Fun at the Apple Festival & Christmas Village

Our Fall schedule is typically slammed with family fun activities and two of our favorite traditions includes attending the Ellijay, Georgia Apple Festival and the Christmas Village at the BJCC in Birmingham, Al. Last year we took everyone to the Apple Festival, but have since decided to make it a yearly tradition only for my husband and me. We love visiting festivals and craft shows, and since our anniversary lands right around the same time, we thought it would be a perfect overnight getaway for just the two of us.

We headed out to Jasper, Georgia to our hotel late Friday afternoon. But, first we stopped and ate at our favorite local Mexican restaurant. We ended up renting the cutest little hotel room which basically consisted of a bed and bathroom. It was perfect for just the two of us. Once we got settled we headed out to find some coffee and local fun. We ended up at the nicest Dunkin Donuts either of us had ever been to, then we went to Walmart, 😂 Yes, we're officially old!!

The Apple Festival is an outside event located at the Ellijay Fair grounds. Unfortunately, the weather was dismal and it rained off and on throughout the entire day. 

Thankfully, the yucky weather didn't deter the festival craftsman/craftswoman from peddling their wares. 

The fair grounds were filled to the brim with booths set up selling all sorts of fresh baked goods and hand crafted items. Our typical plan of attack when we visit a craft fair, is to walk up and down all the isles and make notes of items we might be interested in purchasing. Once we're done, then we evaluate the list and decide what we really want to buy.

Once we were done enjoying the Apple Festival we went looking for some local food and we ended up at the cutest pizzeria called Ellijay Wood Fired Pizza. The food was so delicious and fresh!! This was my salad and it was AMAZING! Best salad I have ever eaten! 

I'm not typically a fan of pizza, mostly because I usually end up not feeling well after I eat it. But, not this time. I didn't get sick and we enjoyed every last bite!

The pizzas are baked in this wood fired oven, which was shipped in pieces from Italy.

Finally we found ourselves in the quaint Ellijay Coffe shop, trying to warm up before we drove home in the pouring rain. Despite the rain, we really did have a wonderful time enjoying the Apple Festival and celebrating our 20th anniversary.

After the Ellijay Apple Festival we went on our family vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains ~ I shared all about that trip over here. Then the next weekend it was time for the Christmas Village. 

I started attending the Christmas Village with my mother-in-law when I first married my husband. After she passed away (five years into our marriage) I quit going. But, as my first-born daughter was getting older, I realized I wanted to rekindle that tradition with her. Now Lydia goes with us too and so will Abigail. This year my husband tagged along because I was so far along in my pregnancy and I was concerned about navigating the downtown traffic. 😬

This year we were blessed with a gifted over-night stay at a hotel which connects to the BJCC (where the Christmas Village is located). It was absolutely fabulous not to have to find parking or walk in the cold to the craft show. Maybe somehow the girls and I can make that a new addition to our tradition of visiting the Christmas Village.

The Christmas Village is a giant two-story craft show. We approach this craft show the same was as the Apple Festival; walking through, taking notes, and then going back and buying what we really want. This particular craft show is very strict about NOT taking pictures, so I don't have much show-casing how awesome the event really is.

They do set up a few 'picture-taking booths' to help all of us crazed picture taking women commemorate our visit to the Christmas Village. 

We don't usually spend a whole lot of money at any of the craft shows we attend. It's mostly about enjoying the atmosphere, food, and visiting with the craftsman/craftswomen who labor to create awesome baked goods and crafts. Much of the items sold, are perfect for holiday gift giving and/or decorating. 

After we wrapped up our fun at the Christmas Village, we went to another town which has some great shopping and dining locations. So we indulged in some really good food and did a little shopping at some fun stores we don't have around us. We ended up cutting the day short and heading home as the girls and I were starting to get sick ~ sigh.

