I skipped some things...

I think I may have skipped a few things that we have done recently.  I would never have noticed had I not downloaded some pictures off my camera today for A-Dog.

I will digress for a moment because that is what I do best. I had to get the pictures off that he took for his science fair project and let's get something straight. I HATE THE SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS. I promise, I am not holding back my feelings about this task. It is awful and frankly I feel it is a project that parents end up doing most of - at least for the first 4 years. It is mandatory starting at 3rd grade. Count them friends - this is our 5th year. I make my sweet husband do the projects. Seriously, I can't stand it. There. I can move on now :).

So, I found some photos from when we went to pick apples and vegetables. I was unable to pick 100 apples this year because I was slightly distracted by my almost 3 year olds picking everything they could possibly touch and putting it in our buckets. I did get a lot of bell peppers, green chiles, tomatoes and pears.

SO glad we are keeping our hands to ourselves! It warms my heart when they really listen to what I say.

I got some green chiles so that I could roast and freeze them. Usually each row of veggies is marked to tell people what they are. Just in case you don't know what a tomato is I guess. I count on that marker to tell me which green chile is mild, medium or hot. This is the conversation I had with the teenager who was working that day.


Me: The rows weren't marked - do you know if the green chiles out there are hot or mild?
Her: Someone else mentioned they weren't marked, they should be.
Me: Yes, but they are not - do you know what was planted there? If that section is hot?
Her: No, but you can figure it out by sampling them before eating the whole thing.

Yup, that is exactly what I should do. Lick each and every one of the 70 green chiles that I purchased and roasted. That is the most logical thing to do. Needless to say, I did NOT do that. I just take a risk everytime I thaw them out. Last night 3 out of 4 were mild - of course the hot one was on MY chicken sandwich. Figures.

The kids discovered that they like to paint on paper and other items.  I had refrained from introducing paint due to my inability to retain my sanity while 3 kids waved paint brushes in the air and around each other. But, they proved to be capable little painters and really enjoyed it.



making caterpillars



Painting OUTSIDE! Much better idea!

I have to say tho, Monkey really doesn't like it on his fingers and I have to keep a paper towel handy to keep him clean. Once he starts freaking out, more paint gets on him and it is a vicious circle. Easier to just wipe the little dab off his finger than a whole mess of paint off his face and whatnot while he panics about the itty bitty dot he started with.

Like the smocks? IKEA. Love them!  Fit perfect and wash easily. Not sure why I told you that, I suppose I got the sense you were curious :)

There. Now you can see we've been busy. All 2 things we've done. Or, really, all 2 that I blogged about today! 

PS - does anyone need about 75 pages of art? I can send you some....cheap!



This photo wouldn't rotate, even tho it was saved rotated. Whatever. It's all in how you look at it anyway!

92 apples (2 partially eaten)

That is how many apples we came home with after our Apple Pickin' Day! I know you are all sitting at the edge of your seat, wondering what I'm going to do with all these apples!!! Me too.  Really. 92? But, like we keep saying - it wasn't just about getting a bunch of apples - it was about the FUN! And boy we sure did have fun, even if we got a bit carried away!

There is a U-Pick farm not too far from our house (1 hour 15 min). Actually, the farm has 2 sites only a few miles apart. One has apples, pears and peaches - including a gift shop with pies, goodies, fudge and did I mention goodies? The other is pumpkins and vegetables. We went, obviously, to the apple farm!

It is a U-Pick, but they do have prepared boxes if you are not into that. But in my opinion, why drive to a U-Pick farm, if They-Pick?

Never been to a U-Pick farm? Here's how it works:

1.  Get your bucket and apple picking tool and your favorite apple picker:

2. Stand around waiting for the tractor that pulls the "wagon" that takes you to the apple fields.

3.  Let your tractor driver know that you are READY to go!

4.  Have your favorite apple pickers pick you some apples

5. Have a seat and enjoy some apples fresh off the tree!

Mini P loved eating the apples, which is how we have 2 partially eaten.  Have a few bites... get a new one

6. Load 'em up and hit the road!

Now I have lots and lots of apples! This morning we had waffles with cut up apples baked in and dessert tonight is apple crisp. Now I have only 85 apples left :- )

The best thing the farm had was a guy out there making Apple Pie Ice Cream - it is vanilla ice cream with an apple pie with crumb topping mixed in!  I'm telling you, we walked by him at least 3 times to get samples. He assured us he wasn't counting!!!