Thanksgiving 2009: Pressing Apples

We were so excited to finally try our hand at making apple juice! Gary's parents have being doing this out of their shop for the last few months and now that we've helped with it, I can't BELIEVE they've done this all by themselves! I think they said they picked around 80 boxes (big boxes) of apples (from their trees and others nearby) and have been pressing any chance they've had. Incredible! We helped them finish up the last of the boxes (basically, we didn't do much at all) and it was hard work. But we had a lot of fun and we appreciate even more every drop of that juice! I tried to capture each part of the process:

Step One: Rinsing apples, removing the bad spots, and trying to stay warm...


Step 2: Pressing the apples

Liquid gold

Step 3: Straining the juice...notice the juice was strained in one of Scott's white (not-so-white -anymore) T-shirts!

Step 4: Bottling the juice



Step 5: Enjoy!

(Oh, and thanks, Sarah, for letting us use your clothes!)

Thanksgiving 2009: Fun at Grandma's

There's always something fun in the dress-up box!

We caught you, Kenna

Eating dinner with second-cousin, Abigail

Preparing the nut cups...a big responsibility!

As if we didn't bring enough noise...

Sounds of Christmas...

So one of the best gifts we got last year from my parents and my sister was a Fisher Price Little People Nativity set (sorry I'm not going to go to the trouble of linking you to it or putting up a picture...sorry, too lazy) but I have to say how much I LOVE it. We pulled it out with our decorations last week and it's like a brand new toy as they wait--ever so impatiently--for new toys. It has animals, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherd, donkey with cart, an angel that when you stick on top, it lights up (it also plays "Away in Manger"...which does start to get on your nerves).

But Kenna and Spencer play with it ALL the time (which is super helpful during this busy time).

And the best, is over-hearing these dialogues as she plays pretend:

Kenna as Mary: "JOSEPH! JOSEPH! HURRY UP!....Where's the baby? Go get the baby! We've GOT to GO!"
Kenna as Joseph: "Donkey--you must take Mary to Bethlehem...NOW!"
Kenna as the angel to the shepherds: "Mary is starting to have her baby RIGHT now! You have to go see her!"

I doubt Mary and Joseph talked this way but I'm starting to wonder if Kenna's mom talks this way....mmm

Kenna's Big Week

We have been so excited around here for the past few weeks that Martha, Kenna's favorite talking dog (doesn't everyone have one?), from the PBS show, Martha Speaks, was coming to OUR library. So a week ago Friday, we showed up, did crafts, and met Martha. Yeah, this was about as close as she dared get. We left Kenna's dog "Little Fluffy" (and he is VERY little) to spend the night at the library with Martha. When we left, Kenna muttered, "she wasn't like how she is on TV." Yes, she supposedly has not had her alphabet soup in a few days so couldn't speak and she was not on all fours. I think all and all, it was a little bit of a disappointment but she loved picking up her dog the next day and looking at the picture booklet they gave her of what the slumber party entailed. It was sure hard to find that little dog in every picture.

Then on Sunday, Kenna participated in her first Primary program. She did awesome and was excited to sit where the Bishop usually sits. I was helping with it so couldn't really see her (although she spoke her part very clearly). But her dad said she sang all the songs really well. Kenna was excited to be apart of the program, but I think she was more excited for the Rice Krispies treats that she got in Primary afterward.

And then on Monday, I took her out to the mailbox and when she saw an envelope with her name on it, she was so excited she stuffed the rest of the mail back in. But the excitement didn't end there. She was thrilled that the envelope contained an invitation from her dad to go on a daddy-daughter date that Saturday to Princess Disney on Ice! That was all we could talk about the rest of the week.

Kenna all dressed up and ready for her big date!

She told me this was her favorite part: when the Fairy Godmother turned all the princess' into their dresses.

Needless to say, she had a fabulous time. And Gary had an adventure running her out to the car several blocks away in a snow storm (not expecting that!). They went to "Old MacDonald's" for lunch (that tells you how often we take our kids out to eat...she doesn't even know it's just McDonalds! They're so sheltered!) and it was a perfect day.

It's fun to have a little girl.

Simple joys

I really think God gave us trees that shed leaves because He loves seeing children happy.

Before Halloween is completely over...

A few pics of carving pumpkins:
Gary said this was his best carving. He used a pattern and was much happier with the result. It took us two nights to complete the jack-o-latern process but that just stretched out the fun. When we lit the candle and turned off the lights, Spencer started instintively singing Happy Birthday to the pumpkin. He sang it again and again. And he even sang it yesterday while grocery shopping. (My kids find the best time to break into song is in the packed aisles of the supermarket. I feel like I enter a musical every time we go shopping! It's hilarious. But I'll take singing over screaming any day...which happens, too, sometimes.)

P.S. Here is our costume (Meredith had the right answer thanks to prior knowledge): Gary was an "email" (think E-Male)...and I was linked to him because I was his "attachment"...

The Princess and the Frog

Kenna has been so excited to be Cinderella. Spencer tolerated his costume (the first time he tried it on and saw himself in a mirror he could NOT stop laughing and pointing at himself). And we had Kenna's good friend, Fazar--the fireman, join us at our church's Halloween party.

The party consisted of a cake walk, chili-cook-off, costume contest and trunk or treating.

Kenna was thrilled to get her hair curled and wear Mommy's make-up. She had fun trick-or-treating with Fazar and Emma (another friend). Later, Spencer got his second wind and went out with her, too.

We had Meredith and the cutest pig ever (baby Evelyn) join us at the party. She always makes us smile with her huge grins. What a delightful baby.

All of us after finishing trunk-or-treating. Gary and I kind of dressed up. We got the idea from Gary's cousin, Emily. See if you can figure out what we are (notice the "E" on Gary's shirt and linked paperclips connected to me).
My goal next year is to really dress up. I lose steam trying to put together costumes for my kids. Nonetheless, it would mean a LOT to my daughter. :)

Chocolate chips make everything better

So my son NEVER touches anything that resembles a vegetable. Ever. He doesn't even put it in his mouth and spit it out. Just completely ignores it. So as I was dishing butternut squash on his plate thinking about how in 30 minutes it was going in the garbage, I had a flash of inspiration. In front of his very eyes, I stuffed maybe 5 chocolate chips into his orange lump and watched him light up in surprise.

And then I watched in surprise as he devoured 3 helpings of the stuff (which btw: had a little bit of brown sugar included). At first he tried to pick the chips out (I hid them well) but then gave up and just ate it all. Victory. Okay, so it was tampered with. But adulterated squash is better than no squash at all, right? And it may never work again...but still I couldn't help saying, "am I amazing or what?!"
I love these rare moments when I out-smart my kids.
Thought I'd pass this on to any others with picky eaters or want a new way to eat squash!

Oh, and while we're talking about squash (tis the season!)... I have discovered my new favorite way to have spaghetti squash. I had some already cooked squash in my fridge and wanted to use it again. So I minced a clove of garlic and sauteed it in olive oil (takes maybe 2 minutes) and then added the spaghetti squash to it until it was all warm. It was SO delicious, smelled SO good, and was SO easy.