I had all but decided not to attend either craft show because of how far along I was in my pregnancy, but I am glad we decided to go anyways. While neither trip went as planned, they were both fun and now a treasured memory I get to hold onto forever. I'm grateful my family enjoys doing all my crazy traditions, even if they seldom turn out the way we plan, lol. 

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Key to Packing for a Large Family

Traveling with a large family can be intense to say the least. Heck getting to any function as a complete family can be a major ordeal when there're more than two folks involved. But it's not like we can just hibernate at home, so it's imperative we learn to handle those tiny little details like PACKING!

I'm a huge fan of gleaning from those who've come before me and even those who 'walk beside me'. we've got to help each other out on this crazy journey of life. I can't tell y'all how many times I've told someone to PLEASE make me 'wise' on any given topic, especially in regards to large family life. Which is why today I'm going to share one of my favorite tips for packing for a large family!

I love to travel, but traveling with a bunch of kiddos in tow can kind of put a 'monkey wrench' into the 'fun' business of traveling. Let's face it children have STUFF and the more children you travel with, the more you have to bring, especially with the under three age bracket. Then the other caveat to traveling with children is WHERE TO PUT ALL THAT STUFF they have to bring when you're on the road!?!?

I don't know about y'all but there is only so much room in our 15 passenger van, and most of it is used for actual people. We do not currently have an enclosed trailer or a towing package on our big van so all we've got for stowing space is what's inside the van. That means a LOT of creativity has to happen to get all our stuff into our van! Thankfully, we've had years of practice and plenty of folks have been kind enough to share their amazing advice on how to travel with a bunch of children. 

When it comes to packing clothes and other 'soft' items like blankets, diapers, and the like, we utilize packing cubes. Y'all these are the best kept secret to packing and traveling ~ PERIOD!! I have purchased several different brands over the years to see which ones I like the best, but honestly they each serve their own purpose and I like them all!

Before I invested in packing cubes, each child would have their own duffle, backpack, or suitcase (with plenty of wasted space). But now, ALL of the children get two packing cubes of different sizes and everyone's little cubes go into the same suitcase. Wahlah now we've freed up TONS of space and everyone has their own mini suitcases. When we get to our destination, I simply pass out everyone's packing cubes to take to their own personal space ~ BONUS** mama doesn't have to deal with daily sorting clothes and personal belongings. All their stuff is already sorted!

Now I know many have told me that they do a similar system with large plastic baggies, which is awesome too. But trust me when I say the packing cubes take that system to whole new level. Why? Because the packing cubes are sturdy, they have handles, and zippers and I just find they work a thousand times better than baggies.

This is our big suitcase filled with a weeks worth of clothes for eight of our children.

The Shacke Pak is my favorite packing cube that I've tried. It holds it's shape very well, making it easy for my children to pack and carry. The only downside would be for those who are traveling by plane and may be concerned about weight. These are not the lightest packing cubes we've purchased.

My next favorite packing cube is the Pro Packing Cube for Travel. They are extremely lightweight and stuffable. They can be a little tedious to 'stuff' because the fabric is so lightweight, but I do like them and would purchase more ~ they're more of an 'adult' packing cube.

Last I purchased these Amazon Basics travel organizers. I bought these in the size you see pictured. (They sell different sizes) I needed some smaller ones for underclothes. Typically the children get a medium packing cube for their day clothes and then a small packing cube for their underclothes and nightclothes. I do like these packing cubes and I would put them in between the Shacke Pak and the Pro Packing cubes in regards to quality and durability. I have had no issues with them, they're just not my favorite.

Trust me y'all packing cubes are a life saver when it comes to streamlining the whole travel process for a large family. Actually, I love packing cubes so much that when my husband and I go on overnight trips I use them then too. And I've even started using packing cubes in my diaper bag ~ organization make me a happy gal, lol! 

