Apples, Apples Everywhere

Fall is definitely here!  We went apple picking on Friday with some friends and have spent pretty much the whole weekend elbow deep in apples.  Cut apples, cooked apples, milled apples, seasoned apples, canned apples.  It is now Sunday night and I just pulled the final batch of applesauce out of the canner.  My feet are puffy, I have blisters on my hands from stirring, burn spots from splashes of boiling water, and a pantry filled with applesauce for the year!

Let's start out at the orchard.  We picked at the same place we always have since moving here, Regier Orchard out in Whitewater.  We brought some friends with us this year, which just makes it a bit more fun.

Jayden and Kyle picked and filled their own box.

We managed to pick 275 pounds of apples.

Saturday, our friends came over to our house to start with the work.  We made 19 apples crisps, 1 to eat, 8 for our freezer and 10 for theirs.

Then started the real work.  Cutting and cooking and milling.

Every year, after I do our applesauce, I complain and swear to my family that next year I'm getting a motor to do the milling.  But then, every year, because apples come at the end of the season and we've already spent so much money on food for storing up, by the time I actually need my motor, we just can't bring ourselves to spend the money.  However, this year I panicked at the thought of having to use our little food mill and the day we went apple picking, I went to Cabela's and found this new mill and let me tell you, it saved our bacon.  It was totally clutch!  Everybody needs one of these!  I'm not kidding!  I just can't believe how awesome it was.  I'm pretty sure without it, I'd still be milling apples!  So, if you are milling anything, go out and get yourself the Roma Food Mill.

Jayden got to cut up apples by himself this year.  I thought for sure he was going to whack off a finger, luckily that didn't happen, but that's all part of the learning process right???  :)

And of course, do some milling!  We had some neighbor kids stop by and get in on the milling action.  This food mill is just that awesome!

Willow wasn't too interested in helping.  So for most of today, she sat over at the table and played with play-doh and made apple crisps, waffles, and chocolate chip cookies for everyone.

Apples, Apples, and More Apples!

And finally, this evening, the final product!  51 glorious jars of applesauce!  There actually was a total of 65, but our friends took home 14 for themselves.  51!  That's pretty much 1 jar a week for Jayden.  Now let's see if we can keep him limited to 1 jar a week!  :)

And I know this is going to come as a huge shock to you all, but Willow was canning her own applesauce this evening before she went to bed.  :)

Boats and Boxes

The kids have been doing a few things lately that have been cracking me up. 

After lunch, Jayden and Willow have been going outside on the deck and turning it into a pirate ship.  They set their sails (pull down the shades), Jayden is the captain, and they have made Sam the first mate pirate dog, and I'm not quiet sure what position Willow holds, but all I know is that when I went outside the take their picture Willow yelled at me to "walk to the plank!"
I personally love how they make Sam sit in a chair with them and they get lots of ice cubes from the freezer to store on their ship as food.  Jayden is charting their course in his pirate book.

On a completely different topic, if we have a movie night.  These are the seats the kids pick.  They fill the boxes with pillows and blankets and cram themselves in there, well Jayden is more crammed than Willow....  :)

Butterfly Class

Jayden had a field trip today with eCademy to Bontanica to learn about butterflies.  We started out inside a little building and learned about the butterflies that live here in Kansas, and their anatomy.

Then the kids got to look through microscopes at all different parts of a butterfly - legs, wings, eyes, tongue.  And also with magnifying glasses at different butterfly wings.

Then, they moved outside to learn about what butterflies eat.

And how they see through their compound eyes.  The kids got kelidascopes with 800 "boxes" in them, just like a butterflies eye, to look around with.

Then, it was onto migration.  The Monarch butterfly can migrate as far as 3000 miles, from Canada to Mexico, so the kids got to play a game to simulate that.  But since we are already in Kansas, they got to start there and travel through Oklahoma, then Texas, then into Mexico.  The kids all got monarch butterflies on a green colored popsicle sticks and had to start fluttering through the state and stop at the next state line to pick up nectar and water.  However, to make it more life like, they put predators out in the field - a bird, a spider, and a semi-truck.

The kids fluttered through to the next state line trying not to get "eaten" by a predator.  If they got caught, they had to give up their popsicle stick butterfly.

At the Oklahoma and Texas state line, if they had lost their butterfly in the previous state, they got to pick up a new butterfly on a different colored popsicle stick (orange for Oklahoma and red for Texas) and try to make it to Mexico with their new one.

Once in Mexico the kids lined up by the color of their sticks and they could see how many butterflies from each state made it to Mexico, representing how dangerous a journey it is for the butterfly to make it from Canada to Mexico.  In the spring, when the Monarch's start their journey back north, they stop and lay their eggs along the way and die, and I guess as many as 4 generations of the Monarch can live and die before they make it back up to Canada.

