Getting back to our roots

Yesterday Mike and I took Annika, Mason and Joshua to our local farmer's market. We bought some apricots, plums, pluots (pronounced plew-ot, they are a crossbreed between a plum and an apricot), and some nectarines from an organic farmer there and then we met an organic dairy farm stand. The people were amazing and their cheeses.... if you haven't tried organic cheese you are missing out. We bought 2 chunks from them as we realized we would actually be using less cheese since their cheese is so much more pungent. We also bought some stuff called Quark. It is a German style cream cheese. We bought the vanilla bean flavor to use with our fruits for a dessert.
Then I found an amazing treasure through a friend (thanks Annette). It is the Tomich farm off of Chestnut Avenue, 6702 Chestnut Avenue to be exact, can you tell I want you to visit, lol. I went there thinking I would get a box of peaches that were seconds, for those of you who don't know what seconds are (I didn't before 2 weeks ago, lol - it is the fruit that is slightly bruised or nicked that is still good to eat but great for preserving, but found out there was a short waiting list (I think everyone else had the same idea as I did). So instead the 2 wonderful ladies there showed me 2 other boxes that were a little more bruised and nicked (I'll call them thirds, since I have no clue what they really are called), I figured I'd take one. The boxes were 20lbs each and I paid my $10 for the 1 box - yes I really did say $10, I was just as shocked that they were so cheap, and took it out to the back of my truck. When I stopped and thought about all the great peach butter and peach jam I could make I turned around and asked for the second box. Mike was surprised to see me with 40 lbs of peaches for only $20. I did call them later and took my name off the list but found out that if you call them they will tell you if there is a list and you can get your name on it or have them make you a box even before you get there. BTW these peaches were picked that morning. This morning I did juice a few of the peaches and they were delicious (we did add a couple of the other fruits as well).
Today I will start teaching Mikey and Annika how to make peach butter and jam. I will hopefully get some good pics, I keep forgetting to take pictures so all of you can see, lol.
PS. If anyone wants the number to the Tomich Farm (BTW it's NOT the Tom Tomich farm right off of Greenback, it is the Tomich Farm off of Chestnut and Greenback (I guess 2 brothers split a farm and went in different directions) the number is (916)988-0165, if you want to reserve your box. The ladies said they are getting so many peaches they are having to throw quiet a bit away. Let me know if any of you try it out and what you think :)

A look at this week...

Well as I said in an earlier post Joshua didn't get in the water for his swim lessons for 2 days. Tuesday we tried to bribe him with going on the slide at the playground there, but that was a no go. So I actually let Mikey and Annika go slide so he could see that they were being rewarded because they went swimming. Wednesday we went to another chiropractor appointment and then swim lessons again. Once again I tried to get Joshua to go to his lessons and once again he started crying and saying he didn't want to leave me (it wasn't the swim lessons that he didn't like it was that Mommy wasn't going in with him, lol). So I made him sit on a bench and watch everyone else swim. Well he didn't like that so he asked to go to his class. We walked half way around the pool and he decided he didn't want to go again.... We went back to the bench to wait for Mikey and Annika when low and behold Joshua saw his class playing with toys in the pool. So I explained to him the kids in his class got to play with toys because they were swimming. He didn't like that and said he wanted to go swimming. So we took that long walk again and guess who went to play with his class :) He only had about 5 minutes with his class, but I was so happy. When swim lessons was out we went straight to the playground and went to the slide. The next day guess who wanted to go to his class right away? Joshua loves his class now and does amazingly well. He loves to dive under the water to grab the toys, loves to kick in the pool, and loves to jump in to the pool.
On some other exciting news Annika now will be going to the chiropractor only 1 day a week instead of the 3 days a week she has been going with Mikey and I. The doctor will do this for a few weeks and then reevaluate if she is still making good progress. Dr. Jeff is wonderful with the kids, Mikey and Annika were both really nervous after their first appointment, but Dr. Jeff decided to try a different technique and the kids now ask when their appointments are because they are so excited to go. Annika was actually bummed that she is dropping down to 1 day a week.
Tonight Mike and I are taking Brandon and his girlfriend Ashley to a picnic dinner at the drive in. I never thought I would double date with my son, lol. This "date" is to celebrate their 5 month anniversary :) Man I remember when I use to do that to...... But before that 2 of my girlfriends and I are going to go celebrate one of their birthdays. It will be a very fun filled evening.
And tomorrow we are taking all the kids to the farmers market to get some organic fruits and seconds (which are fruits that are slightly bruised or cut) for the week and for our new juicer (Thank-you G.G. we love it and have tried some fun concoctions). Hope all of you have a fun filled and blessed weekend.

