apples, apples, apples!!!

The weather is turning cold and we need to finish picking the hundreds of apples on our tree! All I've been doing for the past week when I have a spare moment involves apples:
*eating apples
*picking apples
*smashing apples
*cutting apples
*cooking apples
*washing apples
*shaking apples off the tree
*canning apple sauce
*picking up fallen apples off the ground
*throwing away rotten apples (and trying not to get stung by the wasps that are feasting)

Isabel wanted to help me pick some apples, so she climbed up the ladder and I was "spotting" her. After she filled a bucket and was ready to get down, I turned around to see if Ansel was still in our wagon and he was gone. Joseph was in the tree and we both thought it was strange that he would go into the "back" backyard all by himself. Isabel and I started coming down to go find Ansel. When I got near the bottom I don't know why I looked down before I stepped and saw Ansel looking up at me. He had started climbing the ladder and his feet were on the bottom rung. We all just laughed so hard. This is a good example of how Ansel really does like to do everything his big sister does. (Which is why we LOVE it when she is a good example.)

Here is a little side story about that.....We still have some easter eggs out because they are just so fun to play with. Isabel put one in her mouth and shot it across the dining room. I do not allow my kids to put toys in their mouth because it's gross and unsanitary. I started talking to Isabel about what she had done and she said that Dad had taught her to do it. I looked over at Joseph and he admitted it and said that it was just so fun. Well, upstairs in Isabel room today she spit out a few eggs for Ansel and he laughed really hard. Then proceeded to put eggs in his mouth. Thanks Dad!

snack

Isabel just asked, "Did someone put nuts in these carrots because they are very crunchy." I guess we usually have cooked carrots.

donkey

This is just a test. We'll see if I can get the video of feeding a donkey from our Mesa Verde vacation.

nightmares

I woke up in the middle of the night to a scary scream. Recently we decided to have Joseph get up in the night with the kids because I have trouble falling asleep after being up with them. (It is rare for the kids to wake up during the night now, but occasionally one will.) But this scream shot me out of bed just like a gun shoots a bullet. I raced into Isabel's room where I found her standing up on the floor and WIDE awake. I asked her why she was screaming and she said there were these bugs all over her bed. I asked her what kind of bugs. She she said she didn't know...they were just insects. I turned on the light and hugged her. We threw everything off her bed and I told her that there really were no insects and she just dreamed it. Anytime that Isabel has woken up in the middle of the night, she appeared to be half asleep. It surprised me how alert she was. Anyway, I got her back in bed and tucked in. About 45 mins later she came to sleep in our bed. This was the first time she ever wanted to sleep with us because she was scared, but as soon as she got in our bed she fell fast asleep.

tea party

Isabel got some birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa Ashby and I finally took her shopping to get a present. She got some horses and a tea set. I was really surprised she picked out a tea set. I showed her books, a doll stroller and MANY things I thought she would be interested in and then there was also a tea set.

Yesturday morning we decided to have an apple cider tea party with apples and cheerios for breakfast. Isabel loved it. She insisted we pour a cup for dad even though he had already gone to work. I find that I enjoy our tea parties as much as Isabel and I'm very glad that she bought it.

apples

When we were thinking about buying this house one of the things to consider was the apple tree in the backyard. I thought of it as a positive thing: having free fresh fruit. I could make apple pies, apple sauce and share them with our friends. To Joseph the tree was very negative; he thought of all the bad fruit that would fall on the ground, make a big mess and be a pain to clean up and we didn't know if it would even produce good fruit. Well, obviously we got the house and have learned more about our tree. It has not been pruned or sprayed for a long time and we estimate it has about 700 apples on it (they are all very small). Anyway, we have had a ton of apples fall on the ground and I would rake them up, but had allergy problems from all the dirt and whatever else. One day a neighborhood kid came knocking at our door asking for a job because they were trying to earn money. I asked what she could do and she said anything. I told her I would have to think about it and consult my husband. So, I really did want to encourage her to "earn" money, but also wanted it to be helpful to my family. My biggest concern was that once we paid her for a job, every other kid in the neighborhood would also come expecting a job. Within about 24 hours I was able to come up with a brilliant solution. The job that I decided we could hire out labor for is picking up apples in our yard. When there is not a sufficient amount of apples to pick up, we have no job to offer. We were also very impressed when our "hired labor" even picked up all the apples in our rose bushes (something I had not gotten around to yet) and the apples that had fallen outside our fence in the common backyard. We ended up paying her more than we agreed upon since she worked for an hour and exceeded our expectations. (The apples she threw away filled up a third of our garbage can!) I think we were both very pleased with the situation. I'm actually looking forward to hiring kids to pick up more apples as more fall.

We had seen several neighbor children eating the little apples that had fallen off our tree, but I had never tried one. They were just so little and I thought they would be gross. So today for no reason I just thought, let's go try an apple. And they are DELICIOUS!!! YAYAYAY So, I think I would have to say that I love our apple tree.

"mom"

Ansel is getting to be such a big boy. He has started saying "mom" and it's really cute. I can't help but go to him and pick him up when he calls me by name. It sure is a lot cuter than crying or screaming.

It may look like Joseph is kicking Ansel in this photo because he is. Don't worry grandma, he does it very softly. Ansel thinks it's so funny and laughs really hard.

travel map

My travels have slowed down quite a bit since having two kids. I saw this on a friends website and thought it would be fun to try to keep track of the places I've been.