Labor Day: Suitably Named

Today is Labor Day and, in our family, it has been a day of labor. Wow! I feel like I haven't sat down all day. By 9 am, I had picked 8 cups of raspberries, picked 50 apples and had a quadruple batch of apple butter cooking. The day just kept getting busier.

*I put together some bridal shower invitations for Greg's niece, Rachel Fowler.

*We finally went on our family bike ride on the Jordan Parkway (that we earned from our house cup). We had a great time, even if Enoch and Kate were both squashed in the bike trailer. By the end of the ride the trailer was rocking back and forth from the helmet bashing, biting and hitting.



*I went through Kate's winter clothes. I was thinking I was well prepared with the warm clothes I bought on clearance in the spring. Little Miss Shrimpy decided not to grow and now I'm stuck with a bunch of 2T clothes that are completely falling off of her. I made a list of what I need and I'm headed to the fabric store tomorrow. I'm thinking Kate is going to be wearing a bunch of leggings and skirts this winter.

*I made my annual raspberry pie. It was delicious!

*Kate received her first American Girl magazine. I'm not sure where it came from (Greg doesn't believe me; he thinks I ordered it). Kate had a great time looking through it and fell in love with the Bitty baby dolls and the bunny slippers.

*My apple butter is still cooking. I'm hoping I'm not processing it at midnight!

I Take It Back

I completely, totally, unequivocally take back my comment in the previous post about Oklahoma kicking our fannies. Was that not a great game? Oh my goodness, we are so thrilled. Here's to a great season! Go Cougars!

Scattered Thoughts

I'm feeling a bit scattered-brained. My family would tell you it's more than a feeling (isn't that a song?), but that I really am scattered-brained. To clear my brain of junk (yeah, right!), I'm blogging about the randomness of our family this week.

yahoo
Notice this title is all in lower-case, meaning I'm really not that excited about this. Kate can now climb up the slide by herself. Yes, climb up it whenever she wants, no matter if anyone is watching out for her. After scrambling up, she chants "YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!", with her little fists pumping in the air. She then will hang off the side of the play tower and look around, completely unaware of any danger. When she finally does decide to go down the slide, she is a little missile. She shoots off the bottom of the slide and flies 3-4 feet in the air before landing. I'm cleaning a lot of grass stains off the pockets of her pants. As a side note, you have to be careful around Kate and the slide. If you are taking too long going down and Kate is waiting, she is not afraid to give you a big shove.


Enoch Starts Preschool
Yes, I know, I get mother of the year award for forgetting to take the-first-day-of-school picture of Enoch and blogging about it. Sorry, E! Needless to say, Enoch started preschool, is doing great, is loving Mrs. Skousen and is having a great time carpooling with his bud, Jimmy. He is the funniest kid and you get him and Jimmy together and they keep me laughing our entire walk home.

Go Cougars!
Football season is now upon us and even though we will, in all likelihood, get our fannies kicked tonight, we are still EXCITED!

Kate's 1st Haircut
All of you moms out there who have babies with actual hair, go ahead and laugh. I am well aware that my kids are bald. Really, my kids do have hair, it's just so fine and blond that it might as well be non-existent.
Well, we finally cut off Kate's tail this morning. I was giving Enoch a haircut and decided that it was time to shape up the baby-mullet. I was so sad to cut off her curl, but her hair really does look better.
I know you can't see the curl very well in either picture (trust me, it's there); Enoch is on the left and Kate is on the right. Of course, they both had a lone curl at the base of their hairline. Do I really need another reason to believe that they are identical twins (separated by three years and gender)?

How Can She Sleep There?

