The Apples of My Eye

This past Sunday we went to our usual haunt and went apple picking! We usually go earlier in September but it has been so warm that I guess it just isn't feeling Fall-y enough, if that makes sense! So we packed a picnic lunch and went to an old mill by the apple place. It is just so amazing to me that it is still in working order and up and running! We actually went there because we are running low on cornmeal. LOVE buying local and supporting this historic landmark!

Anywho, apple picking was wonderful as always. For some weird reason it seems to be the one day that the kids decide to not fight and get along every year. It is always so picturesque and humbling...God chose us to parent these amazing two children. Here are some of the photos...I'll explain as we go:

We're totally into the "I'm four and its my right not to smile" stage. We always get pictures at this old truck. Oh and as you can see Emma's super trendy coat fits still...praise the Lord!
Here's Cal or should I say, Mr. GQ? How studly does this guy look. He is so funny with his expressions

Could NOT get these kids to take this shot for anything in the world so I thought I would just post one of the worst outtakes...yikes. Emma looks freaked out to be sitting next to the evil boy :/

Here's Emma's first apple! Finally got a REAL smile out of the kid

Eating said apple...hey that's what you do, right?

Nick caight them picking apples together and I just love these pics...they were just surrounded by tree and it looks like we are stealing a glimpse of them

The other half of the pair

Here Cal is with THE face he always does showing us his apples. Most of his apples were from the ground despite us telling him 47,000 times to not pick them up from the ground. Everytime his basket was full Nick would go through it and put about 5 of his apples into the master basket and the rest BACK onto the ground...poor kid, poor silly, silly kid

Just enjoying their day...I love this pic

Mmmm, my turn to eat an apple. I think he thought he was going to get in trouble because he kept looking at me sneakily as he was taking the first bite :)

We just had an amazing time. Maybe a little TOO amazing as we picked over 40 pounds of apples! My angel of a mother in law is digging up her Pampered Chef apple peeler so I won't be husbandless after all of the pies we will be making. Last year Nick willingly peeled but he's already said no way hosea to 40 pounds. I also have to tell you that we picked for a while and then decided to find a different variety (because that's how we roll) so we walked a ways. We got to red delicious (fail, I know) and there were people around. Emma stops and says "can we just pick these apples? My dogs are barking". A couple of people just started cracking up and one guy yelled "awesome! that made my day!" and could not stop laughing. I'm so glad my children bring joy and laughter to so many people. It makes me beam.

Happy Wednesday!

Psalm 17:8

"Keep me as the apple of your eye;

hide me in the shadow of your wings"

More Deals

Saturday is wrapping up and it has been a really great day! The weather has been very Fall-ish and I just love that! This morning Cal and I went and worked out and Nick took Em to hockey. Last week with Cal's asthma he coughed the entire time. I do have to take him to the rink next week but I'm thinking the less he has to go there the better, right? When we all got home we went to the library, got a few books and then headed home for lunch. When the kids were down for a nap I hit the stores! I love shopping and I especially love shopping for the kiddos and shopping for deals!!! Yippee! I will show you what I got later but what I first want to show you is::::::

Here's Emma on her first fieldtrip of the year! We had so much fun! I went and Cal stayed with Grandma Peg which I think was best because we were exploring nature which included a lot of being quiet, standing in one place, and not touching...all things Cal doesn't really like to do :)

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Anyway here's what I went shopping for!!! This story begins with me telling you that we went to the Outlet Mall this past week to get shoes for the kids. I wanted them to have cash shoes and dressier shoes. We found the cash part but no dressier ones and girls can't wear tennis shoes to church, ya know. So I was on the hunt for shoes.


Well here they are! At the outlet I bought their shoes at Stride Rite but just didn't love the dressier shoes...these are from Stride Rite but I bought them at Once Upon A Child (a resale store) and I must tell you that THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN WORN! I was so stinking excited that they were EXACTLY the same size Em needed...it was as if God just plopped these shoes into the store for me! And would you like to guess how much I paid for them? 10 bucks! Can you believe it???? They are normally about $60! Wowwie!


See they are brand new!!!
First I found this kitchen towel for a whopping $.50! Can't beat that, right?

I got these shorts for $1.00 for next summer for Cal. He loves "relaxing shorts" as his daddy calls them :)

Picked up this Ralph Lauren pillowcase for $.50. People probably don't need one pillowcase but I do! Cal's in a crib but uses a pillow and unfortunately crib sheets don't come with pillowcases so this was perfect!

