This weekend felt like a success for the first time in a while!

Saturday morning I finally finished the 2 pounds of baby alpaca I was spinning for a customer!  YES!  I really hope I can get a picture of the finished item once she gets it complete!  That was exciting for sure, as I had been plugging away at it for so long!  I've packed away the roving, wheel and swift until after the new baby arrives, and that felt good too.

On Saturday afternoon, we celebrated my oldest child's 19th birthday! Yes, 19th!  I was only 6 months older than him when he was born!  That's a scary thought.   I seriously can't imagine him in charge of another humans life at this stage.  He's barely managing his own at this point.  How on earth did I ever do it?  I'm sure I wasn't the best ever, but I know I wasn't the worst either.  It sure does make me feel old either way.

On Sunday, my daughter and I went at the canning again, this time to do apple pie filling.  It went so much more smoothly this time around!  We didn't have quite enough apples left for the whole recipe, but we got 5 pies worth of filling canned, and 2 extra jars of the syrup that we can use for another pie, or for ice cream or pancake syrup!  

It was very nice to feel like I accomplished a few things again!

I had the best of intentions to do a lot more than we did, but we had fun anyway!  Anneliese and I made and canned homemade apple sauce this weekend!  It was my first time without my mother in law overseeing and guiding me, and Anneliese's first time ever.   I had hoped to be a better teacher because I think it's important for young ladies to learn such womanly arts, but I gotta say it was a bit of a kerfuffle.  

At any rate, we had a super time together, we both learned a few things, and we got 7 pints of apple sauce put away for winter! I was proud of us both, and in spite of the small amount we got done, it's a satisfying feeling to see the jars all filled and ready to put away. 

As much as New York still isn't totally my cup of tea, fall apple picking is an annual tradition that makes it nice to be here!  This weekend we went and it was lots of fun for everyone.  We always get Crispin's and Jonagold's. 

I love the way the rows look peering down them - really cool!  

Each of those bags holds about 25 pounds, and my little guy - just barely 30 pounds himself managed to get it off the ground!!  I can't believe how big he's gotten!

We usually get a family picture in one of those wooden standup things that has a cluster of apples and a little worm, but for some reason they didn't have it set up this year, so we did the next best thing.  Later we thought we should have put my big preggo belly into it, but we were already on the road.  That would have been a hoot! 

I didn't have much time to go all out the next day, so I created a quick treat of 'apple pie cookies'.  It's just slices, wrapped in pie dough and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.  Very simple and quick, but yummy & tasty. 

They were delicious!!  As soon as I get a free weekend, I'm going to be canning apple sauce and apple pie filling with the 50 pounds of apples that we brought home!  I love canning.  It just feels so productive and satisfying.  This year Anneliese will begin learning to can also, so that will be fun!  I can't wait!