While it may take a little investment up front, to me, the packing cubes have been worth every penny and then some. After all the only way to stay 'ahead of the game' with a larger than normal sized family is organization. Otherwise we're just asking for unnecessary confusion and chaos. Anything which makes my life less crazy is well worth it in my book!

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Exercising While on Vacation (Plus FREE Travel HIIT)

I haven't really shared much about it on this blog, but exercise is a HUGE part of my life. I'm extremely addicted to working out and can count on one hand how many times I've missed a workout in the past 8 years (other than when I've had a baby). I workout six days a week like clockwork and am still doing so at 36 weeks pregnant. 

I don't have the luxury of going to a gym or even really leaving the house to exercise, which is why HIIT (high intensity interval training) has been such a blessing to me. I've been doing these type of workouts for eight years, from the comfort of my own home, with amazing results. Since I'm already accustomed to exercising at home, adjusting my HIIT to be travel friendly is super easy.

When we travel I simply tweak my workouts to bring with me. Just because I'm not at home doesn't mean I'm going to bail on my fitness regime. My favorite exercise for cardio is speed roping, and a jump travels real well! For my weights I've invested in an assortment of resistant bands, which are also tiny and perfect for packing.

I've been designing my own HIIT routines for a while and I know what works for me. Typically I create two workouts, one that focuses on upper body and the other focuses on lower body. But when I'm traveling I just create one workout with a mix of upper body, lower, body and cardio mixed all  together. 

The major perks of HIIT is that they are QUICK workouts that get the job done. I can get up a tad bit earlier than my family and get a decent workout in and then go about our vacation fun. HIIT can be any length of time, but I've always done a 15 minute sequence. 50 seconds of doing an exercise as fast and as hard as I can and then 10 seconds of rest (or 'setting' up for the next exercise). 

Sample Travel HIIT Sequence

Speed Rope

Left leg split squat with band right arm curl

Speed Rope

Right leg split squat with band left arm curl

Speed Rope

Circle band around ankles, right leg lift

Speed Rope

Circle band around ankles, left leg lift

Speed Rope

Upright row with bands

Speed Rope

Standing right side crunch, left foot step on band and hold band handle with left hand

Speed Rope

Standing left side crunch, right foot step on band and hold band handle with right hand

Speed Rope

If I was not a complete awkward clutz I 'd take some some pictures or video of me actually doing the workout, but this is going to have to do for now, lol. Hopefully y'all can make heads or tails out of it. 

Here are the bands I used in this particular exercise sequence.

These are the bands I used for the side leg lifts.

These are the bands I used for the rest of the workout.

I much prefer my free weights as opposed to the bands, but they do make exercising while traveling a breeze. After all you can't exactly stuff a set of dumb bells in your carry on, lol.

If you're not into speed roping you can easily substitute those exercises with any cardio type of move. Some ideas include, burpees, high knees, jog in place, alternate kicks, bunny hops, speed skaters, etc. 

Trust me y'all HIIT is the best type of workout for every day life AND when you're on the road! I mean fitting in 15 minutes of exercise is a breeze! We all have 15 minutes we can free-up to do a simple exercise routine, even when we're on vacation. And hey, I don't know about y'all, but I need all the help I can get to combat the extra fun food and calories I have a tendency to consume while we're on vacation! 🙈

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Pizza Muffins

In my last post I shared how I feed our large crew on vacations. I also shared our vacay menu for our recent vacation to the Smoky Mountains, and one of the recipes on our menu was Pizza Muffins. So, I thought I'd share my recipe, since it isn't a common recipe, but it is a family favorite. 

They are super easy to make, taste great, and freeze & reheat well; what more is there not to love about a recipe? And you could easily make them as healthy as you wanted simply by the choice of ingredients you use.

Pizza Muffins

Ingredients

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup pizza sauce

1/4 cup oil

1 cup ground sausage

1 cup shredded mozzarella

2 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions

Combine all ingredients, mix well. Scoop into a greased muffin tin. Bake 15-20 minutes @ 400*.

