Birthday Girl

Charlotte had her birthday recently- she is 6 years old!  I really can't believe our velvety haired baby girl is 6! I pick her up and her feet reach past my knees!!!  Charlotte is such a sweet-funny-clever little gal!  She is always cracking us up. Anyway, she had been planning her birthday festivities for quite. When I say festivities I mean food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were to be her choice. And it was also a school day- bummer. For breakfast she chose my homemade biscuits, eggs and sausage, and juice. Charlotte didn't vary to much for lunch- she really is just crackers and fruit kind of girl. With cupcakes for her class. She had all kinds of idea's for din-din- and changed her mind everyday. multiple times.- pizza? Chinese? subway? (yes subway is in it's own category) or go out?  In the end she chose pizza, so Dad picked some up on his way home from work- Thank you Dad!:)  Her cake was also her brain-child. A few days before her day- she saw that I had picked up a few cake mixes. And she BURST into tears because it wasn't what she had want for HER cake. Why do kids get sooo demanding around b-day's?  So it ended up being chocolate cake- plain- no icing- mint chocolate chip ice cream on the side- a glob of real whipped cream on top- with a peppermint patty stuck into it. WHOA mint! Belly-aches abounded that night:(  She had a great day- thanks Grandma & Nana! Next in line is Mr. Grant! The big 8!

Apple picking!

When it starts to get cool outside we get the itch to go apple picking.  This year we had to minus one kid.  Since the earthquake, Dean has school every other Saturday.  It did seem strange to do something like this without him... but it really was the perfect day to go. I was really needing to get out of the house, and the weather was perfect for it.  So we made the drive out to Charlottesville (right near Monticello) to Carters Mountain Orchard.  It is a really pretty spot over looking Charlottesville.  Usually when we make the trip we stop over at Michie Tavern- a delightful spot for some of the best fried chicken around,and really any kind of simple comfort food you could want.  Everyone there is in colonial garb and the food. is. so. good.   Afterwards we normally waddle over to the country store/gift shop. (were were we buy candy for the ride home:)  This time however we limited ourselves to apple picking.  In years past, there have been enormous crowds, but thank goodness we came early enough in the year to miss the mobs.  We got a couple of bags to carry our load and made our way to the Jonagold section.  We did need to go a ways down the rows to get to the fruit, but once we did we hit the mother load.  The kids really could've picked all day. At first I wished we had gotten more bags, but by the time we got back to the register, we had 30lbs!  I really hadn't thought we had got that much (Matt was carrying to bags)  We really do enjoy this little tradition, but I will admit the high light of Carter's Mountain is the warm apple donuts they make. When its really chilly we get warm apple cider to go along with it. It is all so yummy the kids start asking out the apple donuts as soon as we get out of the car. All and all it was a delightful afternoon- with the promise of MANY apple treats on the way:)