Apple picking time again.

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Tessa

One of my favorite fall things to do! Saturday was Customer Apprecition Day at Wellwood Orchard and my Facebook feed was full of pictures of friends picking apples. I wanted nothing to do with the crowds that day, so instead we went today. Mema was here today too, so we took her along. Her first time at Wellwood! It was much calmer, though really hot!! The website said they stopped making donuts at 11am, so we made that our first stop. Once we were sugar-fueled, we went to check out the animals.

Feeding the goats

An albino peacock?

Don’t stand directly under the birds!

Piglets! Mama pig was looking very hot and uncomfortable. Not an attractive look for anyone, especially a giant pig!

Baby bunnies. It was so hot they were all panting in unison.

Eve caught herself a bunny! I’m glad it wasn’t a “catch and keep” situation. :-)

We met some friends in the animal pen and hung out for a bit. The kids were happy to run around with friends for awhile. Then we refueled again with another round of donuts (this post brought to you by fresh made sugar covered donuts!) and then hitched a ride in the wagon up to the orchard.

We met a friend there who volunteered to take group photo. (I should probably crop this picture better, but my lousy blog posting system doesn’t make that convenient, so… you get what you get!)

Oh yeah, we went apple picking too.

I called this one the toddler tree. Tons of apples at a very accessible height.

Not that my monkeys needed help. I let her climb one, but after hearing the apples tumble down I realized that wasn’t the best idea.

Pears! Adorable, but not really ready yet.

Hot and tires. Just a few more apples.

We had plans to go out for lunch after this, but everyone was hot and sweaty and “fun family time” came to a grinding halt. Instead we headed home to a cool, dark house where everyone could have a little space to calm down and regroup.

Now I have two giant bags of apples on my counter. In the old days the kids and I would bake pie or make applesauce together, but tomorrow they go back to school and I’ll be home making pies and applesauce on my own. It will be different, but good in it’s own way.

If you want to get lost in adorable pictures, type “apple picking” into the little search bar near the top right of this page. Lots of pictures from years past. Apple picking is an annual fall treat for us. :)

Field Hockey

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Tessa

Lex doing his homework while Eve practices in the background, in the sun flare.

Eve joined the town rec field hockey team this year, which was an interesting choice considering we know nothing about field hockey. I borrowed or bought used all of the gear, except the mouth guard, of course! I had a nice lady at the sports store explain about stick sizes… then I went and bought a cheap one at the second hand store. I figure if she loves the sport and wants to play for real, then I’ll buy her new stuff! At this point all she knows about the sport is from the two minutes of a game we watched on Youtube, and that her buddy plays.

We are now dealing with practices, karate or field hockey, four nights a week, right at dinner time. The evening routine is going to need some revamping! Especially since I still want them in bed at a reasonable hour!

It’s the first day of school…

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Tessa

Back to school time again! 5th and 3rd. This will be Lex’s final year in elementary school. I just reread all my “first day of school” blog posts, all the way back to Lex’s first day in pre-K. He was so tiny. Each year has had a pretty different start. I think by now we’re finally getting the hang of things! Both kids made their own lunches (so no sweet love notes from mommy in this lunch boxes today) and got dressed and took care of their morning jobs. No Daisy excitement like last year. Just a calm, happy, silly morning.

Back to school. 5th and 3rd. They wanted to wear their backpacks for this picture. They both got new backpacks this year, for the first time in years!

The weather this morning is cool and foggy, but no rain. I even remembered to sweep off the porch yesterday! Maybe some day I’ll get around to painting it again. :)

Eve looking so grown up.

I always take two (or more!) pictures, just in case. Sometimes that works out well (eyes closed, etc) but other times it leaves me undecided. I like elements of both of these pictures. Which do you prefer?

Which is better? This one….

…or this one? One, or two?

Crazy kiddos. So excited for school! I love their enthusiasm for school and learning. And I love that no one cries on the first day of school any more!

Keeping it real!

I am now home alone. No job this year. I will eventually put my name on the sub list again, and continue looking for full-time work. Maybe a classroom position will open up mid-year, or a long-term sub position, or something. But for now, I’m home. I have a list of projects a mile long I’d like to tackle. And I really want to get my body back in check. The weight is out of control and Eve is expecting me to run a 5K with her in two months. So I’m hoping to spend the next few weeks getting work around the house done, eating well, and exercising. Probably I’ll be bored and lonely in about three days and eager to get back into school. We’ll see how it goes.