Swim Lessons

The joy of summer... We had our first swim lessons today which over all went really good. Mikey and Annika both really like their teachers, their classes have about 7 kids in each of them so not a terrible amount. But then there is Joshua.... Yes my dear sweet 3yr old little boy, cried the entire time and didn't want to do anything with his class, even though the day before we went over to some friends house and he "swam" for a couple hours. I think it is more he doesn't know the people. I had him go over and talk to his teacher after class and we are going to try again tomorrow. Hopefully it goes good.
On another note, Annika had her tap recital on Sunday. She did so good, we were very proud. She really knew the dance and some of the other girls looked to her to see what their next move was :) Their song was "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" and with their costumes they got little teddy bears who were dressed in the same outfit as the girls that they get to keep. I think that was the most exciting part for all the little girls is that they knew their bear was coming home.

Busy Busy Busy

Isn't it funny how all year long we wait for the summer when we think we can slooowww down... yeah like that ever really happens. Well since the car accident Mikey, Annika and I have been going to the chiropractor 3 times a week, now don't get me wrong we love our doctors and the staff there is amazing, but it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get everyone ready, there, adjusted and back. And now we added swim lessons right after our appointments. But the kids are having fun and enjoying summer even if Mom is making them do a little school during the summer. Well, I hope all of you are having a great summer whether busy or just cruising along.

Been Awhile

Well, it's been awhile since I posted on our family blog. We were actually set to go on vacation last week, BUT Mike had to work out of town. So my mom and I decided to do fun stuff around the area. Well Monday was our first venture. Brandon actually watched Mason while my mom, Mikey, Annika, Joshua, and myself went up to Truckee to go visit a kids musuem. Well our planned trip turned sour pretty quickly.... Joshua got car sick and threw up on himself and his carseat. Mikey was so awesome as he was sitting next to him and trying to take care of him till we could pull off. We got Joshua cleaned up and realized that I forgot his extra clothes in our car (we were in my moms car), so now we needed to find a clothes store for a shirt. We stopped at a few places but all of them sold adult sized clothes. We decided to turn around and go to a thrift store that we saw. We were at a stop light waiting to turn when the SUV behind us hit us. So we pulled over to a parking lot where a young girl got out of the car, she was petrified. We found out her foot slipped off the brake and punched into the gas. When I looked at the back of my mom's car there were 2 wholes about the size of tennis balls in her bumper and a big dent in her trunk. God was truly with us as there was no major trauma done to us or the kiddos. We did go to a chiropractor as my neck was really giving me problems about 20minutes later. And then after my visit with the chiropractor I decided to bring the kiddos in as Mikey had complained of some headaches, and I wanted to be safe more than sorry. So that was our exciting trip. Praise God my mom was around as I couldn't lift up Mason without it hurting, let alone Joshua. We learned a lot of great lessons that day, the biggest one being that we have the choice to have a good time no matter what happens. We did have a good time and Mikey, Annika and I are spending time together driving to and from the chiropractors office :) I guess it really is a lot of how you look at it. Have a blessed weekend. BTW Annika's dance recital is this weekend so we will hopefully have some good pics of her up soon.

Cheese!

Here's Brandon with his braces off, isn't he handsome!