Busy Busy Baking!

Earlier this week we went to the apple orchard with Noah's preschool class and picked apples! In the past I have been known for waiting too long to use the apples that we pick and then, by the time I get around to them, they're bad and we can't use them. Sad. This year I was determined to use every apple we picked. So we started right away.

Yesterday, after Clayton got home from school, we got started. Justin always teases me that I never make pie - even though I talk about it a lot. So yesterday, there was pie!

The boys loved using the apple corer/peeler/slicer. It's a good thing there were a lot of apples to go around!

The also loved helping me roll out the dough. I had to keep a close eye on Noah though, he would just as soon eat it as roll it!

The pie is ready for the oven!
The finished product. It's not the prettiest pie (not a zessert by any means), but we were pretty proud of it.
It tasted delicious! I have made and destroyed pies in the past so I was a little gun shy, but this one was picture perfect. My helpers and I will definitely attempt this again!
After the apple pie was done, we still had plenty of apples. So today, while Clayton was at school, Noah and I made applesauce. Noah was over the moon about having the apple corer/peeler/slicer all to himself. I love how easily he's entertained!
Stirring the applesauce.
He loves to stir things and was very careful not to touch the pot or the stove. I love doing things one on one with my kids. It makes them so happy (and it makes me feel pretty happy too).
As Noah and I were mashing the apples we decided that we liked it a bit chunkier and more like a relish than a sauce. The boys had some for dessert tonight and they were both big fans. (I also had some tonight over vanilla ice cream - heaven!)
As the boys and I baked, we couldn't forget about our favorite girl. Unfortunately, she's too young to help us, but we wanted to include her in the apple fun. So we set her up in her highchair with an apple and she went to town on it!

She doesn't like to sit IN her highchair anymore. We are working on it, but - as you can see - it's not always very successful.
It's been apples, apples, apples at our house all week. We still have a few more that (I hope) we're going to use to make mini apple tarts this weekend. It's been so much fun sharing this time with my kids baking, talking, singing, and laughing together!

Apple Picking

I love fall. I have always liked this time of year, but ever since we moved to Vermont, I have fallen head over heels in love with it! Now, Indiana is no Vermont (sorry Hoosiers, but let's just get that out of the way), but it's gorgeous here as well. The leaves are starting to change colors, the weather is cooling off (which I don't love, but it means sweaters - which I DO love), I get to make soups and stews and all that delightfully heavy 'fall food', fires in the fireplace (which we actually have now), and it's time for fall activities! One of my favorite fall activities is apple picking. We never missed a fall in Vermont of apple picking and I am delighted that we aren't going to miss it in Indiana either!

Noah's preschool class took a field trip today to an apple orchard. For $2 each kid got a grocery bag and the instructions to 'fill it as full as you can'! Of course Noah took that direction very seriously and took off at full speed picking every apple he could reach. They weren't all winners, but fortunately I was the one holding the bag so I got the final say in which apples were keepers and which ones were better left at the orchard. I think Noah and Josie (who got to come too) could have done this for hours. Josie had a hard time pulling the apples off the trees and preferred picking them off the ground, but as most of those apples were rotten, none of her 'picks' made it home with us. Noah thought he had to pull with all his might to get the apples off the trees and this led to more than one tumble. He was a good sport about it (especially since I was laughing every time he fell) and always jumped right back up, apple in hand, ready for the next pull!

When it was time to go back to school, each kid had to choose two apples from their bag and put them in their teacher's bag. (They are going to make applesauce in class tomorrow.) Noah chose two of his largest apples to put in her bag. Then he hurried off into the orchard to pick two more apples to replace the ones he gave away. So funny.

Here's the photographic evidence of our fun:
Ready to get pickin'!
She was ready too!
Noah and his friend Josh. I learned today that Noah is quite popular. He's an 'in demand' friend and playmate. All morning long, kids were coming up to him and asking him to pick apples with them or sit with them and introducing him to their parents. This surprises me just a little because out of my two boys, Clayton is the more outgoing social butterfly and Noah is more aloof and solitary. Maybe that makes him the James Dean of the preschool set...
First pick of the day!

