Tuesday, September 21, 2010

When Friends give you apples...

Lots and lots of apples :)
(gotta love a fun apple picking day with the kiddos...
... gotta love it even more when it's FREE!)


... You make applesauce...


Lots...


... and lots of applesauce.


ahh, I love the smells of fall canning season ;)

(except the canning of beans...
... yea, that one stinks pretty bad...
... it's worth it, but it does stink.)

Thursday, September 16, 2010

First Day Pics

The whole school-aged gang... from 3rd down to pre-school.  
How did Time zoom so fast??

I love that this is Sarah's favorite jacket...
and I love that I got it at a 50% off sale at the good will store! (can you say $1.99??!)

This was as good as I could get from Seth...
And even this took many threats of bodily harm to get him to stand for the 'first day' shot

Don't worry, Ben hasn't worn this cape every day to kindergarten...
He has alternated with the "Jedi" robe...

(Hey, I'm just grateful he's finally 'lost' this...
... which he has sported the majority of days since last HALLOWEEN!)


This picture truly captures the essence of Joshy and all of his "TA DA" glory.  
Look out Aldrich, Joshy has entered the building!





These 'jumbo' cookies where waiting for the kiddos on their return from their first day :)
... yes, even dietitians feed their kids giant chocolate chip cookies!!
... made with applesauce...
         ... and a little whole wheat flour...
                   ... and just one egg yolk to two egg whites...

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Guatemalan bicycle caravans have nothen on us!!

Meet:

The Brewer Bicycle Caravan...


Yes, that is Jerry...
   Carting Ben...
        Who is carting Josh and Liz...


Rochester is a land of many trails
     Most of which have gone unexplored by us in our 5+ years of living here.
So for date night last night, we decided to explore one.
Jerry was instantly hooked
   (I've been hooked for a few years and dying to get some bikes for us so we could go on rides with the kiddos)

So after our little walk and yummy Panera dinner (another first for us... I know, I know we are WAY behind on the 'hip' soup and sandwich shops!),
We saw that we still had about 45 minutes to spare, so we decided to do a quick 'browsing of bikes'...

... which lasted about 1 1/2 hours...
... and had us walking out of the store with not one, but TWO bikes, a bike trailer, a bike pump, and some bike water bottles (ya know, for our extra long bike trips we are sure to take...).

... THANK GOODNESS for end of summer clearance sales!! (seriously cheap, folks!)

We were so giddy, we put everything together right when we got home last night, and could hardly wait to show the kiddos (in fact, Jerry had them out in the garage at 6:30 in the morning showing them!).

... and we spent most of the morning

going on ride


after ride

after ride

Now, if someone could just order a little extra side of summer, we would much appreciate it, thanks!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Bye Bye Ben...

is what we told this big guy...

(yes, the cape is still in tact under the coat... I'm choosing my battles, folks, choosing my battles...)

... when this turned the corner...

And though he couldn't wipe the smile off his face

and didn't get a bit scared, even when sitting on the bus...

... I felt a huge lump rise out of nowhere and engulf my energetic wave as I watched this...


... so I wandered back home, 
and did what any self-respecting, laid back, go with the flow,  non-helicopter parent would do...

... I jumped in my car and stalked the bus all the way to the school...

... just to make sure my precious cargo arrived in tact and un-scathed.


... Wow, this whole 'letting go' part of motherhood is hard.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Back Then...

Ya know, back in the Olden Days...
... like when I was on my mission
... a whopping 16 years ago...

I have now reached the age of 'stone age' living in my child's eyes.
Here was the line pulled from our dinner conversation last night as we were telling mission stories to the kids...
Seth, "Mom, back then, there was no electricity, right?!"
Me:  Completely dumbfounded as I turn to my hubby, who is about to fall off his chair from laughter...
"I just got 'Back Then-ed'!!!"
Hubby:  Still rolling with laughter... until I remind him that his back then was even backer-thenner then my back then!

... and I was instantly transformed to a moment in time from my childhood, when upon my mom telling me about some things from her childhood, I asked, "Mom, back in the olden days, did you feel bad that you were living in the olden days?"

 I have now officially eaten my words.
... and they taste... well... pretty old.

Monday, August 30, 2010

This weeks calgon moment brought to you by...

