‘The Meadow’ is a new fun place at the orchard this year. If you are at all familiar with the layout of our farm, it is just south of the raspberry patch. ‘The Meadow’ was named by my daughter Cedi and it’s where her, Capri and Grandma had lunch (and breakfast and dinner) outside a lot these past few months. As you can see behind Capri in this picture, a nice picnic table is set up under a few trees. When we were going around putting our signs up Diane thought this would be a perfect place to hang a tire swing. The girls have such a good time on that swing! So, when you and your family head out to the orchard this fall don’t forget a picnic lunch or make sure to grab some caramel apples and head out to ‘the Meadow’ for a nice relaxing time.

If you want to see some more great pictures of the girls enjoying the tire swing in there perfect fall apple dresses from Kiki of allthenumbers, please click HERE.

If you’ve been to our orchard you know that we sell honey. We don’t actually extract the honey ourselves…one of the neighbors of the Kroncke Road Orchard does that. So, we have to jar the honey after we get it in really large buckets and put into sellable quantities. Jared is in charge of this and lately he has recruited a few helpers…have I mentioned my husband is adorable!

Cedi picks out the clean jar and hands it to Papa. Papa fills it with honey. Capri puts the lid on.

Cedi attaches the label!

And then we have honey to sell! It was so much fun watching them all work together…I don’t think I have Papa’s patience for that but the girls sure do love to help!

The orchard was in full bloom this past weekend. It seemed to warm up long enough to dress the girl's in matching dresses and snap a few pictures. Cedi was a little hesitant to cooperate at first but promise of chocolate cake helped fix that!

I know! I can’t believe it either! My baby girl is one today! In remembrance of that special day I’m going to take a little look back…

February 24th, 2008

I woke up that morning extremely uncomfortable because I was ridiculously pregnant and baby girl was hanging out with her feet jammed under my ribs. Also, today was my due date and baby had not dropped…I was NEVER going to have her. Jared knew I was not in a good mood so he said he would watch Cedi while I went and sewed a bit…sewing relaxed me.

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and I had decided to make a quilt for Katrina’s wedding (Barb’s daughter). Karma had just gotten me her blocks the day before and I decided I would try to get my portion done since I knew that once baby did decide to come I wouldn’t have much time for sewing. I ended up finishing my part in the quilt that morning.

I think Karma called me around 1:00 to wish me “Happy Due-Date.” I responded with, “Shut Up, this baby is never coming.” Around 2ish I felt something weird…but wasn’t quite sure what it was (I was induced with Cedi and once I started contracting I pretty much had my baby-so I wasn’t really sure what contractions felt like). Cedi was napping so I told Jared that we should do the bills while she was down.

I decided to take a shower. When I got out I realized that my contractions were really close together. I told Jared he should call his parents…we needed to go to the hospital.

I think we arrived at the hospital around 4 or 4:30. Jared said that the roads were the best they had been all winter. (thank goodness!) I felt like I was in Triage forever before they finally got me my own room. All I wanted was an epidural.

My doctor got to the hospital pretty quickly…it was her first anniversary and I tore her away from their dinner (sorry but thanks!). All I wanted was an epidural. My doctor ordered one for me as soon as she got there but she knew my labor would probably be short. They called to say the epidural would be there in fifteen minutes. I made Jared tell me the time so I could try to keep track. Thirty minutes later and 8 cm I had given up all hope. I even looked at my doctor and said, “This is going to be you in three months!” (she was pregnant too…)

But, miracles upon miracles, the anesthesiologist arrived right then. Stuck an insanely large needle in my back while I was having contractions (I had to sit absolutely still, but it really helped me deal with the pain by having something to focus on). It started to work pretty much right away. I had them put the Oscars on. They told me that a lot of women like to wait and rest before they start pushing. I said, “Let’s just get her out.” Fifteen minutes later (at 8:16pm), my beautiful baby girl, Capri, joined us. She was 8lbs 1oz and 21-inches of absolute perfection!

Happy Birthday my beautiful and sweet baby girl!

Cedi (at 15 mo) meets her baby sis for the first time!

And here we both are…exactly ONE year later! Happy Birthday Capri!

My sitter just called to let me know that she just had an anatomy lesson with my daughter. She was changing a little boys' diaper and my daughter (Cedi) asked what "that" was. My sitter explained to her that it was a penis and only boys and men have them...not girls. So she asked, does mommy have one, "No", Capri, "No", Daddy? "No...he has a wiener!"

