Fun in the Leaves

We love the shade our ginormous trees give us in the summer, but come fall we're not too crazy about them. At least we don't like having to rake up 10 times before we get all the leaves that have fallen. Even now after 2 thorough rakings over half the leaves are still clinging to the trees, darn things. The kids love it though. Casey took the kids out after he raked up the first batch and it was sooo cute to see Sequoia in there, it was her first experience jumping in the leaves, and Brendan was happy to have her and show her all the cool things you can do in a pile of dead things. I got some good video that time around. Well yesterday it was my turn to rake and so the kids jumped in again, this time with me, and Casey got the camera. Gosh kids are fun, it's almost like being a kid again myself...almost.

Busy Bee

My grandma's answering machine used to say 'we are busy little bee's...' and I kept thinking of that this week. If you keep reading you'll find out why.

Grandpa Lehman had boxes and boxes of apples. A few people claimed some but he still had 7 boxes. I got three and made some cider with dad a couple weeks ago. This is all after making applesauce and drying lots with the apples from my trees . Then when we went back on Halloween there were still 4 boxes so I snagged those as well. I was determined to attempt apple pie filling, and apple butter (for my dad). I didn't know exactly how far the apples would go but I figured it would be a start. Ha! I ended up giving 1 box away, a few bags of apples away, eating them and feeding them to the kids like crazy, and even then I haven't gone through all of them yet...but I am down to my last box and have made a good dent in it. Ends up they aren't going as quickly as I thought. Well the apple butter wasn't too difficult, a lot like the applesauce in fact, then the pie filling...ugh! For any of you that haven't seen me mad you should have been here - my mom was the lucky witness of my fit when I poured the cornstarch into the mix and caused major lumping - ruining the whole batch of liquid. The second attempt went much better and we even tested it by baking an apple pie on Saturday - it was DELICIOUS! So made my second batch on Monday and again, pitched a fit, that Casey was lucky enough to witness this time, when I attempted the cornstarch. Thankfully this time I didn't ruin the whole batch of liquid, just nearly a box of cornstarch and 3/4 cup of lemon juice, grrr! Ah well, the end result was worth it. Now I have one more batch in the works then I think I will cap it off for the pie filling and try another batch of apple butter just for you Nicole (and anyone else that wants it), and after that, who knows!

After all this you know what I'm most anxious about? Getting my kitchen back to normal, I'll be tickled when all the apple/canning mess is gone! And I can't wait to scrub the floor...who says that?!

Wiggle-Room

Casey and Dad's bottom halves....by Brendan. He tried so hard to always be helping the 'guys' and was absolutely heart-broken when they couldn't use his help at any given time. I love that boy:)

Finally! One thing our house has always lacked is storage space. When we bought the house there was a shed in the back, but it was in sad, sad shape. We decided we had made-do for long enough and Casey was brave enough to undertake the building of a shed. (I think he's been itching to build something since we never built a house like we were hoping...) Two guys from Casey's work, dad, and Casey all helped out with laying the cement one day. After it had set up for long enough and everyone had some time, Casey, dad, and Jeremy threw things together really quickly - a day and a half - and perfectly! Of course I'm not that patient so Saturday night, in the dark, with only a headlamp for light I moved most of the bins from our old storage shed into our new one and ahhh - nice! I finished up the move on Monday and now all that's left to make the transition complete is the siding that will be in on Wednesday and then the metal work. Ta-da! All I can say is wow. This is gonna relieve a lot of stress. I absolutely hated going back to the shed to get anything, and most of the time I did I found it a) at the bottom of the pile b) somehow damaged or c) messing up the some-what organized bins. And I'd be pulling out my hair by the time I got to what I wanted that I'd just throw things back together. Anyway it's all perfect, and with the handy-dandy labeler that Casey won at a golf tourny a few months ago it's so easy to see what I've got where. Thank you, thank you, thank you Casey, Dad, Jeremy, guys from work, and most importantly Brendan. I LOVE IT! I'll attach the final product picture when the siding is up...can't wait!

Halloween

On Friday Brendan got to dress up for preschool. Then I was suppose to come pick him up 15 minutes early so the kids could do a mini trick-or-treat with all the parents. Brendan really wanted Sequoia to dress up, which I was fine with considering I had 2 cute costumes to pick from (my sister gave me my neices old lady bug and I had bought the bunny at a garage sale this summer for .25 cents!). I couldn't decide on just one for my Junie so I was happy to have an excuse to put her in both. When we got to school and got out of the car Brendan said, "Look at my little sister everybody. Isn't she so cute!?" I was so happy to have heard that, he's so darn sweet and loves his baby sister. And who wouldn't - really when she's looking like this!

Here's my handsome guy dressed up at 'Snake Eyes' from G.I. Joe. This is one of the few times we got him to put on his mask and keep it on. Apparently it was a little too hot with everything on. I was really bummed the whole Astronaut idea didn't work out too. Maybe next year.

On Saturday we went to the mall to trick-or-treat...

then stopped by the salon where all the Ringer cousins were and took a picture with all of them...