Grabbed this Chaps shirt for Cal for $2.50...love plaid shirts on the boy!

Emma has been begging for roller skates but like me she will probably suck at it like me so I didn't want to spend bookoo bucks on them...these babies were only 3 smackers...not bad, not bad.

I couldn't get these pics to come out well but these shoes were only $1.50...can't beat that with a stick right? These will be super cute on Cal for church!

And I love this...this cookie jar was only $1.00! I love it, it's not really my style in my kitchen but it will work well for now.

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And that completes the tour of what I bought. Now you are all going to know what a cheapskate I am, but its so fun to show you my treasures, as Emma calls them. :)

Well Nick is working tonight which sucks in so many ways but is also nice in the way that I get all of the crap done that I never get to.

Happy Saturday evening, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Wonderful Wednesday...

Happy Wednesday! Hope you all had a nice weekend and are enjoying this week! The weather in our neck of the woods has been super nice/weird this week with a Fall Day, then a hot day, and now seemingly a rainy day...a little bit of everything apparently.

We are supposed to be going on a field trip with Emma's school this morning and I am hoping that we don't go...its been raining all night and we are going to a mosquito and tick infested woods to tromp around...oh fun in dry conditions...so not a hiking in wet grass kind of girl :) And cuddling with our Kazoo sounds fun too!

What else has been going on? Hmmm, let me think. Well last night I had dinner with a dear old friend and it was so much fun. It was nice just to get out of the house for an hour or so. When I got back, from the look on Nick's face he thinks I'm some sort of saint for not killing those children of ours..."those children" as he calls them :)

Monday I spoke to Cal's doctor who said that it sounds as though he definitely has asthma. Saturday Emma had hockey and Cal did nothing but cough the entire time...no joke, the whole time. Poor guy, he just couldn't catch his breath. So from that and the fact that the other inhaler was working on him, the Pediatrician said it sounds like he has asthma, hopefully just set off from allergies this time of year. We have an appointment with the allergist in the distant future (because that's how allergists roll apparently!) so hopefully they will say "well keep him away from mold" and then our problems will be solved.

Speaking of Emma's hockey she fell this time. alot. Poor kid. But she still had fun so as long as she can have fun falling and lying on her back like a turtle I think we are accomplishing something here, don't you?

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While Emma was at preschool Monday Cal and I decided to hit up the zoo. It is fun when I can spend time with just him...I've waited for these mornings as really this is the only time I get with just him, you know? Emma I had for two years alone before Cal arrived so its nice to see his personality emerging...he really is a funny guy as you can see from his smiles...
String Cheese snack...what a waste...he carrys is around and trys to wrap it around things so I just have to throw it away...or he'll say "cheers" and hit it against things. See? He's a funny guy :)

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Then the other day I went out to the car on the curb and this follows me out:


One of his sisters crocs on, and yes that is a McDonald's box on top of his head...I'm just glad the flasher decided to keep his pants on :)

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And on an end note I have to tell you this. Last night on my way to dinner I took library books back and have so many of them (don't judge me!) that Nick had to help me with them out to the car. Anywho when he got in the house apparently Cal had his pants off and said "potty!" and was standing at the bathroom door. Nick told him to go on in and Cal said "dark" so Nick turned on the light, Cal ran to the potty and went! He held it till then, took off his pants, and everything! THEN when Nick was giving them a bath (because he's the best Daddy/Hubby combo package ever!) Cal yelled "poop!" so Nick set him on the potty and he peed, which is what Cal calls poop, but whatever! So excited this is all finally starting to stick and I can see a light at the end of the diaper tunnel!!!!

Whew!

Happy Weekending! Hope you have lots of plans for the next couple days! Today is kind of crammed packed. Nicholas has to work today so I am taking Emma to Hockey alone...with Cal in tow. I always get more anxious about these situations than necessary but its hard to get her dressed and not know where I am going and then watch her fall 8000 times and try to keep Cal occupied for the hour that we are there and...see? I really am crazy because all of that plays in my mind! Anyway...

Look! Do you see it? Little baby grasses!!! Isn't it exciting??? By golly we just cannot get grass to grow. But look, here it is starting! You would probably come here and say "really dude? There's hardly any grass..." but don't rain on parade! Grass is grass. Hopefully this will just keep growing as we've had four failed attempts this year alone!

