Apple orchard

Ahhh...it's that time of year again.

Fall.

Apple orchards, pumpkins, cooler weather, and leaves changing color.

Today we went to an apple orchard that we'd never been to before. We found a cool little spot in back of the orchard that was secluded from the crowds. A bunch of big crates were stacked up back there and I found it the perfect spot to take some pictures of the kids. Plus, the crates provided us some nice shade from the 80 degree weather (that is unseasonable warm for this time of year).

Bart's brother was in town visiting us and this was a fun thing to do with him today.

Here are some of the fun pictures from the orchard.

This picture makes me laugh

Yesterday Summer wanted me to take a picture of her in her "new skirt".

Ya, it's really just a dish cloth held together with a chip clip.

But what kid can resist getting their picture taken? So, Ains wanted to be in the picture then Kenz saw what we were doing and tried to get herself in the picture. Summer kept running towards me shouting, "Lemme see, Lemme see" before I'd even get a chance to push the button. Here is one of the funnier shots I took and then the final picture that I think actually turned out quite cute.

Click on the above picture to make it bigger...Kenzie's face is hilarious!

Notice Ainsley holding Summer back :)

Bald Eagle

Look what was atop my neighbors house this morning....

Bus stop

Our bus stop has 20 kids at it!

I don't think they'll be getting rid of that bus stop anytime soon.

Mom Homework

Now that we are back to school I seriously think I have more homework than the kids! I am now back into the nightly routine of checking the backpacks for papers that I need to sign or look at. I daily check the lunch menu to see if I need to make a lunch and check each of the girls' calendars to see what kind of shoes they should be wearing. And then comes the Friday folders filled with all kinds of homework for mom. There is the multiple get-to-know-you sheets, writing workshop idea sheets, and a plethora of cheer team, dance team, karate or school pride fliers to sift through. I read the newsletters and reminders from each of their teachers, newsletters from the phys-ed teacher, newsletter from the Spanish teachers, and newsletters from the principal. Lunch money to send, order forms to fill out, after school class sign-ups, volunteer sign-ups and lots fees to pay. And don't forget about those Scholastic Book Orders! C'mon folks, seriously...how many of those do I really need?

School

I'm a little late blogging about this but the kids did start school last Tuesday. Ainsley is in 3rd grade and Kenz is in the 1st grade. Kenzie is at school all day now which is an adjustment for her and they are both attending a new school which has been another big adjustment for all of us. Ainsley seems to be making new friends and getting used to the school pretty quickly. Kenzie is a bit more reserved and is taking a bit more time at it. But she is such a sweet girl that I know soon enough she'll have some good friends and I'm sure she'll get used to the new school soon.

Now I get to be with this crazy little kook all day long. We started an ECFE class today (Early Childhood Family Education) which she calls "school." I'm planning on keeping her pretty busy with playdates because I completely and literally fell asleep the other day playing Polly Pockets and My Little Ponies with her. But she's such a doll and I'm excited to have more one on one time with her!

Last minute decision...

We went to the State Fair today. We weren't planning on going but I just couldn't let another year go by without going. (We didn't go last year.) So we ditched the ward picnic and off we went. I'm pretty sure most non-Minnesotans wouldn't understand what the big deal is, but if you're from here or ever lived here then you understand why I just couldn't let 2 years go by with out going.

We started the day off with a horse show, then saw a 3rd Lair skate and bike show and lastly we saw a Lumberjack show. The funny thing is, is that they used a lot of the same jokes that were in the Hayward, WI Lumberjack show. So I guess if you've seen one Lumberjack show you've seen them all.

At the Hayward, WI show Kenzie really wanted a little wood chair that they made at the show. I didn't let her get one then, but they were making them again today and she had $10 burning a hole in her pocket that she could spend however she wanted so she got one this time.

We ate lots of yummy food, Ains and Summer also got to pick out some souveniers, and the kids got to ride a few rides at the end of the day. We were terrible parents and kept our kids out way too late the day before school starts. But we all had a really fun day. Here are a few fun pictures from our day.

End of Summer Brain Drain

Heard of Pregnancy Brain Drain? Well, I have End-of-Summer-Brain-Drain. Yesterday I went to Target did my weeks worth of shopping (and then some) got to the register and realized my wallet was still in my church bag. UGH! Then I thought...no problem I have my checkbook. Guess what? You need to show ID if it's over $100. And unfortunately I rarely ever get out of Target under $100 so I was stuck again. They let me run all my groceries through and suspended my transaction until I could come back and pay. They rolled my cart into the freezer and off I left to go get my wallet and come back again for my stuff.

In the meantime, I totally forgot that we were going to start Ains and Kenz on their piano lessons that day. So I completely spaced that until Ande (their piano teacher) calls and asks where I'm at. "Well, I'm just at Target AGAIN! Buying my groceries AGAIN!"

