If You Were an Apple, I'd Pick You.

This was actually our second time going apple picking this year.  The plus side was it was about 10-15 degrees cooler this time than it was last time! 

 

The kids liked picking grass for the sheep and goats.

 

Andrew liked using the apple picker and carrying his bucket.  He kept lagging behind and then would run to catch up with us yelling, "Wait for the child!  Don't forget the child!"

 

 

Picking apples always brings up such great childhood memories.  Eating apples right off the tree, seeing where the worms have gotten to some, seeing all the colors and sizes of the apples, and finding the perfectly sweet fruit!

 

Henry was pretty much a silent observer, except that when he got close enough to a tree, he grabbed the leaves until one of them popped off, then he would try to eat it.  I didn't realize he was doing this for awhile, but once I caught onto it, I thought it was hilarious.  And then I could stop him from eating the leaves! 

 

For being such a tiny guy, he sure did a good job getting a double chin there. :) 

 

Henry had a leaf at this point, and Andrew had an apple. 

 

"Don't go sittin' under the apple tree with anyone else but me."

She is such a sweetheart. 

 

She's also learned how to play the system.  I caught her moving her apples from her basket to Charlie's so he had to carry her load.  And this was her favorite part of the whole process - eating apples barefoot while "guys do her work."  Emily=Tom Sawyer

 

A Tale of Haircuts

 It was time for everyone to get a haircut.  The boys both looked like they had huge heads, and Emily screamed the whole time I was brushing the tangles and knots out of her hair.

I told her she looked very cute.  She said, "No, I just look beautiful!"

 

Mike and I couldn't stop laughing at Charlie's hair when the top was done and the sides were still to go.  The picture doesn't quite do it justice.

Andrew likes his hair to be long, deeming short hair to be "boring."  At least he didn't ask to keep it in a jar and name it Fluffy like last time. 

They're cute.

They're Just Funny

The kids always start out wearing pants.  I swear.

   I can't help it.  My kids are hilarious.  They crack me up so much.  I wish I would always remember everything they say, but there are some gems that I'm sure I've forgotten.  These are just a few.

Andrew: Dad, what's yepster?
Michael: I don't know.
A: Dad, what is it?
M: I don't know, buddy. Maybe someone who says "yep" a lot?
A: Maybe it's someone who likes pizza. That's for sure, is it?
M: Maybe so.
A: I love pizza. I can't help it! Yepster, yepster, yepster!!
 Emily saw my cut and said, "Oh, when I was your mommy, I had a cut just like that."
I think it's her version of "When I was a little girl, I..."  Just adorable.

Charlie was walking by me and I accidently lightly tapped his head with my swinging arm.  He said rather indignantly, "Mom, why you attackin' me?!"  I had to repress my laughter and did so long enough to tell him I wasn't trying to attack him and that I was sorry.  He said then, "It's okay, Mommy, but you gotta say sorry for stuff like that."
I forget often that he is only 2!  Such a good, hilarious talker.

I was asking Emily questions about her favorite color (purple), animal (cat), character on Sesame Street (Betty Lou) and just to tease her I said, "What's your favorite mommy?"  Her answer?
"My church Mommy.  Not really you, Mommy, but I like my church Mommy.  The blue one."  Her teacher from church.  I guess those 9 months in the womb didn't make a strong enough bond to secure my place as her favorite mommy.  I can't compete with Audri Detlor!  :)

Tonight Andrew was acting silly (imagine that) so I said, "Ok, well that's it.  I've gotta send you on a monkey train."  Emily pipes up with a super excited "Oh wow!  That would be so cute!  Ok Mom.  Let me get on your lap...I mean...the car...and we will go to a cat train.  PLEASE?!"

When Charlie meets people, he will often lead off with, "Hi!  Do you like my thumb?" 
When he gets his feelings hurt, he asks me to kiss his eyebrows.
Today he said, "Hey, you have eyebrows!  Me too.  They are awesome."

Andrew and I really enjoy the crazy things the other kids say.  Today Emily told us she won a prize - a dancer and a music-er.  Then she held out her hands and started to hum and dance.  (Apparently these allowed her to dance and sing again.)  Andrew looked at me with a little smile on his face and said, "Ai-ai-ai."

Charlie says numerous times a day, "Don't forget....I love you."  To me, to Mike, to all the kids in turn.  Pretty sweet.

The kids were outside playing yesterday digging in the dirt and I told them not to make mud.  Well, apparently none of them heard that.  I was putting the baby down for a nap when Charlie came in and I thought, "That's a weird sock.  I've never seen that befo.....that's mud."  They were all covered in mud, making mud pies, mud balls, and mud lakes.  I got Charlie all stripped and cleaned up, and then went to get Emily.  And yes, in this picture you can see that Charlie had gone outside again and when I told him to get back inside, he put down the mud pie and stepped in a mud lake.  I ended up cleaning him up three times.  The other two got cleaned up and couldn't understand why I said not to go outside for awhile.  A little later on I heard the door open and the kids all go outside.  I said, "Nope!  Come back inside."  I came into the living room in time for Andrew to launch himself back inside face first.  He then pretended he'd been inside the whole time.