... shirts, which were (unsuccessfully) flushed down the toilet (by a certain unnamed recently turned 3 year old...)
... plunger which (unsuccessfully) tried to get shirt to go down the toilet (manned by a certain unnamed recently turned 3 year old...)
... children, who upon screams of orders from mom to run and gather up towels, return with, "this is all we found, mom..." and hand over a couple of wash cloths
... towels, which (unsuccessfully) tried to mop up overflow from toilet before great gushes of water made its way down the crack in the doorway and seep into basement fire-alarm hole
... basement fire alarm, which upon getting wet, sets off ear-splitting shriek
... rest of house alarms, which like to play follow the leader and also set off ear splitting shrieks
... battery, which even though fire alarm has been yanked out of socked, still continues to power fire alarm-wetted shriek
... baby, who wants in on the action and crawls right into the scene

... and a mom who was frazzled already from a day of:

... up at crack of dawn to willingly submit to torture class (aka, cable class at the gym)
... loading all kids up on Joshy's maiden voyage out of the house in "big boy underwear"
... get to the gym, have joshy go potty (for which he gets buck naked. every time.)
... prepare for nutrition consult with someone who wants a 2 week menu of a diet that fits the following parameters:
 -- no white flour
 -- no sugar of any kind
 -- no sweets or junk food of any kind
    (the first and last I can handle, but absolutely no sugar??!  You try to find some recipes to meet that criteria for 2 weeks!)
... sit through 1/2 hour consult, which stretches into 1 hr and 15 minute consult
... return to kids gym and find that Joshy has again missed the potty mark
... reload clothes
... grab kids and run to friends for peach canning party (sorry we were late, Sarah!)
... got to friends house to realize that Joshy had yet again missed the potty mark (what, a whole 5 minutes in the car?!  Now that is some sort of talent!)
...taught friend mom's secret recipe for super yummy canned peaches with extra thick syrup (yes, it entails a LOT of sugar!!  ... and you wonder why I had a hard time finding sugar-less recipes??!)
... forgot to take over some supplies
... run back home, get supplies
... back to friends at 1:55, remember that I have to be across town to visit teach at 2:00.
... load up kids, run across town
... arrive late, stay late for the visit, (probably from spending time corralling all five kids and repeating, no you cannot lock her son out of his own room!) (Kalee, aren't you so excited for next months visit??!)
... staying late for first visit makes us late for the next visit
... spend most of next visit trying to keep Elizabeth from clutching the life out of their sweet dog and talk over her teridactal screams


So, if anybody needs me, I'll be
in the corner
in fetal position
rocking back and forth
mumbling incoherently...

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Who pushed fast forward??

For some reason, this summer zoomed by more quickly then most
Remember my big post about white space??  
Well, I found it.
I found it in a lack of ANY scheduled activity for the kiddos 
(except for one swimming lesson session, which about killed us after so much fun-unstructured time)
I found it in mornings spent lounging around the house reading books and playing games
I found it in crazy swimming pool afternoons
I found it in listening to the squeals and giggle from the yard as the sprinklers found their targets
I found it in late night family movies, complete with popcorn and snuggling
I found it in mini-getaways to the dells, parks, and libraries.
This summer was like one big Ahhhh.

And now, we are on our way back to the books
Back to the schedules
Back to early bed times
And early violin lessons
And crazy drop off and pick up routines
And homework assignments
And test stress-studying
And new friend finding...

But we did get to take one last moment,
thanks to super-uber talented friend (that would be YOU, Jolene!)
To relish in the final mix of summer and school...


Yes, she did lug this fun desk out into the beautiful green field
 to get some back to school shots of the kiddos.

And when I got the disk, I almost had to do a double take at how old my little ones have become.

... Where was I when they suddenly zoomed from toddling twos

to fun fashionistas??


Seriously, folks, who stole my little boy Ben...
... and replaced him with this suddenly too-grown-up-look-alike??


Joshy has been doing the pre-school-potty chant for a month now...
as in, "I want to go to preschool, so I go potty in my potty!"
... yes, this mama has resorted to threats ("Joshy, if you want to go to school like a big boy, you HAVE to go pee in the potty!!"), and treats (hey, in this household, three treats before breakfast is a GOOD thing... it means less mess for mom to clean up in places other than the toilet!)


And little Lizzy?...

... well, at the rate she's going, I wouldn't be surprised to see her follow 
the kiddos right into their classrooms come the first day of school!




As they gear up for the fun adventure of a brand new school year, I find myself already choked up a wee bit at the prospect of seeing this barrage of backpacks work its way out of our front door.

... so c'mon, fess up... which one of you ordered the super speedy summer to go this year??!