Apple Picking

Friday was a lovely day to go through a corn maze, pick some apples and take some pictures in a pumpkin patch.  So, we did.

Except we got a little lost in the corn maze.  Ben tried to help us out, but he was a little bit confusing with his directions.

Then we headed up the hill to pick some apples.  It turns out that there are lots of little flying gnats that enjoy the fruit as much, if not more than, as we do.  But they do also enjoy flying around little boy's (and mom's) mouths.  So, Ben posed for this one picture, grabbed a few apples, and then insisted he was hungry and thirsty and tired and done with the apples.

All of which likely explains why it was so hard for me to get a good picture of him posing by the pumpkins.

Cute boy and his cute friends had a fun day and we now have a bag of yummy apples from a bunch of different trees.

Happy Birthday, Jason!

This was Jason last year right before his not-so-surprise surprise party for his 40th birthday.

And this is Jason today as he officially enters his forties (as opposed to just being 40).  A lot has changed.  Clearly.  Different shirt.  Different facial hair.

But the same Jason that we love.  Still the same wonderful husband and father.  Happy 41st Birthday, Jason!

The Big Move

Rocko the Bearded Dragon is a growing boy (well, we're pretty sure he is a boy).  So much so that we decided that he needed a bigger space in which to hunt crickets and sunbathe.  Saturday was the day of the big move.  I would like to say that he is happier, but it is really, really difficult to read his emotions.  He has a sort of Chuck Norris-esque sort of face - as in one expression for all emotions.

We're just going to assume that a sunning lizard is a happy lizard and assume that he likes his new place.

Mary's Rock

Yesterday was a glorious day.  And the best way to spend a glorious day is hiking in the mountains with 6 children.

Right?

Well, my friend and I were apparently the only ones on the trail yesterday who thought that because we got lots of comments (all positive and many funny) about our troop of kids ranging from 9 years to 11 months old (baby not pictured here) that we took hiking in Shenandoah National Park yesterday.  And the troop of kids did really, really well on our "2.8 mile" (I use quotes because it felt like much, much longer - it could be that we picked a trail that was more or less Mother Nature's version of the StairMaster) hike.  (Note to self: Get a topo map.)

Of course, all good hikes end at a rock formation that is fun to climb.

For this picture, I told the boys to smile like they could hardly contain all their excitement.  Apparently, this is what Ben looks like when he can barely contain his excitement.  I hope all of his excitement doesn't escape out of his mouth.  That could be messy.

 And up at the top of the rocks, my friend got these nice pics of the boys.

It was a fabulous hike.  I couldn't have been happier with how the boys did.  They had a great time hiking and climbing on the rocks with their friends.  The weather was beautiful (chilly and sunny - hooray for Fall!). The only thing that is keeping me out of the mountains this morning before church is the ice pack I have to use on my feet (boo for foot injuries).  Hopefully we get a lot of hiking in this Fall.

First Day of Preschool

When I gave birth to Ben it was, all things considered, rather easy.  I looked over at the student nurses who were observing and told them they might want to either prepare to catch the baby themselves or go get the doctor.  Not five minutes after the OB arrived, Ben came out.  

The trick has been getting him to separate from me since then.

We are making progress (a big thank you out to everyone who has been so helpful along the way), but it is still a process which makes me crave chocolate (or maybe even something a little bit stronger) in a deep way.   In a deep way that gets deeper with every minute that I refrain from yelling in frustration.  And then there is the dilemma: is he so upset that maybe taking him to Primary/leaving him at the gym kidcare/sending him to preschool just isn't a good idea or does he just need to learn how to deal?  

Jason leans towards the latter as it contributes to my sanity.  

Ben, on the other hand, has started asking to be homeschooled.

Riiiiight.

Last week we went to the Meet and Greet at Ben's wonderful preschool where he had a wonderful time with his wonderful teacher.  See, I even have proof (Bless you, Ty):

So, why was he doing this this morning?  The tears started before 8am (preschool starts at 9:30am) and my need for chocolate started about then as well.

We tried to take first day of school pictures with his brothers.  I even put on Ben's backpack to be funny and let him take pictures to cheer him up.  He did think this was funny for all of two seconds before he started in again asking tearfully if he had to go to school.

I tried bribing with fruit snacks (learned that trick from an expert), but to no avail.  I warned his teacher and she suggested my parking and coming in with him.  When I offered that option to him and promised to stay with him (trying not to commit to a specific length of time), he decided he was okay to go.

Then we got to do our traditional photo shoot.

And once we got in the car, he decided he didn't want to go after all.  At that point I told him that whether or not he wanted to go, I had to go because I hadn't paid yet.  We managed to make it into the building and Ben's morning teacher (the angel Kellie) pulled him out of his grumpy funk and had him happily working at his seat in minutes.  

Since he has been home he hasn't been able to stop talking about how much fun he had at school.  Hopefully he remembers that come Wednesday.

Labor Day

No commentary on these pics, except that we had a really, really fun Labor Day at the Wellings.  Hooray for pool parties!

My First World Problems

1. I can only fit 3 bikes in the back of my minivan.
2. I can't ever keep track of whether canola oil, olive oil, coconut oil, butter or margarine is the "good fat".  I use them all just to make sure I am getting the good one.
3. There isn't a dairy-free, processed sugar-free Nutella option.
4. We switched from Netflix Streaming to Amazon Instant Video which has fewer Phineas and Ferb episodes.
5. I am eating a gluten-free, dairy-free, ovo-vegetarian diet and I am still gaining weight.
6. Only 4.5 months left of afternoon church.
7. I spend all day trying to get Michael to understand that he doesn't have to yell in the house when he talks to me.  Then we get in the van and I have to ask him to yell speak up because I can't hear anything he says.
8. It is so difficult to be motivated to go to our gym which is 5 minutes away and has free childcare.
9. I would like to workout more (see #8), but my fat just doesn't like being jiggled around that much.
10. I spent so much time (while in a cast) sitting in my favorite spot on the couch, that now I have to sit in other spots so it gets worn down equally.