Apples!

This week we had the annual preschool apple picking field trip. I love this field trip. I love going to the apple orchard with my excited little preschooler, I love picking apples, I love that it's usually a little crisp outside but not cold, I love apple cider and baskets of local fruits and veggies for sale. Basically, I love it all. Since it's a pretty self-explanatory field trip, I'll let our pictures do the talking:
Josie and her cute friend Brady. Mattie (Brady's mom) and I were getting our babies out of the car and when I turned around Josie and Brady were sitting there making faces at us. Classic.

Josie was all over the place at the orchard. She was in her element. Picking apples and socializing like crazy. It was hard to get a decent picture of her. These two were about all I got.

Sammie was my buddy though so she was much easier to take pictures of. Cute little apple picker.

Josie and her good friend Eaven.

Yum, snack time!

I attempted to get a good picture with my girlies. This was the best one we got. Neither of my girls was really loving this.

Yum! I delicious apple for the ride home. (Apples last year were a disaster. Such a disappointing crop. They were MUCH better this year. Very juicy and delish.)

Josie and her friends playing in the field with the tractors.

Finding treasure.

Finding her inner cowgirl.

Sharing the wealth with our boys.

Yum!

 

I had asked Josie what she wanted to do with all our apples. She was very adamant about making an apple pie. So we waited for Sammie to take a nap and we got to work.

 She's waiting oh so patiently for me to get everything ready.

 Josie was a pro with the apple corer peeler slicer this year.

 Sometimes it's a two handed job though.

 She was blasting through those apples almost as fast as I could cut them.

She was also very helpful making our pie filling. (I was so impressed. I'd expected her to get bored and quit on me but she never did.)

 Pinching our pie crust.

 What a lovely helper!

 And how did our pie turn out?

 Delicious (as if there was a doubt).

I love fall and I love apple season and I love (almost) everything associated with it! I don't know what we're going to do next year when we don't live here and go to this preschool anymore (sob). Hopefully there'll be good apple picking wherever we end up!



What!?! You didn't recognize us?

Me: Clayton, what is this?
Clayton: The cover page for my autobiography.
Me: Ummm, that's not you.
Clayton: I know.
Me: Okay. This is an autobiography. About you. Don't you think YOU should be on the cover?
Clayton: Probably. I wanted to put a baby picture of myself on the cover but I couldn't find one.
Me: Where did you look? Where did this one come from?
Clayton: I googled 'Clayton Smith baby picture'. No pictures of me came up so I used this one instead.
Me: Why?
Clayton: Because even though it's not me, it's someone's baby Clayton Smith.

We fixed it, but I'm still laughing over this one. Hard.

Fact: my kid is awesome...and hilarious.

Josie's First Day!

Josie started preschool last week. Justin and I were out of town interviewing for a job in Idaho (more on that in a different post) so I didn't get to take the traditional 'first day' pictures. So today we had a 'first day of school re-do'.

We took family pictures the evening after her "first" day and I wanted to have her hair fixed really nicely for that, so I kind of didn't mess with it too much for school so she's not as put together as I usually try to do but I think she's gorgeous - inside and out! This little lady loves school and I'm so glad that it's finally her turn to start (she's been asking every day since the boys went back).

Aunt Ashley made her another gorgeous school bag this year. It's honestly so cute that I kind of want to steal it and make it mine!

She got a bunch of new dresses for school this year (mostly hand me downs from Tori and Ella - not sure what we're going to do for clothing once they move!). I think it's going to be a very dressy year for my little princess.

Of course Sammie wanted to get in on the action! (Can you believe that next year it'll be Sammie's turn to start school!?! I can't think about it too much, makes me sad.)

 Her pose here cracks me up!

 Lovely.

Josie and Mrs. Monserez. We have loved her ever since Noah had her a few years ago. In my opinion, she's the best preschool teacher ever! I'm so excited that Jo gets to have her this year.

While Josie's off having fun at school, this sweet lady and I get to hang out one on one (though she definitely misses her sis - she was so sad when we dropped Jo off today)!

Having three kids back in school makes me feel so old, but I know how much my kids love it (most of the time) and so it makes me happy that they get to go. I know Josie's going to have a great year and I can't wait to see how much she grows and learns!

Things that make me happy:

This baby that decided to try a peanut butter facial:

 This baby that decided to eat a banana:

This baby who loves to play (especially with pencils and erasers - probably because she knows she's not supposed to):

 Okay, just everything about this baby:

These awesome boys who ran in their first 5k the day after we got home from Vegas:

They both did so awesome. Noah was a sprinter and we lost track of him a couple of times (just like his dad) and Clayton was slow and steady (just like his momma). I'm so proud of these boys for doing this. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to running many more races with them in the future!

My awesome pancake skills:

This girl, who loves books and music and dressing up like a princess:

 She drives me batty on a daily basis but, holy cow, I can't get enough of this spunky lady:

This lovely ottoman/storage box/coffee table that I started (and it turned out horribly because my idea wasn't as good as I'd thought it was). Justin took it while we were in Vegas and turned it into something I absolutely love. I painted it when we got home, we upholstered it together, and attached the lid as a team. It's not perfect, but I can't stop staring at it:
(Sammie is sad because she's not allowed to climb on it. Oh, hard life lessons!)

 Love!

The sun is shining, I've started watching Friday Night Lights again, cereal was on sale for $1 at the store (the good sugary stuff!), and all my laundry is done. Life is good!