After a short rest Brendan and I headed to (what I thought would be) a fun Halloween party. In the paper it said each booth would be 10 cents. They would have a cake walk, cookie decorating, face painting, rat toss, etc. I went with high hopes but we were really disappointed. Ends up we got a punch card and each booth took 3-5 punches...it didn't equal out to the be the 10 cent cost they advertised. We started with a cake walk - and never won. They said you could play until you won a cake, well Brendan hung in there for about 10 rounds then decided to give up (I can't blame him). Then the face painting line was entirely too long, the cookie he decorated was yummy, but the 'scare alley' was too scary, we put one toe in and he decided not to risk it. (there went 3 punches) Then after dinner we visited Grandma & Grandpa Ringer, Grandpa Lehman, and then Grandpa Bud (Grandma was in Boston) and they both got very spoiled. They even got a mini pizza from Papa Murphy's - how cute is that? We really had a fun halloween, but I'm sure glad it only comes around once a year!

Silly Kids

Brendan got mad at me the other day because of something I wouldn't let him do or something I was telling him he had to do...it happens so often I can't remember. Well he wasn't too happy so he decided to sit down and pout (quite pathetic-looking, huh?). Sequoia felt bad for him and decided to comfort him (until she saw the camera, then she decided to smile). Brendan still didn't cheer up. Then he tried to avoid Sequoia. She's pretty darn persistant though, any direction he turned or looked she was right there with him, there was no escaping her. He finally gave in and decided she was pretty silly.

Gosh I love my kids.

Casey's Birthday

Casey and I have both accepted the fact that birthdays just aren't as fun as they used to be. So I decided to try really hard to make this birthday extra special, and so did Brendan. First - I called his name into the radio, but with the over 21's they only have one winner every week - it wasn't us. He also got a few phone calls during the day from Brendan, Sequoia, and I telling him happy birthday. When he got home Brendan threw confetti at him, this was my idea because I needed to gently veto Brendan's idea of throwing a cup of cold water at Casey (which he ended up doing anyway). We also hung streamers and got balloons for him, and his favorite cake - white with raspberry filling. Then we had dinner at one of his favorite restaurants; Maddox. There was also a little bit of birthday shopping at 'Smith & Edwards' and the opening of a few presents. Brendan really tried to make this day special for Casey-it was so cute:) He even asked Casey, 'Is this your best birthday ever, dad?' I'm sure it wasn't, but at least we tried! Happy (be-lated) birthday Casey, I love you.

PS his bday was Oct. 6th, I'm just a little slow at posting now-a-days

We Got Annie!

Brendan and I just finished watching Annie (first time for him) this week. He loved it. Then I explained to him that's why my parents named their dog 'Annie'. They adopted her from a shelter and thought it would be just perfect to name her Annie like Annie in the movie. Brendan thought this was pretty darn cool. Now my parents are off on a trip to Illinois and Wisconsin for just over two weeks and we get to dog-sit Annie. The day she was coming over Brendan and I were saying that we should be excited and say 'We've got Annie' like they do in the movie when my parents dropped Annie off. Then we wondered if Annie would be saying to herself, 'I think I'm gonna like it here'. Well we don't know what Annie was thinking but we were sure excited to get her and be able to keep her for a couple weeks. (Has this made any of you want to go watch the movie again? I forgot how much I loved it - you should go watch it again, you won't be disappointed - then maybe this post will mean more to you:) But after the news last night I'm just hoping that all the table-scraps my kids will end up feeding her aren't going to kill her!

Becoming Domestic

About a year ago my mom taught me how to knit. It all started with a dishcloth. Pretty simple. One stitch over and over again in a perfect square. Then I made Brendan a matching hat and scarf. Again, pretty simple. Same stitch over and over again and ta-da! A perfectly perfect camo hat and scarf. Then Alan (Casey's dad) found Brendan's hat in his truck one day and assumed it was his (why else would it be in his truck) so I caught him wearing it one day to shovel the snow. It took me awhile to say something because I didn't know how he would have ended up with it. Anyway I decided to make Alan one (the same as Brendan's, but bigger) so Brendan could get his back:) I also made a pair of fingerless mittens for me - not perfect but cute! Then I made Sequoia a super-cute shirt which I posted on here awhile ago, knitted 2 hats for my friends cute baby, made another hat and scarf for an auction at church, and finally finished a sweater-vest for Brendan that took me entirely too long because of the darn ribbing around the neck - grrr. I still need to post a picture of this because (if I do say so myself) it is adorable! Now I'm undertaking another task - knitting something for each of the kids for Christmas. I finished Sequoia's already...but I won't post it, not until she opens it on Christmas but again, it is pretty darn cute! And now I'm working on Brendan's present. I'm also thinking about knitting a pair of socks for each of us for Christmas as well...we'll see how long it takes me to finish up Brendan's sweater this time. Who knew I'd love this knitting thing so much?! I love it beacause - I love seeing my kids wear the stuff I made, and I love the Brendan is so supportive and excited to see how much I've got done since the last time he saw it, and I love that Casey decided to get me knitting stuff for my birthday to keep me interested in this hobby, and I love that my mom was patient enough to teach me, help me, and is always giving me new patterns to try. Thanks mom - now I just need to make something for you before you think to make it yourself!