I wasn't specific about the oil or flour because I've made it with olive oil and whole wheat flour as well as all-purpose flour and vegetable oil, and both ways have turned out perfect. It's all about what your preferences are or more likely, for me, what ingredients I have on hand, lol.

It's no secret I love muffins. Seriously I think everything is better when it's made in a muffin tin. Well except maybe the cleanup on occasion can be a downside. Sheesh, have I had some messy muffin tin mishaps 🙈. All that aside, muffin meals are my jam, lol. Muffin recipes are typically easy to make and good for freezing. But, my most favorite part about making muffins is that they are perfect for portion control and feeding little ones! I have more muffin recipes than I care to admit, but there's no shame in my game, because hey I'm feeding my people good food on a budget. 😜

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

How to Feed a Large Family While on Vacation

Okay y'all a major caveat to the logistics of traveling with a large family includes: FOOD! Let's face it large families eat a lot and it cost a lot to feed a large family. That fact does not go away when you're on the road, that's for sure. If anything, it's magnified. I find that budgeting and planning for food on vacation takes more of my energy than any other aspect of traveling with a bigger than average sized family. 

I have one major rule for vacationing: MAMA AIN'T COOKING! Well, let me rephrase that I'm not cooking anything that requires more than 15 minutes to prepare. Vacationing is hard enough for mothers, all the planning and doing required to make sure everyone has their stuff and we get where we're going, and on and on I could go. We should get some form of a break on vacation. Which is why I go to great lengths to menu plan and meal prep ahead of time. That way once we arrive at our vacationing destination I can actually focus on a little R & R, and not cooking. 

I use my normal menu planning blackline worksheets to help me navigate our meals for vacation. 

** If you make a menu, don't forget it as well as your shopping list when you head out for your travels . **

They will help to keep you on track for when and what to prepare which meals as well as what groceries you need to bring along on vacation, i.e. condiments and the like. Sometimes you can't bring all the groceries you'll need, so bringing along your vacation grocery list will insure you know what to purchase on your grocery store run. 

Below is a picture of what our recent vacation menu looked like. We always plan for three meals eating out. Once for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Typically we eat out for breakfast on the day we're returning home. Our lunch and dinner outings are 'penciled' in as it's hard to pin point the exact day we'll eat out. It's normally dependent on what were out doing each day. Hence the reason I always do my menus by hand, in pencil, as opposed to on the computer. It's so much easier to adjust the menu as needed when you can erase.

Now I must add in a disclaimer here; I'm typically a very health-oriented mama, planning and preparing nutrient dense meals, but on vacation I am a little lax. I do my best to try to create a balance, but to be honest, my focus is simple, quick, and cheap food. I prepare as many meals as possible at home and freeze them. I make sure most of the lunches are picnic friendly so they are easy to take along when we're out having fun, exploring, on vacation. 

For this particular vacation our menu looked like this:

Breakfast:

Sweet Muffins (made in advance) + apples sauce

Oatmeal Waffles (made in advance)

Granola Bars (made in advance) + yogurt

Breakfast Cookies (made in advanced) + canned fruit

Homemade Freezer Biscuits (made in advance) recipe here + scrambled eggs

Lunch:

Chicken Salad Sandwiches, chips, store-bought granola bars (travel day)

Homemade Pizza Muffins (made in advance)

Bagel + cream cheese, canned fruit

Ham & cheese sandwiches, pretzels

Bacon Chicken Ranch Wraps (Mix made in advance), chips, store-bought granola  bars (travel day)

Dinner

Pulled Pork Sandwiches (pork make in advance), chips

hot dogs, tator tots,

Lentil Burritos (beans made in advance), nacho chips

Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes (mix made in advance), French fries

Frozen pizza planned for when we get home

Snack

Animal crackers

Wheat Crackers

Cheese Crackers

Vanilla Wafers

ritz + peanut butter

As you can see our meals are far from fancy or complicated, but they are budget friendly and fill the belly. Oh and most importantly for mama, take very little time to prepare once we're on vacation.

