Sunflowers

Every year, around the entrance of the corn maze at the pumpkin patch, they have beautiful sunflowers and other sunflower like flowers. I look forward to the few quiet minutes that I have, while Joel runs the boys through the maze, to take some pictures of these beauties. I play with my camera settings and snap away. These are my favorites from this year.

A Virtue Not Found

You know the saying, "patience is a virtue," the one virtue that neither of my children seem to be aware of in any way, shape or form. I guess it's one of the perils of having two very active and smart boys. Even though there was plenty to keep us busy at the pumpkin patch yesterday, there were still a few moments where we had to wait and be patient. The others were taking the pumpkins back to the vehicles so I took the boys to wait for their return to a little patch of grass over by the corn maze. They sat down and I grabbed my camera because I thought it might be a cute shot. Not even a minute passed before this happened...

Noah saw me grab the camera and thought he'd be funny.

Oliver thinking big brother's sense of humor is not that funny.
Look closely, that's Oliver getting ready to swing at Noah. No, I didn't stop them, like any good mom with a blog, I just kept snapping pictures.

Oliver has thrown the first punch and Noah does some sort of duck and grab move. It was actually impressive, the karate classes are apparently paying off.

And the take down, Oliver is not hurt, just really angry at this point. He gets very upset when things don't go his way and since his punch missed the mark he's got to redeem himself.

Just not today...

Pumpkin Patch '08

This is the first of a few blog posts that I will do over the next couple of days about our trip to the Pumpkin Patch today. It was sort of a last minute decision to go, I happened to be instant messaging with Stephanie and invited her along. Steph, Ty and Jack joined us today and we all had a good time. It was busier than I've ever seen before at The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie's Island so by the end I was a bit frazzled. But no worries, we made it through the day and the crowds and enjoyed our first (I guess second if you count the trip to Gammy's) pumpkin patch outing.

Always have to stop and pose at the Perfect Pumpkins board.

Noah and Ty on the hayride headed out to the pumpkin patch.

Ollie and I on the wagon.

LIFT!! If you can't carry it, you can't have it.

Amazing what we had to go through to get this shot...

Handsome little guy isn't he...

Jack and Steph on the wagon return trip from the pumpkin patch.

Joel took Ty, Noah and Oliver through the corn maze.

Noah on top of the bale pyramid taunting his father down below.

Ty declaring victory over the same bale pyramid just moments later!

Until We Meet Again In April My Love

It's official, the NHL season has begun and I'm once again a hockey widow. The season will end sometime in April when, once again, I will be noticed. No worries though, I too, enjoy a good hockey game and can pronounce properly names like Roy (Wa), Satan (Sha'tan), Phaneuf (Fa'noof), Tkachuk (ca'chuck), etc.

GO CANUCKS!

This Was NOT In the Contract

There was a contract right? One that I should have read more thoroughly but trusted the doctor when they said, "It's just the normal stuff, all we need is your signature," so I signed on the dotted line and took my first born son home. This poor kid has been battling a never ending cold since school started, that a round of the flu that was going around. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I had to go get him from school because he was complaining of an ear ache. I took him to the doctor and not only did he have an ear infection but he had a severe sinus infection too. A round of antibiotics and the ear pain went away but the kid was still stuffy and coughing quite a bit. Seriously, the cold would not go away. He seemed all right though so we just went on with life. Wednesday of this week I get another call from school saying he is in the nurses office, again, complaining of an upset stomach and an earache! Trying to keep this blog family friendly I won't tell you the first words that came to mind. We went through the day and he seemed to be getting better and playing just fine, etc. so I played the wait and see game again. On the way home from Tori's game, Noah's ear popped and he started crying, screaming and clutching at his ear. We got through the night with some Motrin and elevated sleep then headed to the doctor the next day. The kid was diagnosed with bronchitis induced asthma and another severe ear infection. The drainage from his ear indicates that he might have ruptured his eardrum but we won't know for sure until the swelling goes down enough to see the eardrum clearly. He is now on some stronger antibiotics and a prescription strength anti-inflammatory. Why do I tell you this? Because the anti-inflammatory is an upper, a mild form of speed, etc. AND I'M SUPPOSED TO KEEP HIM CALM AND QUIET for a couple of days! Let's see, take an already active child, give him something to make him restless, anxious, jittery, etc. and try to keep him calm. Anyone else see the problem with this? The good news is that Noah is already looking and sounding better. The anti-inflammatory is working great, opening up his lungs and letting him breathe better not to mention reducing the swelling in his ear and reducing the pain there too. The bad news...