Tonight, Cedi and I were watching 'The Little Mermaid' and we asked Pappa Daddy (Jared) to get us each a piece of string cheese since he was over in the kitchen. He came about four-feet from us and then tossed me the string cheese. I have no hand-eye coordination so obviously I didn't catch them both.

One of the string cheeses' amazingly fell in the crack of our sofa that is next to impossible to retrieve things from (we've already pulled a few upholstery staples out to retrieve the remote). Now the fun began. Of course, the string cheese was not reachable at first (but we did find our missing DVD remote!). Jared decided he would lift the other end of the couch up to shake the cheese over the side more...in doing this he knocked over our lamp which proceeded to shatter all over the floor. I immediately grabbed both the girls and held them clothes while Jared stopped his search for the string cheese and swept the glassy mess up....I then handed the girls to him while I vaccuumed-just in case (glad I did).

One more lift of the couch and the string cheese has been found!

When Pappa Daddy (Jared) gave the almost lost cheese stick to Cedi, her response was, "I don't want this cheese."

A perfect ending to a fun search! We had to laugh.

Well, we had a busy but fun day. We took the girls to Treinen's corn maze and had a super good time. I may have taken finding all the pieces to the maze a little too seriously for a 8 mo and 23 mo old, but hey, we completed it in record time! They definately have a great, family friendly setting at there place. Lots of things for everyone to do.

When we got home it was costume time! Cedi was a beautiful little princess and Capri was an adorable little apple. We snuck into a neighborhood in town and took Cedi trick or treating. She did really well. She even said Trick or Treat and Thank you a few times with out prompting. We also made our stops at Necie's, Aunt Peggy's and Buddy's and Grandma and Grandpas (we stopped at Ron & Nancy's but they weren't there). Cedi was passed out in the van by the time we got home...she had a long day!

Jared and I made more caramel apples and now I'm going to go to bed so I'm bright eyed and bushy tailed for my last market in Sun Prairie!

On for tomorrow night: Scott & Leah's wedding! (www.leahandscott.com)

are we busy... I don't even think I can properly describe just how busy we are right now, but I'll just give you an example of my girls' babysitting schedule today. They went to Denise's in the morning around 8 for the day (normal). I picked them up at 4, one of my weekend sitters, Ashley came to the orchard around 4:15 and watched them unitl 6. Then they go to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa until about 6:15/6:30 when they were dropped off once again at Denise's. I picked them up around 8:30ish. We had to do this so we could get apples sorted for our crazy large caramel apple order and do everyday store type things during the day. Frank had to go to Waunakee for the Farmer's Market and at the same time Jared and I had to make cider and Diane had to watch the store. Typically, after 6:00, Diane and Frank would just watch the girls, but this being the only night of the month that they have there Badgerland Produce Auction meeting that didn't quite work out and they went to Denise (thank you again Denise!).

On tap for tomorrow: Caramel Apples, picking (my parents are coming to help...thanks mom and dad!), sorting, more caramel apples

I apologize if this blog doesn't make sense...I need to go to bed...

On a sad note, I have to report that the gala's are all sold out for the season. Make sure to try a Cameo when you come in...I'm a huge Gala Girl and I am really enjoying the cameo's right now...

It has been a beautiful weekend at the orchard! I attended the Sun Prairie Farmer's Market yesterday morning and really enjoyed the weather--almost summer-like, with a touch of fall. The forecast for today looks like it's going to be even nicer! Perfect day for a visit, perhaps...

We had LOTS and LOTS of visitors yesterday. Everyone called me on Friday to see if they could come. First to show up were my mom, dad, Aunt Betty, cousin Trish and her daughter, Lily. The women dropped my dad off at the orchard to pick apples while they made an annual trip to the Madison Farmer's Market. My mom bought me some yummy cheese that you fry up and it's delicious...thanks mom! Then my brother, Brian, and his girlfriend, Sarah, joined us just after noon. They spent some time weighing pumpkins for people and hauling pumpkins back from the patch on the gator. After things started to slow down they headed over to our orchard to get some picking experience of there own. My friend Kaitra (Capri's godmother) showed up at the house just before 6. She has been really busy this fall and it's her first trip to the orchard this season. Kaitra is always a big help with the girls (they absolutely love it when she comes!)and around the store (she has some experience in retail...aka Port Apothecary). It always calms down some of the craziness of this time of year when we have friends and family coming to lend a hand.