Yes, it is a lot of food to bring on a road trip, but I find it's well worth it on so many levels just to make room for the meals and groceries we need. Typically, food is NOT cheaper where we vacation ~ sigh. This trip we managed with just two medium coolers and then a few reusable grocery bags for non-perishables. We did make one trip to the grocery store to pick up a few things, but nothing much, and it was mostly fun junk food we splurged on, lol.

I also brought my prepared meals. Making sure I have food to eat is a must. So many foods make me sick, it's simply a necessity that I plan accordingly for what I'm going to eat when we're on vacation as well.

Oh and I guess I should add. We've long since outgrown staying in hotels/motels. We always stay in a place that has a kitchen. On our trip to the Smoky Mountains this year we stayed in a cabin. But, over the years we've stayed in condos, houses, and cabins. We're a huge fan of Vacation Rentals By Owner, VRBO. We've also used American Patriot Getaways. Most of the time folks find it hard to believe that with a big family it's actually cheaper to stay in a cabin, house, or condo verses a hotel. By law, only so many people can sleep in a hotel room, which means multiple rooms for our crew and trust me that gets pricey real quick!!

Thankfully my crew is fairly easy to please when it comes to food, so they don't mind our simple, easy vacation meals. Yes, it takes a little extra upfront work before going on vacation, but getting a week off from cooking is well worth it to me! 

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Hiking Metcalf Bottoms

It's been a while since we've been able to coordinate a hike, so I was super excited to be able to get in one decent hike while we were in the Smoky Mountains on vacation. It doesn't help that I'm progressing along in my pregnancy, and hiking just isn't as easy as it normally is,  lol.

Due to scheduling conflicts our trip to the Smokies was a week later than normal. I was a little worried as to what the weather would be like. But, we were blessed with beautiful fall weather. It only rained once and only one day was it terribly cold. 

This is our second time hiking Metcalf Bottoms which starts out by the Little Pigeon River. Our first adventure to this beautiful hiking destination was an epic ordeal to say the least; all on account of NONE of the trails being marked! We ended up carving our own trail at one point and it took us twice as long to get to the schoolhouse, ugh!!

This time we knew where to go, even if the park services did finally put some decent trail markers!!

Y'all this hike is not for the unfit! There are some intense inclines at multiple sections. While I don't consider myself to be the most physically fit person, I'm certainly a fairly active woman and there were moments I was heaving pretty heavily. 

There are two bridges on the trail that consist of a single log and one crudely constructed rail. Yeah talk about a moment of panic when it came to my little ones crossing the bridges.

Praise the Lord none of us fell! Even though the bridges aren't all that high and the creek bed was fairly dismal, I imagine a fall from either of the bridges would leave a mark and be painful!

The trail continues on to the Walker Sister's old homestead, but both times we've been here we've only hiked to the Old Little Green Briar Schoolhouse. Maybe one day we'll actually make it to the homestead.

Perks of being a homeschool family and loving nature, my kiddos can spot little critters from a mile away!

It's hard to believe the last time we were here, little Miss Lydia was in my belly and now she's nearly two and about to be a big sister. Time passes when we blink!

Ahh the beauty of fall was all around us. One of my middle boys spent the entire return hike helping me scavenge for the perfect red leaf. 

After our hike we had a picnic and then the children and daddy went exploring the river. They find it great fun to hop along the rocks, but it never fails that a little one falls in, sigh! Thank goodness no one has ever gotten hurt and the river is shallow.

I think Fall is the perfect time to go hiking. The temperature is mild, the trees are changing, the bugs are minimal, it seems easier to breathe (verses the summer), and on and on I could go. It just always seems our schedule is so full in the fall that hiking gets put to the back burner until after the holidays. I think next year I'm going to have to rectify that and plan a few more hiking adventures in the Fall.