I love these kids.  Even when they're covered with mud.  I love them from their amazing eyebrows to their muddy (again) feet.

Festival, Bestival

We've been trying to take advantage of local festivals around here (or as Emily and Charlie call them "bestivals.")  After the pie festival thing, we really wondered about others, but we have had a great time!!!

 Our first stop was the Celtic festival.  They had it free on Friday night so we took advantage of that.  Next year we should splurge for the paid day, because there was more going on.  It was so fun anyway, though!!!  Having ancestors that came from Scotland, bagpipes, clans, all that stuff kind of hits me right in the heart.  I'm really not even sure why it touches me so much!  This picture is of the kids got to meet some Scotties.

They all loved petting the ponies. Emily in particular.  We saw another nice little happy dog and the brave girl watched it for a while before saying it was kind of scaring her (she's really nervous around dogs).  I said, "Ok honey, but just so you know, you don't have to be scared of this dog."  She said, "I not scared of the dog.  I just kind of scared of those teeth."  Sweet girl!!

Here are the kids being "scared" of Nessie.

Just when he couldn't get more handsome to me.  Look at those locks.

Who gave that kid a firearm license?

 They grow so fast.

 

Quite the sword you've got there, kid.

4 months looks good on you.

For having such a buff bod, what's the deal with the little skinny chicken wrists?

Andrew bought peacock feathers for himself and Charlie.  Charlie boy went around to everyone he saw and said, "Do you like my feather?  It's a BOY!"

It wouldn't be an proper family outing without someone getting a candid photo of themselves picking their nose.  You'd think I would spot that before I got home so I could get another picture... :)

The calling of the clans - we even got to meet a couple from Scotland that was visiting a friend.  It was super fun, and we refrained from following them around all night to listen to them talk.

Next up was Bolivar Country Days!  The kids had an absolute blast.  Emily pretended to drive the train while chugga-chugga-choo-chooing the whole way. 

Even Baby Henry had a good time!  But then again, when is he not having a fun time?  He's such a happy guy.

While the kids were on the train we got a picture of the three of us.   

The kids were excited to see a cowboy doing tricks!  We all left half deaf from the loudspeakers, but it was fun nonetheless. 

We stayed for almost the whole thing.  As you can see, the kids started getting tired a little ways into it.  They all agreed it was worth the trip!

I love family days!

Murphy's Law?

Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.  Although I don't think that is truly always the case, in a few instances, it is.

 

If you try to spray paint some old furniture to make it look better and more interesting... 

You will forget that you live in the windiest place ever, making spray painting a tough affair.  It will be a grasshopper-y kind of year and at least 3-4 of them will be hopping on your coffee table at all times.  When you leave it to dry, birds will make it their personal target.  At least three birds.  Because you are outdoors, about 25,000 bugs will meet their tiny demise in the sticky paint. 

But doesn't it look so cute?!?!

When you need a moment to paint the coffee table, and you think maybe it would be a good idea to give the kids a treat...and you choose an ice cream sandwich... (Okay, I know.  Not the smartest idea.)  This was the beginning of the mess.  He went through the house searching for me.  He and Emily both left drippy sandwiches all over the house.  I DID give it to them when they were in the back playing, so I thought I was safe.  :)

When your cute baby is lying there sucking on his fingers and you're trying to capture it on camera...

your little girl will show up basically unclothed and insist on taking this picture.  ("No, I don't think I should smile.  Just looking like this.")...

followed by your bruised little two year old...

and then everyone will pile on Mommy.

Can't complain.

The Pie/No Pie Festival

We found out about a festival in a neighboring town.  It was held last Saturday, and with a title like "Pie Festival", we thought we were set!

Although it didn't turn out exactly like we thought it would be, the kids still were very excited and had a lot of fun. 

Basically, it was booths people had set up with whatever junk they wanted to sell, a bouncy house that smelled like mildew, a couple carnival type games, and...no pie.  Apparently there was pie in the afternoon after the judging and pie eating contest.  But we couldn't really stay until late afternoon since we got there at 10.  So now we all are jonesing for some pie.

Our shining moment was when we accidently (actually I think it was my fault) knocked over their "Road Closed" sign.  It was a ramshackle sign on the back of a stop sign.  We looked around for help but got nothing.  The sign was broken and we couldn't really figure out how to put it back up, so we walked to a tent to buy tickets.  We mentioned the sign and she said, "Well, I'm glad you guys mentioned that because we were all talking bad about you!"  Andrew then sneezed all over her hands.  I slipped him a 20.  Not really, but I did roll my eyes so far into my head, I couldn't see properly for two days.

Anyway, as always, the kids were excited.  We love having kids who have fun in every situation.

Andrew was so excited to go buy pie.  He brought his piggy bank.

They are all so cute.

 

They loved the bouncy house.  Emily liked making faces. 

 

I love this shot of Charlie mid-air.

 

 We ended up getting a funnel cake.  The kids were definitely fans.

 

Baby and me.  We were too cool for school.