Rough and Tumble

Those could be the nicknames for our kids today!

A & C had a birthday party for an old neighbor who turned 7 today. The party was a Twins party (fitting), so all of the kids wore their Twins gear, brought their glove, and they played a little baseball. They also brought their scooters to ride around the driveway and cul-de-sac. Fun party!

We dropped the kids off, talked to the parents, said our goodbyes and were just about out the door when I see C on the grass, off of a bike he has borrowed. I dash outside..."Are you ok, Buddy?" "Yup. I fell of the bike! Thank goodness it was in the grass." I look down. "And you tore your shirt! Must have been a good fall!" He's ok-I go back in to finish the goodbye, and A comes in...

"I fell off my scooter! I'm all bloody!" Yes, she was. Both knees had blood dripping down them and hands were scuffed up a bit too. This is our first skid of the season, seeing how we had snow covering the ground on Tuesday. It's Saturday. She was one brave girl as we cleaned out her wounds, put on some ointment, and bandaged her up. She was off and riding her scooter (slowly) again in the driveway before we left.

So there you have it...Rough and Tumble. I suppose it would be the other way around, being the way I wrote it...C was Tumble and A was Rough. But you get the idea.

I'm sure this won't be the last time this year! Being that they're basically not afraid of much anymore. Let the season begin!

Fall is...

Fall is...

 jumping in big piles of leaves.

 Fall is...

 raking over and over.

 Fall is...

 leaves in my hair.

 Fall is...

 "Did you see that jump?!"

 Fall is...

 saying goodbye to shade.

 Fall is...

 getting ready for the next big pile.

 Fall is...

 fun, because we have each other!

Halloween 2012

Trick-or-treat!

Smell my feet!

I would love to have something good to eat!

say the fairy

and Captain America!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Apple Time!

It's that time around here. Apples abound! About 4 weeks early at that. Some years are like that, I suppose!

We made our way to one of our favorite orchards the other weekend.

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's the only orchard I've ever been to. It's a small one. Cozy. Not a lot of frills.

Not a lot of extras. No, "Better bring more money because the hayride is this much and the corn maze is this much and the bouncy house is this much." Nope. Just apples. 

And a little hay.

But mostly apples.

Really, the apples were almost gone! Usually the orchard has about 15 different types of apples. When we were there 2 weeks ago there were only 3 left to pick off the trees. The rest of them had all been picked (in the beginning of AUGUST!). Who wants to go to the orchard in the beginning of August? It's still summer! But now we know. We still ended up with baskets filled and heavy at that!

Either way, we had a great time. We found some Honey Crisp apples which is one of our favorites.

It was really fun watching the kids this year because they could actually reach some of the apples.

Of course some of the best ones were up high...thank goodness Daddy was with!

Upon leaving the orchard J and I realized we hadn't been to the orchard last year.

The kids didn't remember going as a family. So we're really glad we made a point to go this year. And the best part is...I made my first apple crisp, with success!

A garden in our driveway

"Oh Mommy, will you come outside with me to do chalk?"
"Sure! What would you like to draw?"
"Ummm...a garden! I want to turn the whole driveway into a garden."
"The whole thing?"
"Yup. The whole thing."
"Well, we can try."

--trots outside--

"See. We can make this the sky (draws the sky at one end of the driveway). And then the garden can be down here (goes to the other end of the driveway)."
"Can I draw birds and butterflies too?"
"Oh sure. Good idea, Mommy. What color is the bird going to be?"
"Well, how about blue?"
"Ok, but it'll have a purple head. Is that ok?"
"Of course."

There is now a garden growing on the driveway.

And birds and butterflies flying together through the sky.

And our family portrait is just outside our door. In the perfect of places.

Thank goodness spring is starting to show its face around here!

If it's this cold, I want snow!

That's what I kept saying last week. Because who really wants to look at a bunch of brown yards, hibernating flowers and naked trees. With all of those things, it might as well snow, right? I got my wish last night. Of course we were outside playing in it today.

Our attempt at a snowman was worth it. The snow wasn't the sticky kind. More the light, kind of fluffy kind. You wouldn't have guesses that though, with all of the snow that stuck to the trees this morning. Nonetheless, we tried our best at a snowgirl. A was quite proud...and loved the fact that we got to eat the left-over Skittles.

Snow angels were made.

Chase and tackles ensued.

This was only the second time we had snow to play in this year. Last year at this time we had about 2 feet of snow on the ground! Crazy how things change in a year. We loved playing in the snow!