From what I understand there are a plethora of hiking trails in the Smoky Mountains. We've only had the privilege of hiking three different trails and one of them was wayyyyyy tooooo dangerous for my littles bitty ones! Of course sometimes you don't figure that little snippet out until you get on the trail ~ sigh, insert eye roll. I'm hoping to plan to explore some new trails the next time we go. But to be honest, this year it was good to go on a trail we already knew, especially in my very pregnant state, 😂

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Family Vacay to the Smokies

Taking family vacations has been something I've really tried to make an effort to do ~ even when it ins't easy financially or logistically. We went on one vacation after we were married, before children, but after that it just didn't happen for many years. Then one day I decided we were just going to have to figure out how to vacation, on a budget, with kids, AND make it a priority. And so began our 'every-other-year' vacations. Well, one year we actually went on two vacations and that was a blast, but it is not our norm!

Typically we rotate between the beach and the mountains, 

which works for us and allows our children to experience two different styles of vacations.

 Maybe one day we'll brach out and vacation to other locations too.

This year we were supposed to go to the beach, but due to reasons beyond our control that trip was canceled and so we decided to go to the Tennessee, Smoky Mountains. When we arrived the view did not disappoint. There's something so magical about seeing the 'smoke' on the mountains. 

Our first stop, before we even went to our cabin, was to visit the giant Smoky Mountain Knife Works store. It's a gigantic multi-level store with all kinds of tactical weapons and gear, even kitchen stuff (not sure how that fits in with the store's theme, but hey it keeps us women entertained while the men folk are all about the guns, knives, and swords, lol).

Our first full day on vacation we went on a hiking trip to Metcalf Bottoms and to the Little Green Briar school. (I'll be sharing more about that hiking adventure in another post.)

After hiking we took the children to buy new cowboy boots. But, since Lydia loves her Crocs so much we went to the local outlet store and bought her a pair of 'winter' crocs. I've never seen two little kids more excited than Lydia for her new Crocs and Titus for his new cowboy boots!

The next day we went walking the shops up in Gatlinburg. 

Y'all it was bitterly cold and we were NOT appropriately dressed, ugh!! 

Total mom fail!!

All through Gatlinburg there were these amazing pumpkin people set up. I took dozens of pictures of them with the kids, lol. Thankfully my children were good sports and even looked for the pumpkin people to strike a fun pose with them just to make mama happy! 

Like I said, my little treasures really enjoyed the pumpkin people, lol!

After walking the shops in Gatlinburg, we took the children to play putt-putt. 

The last day we were there we took the children to The Island where they have lots of shops and carnival type activities, as well as live bands. It's really a fun place to explore.

We took the babies to make a 'Build-a-Bear' while at The Island. They were so cute making their bears, ugh melt this mama's heart!! Lydia absolutely loves Precious the kitty and Titus is quite attached to Billy the bear. 😍

Two of our middle kiddos decided to do the giant and very scary obstacle course. 

Yeah, I think I was more scared than they were, perks of motherhood, I guess. 🙈

Joshua and Daddy went on the giant enclosed Ferris wheel also located at The Island. 

That pretty much wraps up our family vacation to the Smokies. My husband and I did do a little Christmas shopping at the outlet shops and then we took the children to eat out a couple of times (a rare treat reserved for vacations). We also did a lot of sleeping late and relaxing in our cabin which was a nice reprieve from our normal over-filled busy days.

In an effort to be genuine and authentic I must confess our family vacation was not without it's ups and downs. Trust me we had many 'hiccups' along the way. Regardless of those unfortunate situations, it was a lovely time to get away as a family. I've come to realize large family vacations are simply an excuse for drama and par for the course. Hopefully our children will realize, one day, that it was their parents earnest desire to create treasured family memories on these crazy, chaos-filled vacations we drag them on. 😊

With Love & Hope, 

Jennifer