apples

Yesterday our family took a trip up to Apple Hill.

I love going to that place.

And I love fresh, crisp apples!

So does my family.

 

We had a lovely picnic, looking out at the apple orchards and in the distant,

 we could even see the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains.

 

 There were a few a pumpkin patch decorations still up and the kids had a lot of fun with them!

Peter was loving climbing on top of the gigantic pumpkins.
And we were trying to get him to say "I'm the king of the world!"

Then Hannah announced, "it's my turn to be the princess of the earth!"

We watched this industrial strength apple peeler & corer machine in action.

 

 

There were some gorgeous fall colors around us.

And we explored until we found a tiny orchard that claimed to have award-winning pies.
And oh my, were they good.  If you happen to be up there go to "Bodhaine Apple Ranch" -
absolutely delicious and all handmade!!!

 

They said their favorite apple to use was the Rome Beauty.

Another picnic, this time under the apple trees.
In fact, as we were enjoying our treats a huge apple fell out of a tree
and missed hitting Peter's head by mere inches!
The kids thought that was pretty awesome (and we got to take the apple home).

 

What a refreshing, lovely place to spend the afternoon!

This morning the kids and I set to work making our first ever batch of applesauce.

All ready to cook in the crockpot.

It was easy and came out pretty yummy,
but I think the kids had the most fun with the long, curly strings of apple skin.

 

 

halloween fun

Today was a fun day.

I took superman shopping with me at Trader Joe's this morning.



He put his strong muscles to work pushing the cart around the store and garnering lots of attention!

Then, superman, daddy & I headed to Hannah's school for the Halloween parade.

little miss Rapunzel!

hanging out at closing circle, Peter sat through the whole thing!

"Hannah, Hannah it's your turn, show us your costume and then return!"

After rest time we picked pumpkins from our own backyard.

 

It was pretty exciting to plant seeds, water them and watch them grow.
And then get to pick them!

Great idea daddy!

 

We also did some harvesting of other produce in our backyard.

some serious bounty for the end of October

carving our pumpkins

 

Mommy was skeptical, but our mini pumpkins made great jack-o-lanterns

 

Time for dinner,
a costume change

and Nemo & a ballerina

are ready for some trick or treating

The only problem - it started raining.

 

But that didn't dissuade us from going out and having some fun knocking on our neighbor's doors!

goodbye

This afternoon my beloved grandfather passed away.



My heart is sad for so many reasons, he will not meet his third great grandchild, I will not hear him laugh or say "Well, that's interesting" anymore, ....

and yet I am grateful that he is no longer in pain, that he met and played with and got to know both Hannah & Peter, that he was here for so much of my life.

It is a funny thing to be anticipating a new baby coming in just over a month while grieving the death of one I've known for 32 years.

 The contrast of life and death is stark and yet so interrelated.

 

I may have more to say later but for now all I can think of is,
goodbye grandpa

i love you so much! 

milk

I left the room for 2 minutes.

Hannah came screaming upstairs to get me.

And this is what I found:


One of those moments as a mom where the urge to laugh and scream are both equally strong.
(I ended up with a horrified laugh and then grabbing my camera for a few pictures.)

Apparently, Peter was thirsty and decided to get a brand new gallon of milk out all by himself and pour a glass.

Half of the gallon ended up on the floor.

Splash!

Cleaning up his mess.

Sporting a milk mustache!

There was no crying over this spilled milk!

wedding fun!

Last night, Matt & I took these little angels to a wedding.

Yes, a wedding.



Don't worry they each got a lollipop and raisins to enjoy as the ceremony proceeded.

And they did great! 

They saved their silliness for the reception,

And our family had a great night out together!

The kids watched the bride and groom have their first dance

and then they got out there

and busted some moves.

The dress up photo booth was hit for us all!

Who knew attending a wedding with a 4 year old and 2 year old could be so much fun?