applesauce, 2013 version...

Every year, I think, "no, we are not going to mess with all the work of making applesauce this year."  And every year when apple time comes around I change my mind!!!  (And really, once you have homemade applesace, it is impossible to go back to the jar stuff.)  This year we did scale it back quite a bit because the 3+ bushels that we did last year was a bit much, not only for processing, but we still had quarts in the freezer from that batch!  And every year, bless her dear heart, Steve's mom calls and asks if she can come and help us with applesauce.  We love the extra help and company in the kitchen (always so much better to do work with others!), and she loves helping and the time with the kids as the kids all love to help too.  So here we go...

(With Grace and Willem at school, these two are the main helpers!)

(but Grace and Willem made sure we promised to save some work for them after school)

1 day, 2 bushels of apples into 24 quarts of applesauce to eat and share for the year.  Maybe next year we will skip it...but you know we won't.  =)

in which we take Papa and Aahma to the zoo...

it was cold out, so a number of the animals were inside in their "winter homes"...

...while other animals were the most active and playful that we have ever seen them!  seriously, those bison were running laps - one of the craziest things we have ever seen

Grace was in the midst of a study on Native Americans at school and just finished a section on the importance of the buffalo - so she was super excited to see these at the zoo and take back the video of them running laps to the classroom.

the conservatory was a great place to warm up and enjoy the beautiful plants and flowers

(I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids...=)

happy november birthdays...

Steve and Henry get the privilege of both celebrating their birthdays in November, right away, within 5 days of each other.  So lots of birthday celebrating for us right away in November!  Henry gets to steal the show being that he showed up before his dadda's birthday.

(and also because he turned 2, and when you are 2 you pretty much steal the show anywhere!)

 For Henry's 2nd birthday, all of Steve's side of the family came over for pizza and cupcakes.  Auntie Christy and the girls came over early in the afternoon to play and help out, so I asked if Christy would make the cupcakes with the birthday boy while I finished up a few other things.  H thought he was such big stuff, especially when I shoo-d away siblings and cousins who wanted to take over.  They turned out great, and the rest of the clan joined us for a pizza supper.  Lots of fun and laughter and eating, and we carried it right into opening some gifts.

 We always do the "want, need. wear and read" gifts with our kids, trying to keep things simpler.  So for Henry's gifts from us (cute tags colored by Grace and Greta), he got Daniel Tiger plush toys (want, HUGE Daniel Tiger fan right now!), socks (need), a fleece that matched his brothers' (wear), and Gladys Goes Out to Lunch (read).

He got some great books and a new game from his grandparents, and we could start to sense a theme as they were all monkey-related!

 Boxes are still the best when you are two...

and because he was jumping and wiggling in almost every photo we took while he was opening gifts, we thought we would take a video instead!

Happy Birthday big boy!!!  We love the joy and laughter you bring to our lives!

(and the sugar from the cupcakes must have been a bit much, because at 10pm he was still wide awake.  since it was his birthday, some extra snuggles and books from auntie Melanie and Aahma B were just the thing to settle him back down)

Now for Steve's birthday!!!!  Of which there was going to be not much celebrating on the day since he had to work the late shift which meant not getting home until almost bedtime.  We planned on supper and gifts the next night, but the kids and I hoped to squeeze in a little fun in the morning (which is hard before school!).

But Henry was up at 6am (WAY too early for my kids), so I was able to make cinnamon roll coffee cake, and when the kids got up at 7am, I had them make cards, so we were able to have cards and birthday "cake" for breakfast!

Happy Birthday Steve/Dadda!  We love you so very much!!!  

Thanks for being the best. =)

pictures from the pro...

I take a ridiculous amount of photos of my dear kiddos, but at least once a year, I like to let the professionals take over.  Our dear sister-in-law Christy is a photographer and has been taking pictures of our kids as long as we have had them.  =)  It is so awesome to see how she can capture each of them so well, differently than I can.  We are also both really laid back so we usually hit the park for an afternoon, and Christy will just follow them and shoot.  And if it just isn't working, the kids just play and we try another afternoon.  Love her and love the photos that she has taken for us.  Here are the ones for 2013:

 

We usually get the cousins in on the pictures too...

 (these two are 4 1/2 months apart and best buds )

...pity they never have any fun together  =)

Thanks again, Christy!

fun fridays, october 2013...

  

 

(fun fridays = a bit of fun after a busy week of school)

~ a super fun package full of acorns from friends in New York!  (that may sound weird, but Henry had a thing for acorns and they had an overabundance from their old oaks!)  this kept them busy and acorns under our toes for weeks.  (we thought of you happily, Edward and Tamera, every time we stepped on one...=)

~ pumpkin bowling.  another friend from Alaska posted pictures of doing this with her kids and I knew the kids would love it.  used lego pins the kids built themselves, kept score on a big sheet on the wall, and the winner of each frame got a candycorn in their cup.  (thanks for the idea, Alison!)

~ MEA weekend, much-needed family time, rainbow pancakes, bike ride and lunch at the dam, followed by biking to Dairy Queen for a treat (memories from Steve growing up). 

~ car wash.  need I say more?