This is Noah "sitting still" and resting.

Here he is relaxing on the couch.

Jackson is here today because he doesn't have school either.
He and Noah are kicking back and watching "The Sandlot."

And here he is giving me the evil eye
because I won't stop taking pictures to show as evidence!

Mohawk

Couldn't resist snapping a picture before the haircut was done. I'm sure this kid will be sporting a Mohawk someday but I doubt it will be his natural hair color.

Apple Butter

I made the apple butter today...And this is what Janet will receive for guessing the closest...

Nobody Nose The Trouble I've Seen...

We were at Tori's volleyball game the other day, Oliver got into some trouble so he had to sit by me for the rest of the game. You would think that this would a punishment for him since I am, by his account, the most boring person in the world when there are others to play with. I'm okay if it's his only option but that day I was not. Being the two year old that he is, he turned his timeout into more torture for me than for him - isn't that how it usually is? I mean who truly wants their kids to act up to the point of having to be punished. I don't enjoy it at all. Anyway, he decided that trying to touch his brain via his nasal canal would be a great way to make sitting with him fun, fun, fun! And fun, fun, fun it was, do I ignore it and hope he stops because he's not getting attention, do I tell him to knock it off and hope it doesn't encourage more of the same, do I sit there and act like someone just dumped this nose excavating toddler on me and he isn't mine declaring loudly, "my kid would never do that!"? So many choices but the one I decided to try was to threaten to take a picture of his activities and post them for all to see. Yeah, yeah, I was trying to watch the game people I know it wasn't likely to work (maybe when he's a teenager) but I had the camera, he was there, it just came to me. I've never proclaimed to be a perfect parent...far from it. I snapped the picture, showed it to him with threats to show everyone and you know what he did? Yes, he laughed! Then I showed it to John and you know what he did? Laughed even harder then told me that I HAD to put that on my blog. That tactic worked out well don't you think? Oliver is sitting here, helping me with the post, still laughing...

My Poor Children

Joel is out of town on business so I've been trying to post something for him to read each day about the boys. For some reason, I decided to sneak in and take pictures of them while they were sleeping last night. Noah's picture cracks me up!

Apple Butter Recipe

I hope to make some of this soon and if I do I will post a picture but for now here is the recipe from my sister who got it from her friend, Jen.

Apple Butter (Crock-pot/Slow Cooker Method)

Ingredients

• 10 cups (or enough to fill the crock pot heaping full) apples that have been peeled, cored and thinly sliced.
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves

Spices can be adjusted according to taste, some people also add a bit of fresh lemon zest.

Directions

1. Place apples in crock pot (heaping full); cook on high for 4 1/2 hours covered (it is okay if the lid does not fit perfectly to begin with, the apples will cook down).
2. After 4 1/2 hours (or when the apples have begun to liquefy) stir and add remaining ingredients. Cook for another 4 1/2 hours with lid and stir occasionally but be careful not to scrape the sides or bottom of the crock pot too hard or you could get some gobs of apple mixed in. Remove the lid and continue to cook until it reaches desired consistency. It should be thick enough to spread on toast, not runny or watery.
3. Prepare jars and lids; fill warm jars with mixture, leaving about a 1/4 inch of head room. Seal in a 10 minute water bath.
   

Oliver's Head

Grandma Ricki was very observant and noticed the butterfly bandage on Oliver's forehead and she asked what happened. So here's the story...

We went to R.E.I. to get some cold and wet weather pants for Joel's bike commute. The checkout line was long so I took the boys upstairs to look around at the clothes because neither child can stand in a long line quietly. Oliver was being Oliver, goofing off, trying to run around and that night playing the lean and go limp so that if I let go of his hand he would fall to the ground game. I thought he had his footing but he leaned again as I went to adjust my grip and he fell. At this point, I've learned a long time ago, that if I just let them fall instead of trying to catch them they end up with a lot fewer injuries. I just usually end up making it worse. HOWEVER, for some reason, that night I decided to try and catch him and in stepping forward I pretty much ended up kicking him right into the ground even harder. He smashed his head into the foot of one of the clothes racks, you know, the one with the nice sharp pointy edges. The wound is actually not that bad or big but it was deep and bleeding quite nicely. A quick trip to the restroom, some clean up, a cold compress and a little pressure stopped most of the bleeding. It had a tendency, though, to pop open and start bleeding again so we stuck a butterfly bandage on there to help speed up the healing. There you have it...the story of the puncture wound on Oliver's forehead.