Jared and I have been up for awhile getting some more caramel apples made for today. They went over quite well yesterday. And don't worry, we made some more limited editions for everyone to enjoy!

Hope to see you today or soon!

Unfortunately, due to the rainy Tuesday I packed up early from the DeForest Farmer's Market. Apples like to bruise when they get wet and no one wants to eat a bruised apple (trust me). Also, the people just weren't out in the rain and I got home early enough to play with my kids, have Capri fall asleep in my arms and read Cedi a story before bed (it was AMAZING...rarely happens anymore with the business of apple season...I LOVED IT).

The cider demo scheduled for this evening also did not take place. Diane was there and ready but unfortunately the crowds were not standing in the rain waiting. Maybe we'll try again next year if the weather is better...

Weather permitting (meaning rain), I do plan on attending the DeForest market until the end of October. Hopefully if you missed me today you can catch me next week or feel free to come up to our apple store. Rain does not close us down up there!

Karma made it back to Virginia safely and actually a little ahead of time. We were all sad to see her go, but glad that she was able to visit for a bit. My girls loved playing with Ka-ma and I know Frank and Diane were thrilled to see her.

We're still keeping busy with apples. Frank headed to the auction today and I went to the Deforest farmer's market. I am a bit disappointed to report that the turnout to the market has been decreasing steadily as we get later in the season. I hope you all decide to show up next week, at 5:00 for Diane's cider demonstration. It should be a fun, interesting time. With this cold weather arriving don't forget how wonderful a mug of hot cider is or how tasty a warm apple crisp can be.

You may get to see my girls at the store. My siter's daughter is currently having her first baby (Congrats Nicole!) and I'm still trying to figure a few things out. My mom will be here later in the day and my friend, Julie, from Creek Bed Farm http://www.creekbedfarm.com/ agreed to watch the girls for a few hours until my mom got here. I think the girls will be with us for the first tour of the day though, so if you stop by you may get lucky and get to meet/see them.

Alright. Sorry this is a boring post...I'm tired. Hope to see you at the store!

Late Thursday night, my sister-in-law, Karma, flew into Milwaukee from Virginia. She rented a car and headed over to our house, arriving around 10. We had previously decided she would spend the night here and surprise her parents in the morning...they had no idea that she had planned to spend the weekend. Months ago she had called me and asked me which weekend was the busiest that she would be able to help with. I told her the last weekend in September...which is proving to be true again next year. She decided to take a trip and watch the girls for me during this weekend. Now, I LOVE all the sitters that I have watching the girls during apple season but it is really nice to just have one for them. Yesterday, Karma just came to our house to play with the girls...that was the first time they spent the whole day at home in a very long time.

Anyway, back to the surprise. Friday morning we all got up. Jared went over first to help with sorting. Then the girls and I headed over. I went into the sorting room and told them the girls wanted to say 'hi' to grandma and grandpa before they went to the sitters (they like to fairly often). Of course, they come rushing out...can't ignore the grandchildren. About a minute later a car pulled in (Karma) and I was like, "Man, we already have a customer." Diane glanced at the vehicle, then looked back at Cedi. Then she looks again and yells, "Frank, get over here!" They were both incredibly surprised and ecstatic. Karma coming home was just what everyone needed to get through this busy time.

I do have to note that I am TERRIBLE with secrets and I managed to keep this one for months! Very proud of myself.

Make sure to stop out at the orchard soon! We have LOTS and LOTS of apple varieties out. The raspberries are delicious and the pick your own pumpkin patch is ready to go! See you soon!

Sorry that I haven't written in the last few days. I just haven't had the energy. It's been a busy few days. My parents came up to help clean the paulareds off the trees on Friday and Saturday. (Thanks guys!) I had to take Capri to the doctor on Friday for her 6 month check up and shots (yuck!) She's 16 lbs 5 oz. and 26.5 inches long. She was not a huge fan of the shots and liked to cuddle with mommy the rest of the day. Her second tooth is also on its way so she hasn't had the best weekend although she has been a good baby considering everything she's going through.

I had the Sun Prairie Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. Once again it was a success. I just love seeing all the people and helping them discover a new apple.

My dad and Jared picked all day yesterday while my mom watched the girls. I think they needed a little break for the mayhem of the apple store. They'll be there this afternoon though. Cedi will be leaving for a little bit to participate in a duck race at her Uncle Buddy's pasture. Should be fun.