After the game, we went over to the butterfly house, where the kids got to see an actual Monarch butterfly get tagged and released.  Then we were given a piece of paper with that Monarch's tag, so we can now track the butterfly and see how far it gets and if it actually makes it to Mexico!

Then it was into the butterfly house to see if we could get a butterfly to land on us.

While Willow managed to get a couple butterflies, Jayden was far more interested in the chrysalis cupboard where there were actual butterflies in the making, one he watched hatch right out and another chrysalis you could see wiggling and moving around.

I really like the turquoise ones with the gold trim, otherwise known as the Queen butterfly.

It was a fun field trip and because Jayden and I doubled up on school work yesterday, we get today off!

Little Torpedoes

Jayden's hair is getting a bit out of control.  He still doesn't want to cut it (I can pull it into small ponytails all over his head), which is fine, but he's been having some trouble at swimming.  His goggles are pulling his hair.  So I suggested a few options for him:
1) do nothing and continue to let your hair be pulled when pulling on and adjusting your goggles during swim class training.
2) let me cut your hair.
3) put on a swim cap, and while there is a little hair pulling in the beginning getting it on, you won't have to deal with it for the rest of the class training session.

Of course being Jayden, he doesn't like my ideas, so he opts for option #1 for a couple weeks.  Until I find the magic weapon.  I was going through a box of stuff and ran across a silver swim cap that my brother Jordan gave to me when I was training for my first triathlon like 10 years ago.  Why do I still have it?  Because I happen to have a gene that forbids me from throwing things away because you never know, maybe someday I'll need it again.  And truthfully when I started training for triathlons again I actually searched for that swim cap, knowing I had it somewhere, but couldn't figure out where I'd stashed it 8 years earlier and packed and moved it from WA to KS, so I eventually went out and bought another.  Now, that Jayden had Uncle Jordan's swim cap, all the sudden it was a good idea to try it out in the pool and see if it helped with the hair pulling situation.  And by chance I happened to buy a silver swim cap last summer, so I had two and that meant no fighting over who could wear the swim cap and what color would be worn once Willow found out that Jayden was sporting an accessory at swimming.  Praise Jesus for small and what might seem like nonsense, but really made my day so much easier, miracles!

I couldn't stop laughing when they had them on.  I was so glad my iPad was tucked into my purse, so I could snap these pictures.  They looked so awesome!  My little torpedoes!  And I don't know if it was the swim caps or what, but they were flying through the water today, even their swim teacher  coach said something about it.
Jayden's even taken to wearing my goggles in the pool.  He had some trouble with his and declared mine were actual triathlon goggles so that is what he needed to wear.

2/3 of a Tri Workout

So, one of the benefits of driving out to Washington this summer was my dad offered to give me his treadmill.  I. Was. Stoked!  We aren't members of any gyms or YMCAs here in the area, at least not at this point, so training in the winter is oftentimes dark, cold, and for the most part just doesn't happen so much.  Last winter, I pretty much searched for trial deals all over the place so I could get into gyms and use their treadmills and pools and stuff.  Not this winter!  All I have to do is head to the basement!  Well, at least for 2 out of the 3 sports.  Royal bought me a trainer for my bike last Christmas and now, thanks to my dad, I have a treadmill too!

Try to ignore the shelves of stuff in there, this is the unfinished part of our basement where everything is stuffed stored.   This kids and I built a mat out of their alphamat blocks for stretching and hopping and doing exercises on.  Both the kids have already run at least a mile themselves on the treadmill and played hopscotch on the mat.  I think we're going to have fun down here.  And while I feel quite strange putting on my running shoes or my bike shoes and going downstairs instead of outside with them on, I think I might be able to get over it since I won't have to run or ride in the dark!  Now, if I can only figure out a way to get an endless pool put down here, I'd be set for winter tri training!

What Willow Wears :: 17

I know it's been awhile since Willow has had an outfit that made me think, "I so need a picture of THAT!"  Maybe it's because I'm just used to the crazy outfits Willow puts together.  What I love the most is that she actually tries to match things up.  This morning she came out in just her pink striped shorts and asked where the pink tank top was that matched it.  It was in the laundry, so I went back in with her to help her find another one.  There was one that I picked out that would of worked quite well with her pink striped shorts, but she chose this top and said it was the best match, and it's hard to tell from the picture, but it's actually on backwards.  The kicker comes at nap time, when she often revisits her outfit choice of the day and more times than not changes her clothes before she gets into bed and then again once she gets out.  The girl obviously needs options and today, she wanted to make sure her legs didn't get cold while she slept.  Totally sure that isn't even a possibility because it's super hot outside and our A/C can't keep up anyway!  But legwarmers it is!

Hot Labor Day Weekend

Holy smokes, it is hot out.  100 on Saturday, 102 on Sunday, and it's suppose to be 106 today.  Yuck!  We have just hung around home this weekend, not doing too much, but the hot weather is perfect for sticking the hose down your suit to cool yourself off!