Apple Update

We had a few guesses and all were a bit light. Janet came the closest guessing 73 pounds! She was a mere 77 pounds short of our total! We picked 150+ pounds of apples!! Yes people, 150 pounds of apples that's only 50 pounds each. I peeled and sliced for about 3 hours last night for my apple pies, crisps or cobblers and we will be at Stephanie's house tomorrow making applesauce, the rest will be stored for eating.

Gammy's Pumpkin Patch

Gammy grew some pumpkins for the grand kids this year so we went out today after church to pick out a couple for the boys. Noah and Trevor had already laid claim to the two biggest ones so we were really just going to let Oliver pick his and pick up Noah's HUGE pumpkin.

Checking out the pumpkins, Noah is guarding his to make sure his little brother doesn't try to claim the big one as his.

After I cut Ollie's pumpkin from the vine he wanted to learn how to use the clippers. He is practicing on the vine that used to be on his pumpkin.

Noah, proudly admiring his pumpkin.

Cute! and the pumpkins are gorgeous, dense and therefore, heavy!

Okay, so this next picture was another one of those pictures that I debated posting but my mother, who I think started it all, and my eldest were laughing so hard at themselves, I decided to go ahead and share. You really must have a sense of humor to view the next picture though so no saying that I didn't warn you all. I had grabbed one of the acorn squash while I was out there to bake up for my dinner. I tossed it on the ground by the pumpkins and within seconds my mom was pointing out to my son that it looked like his pumpkin was well, pooping out the acorn squash. Want to know why that came up? They had already discussed, in greater detail than necessary, the fact that Noah's pumpkin looked like it had a butt crack. The way the two of them were giggling and taking pictures of this "event" you would have never guessed that there are 50 years separating the two of them! Oh well, they had fun so here is the picture...

Come on, admit it - you laughed too!

Too Many Cotton Pickin' Pictures

So they aren't pictures of picking cotton but rather apple picking pictures and yes, I have quite a few. Stephanie, her mom, Karen, Oliver and I all went to a farmstead in McMinnville this morning to pick organic apples. It was a bit of a drive but for $.20/pound it was worth it. I was a little bit worried about the windy and rainy weather that was working it's way through the Willamette Valley but somehow we stayed dry. I've forgotten exactly what kinds we picked but we got plenty for pies, cobblers, crisps, applesauce and just plain eating.

These guys welcomed us into the orchard, the farmer told us to toss them an apple or two on the way out, so we did.

Beautiful apple begging to be made into applesauce.

Oliver tasted them to be sure.

We had many different containers to put our apples into. Bags, Rubbermaid containers, laundry baskets and this...I just happened to turn and see this basket full of apples sitting between the rows of trees. I couldn't have set up this picture any better.

Again, I can't remember which apples these were but I loved that they were on the smaller side and looked a lot like plums.

Oliver tasted these ones too. The farmer told us to taste our way through the orchard (dozen-ish varieties) to find the ones we liked the best. Oliver took this literally! He had 4 or 5 apples while we were out picking.

So yummy!

Playing with my color capture feature on my camera.

This tree really looked like it was a waterfall of apples.

This is what we picked. I'm not going to tell you how many pounds we picked because I want you to guess! Give it shot, how many pounds do you think we picked today? The black shopping bags on each end are also full of apples so don't forget to figure those into your calculations.

On the way out of the orchard were these two happy horses.

They got to enjoy some apples too, the farmer said that they would appreciate a treat or two from the orchard and we obliged. I have fed many an apple to many a horse and I swear these two were the most dainty and well mannered apple eaters ever! They were gentle, took small bites, didn't slobber all over you and patiently waited for the next bite.

Crunch, munch, slurp, smack, num, num, num, num!

Some of You Know...

...just how yummy our dinner was tonight. Joel hasn't made his homemade pizza for a while now but Noah's persistent begging finally paid off for all of us. You really can't beat homemade and hand tossed pizza crust. We just had the good ol' pepperoni tonight followed by the cinnamon and sugar dessert pizza. But now that he's back to making pizzas, I'm sure I'll be dining on some of my favorites soon...bbq chicken and roasted onion, taco, Canadian bacon, tomato and shredded dill pickle (don't knock it until you try it - so yummy!), pizza margherita, etc. Are you hungry yet? Seriously people, you need to find a reason to come over for dinner and when you do ask for the good stuff!