Most of the apples have now been turned into applesauce so I guess we're over the trauma of the apple orchard. We're all mostly healthy again and chugging along in our new fall routine. Stop me if I've said this already, but this year feels totally different so far. Different better. Much better. The kids are being pretty darn helpful as far as kids go, and that gives me a little bit of much needed breathing room on the weekends and evenings. I am not rushing out after school several days a week to pick children up and take them back to school with me while I try to work, and I think that is giving me a little wiggle room in my schedule too. Man, I almost feel like a normal human. I've been exercising and READING BOOKS. FICTIONAL ONES. Somebody stop me!!

it should have been a fun weekend outing

You know, hindsight and all that. Today was a stay at home sick day. I think if you look at our faces you can see that we tried really hard, but it just wasn't working. We couldn't figure out why everyone was so crabby. Then Mary got up at 2 am with a fever last night. Emily's is a low grade fever, but she has not been eating or sleeping well either AND GRUUUUMPY. On our way to the apple orchard she wet her pants and didn't tell anyone. I didn't bring any extra clothes because she rarely wets her clothing, but I still should've been prepared. If you look closely there is a sweatshirt tied around her waist to cover up the lack of pants. After an hour in the car we weren't willing to be the WT family with their oversized 2 year old just in a diaper (I did have an extra one of those in the back of the van) walking around picking apples and taking cute family photos.

Anyway, we got 4 big bags of apples picked for applesauce and eating. They're so much tastier when picked straight from the tree to our home. Skip the grocery store.

Unfortunately Mary won't be going back tomorrow with her class field trip to the same orchard. Her fever is still 101 tonight. She must really feel sick because she hasn't even really complained too much about not going. I took both girls to the doctor (I am getting smarter about not waiting it out anymore. That's for summer or people who don't have to take off work when their kids are sick :) ) and their strep tests were negative so this is just a lovely virus that we get to wait out. Yippee.

I wish that this photo could do justice to the size of this big daddy praying mantis. He had to be at least 3 inches long. I don't know much about the mantis species, but every year we have a lot of them in our yard/on our back porch. This one was the biggest ever. I went over to turn on the water faucet and I could see his eyes watching me. They seem really calm and friendly so I am happy that they enjoy our backyard. The kids have also been catching butterflies in mass quantity this week. The butterflies seem to be enjoying my bolting basil. I am not. It means that fresh herbs are almost done at our house. Boo.

a post about alarm clocks

I don't know about your house, but at our house I am the keeper of the alarm clock. And I have very specific feelings about my side of the bed. It's mine. But last night when Brian asked me to reset the alarm for 4:30 this morning I decided to reconsider my position. We definitely get up early, but not 4:30 early. So, I heard it go off--I'm not sure if he meant to put it on annoying beep to make sure he got up or he just didn't know how to work the settings--but it didn't get me upright. I might also interject here that I did take some Nyquil last night because I just can't seem to kick this cold.

Anyhoo, fast forward to 6:30 which is when Mary came in and said that Emily needed me. I was pretty confused and out of it when I staggered into her room when suddenly the fog lifted and I realized that it wasn't 5:30, but 6:30 and I am usually showered, dressed, lunches made, hair done, coffee made, getting ready to get the girls up at this time.

{PANIC!!!}

I am so thankful that the kids are old enough to really help. They made their lunches and ate breakfast while I took a quick shower. Elijah took the dog out and fed him. We were out the door by 7:25, which might be some kind of record for getting 4 people and a dog ready to leave, but I think I will move back to my side tonight.

Do you notice any similarities?

How is this even possible?

There are about 6 pieces of jewelry here. Any thoughts on how on earth they could become this tangled? I think it is not worth my time to try to un do them. But it does make me slightly irritated.

We are just having the best Labor Day weekend! Friday night we drove out to watch the Seeger Patriots play football. Since Brian is coaching jr high, he stands on the sidelines with the varsity team too, and Elijah gets to stand out there with them, which was definitely a highlight for him!

We've spent lots of time with our friends-campfire at our house Friday night, another campfire at friends' on Sunday night. We got to participate in an outdoor baptism yesterday for some new friends, Lauren, and her son, Hunter. We are Hunter's godparents, so Brian actually helped baptize him in the creek at their family's house. We also got to ride our motorcycle out there (about a 30 minute ride) and back. It was a gorgeous night for a ride.

Today I got the veggies I'm getting in the ground for our fall garden-really basic, no tending required. Just lettuce, spinach, and a few herbs. I tried to get garlic, but they were out, so I need to get on that. We loved harvesting our own fresh garlic in July. I also got 3 red raspberry bushes and am looking forward to having some fresh fruit of our own, perhaps even a little next summer.

The weather has been cool, sunny, and windy this weekend and we've really enjoyed that too. It's nice to have the windows open for a change and be able to be outdoors again without being uncomfortable!

The time is 3:37

Emily woke up at 1:30 having taken her diaper off and soaked her bed. I have not been back to sleep since. The alarm will be going off in 2 hours for me to get up and start my day. I'm not sure it will be worth it to go back to sleep.

The setting: in the tubbie, making "tea"

The character: Emily

The script

Emily: "Mommy, I'll be the gramma, and you be the sweetheart."

{hearts melting}