Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Heading to the Gem State!

Well. Both Doctors' signatures are together on the now legally binding contract. 
So it's official!!!!!

Twin Falls, Idaho -- here we come!!!! (In July)

Friday, October 14, 2016

Fall Farm Fun

Another fall favorite I'm going to miss: Jacquemin's Farm!
Emmett loved the corn box. I think part of the appeal was that he didn't want to have to wear his coat (for some reason he hates it) and the corn box was sheltered in the barn away from the chilly wind. That and the construction vehicles, of course. ;) 
 Gwen informed me she was cooking. (These dishes must be her mise en place. Either that or this was a gourmet table setting with multiple dishes)
Emmett condescended to put on his coat in exchange for hot (SERIOUSLY FRESH!!!) pumpkin donuts. He didn't like sticky hands. 
 But had no problem chowing down on the donut!
The girls liked them too. Who am I kidding? We ALL loved them! (side note: I originally was only going to buy 1/2 dozen for us to eat. The price was so reasonable, however, I decided to get a full dozen with the intention of taking the other half home and having donuts for snacks for the next few days. Yeah. We left with 2 donuts.)
Caroline only gave a passing glance at the corn box. She wasn't interested in "quiet" play. She headed straight for the "crazy" and never looked back! About an hour later, Gwen joined her at the bouncy race thing. When Emmett realized he didn't meet the height requirements, he was beyond devastated!

 He recovered, though, when he was given permission to go through the bouncy house despite his short height so long as he didn't climb the ladder and go down the slide. 
 And he was pretty pleased with himself every time! Just turned around and got right back in line!

(side story for posterity but no picture: Gwen got a piece of dirt?sand?mulch?grass? in her eye... and believe me, the entire farm heard about it! She was inconsolable! Eric is an MD and everything, but she squealed and bawled and pulled away and squeezed her eyes tighter and rubbed and rubbed whenever he tried to give her an examination. Finally, he took her back to the car, layed her across the seat, and reasoned it all out with her. She finally relented to opening her eye for daddy and allowing him to flip her eyelid inside out and flick out the irritating offender, saying weepily, "I trust you daddy. I really do. I trust you." As soon as it was out, she quickly recovered. Daddy was the hero of the day!

 Riding the big tractor while waiting for our turn at the hayride. 
 Our little pumpkins!
 Caroline kept her pumpkin close. 
 Gwen tried out all the different places her pumpkin could sit. Her favorite spot, though, was in her pocket. She was just so tickled that it was small enough to fit in there!
 Gwen giving Emmett a nice sister hug.
 Emmett LOVED his little white pumpkin and carried it around the house the rest of the day. He adores his "ghost pumpkin". 
Our fam on the hayride. Emmett got so excited and kept hollering and pointing, "Nother one pumpkin!...hah! NOTHER one pumpkin!" over and over again...it WAS a pumpkin patch, so there were lots of pumpkins to point at... and each one was like a revelation! lol

Monday, October 10, 2016

Way Up High in the Apple Tree...

I LOVE the country life! Perhaps because I grew up rural, perhaps because I adore nature and feel closest to God when I'm immersed in His marvelous creations, perhaps because it puts materialism in perspective, perhaps because the noisy kids can run around and be crazy and it is easily absorbed into the great canopy of a wide open sky....
Whatever the combination of reasons, I find fall harvests really bring me joy!
This year our annual trip to Lynds for Cortlands and Jonathans (our favorite combo for apple sauce) was sans Eric. He was in Boston for a RadOnc Conference. Poor guy missed the fun! I was a little worried the kids might make it stressful without Eric there, but I didn't have any escapees. :) We had a great time!
 There was some drama about climbing trees, but once we got past the first hurdle of squalling tears and "I can't! Don't make me!" (which was an interesting accusation considering she ASKED me to help her climb the trees multiple times!), Gwen realized she was more than capable and became our veteran tree climber! She was so proud of getting the highest, sun-kissed red apples from the top boughs.

 Emmett couldn't actually pull them off. He needed help. Right after I snapped this shot he gave up and proceeded to pick up semi-rotten ones off the ground. 

 Caroline only picked one or two for our bag. She designated herself as the bag-sitter and worked on devouring this (and other!) huge apples.

 Gwen was very pleased with herself and her haul. 

 Gorgeous fruit. 

 Emmett has two apples in his hands, see that? And he ate them both down to the core. He kept coming back and plucking good apples from our bags (our bag-sitter Caroline didn't even notice!) once he realized they were superior to the ones on the ground. He was pretty sure we were collecting them just for him!

 Gwen perched up on a branch. These are her go-to shoes for school and outdoor play. They kind of make me chuckle. 

Sibling snuggles. These two usually fight, so I love the rare moments when I capture their contentment together. :)

We had a great time and made delicious apple sauce from our haul! I am going to miss Lynds. This was our last visit.