Fall Favorites

Fall is one of our favorite seasons- the season to harvest our garden veggies and apples!  We had a great apple crop- we grow Regents (we have two trees) which are crisp and versatile.  With all of our apples comes lots of cooking and baking- we made canned apple pie filling, applesauce, apple salsa, apple chips in the dehydrator, and we just eat a ton of them throughout the day.

Cooper and I help with the apple crank device that we had on our counter for a good week.  You stick the apple on the prongs, crank the wheel and out comes peeled and cored apple slices.  We love the genius who invented this thing.

Cooper had apple week at preschool a few weeks ago (the date on his teacher's camera is off by a month).  They bobbed for apples; Mommy loves that his school isn't paranoid about germs.  It was one of her favorite fall childhood game too and Cooper had a great time trying to catch the stem with his teeth.

While we harvested apples and took care of the homestead, Daddy went to the hunting shack.  He texted a photo of the shack after their first snowfall.  The shack is "heaven on earth" to all of Mommy's family who hunt there (and yes, she is rolling her eyes right now).  They really don't have a lot of work to do in preparation- it truly is just an excuse to ride 4-wheelers around and act like teenagers.  He will return in a few weeks for the official hunting season. Tis the season for Mom to be crabby.

The tiny trace of snow we have received along with frigid temperatures has put our fall mood to a halt and winter has entered our minds. We had our Kitty Cat serviced this past fall- it needed a new carburetor and some other unknown parts- grand damage total was $368.  Our parents told us it is a good thing we have savings accounts.  Needless to say, without snow, we just fire the snowmobile up in the garage, breathe in the fumes for a minute, and then beg and plead for snow to come soon.  

At Mom's school, they had a book fair with a special appearance by Clifford.  He is all that we've read about- he is a big, red dog.  Cooper talked excitedly all day until he got his first glimpse of Clifford.  He backed himself into the furthest corner of the book fair and that is where he stayed while Clifford was in sight.  His fear for characters is something we just can't figure out.  He is fearless of all other things in life, go figure.

Finley and Hadley joined us too- Heather and Mommy think the 3 of us are trained so well.  We are looking straight at our Moms while the other kids are looking at the photographer.  We know how important these photos are for their blogs, facebook updates and photo/scrap albums :)

 Since Clifford is a dog and can't read, we listened to a lady read to all of us.  Soon after, he had to head outside for a little bathroom break.  I am glad we didn't have to witness that mess!

 Cooper had his first preschool field trip last Tuesday to a local farm market.  He was most excited about riding a REAL school bus.  #845, 903 reason to why Mommy loves to job-share...she chaperoned this trip.  Hence, all the photos she snapped that morning!

Cooper is in the left corner, back row- his class has 19 busy kids in it and Mommy realized even more so during the field trip what a GOOD boy Cooper is.  His teachers tell her that he is sweet, loving, funny, and a good listener.  My parents have raised eyebrows to that, but after her 2 hour experience, she now believes them.

They went on a corn maze but kept close to the entrance (in fear of losing kids in the fields!)

 Since the market has indoor greenhouses, the preschoolers were able to visit the fish ponds inside.

Inside the market, they were able to see their homegrown produce (for the most part) along with a huge potato shed!

Kids received a mini-pumpkin, gourd and a fresh apple- yum!

 Playtime on their fun playground- Cooper was looking at Mom through the huge binoculars.

 She loved being able to come on the field trip with the teachers and other lucky parents.  Mom and Cooper took a quick picture together before he excitedly boarded the bus again.  She realizes it won't be too much longer where Coop boards the bus on a daily basis (Sniff, Sniff!)

 This past weekend was a Mommy getaway weekend- it only happens once a year where she scrapbooks with 8-10 other ladies in the northwoods.  This is the first time in her life where she can proudly admit that her photo albums are all caught up and her scrapbooks are completely done!  She will continue to scrapbook, as there is never a shortage of pictures to scrap. Here are a few pages that she completed this past weekend.

Mom left the scrapbook weekend early on Sunday because they had tickets for the Vikings/Packers game in Minneapolis.  Uncle Jim and Aunt Karri joined them (Papa's family has 4 season tickets) and since Grandma Carla and Grandpa Jamie could not go, Auntie Erin and Uncle Ben also went along.  It was a warm fall day, so they tailgated and mostly people watched.  Those Packer fans are C-R-A-Z-Y which explain why Mommy holds true to her roots.

And this explains why she won't convert....

We all expected the Packers to win and they did, but my parents still had a great day for football!  We are excited for this week as our favorite fall fun will happen- pumpkin carving and Halloween!  We are thrilled to share our Halloween pictures with you next week- we promise it will be a timely update :)  Happy Halloween!