Family Day

Something you get used to being a military wife is being alone. I know that sounds a little sad but it is the truth, you have friends, family and children but you don’t have your other half all the time. I have been married almost 13 years and the whole time David has been in the Army, he did four tours in Iraq which lasted a year or more each and being his wife means you stay behind and hold down the fort. It has been three years since his last deployment but just because they are not deployed does not mean they are always home, they go to the field for training that can last a month, they go to other bases for training which can last multiple months and even 24 hour duty. 24 hour duty really turns into about 36 hour duty because they have to get home and unwind then sleep for a few hours. And that is where David is today (Sunday) and I hate when they interfere with the weekend but it is what it is, right?

So usually what we do is live it up the day before, here is what we did yesterday…

David looking for cucumbers

Jilly after breakfast looking so cute

After all the rain we got last week we ended up with these!

Waiting on these beauties to ripen up

Gaji sunbathing

Green bell peppers not only look great but taste great as well

Our strawberries keep getting eaten

They look good but the bugs keep eating them too

We have to keep her in the walker or she would be everywhere and with fleas and ticks in the south that is not an option.

Cucumbers are wonderful and Jilly loves them

Fig trees are producing so much

YUMMY

Just picked a small amount but enough to make a salad and roasted fig puree for cookies and a smoothie

Roasted these, yum

Hubby set up camera for family pictures using his pride and joy!!

Jilly was really not up for pictures

Love the look on her face

Just wanted one good maternity picture for baby Joe. 36 weeks and 4 days!

Hard to take pictures of yourself!

Jilly did not smile once

I love my family

Even with no smile she is the light of my life

                                   OK so we picked our garden, took family pictures, relaxed, I made roasted fig puree, I made cookies and David made a roast and potatoes for dinner. Mostly though it was about spending time together. Thanks for reading…Two new recipes to follow.

A Nice Day

I know it’s been a couple days since my last post…. So sorry!! It was a crazy day on Thursday with the baby on the way.
I went in for my appointment and Non Stress Test but due to some issues with my Heprain injection I ended up being monitored in Labor and Delivery for several hours. I had an EKG, blood drawn and blood drawn twice from the artery in my wrist after an hour of oxygen. Ugh. David could not get off work to help so the whole time I had a very upset 14 month old, lol. This is one of my issues with being here in Columbus, I have no friends or family and I am not one to leave my daughter anyway. Oh and to top off my day Thursday, I broke my right pinky toe and got a flat tire.

So to say the least yesterday was a recoup day.

Today is going to be beautiful so I think we are going to pick figs and take some family pictures for fun (I’ll post those soon). But I am almost 37 weeks so I think mostly this weekend we will rest. I might also attempt to make Jilly a blanket. We shall see, I am not really good a sewing yet. Only one way to get good…. Try try try again.

Well I’m off for a family day!!!

Fig and Pineapple Smoothie

Ingredients:

1-2 handfuls of peeled fresh figs

1/2 cup milk (your favorite)

1/2 cup oats (I used quick cooking but steel cut would be better)

1 cup pineapple chunks (I used canned but fresh would be awesome)

1/2 cup pineapple juice (used from the can for sweetness)

Directions: Blend oats first and mix in milk to soften, set aside for 15 minutes. Blend pineapple, figs, juice till mixed well. Add in oat/milk mixture. ENJOY!!!

 

Here are a few health benifits of Figs, Pineapple and Oats from Livestrong.com

Figs:

1/2 cup contains 74 calories, less than 1g of fat, 2.9g of fiber, high levels of potassium, vit K and a small amount of calcium, iron, magnesium, folate and vit A.

Taken from Livestrong.com

Pineapples:

Cholesterol-free, fat-free, 80 calories per 1 cup, 2g of fiber, 1g of protein. 40% daily vit C, 8% vit B-6, 6% magnesium, 4% each of riboflavin, folate,niacin and iron.

Taken from Livestrong.com

 

Oats:

Helps increase breast milk, reduces appetite, and helps lower bad cholesterol.

Taken from Livestrong.com

Another Rainy Day!

Well it is another rainy day here in Georgia which may annoy some people but being that I work at home and have no prior plans for the day, I am loving it! As of today the baby will be here in 4 weeks or less depending on his schedule so I am going to enjoy my time with my beautiful daughter. She usually gets about a half hour of TV time in the morning and this morning was her favorite movie on the iPad, Tarzan, along with a smoothie (recipe to follow). This gives me a little time to get stuff done prior to the playing, which by the way is my absolute favorite time in the whole world.

As I look outside this morning I see we may need to go fig picking again, oh man the mosquitoes were terrible least time, I think because of the rain and humidity. I am not sure if I have mentioned this in the past but I am from Colorado and we do not have bugs and humidity like this. I love georgia because of the greenness, the people and the ability to grow a lot of fruits and veggies. On the other hand I am not a bug person and they are everywhere, infact I may start taking pictures of them and do a whole blog on “The Real Bugs of Georgia.” YUCK!!!!!

I am going to play with Jilly and when she takes her nap I will jump on and put a few recipes up!!!

Thanks for reading!

Jilly relaxing watching Tarzan. Silly Girl

Jilly drinking her Fig and Pineapple Smoothie.

 

Old wind chime from my grandmother in the rain.

 

Jilly playing with one of her puppies. (Puppies are her favorite toy)

Puddles

Puddles everywhere

Rain

Driveway is getting flooded!! Not really!

Garden getting a good amount of rain, hope the sun comes out for a little while.

Gaji does not want to go outside!!!

Smoothie, Coffee and Chocolate Muffin. Pregnant blogging

Fig Pickin!!!

Another rainy day here in the humid south, but we found lots to do.

7am wake up call in the Fig house followed by a little house cleaning and playing with the lil one (my favorite thing in the whole world). Then we went out window shopping and hubby got a haircut. Lil one took a nap while we picked figs, pomegranates, bell peppers, jalapeños and cucumbers. We had a wonderful roasted chicken , mashed potato, butter bean dinner followed by fig smoothies and cinnamon biscuits. (Recipes to follow) of course we had to make chicken stock before bed. 😉

Not an overly exciting day but one I enjoyed very much. Any time with the family is the best time.

Raining on the Figs

Well it’s litterly raining on the fig trees right outside my office window! I really do love rain storms and we had a good one in the middle of the night last night and all my bedroom windows were open and it was beautiful. Today it just seems to be off and on.

I am looking out my office window, it is so green and pretty here!!!

We are currently getting ready for the arrival of baby number two so being stuck inside to work on everything is not that bad. Well Jillybean and I are working inside, hubby is dealing with the humidity of Georgia doing manly stuff outside. Another storm is going to hit soon so I guess I should get up and get to work. TTYL

Welcome to Happy Figs and Apples

My name is Krista Mensch, I am a stay at home wife and mother with a background in Medical Assisting. I have been married to my husband David for close to 13 years and we have a beautiful smart daughter Jillian who is 14 months old, a son that should be here in the next 3 weeks or so and a cute doggie we adopted while living in South Korea named Gaji (meaning eggplant). I am extremely lucky to be able to stay home with my kids and I wouldn’t change it for the world. My husband is in the Army so we are currently stationed at Fort Benning, GA and there is a lot I am learning about the south. Well I think that is enough boring stuff about me, should we get started?? Thank you for visiting my site!

Jillians first birthday 5/21/2014