Neighborhood block pary

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Tessa

We had our neighborhood block party today! The one we planned awhile back. As it goes when I’m involved with social situations, I’m always excited until the day of, then I start dreading. So much to do. I was soooo tired. Really wanted a calm evening to get everything ready for school. Blah, blah. We went, of course, and had a great time, of course!

As promised, Eve made a cake. She and her friend from down the street baked it on Friday. They were quite silly in the kitchen and I stayed close by, but they did a great job and baked two 9″x13″ cakes. Today I made the frosting and put the cake together. Eve did the decorating, with a little assistance from me on the words.

Our cake

Alan and I went down a little early and set up our new Easy-Up tent and tables. I was nervous that it was the wrong weekend or no one would come or blah, blah, blah. Needless worrying! Almost everyone came, there were lots of kids running around, it was great to mix the “old” (people who have been on this street since the beginning) with the “new” (those of us who haven’t been here so long). I met new neighbors and made friends. Eve and Lex got two new pet sitting customers. (Gosh, I tried to find a link for that and couldn’t. Have I not blogged about their pet sitting business?!)

We wrapped up around 6:30pm because it is the night before the first day of school and there are lots of kids and teachers on this street!

The one downside to the evening is that our cake was hardly touched! Lots of people brought cupcakes and cookies, so I think the convenience of those trumped our cake. Sigh. Now we have most of a giant cake here! Instead of eating until we’re ill and then tossing the rest, I decided to try freezing it. I thought maybe we could keep frozen slices on hand for lunch boxes or after school snack or something. I bet they’ll thaw pretty quickly. I’ve never done this before, so we’ll see how it goes. :)

Too much cake!!

Check back tomorrow for first day of school pictures!

Minecraft Dreams

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Tessa

Lex and Alan play Minecraft most nights before bedtime so when Lex gets in to bed he has Minecraft on the mind. I mean, he always has Minecraft on the mind, but more so now that they are playing every night. I still lay with him at night, but instead of “Highs and Lows” like we used to do, now it’s just his steady stream of Minecraft talk until I leave. Some nights I tell him I really can’t deal with Minecraft thoughts and try to change the subject, but he just gets annoyed. Or offended. Or just tunes me out while he continues his Minecraft thoughts. Most nights I just let him ramble and my brain goes elsewhere. When I leave he keeps talking as I walk out the door. I wonder if I should feel guilty about this. Should I fake more of an interest in what he’s interested in, or is there a point where it’s fair to say I just don’t care! Will he grow up thinking his mother never listened to him. Sigh. Maybe I need another glass of wine. I’m sorry I ever let Minecraft into the house! I miss the days of varied interests, even though there were only ever three or four of them. Now we are down to just one and one alone. Minecraft.

Sweet bedtimes

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Tessa

I went upstairs with Eve to put her to bed this evening and found that she had organized her doll clothes so sweetly. I had to come back down and get the camera. Sometimes bedtimes suck, but other times they go so smoothly.

Grace loves her puppy, Arrabella. Eve insisted I take this picture. Tonight we snuggled on the floor, talking about her sweet set up, then snuggled in bed and took a few pictures.

We snuggled in bed, listening to Christmas music, and discussing all the happiness that is Christmas. It’s only August, I know, but she will sleep tonight with vision of sugar plums dancing in her head.

An awful trip to the dentist

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Tessa

I’m a few days behind. Lots going on. We went to the dentist on Tuesday and it was awful. The kids did great, but the whole experience was awful. It started with a strange hygienist came out and called Lex’s name. He has had the same hygienist since we first went seven years ago (wow!) and she has been very patient and careful with him. Suddenly this new woman calls his name and he was none too sure about things. Then she brings him back and they go to a different chair than usual. He asked me please to come with him. Eve also had a different hygienist and ended up sitting in the chair Lex usually sits in. They swapped seats. Her usual hygienist left and his retired. I guess a lot can happen in six months!

Lex’s hygienist proceeded to clean his teeth, very roughly, and commented all the while that he has too much plaque build up, which I’m sure is true. She spoke with a thick accent and asked him lots of questions but didn’t really take the time to listen to the answers. Lex’s gums were bleeding and he was crying. I remember appointments like that and they are horrible.