Sometimes you have to use two hands on those stubborn apples.
Josie showing me her 'pick' (which ended up back on the ground).
She has recently learned how to say 'cheese' it comes out 'tssss' and is the cutest thing ever. It really is.
There were SO many apples!
Josie finally got a good one and Noah was guiding her to the bag so she could put it in. It was pretty sweet. He can be a Pootie, but he's a great big brother too!
I just want to eat this little girl up!
Trying so hard to pull those darn apples off the tree!
Noah often liked to go for two at a time. He's quite an impressive apple picker. I'm glad he was on my team!
Helping Josie bag the apples.
Group shot (and holy cow - do I ever need to get my hair done - yikes)!
What better way to end a trip to the orchard than by eating a nice juicy apple!

I've gone on all of Clayton's school field trips and I'm glad that I get to go on Noah's too. It was such a fun morning. Next up for us and our apples...applesauce and apple pie! YUM!

Fun Run

Every year, Clayton's school does a fun run as their major fundraiser. Each child can try to get sponsors, but whether they get sponsors or not, they get to participate. I like this for several reasons. First, they aren't trying to sell some random overpriced junk that no one really needs. Second, it promotes fitness. The kids are out there and they're active. Plus they make it so fun! Third, when they get sponsors, the donation is completely up to the sponsor, so people can donate $1 or $100. Whatever. This year the goal of the fun run was to raise $18,500. Not all the donations are in yet, but they've raised over $16,000! Impressive! This is, by far, the best fundraiser that I've ever seen a school do. Ever.

Yesterday was the event. Parents and siblings were encouraged to come out and support the students as they ran/walked/skipped around the track. Clayton had been looking forward to this fun run for a couple of weeks and he was so excited when it was finally fun run day. Justin, Noah, Josie, and I went down to Clayton's school to cheer him on. When we got there, the kids were stretching. SOO cute! Then it was time to run. I didn't quite realize what a big deal this fun run was. They had music (and real 'on the radio' music, not just kid stuff), a mascot (a cheetah named Max), pom poms for the younger siblings to use to cheer the runners on, race numbers for each kid to stick on their front or back (it made it seem like a real race), and popsicles for everyone when the kids were done running (which excited Noah to no end). It was a great event and I'm so glad that we all got to go down there and support Clayton.

Clayton really impressed us. He ran almost the whole time (if I had to guess, I'd guess he ran about a mile). He's like his mother, slow but steady. He would get so excited when he'd run by where we were standing and hear us scream for him.

Here are some of the pics:
Here is some of the stretching. They did some really funny stuff that I wish I'd have gotten on camera, but it was hard to get a good angle of Clayton because it seemed like no matter where I moved, there was a kid blocking my shot!


I love this action shot! Check out that form!
He would always look at us and smile and wave when he passed us. I'm so glad that we were there to be his fan club!
I thought this was cute. At different times we all went out and ran a lap with him. Noah and I went first, and then Justin ran a lap with Clayton towards the end. It was nice because I think Clayton was starting to get tired, but having Justin out there with him was the boost he needed to keep running!
Yum! A nice cold popsicle after a hard run race!
I felt kind of bad for Noah because he saw all the kids getting popsicles but I thought they were just for the students. I was trying to explain that to him when a woman came around and gave him a popsicle. He just lit up. It made me really happy to see him like that! (And those are bug bites all over his face from the Father's and Son's campout last weekend. I swear this kid is like dessert to Mosquitoes!)
Clayton and his 'team' (class) with Max the Cheetah.
I was so proud of how Clayton did!
Justin was pretty proud of him too!
This was funny. Josie is quite the dancer these days. When she heard the music she really wanted to get out of her stroller and dance. We were hesitant to let her though because we didn't want her running down to the track and distracting the runners. After the kids were done, however, we let her loose. And she sure did get down! I tried to get it on video, but I wasn't fast enough. Sad.
This is a little blurry, but I think it's insanely cute so I'm including it anyway!

This was such a fun event! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Noah's Turn!

(Taken on orientation day. Doesn't he look so grown up!?!)
For over two years now, Noah has been watching Clayton go to school. At the beginning of every school year, we go through the same dialogue. We put Clayton on the bus and then Noah begins question after question about when it will be HIS turn to go to school. This year I finally got to tell him that he would be able to start a few weeks after Clayton. He was so excited and has been asking me every day if it was his turn to go to school.

Yesterday was the big day (sort of). It was orientation day at school. This meant that Noah got to go into his classroom with his teacher while I went in a seperate room for a parent meeting about what to expect. He was only there for an hour. When I went to pick him up after orientation, he cried and told me he didn't want to leave. It took a hug and a promise that he could come back from his teacher before he finally relented and came with me.

