Pumpkin Patch Party

Our realty office that worked with us on the purchase of our current house sent out invites to join them for a small Halloween pumpkin patch party. It was held outside their office building and it was a chilly and windy day per MN luck.  Of course it was sunny but the event was in the shade of the building sadly which meant that it didn't help one whit.

It would have been a great event if the lines for things such as balloon animals (or flowers as the blurry yellow and green object in the photo is) or the wonderful face painting stand had been in the sunlight!  So while it was a fun hour of diversion, we stayed long enough to stand in the two lines, pick out the pumpkins for the kids and bundle back into the car and out of the biting wind.  Hopefully we get a warmer event next year!

Exploring Locally: Apple Orchards

One of my favorite fall activities has always involved eating.  My parents' house out in the country had some crab apple trees and that was one thing that I enjoyed.  I ate a few of them off the tree each year even when it was awfully tart.  My grandparents have multiple apple trees in their backyard also and they pick apples every year and freeze, bake, and can them (ready made pie filling!!).  Last year we found out that there is a local apple orchard not too far out of the suburbs around here.  Alyssa was 2 1/2 and we had a lot of fun picking apples, seeing the farm animals, and checking out the area in general.  Of course that meant that we HAD to go back this year!

We got to the orchard and unlike last year, we were there without any crowds.  Yay for weekdays!  It was seriously windy but it was a perfect temperature out to be hiking through an orchard.  My sister came for a visit so we got to drag her along as a kid helper too.  Alyssa loves tagging along with Auntie no matter where we are.  Even with the massive aphid problems this year, we were able to fill our bag to the brim in a relatively quick amount of time.  We missed out on the animals this year because we didn't see where they had moved to in the remodel until we were leaving.  As it was nearly past supper time already, it wasn't such a huge loss.

I'm looking forward to trying my hand at baking some yummy fall treats and possibly weaseling that canned pie filling recipe out of my grandmother for an ice cream topping!

Alyssa and Momma at the Orchard--Sept 2013

**No location, business, or individual has asked me to write these Exploring Locally posts.  I've taken all trips upon myself and at my own discretion.  I am merely sharing with you some fun ways that we pass our time and tour our own local area!**

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day Nine

I love the cool, crisp air of Autumn.  What I don't love is the clouds that come rolling in with it.  A person without any history of depression can feel the relief of a sunny day after a long stint of clouds.  I love a day of rainy weather but having day after day after day of clouds (rain or not) really starts to make me feel crowded and closed in.  I have a history of depression that is also mildly impacted by the seasonal darkness of winter or just gloomy days, so I am especially thankful for sunny Autumn days.