Busy as a bumblebee…she’s our Mother…

We’ve been busy. Busy fighting a stupid cold for 2.5 weeks. Busy teaching Young Women’s. Busy sewing a knit dress for days on end and it still is not perfect. Busy enjoying time with John when Leo goes to bed at 9 pm. Here’s some photographic evidence of our busy-ness….

We’ve been posing like crazy, playing “Princess Flower” and “Princess Pink” and “Princess Stripes”. Oh to be 3 again.

 

 

Busy sewing Halloween circle skirts, ala Dane from Made circle skirt tutorial

Busy making Barbie clothes, from Craftiness is not optional.

 

We’ve been busy learning to roll over like a champ.

 

And busy exploding with cuteness no matter what the emotion… I don’t get much done during the day, because he’s just so stinkin’ cute.

 

And we’ve been busy Apple Cider Slushie-ing it up…Apple Cider plus ice cream maker =

Slushie. Oh yeaaaaah. Can’t take credit for it, it was Anderson Orchard’s idea. But it’s delicious.

 

Sorry for the less than stellar  pictures. It looks like applesauce, but it’s not. You get the idea. Go make some. Aldi apple cider is 3 bucks a gallon.

Happy Fall Everyone!

Adventures in Canning

  

My friend Sarah has some apple trees. And she’s a master at canning. So when she offered free apples to anyone who wants to can with her, I jumped at the chance. We spent 3 days canning apple pie filling, apple sauce, berry applesauce, and apple butter. There’s nothing like working alongside friends for most of the day, talking about random things, sharing the stories of our lives, experimenting with new applesauce flavors. Good times. Good times.

I was kind of amazed at how simple it was- why was I scared of this in the past? A lot simpler than so many things that I make on a regular basis. Plus Sarah did all the keeping track of timers/etc, which is my weak point in cooking.

Here’s some pictures of our adventures:

 

Apple sauce all gorgeous

 

The apple gruel that I should have taken home and served up my kids for dinner- then they’d really be grateful for my normal random mismatched meals.

 

Happy after a long day of working together.

I think the cinnamon fumes and propane exhaust might have gone to our heads. Watch out kids.

Here’s my rainbow of applesauce. I canned the apple butter all by myself. Come on over, you can have some on some toast.  But call me a few hours before you stop by- I think I’ll need to make some homemade bread to go with it.

The Newest Daley

Not my baby….but once removed. My newest little niece. It’s only been 4 months since Leo was born, and he looks humungous compared to his new cousin.

Big brothers love to study babies…

Proud Grandma. Welcome to the family baby girl!

Warning! Huge Catch up vacation Post- shield your eyes, these kids are cute!

   
Baby Blessing Day. August 14th.
We had Leo’s blessing at home on a Saturday afternoon, when everyone could be there from our family. Leo looked so dang handsome in his white suit. The grandpas thought the hat was ridiculous. I thought it was hilarious. We forgot to take pictures with everyone after the blessing. The story of my life. 500 pictures from my parents visit- but not one for the momentous event.

While they visited we went to the Indiana State Fair and Children’s Museum, and below are pics from a new exhibit, 100 acres, at the Indiana Museum of Art. Come visit in the spring time, we’ll go,  it will be fun. The tall curly headed boy that looks like Michael Cera is my sisters boy toy Keaton. Shout out to Keaton, he’s cool.



Last weekend we went to a local apple Orchard, Anderson Orchard. It’s becoming a tradition, once you’ve done it twice, it’s a tradition, right?
While picking apples I tried to get a pic of Leo lounging in the tree. Picture Fail.
See Natalie’s cowgirl hat? Well, it’s not a cowgirl hat. Don’t call it that. She’ll correct you. It’s an “Apple Orchard Girl Hat.”
Tried the apple cider slushie for the first time- even better than spiced cider. I might have had three. Right up there on my list of the greatest summer treats along side frozen lemonade and orange julius.



Yesterday we explored McCloud Park, a county park out in the boondocks of North Salem. McCloud is simply nature- miles of trails through the woods and around plateau meadows, wildflowers taller than me, a prairie grass maze for the kids, fly fishing demonstrations, bird watching kits.
We went with our neighbors from down the street, the Francises. How do you spell plural of Francis? Fransiss? Francisiss, Franci? Anywho, John and the kids walked around the woods with them while I ran some of the trails.
One of the reasons why I love running so much is I feel so ALIVE. Taking deep breaths, moving every part of your body, having your heart beat out of your chest. Adding to the adrenaline rush was all the living things around me- huge trees, buzzing insects, running alongside butterflies, hitting bent over prairie grass with your legs with every step, the sun beating down on you, wind gusts as you turn a corner, and everything is Technicolor green. My senses were overloaded. Felt good. Really good. It couldn’t hurt that I got lost so by the time I made it back to everyone else I’d only run 2.5 miles.


Yesterday after we arrived home from the park, I found something to eat for dinner, and the girls wanted to play outside.  It was a perfect 70 degrees, I couldn’t begrudge it.  So outside we went with Leo and my camera, ready to take some cute shots.
Well, here was another Minute to win it moment- how to take a picture of a child with one hand, while supporting with the other. I finally resorted to laying on my back, Leo leaning against my bent legs, and shooting blind with the camera up in the air. The first few dozen shots were slightly off course, most with my tree in perfect clarity but a fuzzy blur attacking the camera.


Somehow I came out with a few money shots.
I mean seriously, those cheeks, that huge smile. Don’t you just want to gobble him up? Making him laugh is my new favorite hobby.