Hope you are all having a good labor day weekend and hope to see you at the orchard!

Well, it's been a busy day for me. I was only at the store for a little while this afternoon. I'm trying to let my girls live a some what normal life until we get really busy for apple season. That being said, I went to the store between nap times which turned into only a few hours. I got very little done at the store, but I got quite a bit done during afternoon nap time. I was able to create some funky new earrings and a really cool, first of it's kind chunky beaded necklace. I personally think it's super cool. I'm currently in the middle of a multi-strand necklace. I hope to try to finish after I finish this post, but we'll see, it's already 10:30. Capri helped me label some of our cool new hand-dyed tableclothes, doiley's, and cloth napkins. They're super cool and will add an unique touch to someone's house.

I'm pretty sure it's going to be an almost every night occurence to make caramel apples, but we did an extra large batch tonight so we possibly will have tomorrow night off...we'll see. The girls helped us for a little while, but then I put them to bed when they had enough.

Also, keep an eye on the store in the next few weeks for some neat new planters and kitchen decoratiosn. I just made an order and hope to recieve them soon.

Hello All! I almost didn't get down here to write tonight...I'm exhausted (I think it's from my allergies because I actually sort of got to sleep in today...) and Capri just wanted to play and play. Finally she rubbed her eyes and I put her to bed.

It was a good weekend at the apple store. We've had many people come by excited about fresh apples. One couple stopped in who had never been at the orchard before and are now addicted to our caramel apples...doesn't take too much, just one bite. I was also able to make some more really fun flower hats and I have created some pretty neat button jewelry you'll have to make sure to check out.

Diane will have to write a little about the fun they all had with the calves this weekend. I'll only say that Jared's moving quite a bit slower than usual...

I got a bit of a break this afternoon and escaped to a baby shower for a few hours. A friend of mine is going to be having a baby boy at the beginning of October...very excited for her and her husband! They served all 'mini' food so I brought what I considered 'mini' caramel apples...they actually werent' so mini looking when they weren't next to our gi-normous regular caramel apples...oh well, I tried. Pretty sure the guests will still like them (they were going home favors so I haven't heard the verdict yet...)

Grandma and Capri ran the store while Grandpa, Pappa and Cedi picked apples. The arrangement seemed to work out pretty well. We had a partial Lapacek Family reunion this afternoon. Great Grandma and Grandpa Lapacek were there as well as one of Frank's brothers', Dave, and his wife Peggy. It's always nice when family stops by for a visit since we don't have very much time to do too much visiting ourselves during the season.

When we got home, I played around with a two person apple crisp recipe...Jared liked it...I think it still needs a little bit of work. I'll have it down sooner than later and then I'll be sure to share it with you all. I'm trying to make it so it works perfect in our baked apple dish and so that it's microwaveably simple.

Oh, I do have to give a shout out to my cousin's wife, Carrie, who just delivered a 10 lb 1 oz (WOW!) baby girl on Friday, Charlotte Marie. Both mom and baby are healthy! Congratulations Josh, Carrie and Jackson on your new addition!

That's all for tonight! Hope to see more of you in the upcoming days!

Well, we did it again. Jared, the girls and I made more caramel apples tonight! Yum! We're trying not to make too many ahead of time because the humidity is not good for them, but we still want to make sure we don't run out for you. The key to getting something done efficiently is to make Jared do it by himself for a half hour. By the time you come down to help he has a completely new system devised that makes the whole operation go SO much faster. I think we really have it down now. He just made a comment to me tonight that he wants his mom to make caramel apples with him one night just so she can see what a great system he has. I'm sure she will be proud as always!

Off to bed...well, maybe a little crafting first...we'll see!

Yes, that's right, Jared and I just finished our very first batch of caramel apples. We made 72 with nuts and 27 without nuts. We're hoping they last through tomorrow...through Thursday would be nice, but I'm guessing we'll be making more tomorrow night.

I worked at the store this morning with Frank, Diane, Cedi and Capri. While Capri was napping Cedi helped me make some 5 lb bags of red potatoes. She did really good until she decided it might taste as good as an apple...turns out it's "ucky" when it's not cooked! The store is really starting to come together. It's pretty exciting. I made some really cute infant hats with flowers sewn on them that I just put in the store. Tomorrow we should really be able to make some progress since the girls are going to a babysitter for the day.

