Author: Allie Zottola

Full Heart

My heart is so full from the past few days!

Toddler and mom

We attended the graduation party I mentioned the other day and it was so very special. Tara, Jimmy’s stepsister, graduated from college and her birth mom and half-siblings came to the party as a surprise! So cool.

Sadie had a blast running all around her grandparents’ yard during the party.

Grandpa and toddler walking in grass holding hands

Sunday was my birthday and mine and Jimmy’s sixth wedding anniversary. On top of that, it was our first Sunday back to church!

I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful it felt to be back with our church family after three months apart. I pretty much had the same look as Sadie in the picture below during the whole service.

Toddler in homemade hand-sewn dress smiling

Sadie was sporting another homemade dress for the special occasion!

Yeah, it was a good day. I was totally spoiled with birthday gifts from family and friends. I was given coffee and candles and Jimmy surprised me by saying we’re going to go camping soon!

Jimmy and I spent the afternoon playing with Sadie. I put paint at the top of her slide and let her drive one of her toy trucks down it and she thought that was pretty cool 🙂

Toddler playing with paint on slide

Tell me about your weekend!

Fort Time, Two Seconds Later, and What Would You Do?

We decided to build a fort this morning using our couches, scarves, and a blanket. Pretty impressive, I know 😉

Toddler in fort

We did important things in it like playing with Sadie’s toy trucks, snuggling, and reading books. She especially loves Biscuit books lately. 

Toddler reading Biscuit and the Big Parade

Don’t worry, we were safe because Malcolm and Niva supervised the whole ordeal very closely!

Black cat laying on couch fort

Husky and toddler in fort

After we read and played in the fort, I decided to put Sadie’s hair in pigtails. I just love how cute they look. 

Toddler with pigtails

Every time I style her hair, this is what happens about two seconds later…

Toddler pulling hair out of pigtails

They sure are cute while they last. My theory is that she gets so excited to have her hair done that she wants to see it, so she takes the hair band out, lol. 

I have a question. In the first picture of Sadie with her pigtails in, there’s a bunch of produce on the counter behind us. Jimmy’s co-worker gave him:

  • Ten pounds of red delicious apples
  • Ten pounds of pears
  • Five pounds of russet potatoes. 

What a blessing! At first I was thinking I would process the apples into a few batches of apple pie filling or apple sauce, maybe store the pears in our cellar, and make twice baked potatoes with the potatoes. But now I’m kind of thinking I should ask our neighbors if they need or want any produce! Or maybe I’ll do a bit of both cooking and giving away.

What would you do?

Do you have any recipe ideas for an abundance of apples, pears, and potatoes?