Apples!!!

Well, it was time to do something with all the apples we got on our trip up north so last Saturday was official Apple day around here:

We started by trying to duplicate the amazing apple fritters we had at one orchard. Good, but no where near as good as what they made.


moved on to crockpot applesauce.

3 pies to freeze


Cute helper :)
An apple crisp to freeze

And 9 pints of Apple butter

It was a long, messy, drippy, sticky, delicious day :)

Articles of Faith

At the beginning of every year, Primary asks the kids to memorize the 13 Articles of Faith. Schmoo did a couple then decided it was "too hard". In August, he decided that he wanted to do it again so he just...did it. Each week he would memorize one on his own...from reading the card and playing on the Friend website. We offered to help him but he said, "I can take care of this BY MYSELF!" ooooookkkkkk!

A few weeks ago he passed off the last one. We are super duper proud of him :) There are only 3 other kids in our Primary who have done it.

He is pictured below with one of his "scripture snakes". Each time he passed off an Article of Faith he got one of these. (they are full of gumballs.)

Halloween

One day in early October, I pulled out all the Halloween decor. The next morning I woke up and found that Schmoo had done some decorating of his own while we were asleep. I love his drawings!

A ghost that looks suspiciously like it should be in a Super Mario Bros game:

His snaggly toothed jack o lanterns :)

And the variety pack: the tombstone that says "RIP here lies our house" (I LOVE IT, hee hee!) Frankenstein, witch, mummy, skeleton, spider and vampire bat.


At his kinder Halloween party



The school parade. Coming...

And going.


And all ready to Trick or Treat!




I'm glad that he actually ended up wearing his costume. He begged to be Sonic, and then once we got the costume, he said he looked ridiculous in it. We told him we could return it and get a different one but he insisted on keeping it. On the weekend before all the activities were to begin, we wanted him to try it on so we could hem it, but he refused to put it on. He made daddy type out a sign that said, "My mom bought me the costume I wanted, but I refuse to wear it, so now I'm a ghost. Boo!" He punched holes in the top for string and said that was all he was wearing.

When we saw the signs for the trunk or treat at church, he got really excited about decorating the trunk. I told him I had no intention of decorating the trunk, but if he wore his costume, I would. Well, we struck a deal and he ended up loving his costume. (it didn't hurt that a lot of cool big kids made nice comments about it.)

We did a lot of trick or treating in our neighborhood last night and it was fun and just the perfect temperature...cold enough to keep you moving, but not to freeze you! We went out around 6:30 and stayed out til 8:00. It was a great night!

Palmyra

My parents came up to yankee land for their annual look at the leaves and buy apples trip. We asked if they wanted to go to Palmyra and they said, "Sure, why not?" They had been a couple of times, but we never had. The weather left much to be desired but in the end we had a wonderful time!

We hiked up the Hill Cumorah. (and saw there was a parking lot. We could have driven? What?)

We went to the Smith Family Farm and the Sacred Grove. We had a beautiful experience. It was a chilly, gray fall day and we were almost the only ones there. We got a chance to talk about The First Vision and our testimonies and it was awesome. Schmoo was really touched and we will always remember that day.








Proof that my parents were actually there. Why don't I have more photos of them?


And my dear husband and I got to go to the temple. Always a great day when we have a sitter and get to go to the temple. (And bonus, it was another new one for us!)

It's all sunshine and roses.

We got some pretty amazing rainbows the other day after a storm. Part of a double and one whole one. It was beautiful and Schmoo ran around saying, "it's my first New Jersey rainbow!!!" I guess he was excited.

I've been taking a beginning cake decorating class with my friend Sara. Our instructor is the little middle-aged-ish man from Peru. Not quite what I expected when I signed up for the class, but the man knows his stuff. My roses are improving, though my leaves are still frequently looking like slugs.

James has a stuffy nose, quite probably due to allergies and/or crazy changing of the weather this week. Tonight before our family prayer he asked me to pray that he would "RECOVER from his ILLNESS." dramatic much? (and I don't know where he gets all his words?)

First day of kinder, postlude

So Schmoo got on the bus at 8:30 this morning and I wandered around the apartment thinking, "so now what do I do?" (well, I am in the middle of a job hunt, so I'm guessing that feeling won't last too long.) Anyway, he was gone all day and was supposed to be home at 4:00.

Due to first day of school chaos, he didn't get home til 4:30. He came in, asked for a snack, sat down and said, "So, mommy, do we have any plans for today?" I told him, "yeah, it's called dinner and bedtime!" Good grief, 8 hours of school aint good enough for ya, kid?

We asked what his favorite part was and he answered, "lunch". He said his least favorite part was being the last one on the bus (which he wasn't so I don't know what that's about.) He had fun in gym and didn't complain about anything, so I'll call that good though I know the honeymoon won't last forever :)

First Day of School!

Today is the first day of school! How in the world did it get here so fast? We were just celebrating the end of Pre-K and next thing you know, we're packing lunch and sending him off on the big yellow bus to the first day of kindergarten! I've spent the last several days hiding tears, but thankfully he is so ready and happy to go. I don't know if I would call it "excited". He's pretty nonchalant, just like his dad!

We went to see his classroom and meet his teacher last Friday. His school is only for kinder and first grade but it has 15 classes of each grade!!!! He got an outstanding teacher and I am hopeful that she will know what to do with his big brain and propensity to get upset if he doesn't do something perfectly or know the answer (or know it all, for that matter.)

He's been WAITING SO LONG to wear his new school clothes and use his new school gear.





Waiting outside for the bus.

He just lost his second tooth last week:

Going...


Going....
Gone.


I've spent so much time being sad about it over the past couple of weeks that I was really surprised that when the bus pulled away I didn't sob like a big baby. Maybe I'm still in shock.