And in other exciting news Nick fixed my duck! My mom got this for me as a joke because I like those lawn geese which, yes, I know are stupid but I think they are fun! So this one sits on my counter but its legs had fallen off...oh poor little duck. Now its back in action. Its dressed in pink to match my kitchen of course!

Well we've had this jungle gym thing since Emma turned one. The kids had grown tired of it but as you can see we've rekindled our interest in it. I think now we are playing lets see who can climb over the fence with it, which would mean that it would have to go away but for now they are playing nicely with it.

Here we are going on a walk. Oh look we are walking by the Mayor's house...who by the way LOVES pie. You know, your husband works closely with the man every single day, we live 3 houses down, and have numerous conversations. Sure they know Nick, everyone in this bloody town knows Nick, but not me. Nope, I'm the hispanic looking woman who no one knows...no one knows that is until you start baking pies. Yeah, NOW you know me :). They are cute and fun though so its okay. Anywho (that was a tangent, right?) I love when Nick is home to go to the park with us...it just makes my little heart hiccup with joy.

And see what we saw? Fall is coming to us! So excited about this. I don't have a picture but funny story. While at the park we saw a one legged goose which was just so sad. Anyway sad until it kept dive bomb flying at us. So Nick called Animal Control because the blasted thing was at the playground which is so not cool. Nick failed to tell them that the goose was FLYING at us so I chided him saying, "you know that probably just dispatched out as 'Don some guys scared of a one legged goose walking towards him.' " Right? I mean we sound insane. But they did come out...

We've been sick. Yuck. I think we are finally on the mend, thank the Lord. As I mentioned yesterday the doctor thinks Cal has asthma. And yesterday I think he may have had a bit of an asthma attack! Yikes! Its hard to tell with the cold what is cold related and what is asthma but blue-ish lips, sounds like he's grunting when he's breathing. Short little breaths, yep, I think it was an attack. Anyway me being the stellar parent I was I left and Nick gave him the breathing treatment thing. Nick said he did better with the treatment so he must need it. The doctor said they really only know if its asthma if it responds to the medication. And why did I leave you may ask??? I try not to be a bad parent but I am writing an article on a movie premier that was last night. Didn't want to go but had to. It was a childrens movie so I dragged Emma along too. Her hacking cough got us lots of glowers from people...glare on people, glare on.

So that's our update in a nutshell. After the hockey practice there is a plethora of things to do including the Ladies Auxilary thrift sale, a neighboring historic districts annual garage sale (love!), and a fall festival. I guess we will see how the kiddos are doing. I am kind of itching to craft SOMETHING during naptime so we will see what the day holds for us. Tonight I am helping a friend register for her baby and then we are meeting up with the husbands for dinner. Yippee!!!!! Have a great day!

Doctor Update

We are all a little under the weather so I haven't had time to do a lot of posting today but thought I would hop on and give ya'll an update on the doctor's visit yesterday. The doctor has set us up to meet with an allergist. He suspects that there's an allergy since his eczema he's had since birth hasn't cleared up and the behaviour change/explosion. He also said that it sounds like Cal has Asthma so we are now going to have to give him breathing treatments (in our spare time, ha!) and carry around an inhaler...doesn't that sound like fun???



FYI I had asthma so I know that that SUCKS. I am hoping it is also allergy related and once we get all of this under control then it will just magically go away.



How did he know he had asthma you may ask? Well I haven't told you all about it but he has been oddly coughing constantly about an hour before bed and then been really weezy. Yep, that's asthma the doctor said.



He is also recommending a Developmental Psychologist so I need to get that going. I was a tad dismayed but upon looking at it I don't really know what I was expecting out of the visit...I guess I thought he would walk right in and say "oh clearly he has..." but it wasn't like that.



Well gotta go...

There's at least one...

Well there's at least one person (aside from Nick...most of the time!) that doesn't think that I am totally insane. This morning during Speech Therapy Cal had one of his episodes where he broke down temper tantrum, throwing things, hitting me, kicking me.

When I explained that this is my life to our therapist said that if I want to he will definitely recommend a Developmental Psychologist to come out. He said this is normal for 2 year olds every once in a while...I told him that that was at least my third tantrum to deal with today...at 9 am.

He also does not like how he is hitting and being destructive to property, despite being told to stop. He just doesn't care. I sent him to his room and the therapist and I talked. It was so reassuring to have him say "you are an amazing mother, Nick is a great dad." People say that to you and I am sure that they mean it, but when you know the people saying it it feels about the equivelent of someone saying "hey, nice shirt!" you know? Coming from someone who doesn't know you, who has no emotional ties to you, it really made me feel validated. I AM a good Mom. This is not normal. Its OKAY I can't take this anymore...that's to be expected was what he said.