So if that wasn't embarrassing enough I told everyone today that I had my kids schools open house tonight. I get all the kids together, drive over there and the doors to the school are locked. "What?", I ask myself. I go home and realized the open house is tomorrow night. UGH!

Seriously, I need these kids back in school!

Is this a common mom phenomenom or is it just me?

Bartering

All 3 girls playing with polly pockets.

Me: Girls we need to go run some errands.

Girls: {Groans}

Me: Tell you what. I'll let you each bring 1 Polly along.

Girls: NO! Three!

Me: Two each....if I don't hear a single fuss out of anyone the entire time we're running errands.

Girls: Deal.

It worked! I got to the bank, back to Payless to redeem a coupon I forgot last time (saved $12.00!), Mills Fleet Farm for a return, Apple Valley Library, DMV (FINALLY got my address changed!), and to the Rosemount Library.

Is that good parenting or bad?

Kenzie rides!

It finally clicked for Mackenzie and now she can ride her bike with out training wheels. We went on a family bike ride last night around the lake. Summer & I went around twice, Bart, Ainsley & Kenz when around 3 times! Now Kenz wants to bike all the time now. It is very fun to see her excitement in her accomplishment.

Cabin

Last weekend we got out of the cities and went to Minong, WI. My sister's father-in-law has a cabin that we stayed at for 3 nights. We all had a great time just relaxing and being away from the hub-bub of home life. Here are some of the things we did....

We ate a picnic lunch on a beach, swam and made a sandcastle.


We went fishing off a dock on the Minong Flowage. Between all of us we caught close to 20 fish. 2 of them would have been keepers if we weren't doing catch and release. Summer did an excellent job at being the worm-girl. She kept us sufficiently supplied with plenty of fat juicy worms for our hooks.


We hung out at the cabin, played games and tried to canoe-but the river was too shallow. We also drove into Hayward, WI where they host the World Lumberjack Competitions and saw a fun lumberjack show.

What is it about getting away and into nature that is so rejuvinating?

Patches

If you know me at all then you know I do NOT sew. I do not own a sewing machine and I barely even own a needle and thread.

I am however quite proud of myself for figuring out a way with out sewing to extend the life of my kid's ever-wearing-out-the-knees-jeans. I bought iron-on blue jean patches and ironed them on the inside of the jeans. Then I ironed on a fancy patch over the hole on the outside of the jeans. After than I ironed on other decorative patches to make it look like that was the plan all along.

All the ones I've done have turned out quite nicely and the kids actually prefer those pants now over their boring plain blue jeans. Here is a lookie at some of my creations.

Landscaping

We FINALLY got our grass, sprinkler system, plants and trees in last week. It looks so much better than the dirt and weeds we've been living with since April. We've been busy all week watering and trying to keep our trees and plants alive. Here are some pictures of what it looks like now.

Above is the chilton rock wall that Bart built last Saturday.

Ahhhh....grass.

Animal Graveyard

So, I'm kinda getting creeped out. On Sunday I was down in the basement and I looked out the window. I did NOT see popcorn popping, what I saw was a dead vole. Remember my vole problem? Well, there he was in my window well all rigor mortis like lying on his back with his little claws all curled up in front of him. (He is still there by the way. I do not want to climb down there and dispose of him.)

Okay, now if that's not gross enough....yesterday we went out to have a picnic at the park. On our way down the driveway we noticed a dead baby bird. We have some wood decorations at the very top of our house that some birds have nested in so I assume this baby bird fell out of the nest. He wasn't even feathery yet. I picked him up with a paper bag--very gross! Tied him up in a plastic bag and disposed of him.

Now, today I go out to get my mail and there is another dead bird in our boulevard. This one is a big one. And I'm NOT going to touch it! I say it's Bart's turn. I called the city to alert them of the dead bird in case it's West Nile Virus but they said they only want to know about dead crows and blue jays.

So, what's the deal here? Did I move on to an animal graveyard? The guy from the city told me I should be worried when I go to sleep tonight.

Noodle legs

Even though Summer is 3 years old, she's still my baby. She's the last and the last one is always the baby. The older two girls had to do more things on their own sooner because I was always taking care of another baby. Well now, there is no other baby and I'm still doing many things for Summer that she should be doing by herself. I still get her dressed alot and I tend to carry her around alot. She's such a peanut that sometimes carrying her around is not that big of a deal, in fact, it's often quicker and easier.

However, sometimes she expects to be carried around when I just can't hold her for another second or my arms are full. The latter is what happend the other day. She wasn't accepting my "no I can't pick you up now" answer so I went into a long discourse of how if she doesn't use her muscles they will begin to atrophy and before long she will just have noodles for legs. So now, she is somewhat afraid of my carrying her around and she yells, "I don't want to have noodle legs!" and wriggles out of my arms. Which sometimes is great and other times is not so great because then she is loose and free to run around which ever store we happen to be in. Now I don't know which was better.