Kate is in the process of cutting down to one nap (or sometimes I get really lucky and she won't nap at all!). The funny thing is that she still wants to take her one nap at 10am. So, by dinnertime she is a bear - a really, really grumpy bear.
Tonight, I finally had enough whining and crying and sent her outside after dinner. Greg was mowing the lawn (with our neighbors riding mower since ours is in the shop). Kate was fascinated with the riding mower and demanded a ride. It didn't take long before she was completely asleep. I couldn't believe she could sleep with all the jostling and noise.
When I laid her down in her crib, she immediately flipped onto her stomach and pulled her knees up to her stomach so her cute bum was sticking in the air. That is a sure sign for Kate that she is exhausted. Here's to hoping she'll sleep through the night!

The fruits of our labors

For the second year, our family participated in the Neighborhood Garden. We have had a great year with more than enough produce for our family.

In the spring, Greg put together the watering system. He did a great job. Unfortuntely, the water pressure isn't great and so watering the garden is a bit of a pain. Every family takes two turns a season and it takes most of the day to water half of the garden. Greg took care of our family watering turns and did most of the weeding. What a guy! We had the melon row and it consistently looked the best of all the rows. Greg really stepped up and did a great job with the garden.
We had picking days on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm and Saturdays at 7:30 am. The kids loved picking days because they could play with their friends at the garden. We always had enough babysitters for Kate (all the girls love playing with her). This night, Kate found some mud and had lots of fun.
We have had corn, beans, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, onions, canteloupe, and Crenshaw melon. Everything was so delicious. Enoch loves corn on the cob and the Crenshaw melon was amazing.
I froze 15 quarts of corn and 8 cups of blended squash. I also canned 7 pints of tomatoes for salsa and 30 1/2 pints of pizza sauce.

Our way super cool backyard!

Our backyard remodel is one more step to being finished. Greg completed our play tower and it turned out amazing. He actually finished it a while ago, but the rock climbing holds were on back order for most of the summer. The kids have had so much fun playing on it. Enoch and Gavin love the zip line and Kate will go down the slide all afternoon (as long as someone will help her up). Great job, Greg! and thanks for such an incredible yard!
Our fruit trees are looking good. We will have enough peaches and plums to eat and more than enough apples to eat, juice and make into caramel apple butter. YUM!

Our Week in Review

Is it getting dark yet?
Enoch is obsessed with time; the time of day and how the earth revolves and rotates around the sun and causes days and seasons. He is constantly asking if it is getting dark yet, meaning where is the earth in relation to the sun. He understands the science behind it fairly well, but has no concept of time passing. He will ask what day it is and then 2 hours later will ask if it is still Thursday. It's driving me a bit nuts (as Enoch would say). He is quite impatient for time to hurry up (because he misses Christmas and wants it to come again).
This week he was "so bored" because it was only Thursday and he wanted it to be his birthday by dinner time. The one sure way to cure boredom on a long afternoon is popcorn. Enoch and Kate snarfed up their kettle corn and we forgot about time (for a little while).

How tired are you?
This week Kate and I were laying on the floor stringing together a jumbo button necklace. Kate loves the game and loves the noise the necklace makes when she jingles it.
Enoch was also on the floor with us, using me as his jungle gym. Gavin was at the kitchen table doing his vocab homework. I remember Kate making a racket with her necklace and screaming, Enoch climbing on me and yelling at Kate, "You can't scream with your binky in your mouth!" and Gavin asking me about a word definition. I closed my eyes for a split second. The next thing I know Gavin is standing over me laughing and Kate and Enoch are in her room playing pizza and cookies. According to Gavin, we had a conversation that went like this:

Gavin: Is the allergy medicine I take chewable or do I have to swallow it?
Mom: What is the word again?
Gavin: Mom, chewable or do I have to swallow it?
Mom: Use the word in a sentence.
Gavin: Mom, are you awake?
Mom: (finally opening my eyes) Where did everyone go?

Apparently I need more sleep if I'm that zonked out in the middle of all that noise!

Say Again?
Kate is expanding her vocabulary every day. Her new word is more of a abbreviation: Buh. This is an all-in-one word that includes binky, blanket, and Bunny - all necessary for Kate's happiness. She is never without her blankie and Bunny, although Mom is trying very hard to only let her have her binky in her crib. It's still a work in progress.