I learned that, unlike his older brother, Noah is a wealth of information! He was so chatty on our way home from orientation. He told me what he did, what he played with, who he played with, what his favorite things were, etc. It was so nice!! Getting information out of Clayton is like pulling teeth so I was ecstatic that Noah was so willing to share how his day went.

Today was his first actual day of school. He woke up at the same time as Clayton and begged me for hours to help him get ready. He even attempted to dress himself (but there was NO WAY I was going to let him leave the house in the outfit he put himself in...ah children). Soon enough it was time to leave. We went to the school and he ran right in, greeted his teacher and threw me a wave over his shoulder. He literally didn't even look back. I love that I've raised such confident and independent boys but a little hug or 'I'll miss you' would be nice. Sheesh.

It was weird around here without him this morning. Josie and I went to the grocery store and then sat around the house counting down the minutes until we could pick Noah up. It definitely won't be like that every day, but I was a little nostalgic today. I missed him.

When I went to pick him up he ran to greet me and gave me a big hug. Noah is by far my most affectionate child and I love how happy he was to see me. I remember that picking Clayton up from preschool was so hard because he threw fits about leaving. Noah didn't do that at all. He'd had a great day, but he was happy to come home with me. It was perfect.

It's going to be nice to be able to do things with only one kid three mornings a week. I'm looking forward to spending some one on one time with Josie, but Noah has a definite presence around our house and today his absence was noticable. He's going to have a great year! I'm glad that it's finally his turn!

Here are the pictures:
This is one of my new favorite pictures! He's so happy and excited and is just hamming it up. This kid has always known how to work the camera.
He kept telling me to quit taking his picture so we could get going. I hope this means that he's going to love school just as much as his older brother.
Hanging his tote bag on his hook. His school requires tote bags instead of backpacks. So I made Noah a Buzz Lightyear bag. His eyes were so big when he saw the fabric. He was even more excited to see the finished product. There are even Thomas the Tank Engine pockets inside. That was a surprise for him. He couldn't stop staring/touching/wearing it. He loves it. I'm glad.
With his teacher. For the life of me he wouldn't look at the camera. There was just too much excitement I guess. It's fitting though. Clayton has a first day of school picture with his preschool teacher that's identical to this. Noah thinks his teacher's name is "Miss Holiday". It's close so I'm not going to correct him. I think Miss Holiday is going to be a wonderful teacher for him!
Good luck in school this year Noah. You're going to be amazing!

Swimming Lessons

In order to attempt to get caught up I need to post a little bit about the boys swimming lessons this summer. They took swim lessons for four weeks and did much better than they did last year. I don't trust them in the water by themselves by any means, but hopefully in one more year they will have finally caught on.

With the exception of living in Vegas until Clayton was 2 we've never lived in a place where learning to swim was considered a critical skill. It's not as if Vermont and Indiana are exactly full of pools. I think it'd be a little more important for them to learn to rake leaves and shovel snow.

However, they did take swimming lessons and I'm proud of them. They each handled their lessons in their own style. Clayton was full of anxiety that he was going to drown and, while he did make progress, there were some days where I wanted to pull him out of the pool and just forget about it. He is careful to a fault in this case. Noah is the opposite. He had to be constantly reminded to join the group and pay attention. He just wanted to do his own thing his own way. Unfortunately, his own way includes a lot of recklessness which is no bueno in a pool. So I had one kid who was clinging to the instructor every second that his feet couldn't touch and one kid who would get distracted in the middle of the pool and have the teachers hurry over before he fell off his noodle.

So that was swim lessons in a nutshell. I'm hoping that we'll be able to find an indoor pool to practice in over the winter. Otherwise there's no telling what they'll forget by next summer.

Here's the pictures (these are in no order other than Noah's first):
Noah loved to go down the slide, off the diving board, etc. Once he just decided that he was going to go down the slide. There was quite a scramble as teachers/parents rushed to get to him before he landed in the water!
Trying to backfloat with Miss Andy. Miss Andy was a really great teacher, but I didn't approve of her swimsuit. Just so you know. Also, Noah is an amazing backfloater in the bathtub, but he didn't like being told to do it in the pool. Typical Noah, if it's not on his terms, forget it!
He always looked so happy in the water. I think if he would learn to swim without the noodle I would never be able to get him out of the water! He's a fish!
I love this picture of Noah, but as I said before, I do not approve of Miss Andy's swimsuit. He was in a class with some friends from church, Daxton and Chloe. It was nice that he had friends in his class!
I didn't realize until just now that I don't have as many pictures of Clayton swimming as I do of Noah. It's probably because Clayton's face looked like this so much of the time:
That's his anxiety/concentration face. I love how careful he is and how badly he always wants to follow the rules. It's such a great skill, unless you're learning something new that doesn't come easily to you (cough cough, swimming, cough cough). Sometimes you have to - literally - jump in and learn as you go. Unfortunately for Clayton, you can't learn to swim before you get in a pool.
However, by the end of the four weeks, he could backfloat by himself for 10 seconds at a time AND when we took our trip to Wisconsin right after swimming lessons had ended, he was able to swim completely unassisted almost halfway across the pool! I'm so proud of him, especially because I know how hard and scary this is for him. He really did try his best and that's all I can ask of him!