Becuase seriously who wants their hair pulled out, their skin scratched, kicked, hit, bit, ALL DAY LONG? Not I said the little mommy. Not I said the little Emma.

Please pray for us. We leave this afternoon to go to the Pediatrician's office to discuss what is going on with this crazy kid of ours...God love him :)

I'm hoping he has answers and doesn't pat me on the head and explain to me how I have a two year old little boy.

I'll let you know what I find out

The Birthday Girl!

Today is my Aunt Jan's Birthday! She is one of my bestest friends and I just love, love, love her! I know she reads this so I hope she has an amazing day (or HAD as this is 9 to the pm!) I love you Aunt Jan...you are amazing! Muah!

Her Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Emma absolutely LOVES winter! She is so excited that it is right around the corner. When I ask her what she loves, she instantaneoulsy gives me a lengthy list: gingerbread houses, decorating cookies, cutting down the tree, visiting the Christmas Fairy, playing in the snow, how cold it is, decorating the Christmas tree, being with family, hot chocolate, Christmas lights, and on, and on, and on...


All I can say is, wow the kid loves Christmas :)

Here's Emma making snow angels. This may sound like an exaggeration but she really does talk about making snow angels throughout the entire year!

Here's what Emma is excited about...Christmas morning! Isn't she cute opening Candy Land?

Yes I know I am a total nerd but the kids always have matching pjs...aren't they just adorable??? I'm trying to convince Nick that we should have matching pjs too but I still haven't won that arguement...maybe this year ??

Swagger Wagon

Swagger Wagon - More bloopers are a click away

Dude, have you seen this? L.O.V.E. this song! Can I tell you how much this song is about Nick and I? Its describing our life, I swear!!! Except for the fact that I do not drive a van and never will...thank you I will stick with the SUV. The guy even kind of looks like Nick, if you ask my opinion! You'll have to tell me what you think!

Well hello all! Happy Monday to you call! I hope everything is going well on your end! This morning we were up and ready for Preschool bright and squirrelly :) . Here are some pictures from the last few days: I walked in on this this afternoon. I think he is reenacting the invasion or Normandy
Shhhh...Woody is sleeping. I had to show this to you. First of all this is my FAVE piece of Fall Decor. Its from my Aunt Jan and it always makes me smile.

Here's Em ready for preschool this morning.

Cal begged me to get this hat out despite it being too small. He put it on and said "look, me noman!" Yep, it does kind of look like Frosty's hat

Ah yes the joy of climbing walls when you are a child...how exhilarating

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Yesterday we started hockey. Here are some pictures of the big day:

Here's Emma "skating". This guy was with her the whole lesson. This was at the end of the lesson, as you can see they are buddies. He gave Emma three rides like this over the course of the lesson and she LOVED it.

Here she is on her own. These pictures are totally backwards from how they happened...sorry about that.

Here we are starting out. Nervous little girl on ice clinging to a chair.

Here we go...Do you like her trendy jersey-dress? She was one of the smallest ones there...so funny!

Here she is all suited up! It took Nick a few minutes to get her all geared up. Next week Nick can't be there and I am already TERRIFYIED of getting her ready! She's probably going to be out there with her elbow pads on like ear muffs or something. Anyway, LOOk how big her uniform and gear are on her! It looks like we photoshopped her head onto someone else's body!

Anyway, she fell A LOT. They all met in the middle of the rink to talk and her buddy/helper had to turn her around because she was facing the outside of the circle. But by the end of the lesson she had given up the chair and was walking on the ice! She is so cute! We figured she had hated it but she said that she had an amazing time and loved it. Whew, I am glad about that!

The Story

I was looking through the blog and realized that I promised ya'll the story of how Nick and I got together and never delivered. So sorry! It is super complicated so here you go...

I went to Ball State and my roomate was my dear friend Jessica. Jessica had been an assistant for the boys baseball team at her high school and continued to talk to one of the coaches, Kevin. Well Kevin mentioned to Jess that he had worked with this guy named Nick who, he thought, was going to Ball State too. He said Jess should look him up. Well Nick started to IM (do you remember IMing people???) Jess on the computer and it kind of became a girl's dorm floor thing. We ALL talked to Nick. If Jess ran somewhere I was talking to Nick (heehee) or one of the other girls were. Well Jess agreed to a blind date with Nick and I completely 100% talked her out of it. I mean we had just gotten down to college, had no idea where anything was, and she had NEVER met him face to face. He could murder you and you'd never see it coming, I reasoned. So she stood him up...for the first time.