Frank will be heading down to Waunakee for the farmer's market tomorrow night. It's been decided that I will take DeForest on Tuesday and Sun Prairie on Saturdays. Frank likes the Waunakee market so he was fine with taking a day of them. He's quite the talker so feel free to stop by and say 'hi' if you're at the market tomorrow.

Had a few people asking about cider. Well, there's none yet. We're thinking probably the week after Labor Day...maybe that weekend. The key to a good batch of cider is to have as much of a variety of apples as possible. You get a really good flavor when you combine all the unique taste's together. It takes us a little while into the season to get enough of a variety to make cider worth selling. We'll definately keep you posted about when some will be available.

I'm going to head to bed! Take care and see y'all soon!

Hello All! I keep telling Diane that we go on these trips just so I have more to right on this blog. This past weekend Jared's cousin Katrina got married in Prairie Du Chen (spelling?), WI, so Frank, Diane and Karma took one van, Jared, the girls and I took another. The wedding was beautiful...a bit warm, but beautiful. Frank and Diane had a hotel room for the night, Jared, the girls and I had decided we would just drive home since sleeping in a hotel room with small children is never really the most fun thing, and Karma was up in the air about what she would do. Well, after a fun night of dancing (Cedi was ADORABLE) we finally decided to hit the road around 8 and Karma came with us. We decided we would see how quick HWY 60 was were off. About 45 minutes along, a deer ran in front of the van and we hit it head on. Everyone was fine...the girls slept right through it, the van was not. We lost all of our radiator fluid at least...it was dark and difficult to tell. Luckily, Karma was a AAA member and we knew who to call. Unfortunately, there was absolutely NO cell service anywhere. No one was stopping to help either. So, we turned the heat on high, and slowly moved ahead. We stopped again a little way up where we had thought we'd found some service, but no luck. A young gentleman did stop this time and tried to help but his cell didn't work either. He did inform us that there was a gas station just up the way about 3 miles.

We decided to go for it and we made it there just before it closed. I called the county sheriff's to report the incident and they sent a deputy out. Again, we had NO cell service, the gas station had closed and the pay phone was out of order. I wandered around the gas station parking lot for the next hour trying to get some service. I was attacked by a giant moth (don't worry, I was okay) and saw a cute stray cat during the process. Finally the trouper offered to take me in his squad car up to some higher ground. A few minutes away we found service and I tried AAA. I got through. Then they put me on hold and of course I lost the service. We drove around some more until I finally got some service just down the road from the gas station. It turns out AAA would only cover 5 miles of towing and we had no way to go anywhere since there were no hotels around, no cabs, and we had two small children who have to ride in car seats. I called Jared's uncle Dave and he said he would come to get us and we would deal with the van the next day.

When I got back to the car to report the news to the fellow car mates, we decided it would be best just to sleep in the van until Frank and Diane were well enough to pick us up. Jared ran around and finally found reception while standing on the roof of the BP and canceled our ride with Dave (thanks anyway Dave...we appreciate what you would have done for us!). We had no blankets in the van except for a baby quilt and some receiving blankets. Jared and I were still all dressed up from the wedding. We created some makeshift sleeping arrangements and settled in for the night. When we finally got Capri settled Cedi woke up. She wandered around the van playing with random buttons until Karma finally got her to sleep by reading her the book 'Horns to Toes' at 2am. If we thought sleeping in a hotel would them was going to be tough...it was nothing compared to all of us sleeping in a minivan! We fitfully slept for a few hours until we decided it would be okay to call Frank and Diane at 4:40 in the morning. They came right away and we are all safely home.

As always, we had to have some excitement on our little trip.

Can't wait to see you all in a few weeks for apple season!

Take care!

Yeah! Can you believe apple season is almost here? It seems that time has just flyed since last year. I'm sure you're all super excited to meet our new addition, baby Capri...and you should be. She's just adorable. All you have to do is give her a big smile and she'll return it right to you! I think you'll also get a kick out of Cedi this season. She's getting so big...crazy! She's learning to talk and has quite the stubborn streak. She's a very good helper and I think we may have a wonderful picker some day.

Yesterday we started to get the store set up for the season. We have the cleaning and the basic layout complete. Now we just have to stock the shelves with fun apple goodies, crafts, veggies, and of course some apples! I'm not sure exactly when the apples will be ready (you'll have to ask Diane that) but we should have some blueberries there this weekend and some miscellaneous veggies grown by my mother-in-law.

I'm excited to see you all again soon!