The Last of the Apples

Today was the perfect fall day. The sky was blue, the sun shining and just a great day to do some outside chores. My friend Heather came over this morning and we FINALLY picked the rest of the apples... we decided to make fruit leather, so spent the morning prepping 40 cups of apples. Then this afternoon after having a meeting at my church, I came home- raked leaves and cut grass. Then heather came over again and we poured our apples into trays to dry out for 12 hours... I sure hope they turn out! Adessa was such a great help today and I am really loving the twos. I mean there are definitely moments when the 'terrible twos' shine through, like in her moments of using her new favorite word (no!) But she just loves to play, and help. This past weekend we had a wonderful family day and took the girls to the pool and then afterwards we went out for a late dinner, and the girls were both little angels. And we ended up visiting and laughing, and not getting out of there until 8 pm!

The other night we used up some of our apples by making caramel apples... they were quite a hit!

Can you tell...

Heather climbing in the apple tree, rocking her 'Hunter' boots!

The final apples for making fruit leather

Adessa helping me clean the backyard... she was such a good leaf picker-upper!

Such a GORGEOUS day!

Where Danika is at...

Danika is 5 and a half and fully emerged into kindergarten and LOVING it! It has been so nice that she so fully enjoys herself. This morning I got a call from Mrs. Mitchell (Kindergarten teacher) and we had a little interview regarding Danika's struggles. I wanted to post what I remember to see how far she comes in a year... and I hope she doesn't hold this against me when she is older!

- Struggling with writing her name in the proper 'case', (probably my fault as we taught her to spell it in capitals!) So she is having a tough time switching which way to write it.

- Holding her pencil and crayons properly, and not resting her hand on the paper

- Alphabet she always sings k - j, and can't seem to remember it is j-k

- Recognizing letters and numbers

And the one in which she struggles both at school and home... being a tattler. Mrs. Mitchell sweetly (and she is VERY sweet!) mentioned that Danika likes to tell her whenever a child does not listen, or does something wrong. She is the same way with her little sister... must be an older sibling syndrome and something I am hoping to find a solution to!

However on the positive side she LOVES school, she is making lots of friends and loves everyone in her class. She loves to sing and do actions at school. And she is progressing well and enjoying her one on one time with her speech therapist. This week we had a little friend from school over and they played so well together.

We were so nervous about this school, but are both extremely happy with the teaching, the kids in her class and the nice short walk to and from school.

Another wonderful milestone my big girl hit is that she no longer sucks her thumb! We are so very proud of her. One day Steve said she was too old to still being doing that, Danika agreed to give up her blanket for a couple of weeks and the thumb sucking stopped! So the giant callous on her thumb is going away, but the downside is that she wakes up at night and has a tough time falling asleep, but we will get there soon enough! We are just so proud of her!

Halloween Weekend

Sunday after church the girls were invited to the Pastor's sons 'Magician' birthday party. They invited the whole town and then some... it was pretty fun for the girls and they got to dress up like princesses...

Kailey and Lize

Pretty good cupcake!

After school we headed out to camp imadene for a halloween carnival. Danika loves the little plasma cars

So does dessa!

The race was on....

The boys... racing on the huge bmx race track

Sharon and I.... Dr. Seuss'- 'Thing 1 and Thing 2'

We had lots of fun

I realized I SO do not suit short hair with bangs... especially blue! haha, but it was fun!

He still loves me even with blue hair!

My little Monkey!

Family shot

Appetizer Party

Tonight we were invited to our friends 30th birthday party. It was a really neat idea, you were asked to bring a appetizer and then there would be a contest. I decided to make pigs in a blanket as I have always wanted to try them! They were a hit... we ended up winning the contest! It was amazing, we won a dinner date night out for $50.00!

It was an excellent night out, we had so much fun, as did the kids and the food was excellent! It was such a fun idea for a party! And we were very blessed!!!

The Past Week

Steve found this giant garter snake... Adessa really wanted to hold it, but it kept trying to bite Steve.

One afternoon after school we painted pumpkins, and then we let the rain wash it off and we carved them!

On Friday Danika's class got to go to the Fire Station in Crofton, they got some pretty nice shirts! This is where Danika likes to do her 'homework'

This afternoon we carved Pumpkins, here is my gutter...

The girls got to sort the pumpkin seeds out of the 'guts,' Adessa thought it was pretty ewwwie!

So did she...

Meeko, my good puppy, just waiting to lick up all the spilled seeds

The final products.... I think I found my calling!!!

(And that is the puppy's tongue... not a cigarette, as I just noticed it looks like!)

Pictures from Amelia and Nathan's Wedding this summer!

At the beginning of summer Steve was in a wedding for some good friends of ours. They sent us these pictures the other day and thought I would share them! I LOVE the one of the girls dancing... they danced late into the night and stole the show! It was pretty cute!

My house was a disaster, my kids were arguing, I had a million things to do and was not a happy mommy. At one point I locked myself in the bathroom for a little quiet time and read this paragraph, it was exactly what my soul needed to hear... and this momma came out of the bathroom with a smile on her face and sat on the couch with my girls and read them a book. I love when God gives me moments like this! The only thing that would have made it that much better would have been a cleaning fairy ;)

'For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26

"So often we wallow in our children's problems rather than exult in their strengths and possibilities. So often we dwell on the things that seem impossible rather than on the things that are possible. So often we are depressed by what remains to be done and forget to be thankful for all that has been done. Forgive us God."

-Marian Wright Edelman, Guide My Feet