Well Nick being the forgiving (and relentless apparently!) guy that he was, forgave Jess and suggested that they try again and this time I could come too. Oh great, now we're both going to get killed! Well we met in an outdoor common area, Nick was supposed to be wearing a green shirt, and for some reason EVERYONE practically was wearing a green shirt. Well we waited, didn't see anyone (or anyone we'd want to be ALONE with, sorry Nick!) so we left. Nick to this day says he never saw us, but I promise, we were there...even if it was for just a moment.

Well we came home for Christmas without ever seeing him. This all had basically gone on for the entire first semester. Nick and Jess' mutual friend invited us over for a party...Jess' friend Kevin (mutual friend) was interested in ME so I was being brought along evidently. Well when we got there there was a car with plates from Nick's county and we had this sinking feeling going in to the house that he was there. Oh great, the guy we stood up twice, how fun (awkward!) this will be.

So we were there, Jess was meeting another guy, and Nick was there with two friends. I remember we were watchin Taxicab Confessional and Nick sat by Jess. I was next to Kevin and he kept getting closer and closer to me. I was in the middle of Kevin and one of Nick's friends. I remember Nick's poor friend Aaron kept scootching for me as I kept getting farther and farther away, until he finally said "I'm sorry, I'm out of room!"...even he knew I was trying to get away from Kevin!

Well having found out Nick wasn't totally creepy, Jess invited him to our room to watch TV when we got back to Ball State. Nick was there when I got home from work one night and we started talking. I think we've pretty much talked ever since. He reports that he just hit it off with me more than with Jess...and I had big boobs. Nice Wit.

Don't worry I wasn't a lousy friend, Jess wasn't really into him and could see the look in my eye the night Nick left our room. She pushed us together after that.

So that's how we met and got together. Sometime I'll tell you about our first datings. It includes Jalapeno Chips, Nick rapping, and me getting my foot ran over by a car. Oh the joys of young love! :)

Saturday

Well Happy Saturday, Football Day, 9/11. I tell ya it is hard to explain 9/11 to a 4 year old. We will always remember.

This morning we started our day READY!

As you can see I had a stack of 9 pairs of underoos ready and waiting...bring it on potty training. We soiled 3 pairs so still having 6 pairs left I am happy to say this is the first evening I haven't had to do a load of laundry to get all of the underpants cleaned.

By the way it secretly tickles my soul to be folding little guy underpants...snowboarders, Toy Story, Spider Man, Sports themed, stripes...they all are just so cute!

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We stamped today and had lots of fun! (and inked up fingers!) I love that they are starting to do crafty things together

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So I mentioned that we went Treasure Hunting the other day. Well here's what I got in the clothing department...forgive me for gushing (teehee) this is the stuff I love!. Here we go:

Two holiday dresses...the first on is a Charter Club and it has the cutest embroidery of Mistletoe and the other is a Santa dress because I always have Em in one every year


We got these two dresses...the red one is a Ralph Lauren and the other is a two piece Gymboree outfit...its brown corduroy :)

Here's a close-up of the shirt in the outfit above. I love it because I can put it under tons of cardigans that Em already has

Here are 6 other pieces I got for Em (can you tell that I got her more things?) Anyway, in clockwise order starting in top left corner we have a Gymboree sweater, lands end tee shirt, Gymboree shirt, Ralph Lauren pants, Gymboree shirt, and an unknown brand shirt but that is super cute and has a bow on the collar...

Ooh, look the 2 things I got for Cal...I know, I am lame...Gap shorts and a Ralph Lauren turtleneck...Nick refuses to wear turtlenecks for me so I have to get my fix of guys in them with Cal.

So guess how much I spent? Huh? Huh? Drum roll please....

$12.50! I was so stinking excited!

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This evening I felt like a truck pooped on me so I turned on Toy Story and we had "cacorn!" as Cal demanded...here's what they look like watching television:

Apparently underpants are all you need for bottoms...he pretty much refuses to wear pants around the house now that he's got his "pidermens!" on

And this is how Em watches

This is fascinating and horrifying to me all at the same time...she is getting so grown up. She's starting to look like a little lady with her Angelina lips and her curly hair all around her. She is going to be a knockout :)