Kidd's Ring

This morning we headed over to one of my favorite places in Vienna - Schönbrunn.  I love the huge, yellow palace [it almost looks fake!], the beautiful grounds that have nicely trimmed hedges, flowers in beautiful designs and gorgeous trees.  It's just a great place to go.  I saw some pictures of the fall foliage last week and knew we had to get out there ASAP!  Today, we finally made it!!  We met up with our friends from church.  She's pregnant with #2 and her little guy is a year older than Zoey.  It was so great having one-on-one time with them again.  We like to walk and talk and laugh and just share about life.  She encouraged me today by saying that since both of us are stepping out in faith [them moving into a bigger apartment and us into our house], this makes her draw even closer to the Lord and truly seek Him to provide for their needs.  It was a great reminder to me that I need to be walking closer to Him and truly livin...

I am so thankful for the Lord, His love and His work in my life.   I feel so blessed!

I love using my crockpot on cooler days.  And come fall, I get really excited about Soup Season! :)  I've started tutoring twice a week and it's easier to have a quick meal ready to go soon afterwards, instead of having to whip something up.  As I was planning the meals for the week {doesn't happen often, folks!}, I remembered this yummy crockpot Minestrone recipe.  I knew it would be perfect for Monday night!  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do! Joyce's Minestrone makes 6 servings 3 1/2 c beef broth 28 oz can crushed tomatoes 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced 1/2 c chopped onion 1/2 c chopped celery 2 medium potatoes, thinly sliced 1-2 garlic cloves, minced 16 oz can red kidney beans, drained 2 oz thin spaghetti, broken into 2 inche pieces 2 tbsp parsley flakes 2-3 tsp dried basil 2-3 tsp dried oregano 1 bay leaf Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.  Cover and cook on Low 10-16 hours or on High 4-6 hours.  Remove bay leaf and s...

Remember our fall tradition of going to the apple orchard/potato farm/pumpkin field?  Well, today was the day for this great event!!  Sorry, we don't have many pics that we actually took.  But here are a few cute ones.  Check out 2012 and 2011 !  Hop over to my friend 's blog and see her great pictures from last year (look how small Z was!!)!

Needless to say, this week is not a big picture week for me/us.  Sorry about that.  Things got busy, life happened and I forgot to follow the photo challenge.  Sorry, folks! But I'll give you a quick update about life here.  Z is really taking off with her walking.  Today I think she walked more than crawled!  She's getting really good at it!  It's fun to watch.  She's been a bit clingy this week and I've used our new baby carrier a few times this week, so I could cook/bake and not have her whining by my feet.  Not sure what's been going on there with wanting to be held so much.  She's been super snuggly, too.  It's really sweet!  She comes over and gives hugs.  Love my snuggle bug! Hubby has been trying to figure things out for the house and get our plans turned in again, since the last one was denied and sent back with a lovely list of things to fix/change/add, etc.  Tomorrow the first part needs to be handed ba...

 There was an old timer "show" right in front of our apartment.  They drove by and a guy spoke briefly about each one.  Very cool.  Sadly we got in on the action a bit late....  Yogurt face Silly baby! At the kite festival

in the morning    I failed taking a picture this morning.  I'm not so great this week at taking pictures.  But I guess that's ok.  This morning Z and I slept until almost 9 o'clock!!!  However, we did have a rough night.  Z  was really restless from 1 something onward.  Finally, at 2 I got her and we tried to get her to sleep again.  When that didn't work, I changed her diaper and thought, well maybe she's hungry, since she didn't really eat much last night.  So I gave her some applesauce and then we all went back to bed and slept until 9!!  At 10, my Kanga Trainer came over (check out kangatraining here ) and what a great workout it was.  So no pictures of our morning, but I'll post an old picture of Z and me last year in our very first Kanga class! look how little Z is!! Happy Weekend, y'all!!