I'm not going to be sending the boys to the pool alone any time soon, but I'm proud of the progress they made this summer! Good job boys!

Half Marathon!

I ran 13.1 miles today!! If someone would have told me a year ago that I would do this, I'd have laughed in your face. Seriously. I never think of myself as athletic and I honestly didn't think I had it in me. When we moved to South Bend one of my friends convinced me to train for a half marathon. It was a 10 week training program and there were times when I would come home from a run and just cry because I was certain that I couldn't do it. Then I'd have an awesome run and I'd be pumped because I'd feel like I really accomplished something.

Yesterday, Cami, Carissa and I left to drive down to Arcadia (where the race was held). We spent the night there because it's 2.5 hours away from where we live and we wanted to be close since the race started at 7:30. It was such a fun trip. The marathon kind of loomed over us and none of us got particularly good sleep, but they are so fun to be around and we laughed...a lot.

I started to get really nervous as we were stretching, looking at all the other runners. I was so sure I was going to be dead last. I knew I'd finish (I wanted that medal, dang it) but I was worried that I was going to have to walk it. Right before the race started though, I got really calm. It was weird. It was like I knew I was going to do it.

Sure enough, I did it!! I had a few moments of doubt (around mile 8) where I was starting to question my ability to finish, but once I got to mile 10, I knew I was going to do it. As I hit the home stretch, I got just the boost I needed. Justin was standing there waiting for me. He ran a little bit of the home stretch with me and was so encouraging. Totally what I needed right then. A short time later, I saw Cami and Carissa. They are awesome and had finished about 30 minutes ahead of me but they even came down to run part of it with me! Love them!! As the finish line came into view, I got an extra bolt of energy and I crossed it running faster than I'd run any part of the course!

I had two goals going into this race: I wanted to run the whole course and I wanted to finish in 2 hours and 30 minutes. I was so excited to find that my time was 2:23! Better than what I thought I would do. I feel so happy right now (and a little tired). I feel like I accomplished something that I never would have ever thought I'd be able to do. I know I'm going to be insanely sore tomorrow, but it's so worth it. I even mentioned to Justin that I think I could do this again. (WHAT??)

Here are some pictures from today:
This is right when Justin came into view. I had about half a mile left at this point. (Yes, those are spandex pants. Try not to be too envious that you don't go out in public in a pair.)
Me crossing the finish line. YAY!!
So happy to be done!
Cami, Carrisa, and me. Yes, they look MUCH better than I do in this picture. I like to think it's because this was taken right after my run was over and they'd had 30 minutes to rest and get refreshed while I was still red faced, nasty sweaty, and not in control of my smile. (Cami and Carissa, if you looked that good crossing the finish line, please don't tell me.)
Me and Justin. He's been so supportive throughout my whole training. There were times when I didn't think I could do this and he would encourage me and tell me that he knew I could. I truthfully couldn't/wouldn't have done this without him.

I have so many people to thank for all the help and support they gave me. I couldn't have done this alone:
Justin: I already mentioned how critical he was to me in this process. He was my biggest supporter and fan.
Cami and Carissa: I wouldn't have even signed up for this thing if it wasn't for them. I actually had a great time. I'd love to take a girl trip with them that perhaps could be enjoyed without the looming threat of a 13.1 mile run!
Jared and Kerstin: They came and watched the kids for me so I could go on my long runs. Plus Jared stayed overnight last night so that Justin could come watch me race. You guys are the best!
Eminem, Rhianna, Ke$ha, Jay Z, Linkin Park, Breaking Benjamin, Angels and Airwaves, Jason Darulo, Blink 182, We the Kings, and Cascada: Couldn't have kept going without you all.

I am so proud of me today. I ran 13.1 miles (and no, I never get tired of saying that)!