The dentist said that both kids need to have extractions because their grown-up teeth are coming in and the baby ones aren’t falling out. Ugh! Lex even has a loose one and the dentist recommended pulling it. I said we’re going to give it a few weeks to fall out! Reminded me of a dentist I had as a kid who wanted to fill cavities in my baby teeth. I’m sure there’s a reason for it, but it just seems silly.

Meanwhile there was also a woman there with a baby (maybe 18mo) who had broken a tooth. He needed x-rays and they did an extraction right there. He screamed for a good long time. Ugh. He was adorable and smiley when not screaming, but oh the noise! I totally empathized with the mom because that was almost exactly our first and second visit to the dentist as well.

Between the different seats, the different hygienists, the bleeding gums, the tears, the talk of extractions ($$$), and the screaming baby… it was not a pleasant appointment! Ugh.

I had forgotten my phone (calendar) at home so when the receptionist started talking about scheduling extractions and future cleaning appointments, I just got the heck out of there! I promised her I’d call later to schedule all that. I should probably do that soon. We headed to karate where things are calm and quiet and everyone felt much better.

Restless (and rambling)

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Tessa

Restless. I’m feeling so restless these days. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s the changing season, back to school, fall, or perhaps it’s a changing season of life. While the kids start back to school soon I feel like I went back three years in time, sending them off with nothing much for me to do in the meantime. Nothing substantial anyway. I have plenty of home projects and I know within a week or two I’ll be bored and end up back on the sub list at school. That’s the best path for my career, but still it leaves me feeling restless. It’s a funny feeling to explain. Rosy and Joyce are touring Europe right now and I’d give anything to put my life on pause and hit the road with them. We had some completely irresponsible California plans that didn’t happen (for the best) and Lex has stuff going on and Alan has stuff going on and we are where we should be, but still. Restless. A woman I know on Facebook (I have to get off Facebook) took her kids on a five week trip around the country. It looked amazing! I would love to do that. I mentioned it to Alan and he said no way, though he is restless too. We are both at a point where some new scenery and social scene would do us well. I have a minimal peer group these days, no longer part of the SAHM crowd, but not working either. Alan is feeling restless with his extracurricular (extra-workular?) activities. Restless. The kids had a miserable dentist appointment today (I’ll probably blog about that later) and when we were back in the car I so badly wanted to just drive, drive, drive. Anywhere. Of course, I was driving the Leaf so my options are limited. We went to the farm stand and karate and Panera and the grocery store. Restless.

Fun at the fair

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Tessa

The kids and I went back to the fair this year. This time we took Alan with us. :) Ride tickets are ridiculously priced ($1.25/ticket and most rides take 3-5 tickets!) so I like to go on ride bracelet day. You pay $20 for a ride bracelet, but you can go on as many rides as you want for four hours! This year I bought a ride bracelet for myself as well. Usually I buy bracelets for the kids and a few tickets for me so I can go on slow rides like the ferris wheel, rides that I can take the backpack on. This year though, since there were two adults to tend the backpack, I got a ride bracelet. I slipped it off my wrist a few times to let Alan have some fun as well. :)

This year Lex was up for some big scary rides, which I was happy to go on with him! The only two I didn’t want to do were the Zipper (which was closed anyway) and the Pharroh’s Fury (crazy swinging boat thing that I have done in the past and find terrifying!). Anything else, I’m game!

After four hours at the fair we were all sweaty and worn out. Once the ride bracelets expire we are generally done. They have tons of farm stuff, tractor pulls, face painting, 4H stuff, and so much more, but we just go for the rides. :)

This day is also the very last day that our local ice cream shop will be open, ever. To celebrate they hosted a “customer appreciation day” where all ice cream was free until gone. We were in just the mood for ice cream! By the time we got there they were down to three flavors and limited toppings, but I let the kids get smalls (instead of the usual x-small) and two toppings and they were in heaven!

Lex was momentarily delayed when he dropped his ice cream into the gravel and it got rocks stuck in it. I insisted on a photo before he removed the rocks, deemed it still edible, and dug in. Happiness is.

Life skills

Posted on August 22, 2015 by Tessa

Lex and I made pretzels yesterday. He learned how to make the dough, do the rise, and shape them. He thoroughly enjoyed the fruits of his labor!

So yummy!

We had the neighbor kids over in the afternoon. Five kids (plus me) made short work of the pretzel treats!

Eve is learning to mow the lawn today. She was eager to learn.

Look at that strong girl at work!

Alan gave her a little assistance to keep her rows straight.

There’s always so much to learn in life!