Apple Picking

Yesterday we spent the day with some homeschooling friends at SkyTop Apple Orchard in NC.



We had a short educational class, went on a hayride (minus the hay), and picked delicious apples:




Enjoyed the cool, shade in the bamboo forest (it was quite hot in the sun):


Fed the animals:


Played on the playground:

This picture reminds me of the "Musicians of Bremen".

Took advantage of photo ops:



We also ate warm, apple cider cake donuts covered in cinnamon sugar (Oh man, it's a very good thing they are over an hour away from me. They're dangerously yummy!). Oh, and we got sunburned. And after all that, made it back in time for piano lessons. Whew!

Oh and of course, ate apples. But poor Sam... it's hard to eat apples with no front teeth:

Then God said, "I've given you
every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
given them to you for food. Genesis 1:29

Speaking of getting rid of stuff...

We'd never part with an old lawnmower (primarily because nobody but my husband - or my dad- would want it) but we did recently have an opportunity to rid ourselves of some extra stuff we didn't need.

All you see here is girls clothes! Two stacks of hanging clothes, one large box, two smaller boxes, and two large bags. No wonder they were having trouble shutting their drawers! That smaller box on the far left is all tights. My girls had so many cute tights, but they hate wearing them and so never did and so the tights no longer hang in long abandoned strands out of the bins meant to contain them.

We got rid of some nice things, but one important piece of junk we kept is:


pillows.

The reason... weapons:




It's lots of fun:

The Unlucky Lawnmower

There is something wrong with this picture:


No, I'm sure you can't tell by looking. What's wrong is the lawnmower he is using. It isn't the unlucky lawnmower referred to in this blog title. It is actually his old lawnmower. The one about which he said back in June, "I don't think I can mow with it one more time." That was when he decided he needed a new one and bought the unlucky, new, Honda lawnmower. The very first time Taryn used it(and only the second time the mower was used at all) she ran over the water meter cover and the lawnmower stopped. John worked on it and got it all fixed up though it never ran quite the same after that. About 2 weeks ago while John was working on a problem at work nearly nonstop, I decided the lawn needed mowed and I would help him out. I walked out to the lawnmower, pulled the starter cord and it never retracted. I was left holding a bunch of limp cord. Not really the help I had in mind. So Saturday when there was a brief reprieve in the rain, he went out to work on the mower. He quickly assessed the following: 1) The new mower could not be fixed without buying a part, 2)the lawn really needed to be mowed, and 3) he knew he could make the old mower run. And now our yard has been mown, a new part has been ordered, and my husband's tendency to want to keep old, broken things has once again been reinforced. And really, who am I to argue with someone who has a track record like his?

Rain

It has been raining and raining and raining here. My kids love the rain, especially on warm summer days when there isn't any lightning, because then they can play in it. Here they are during a rainstorm in the spring:

On Sunday we had a church picnic in the rain. The adults all stayed under the shelter, but it was inevitable that the kids would end up in the rain. It just so happened that Rebekah had chosen brand new blue jeans and white socks. She got so wet that her socks turned completely blue right down to the toes.

It is quite unusual around here to have just steady rain for days. I am enjoying having all the windows open and listening to the steady rainfall. Unfortunately, it has not been so pleasant for many others in the south as flash flooding has caused much damage and even fatalities. Lifting up prayers for them.

Thcool for Tham

There is not much in the world that is cuter than the sweet, toothless grin of a baby....

except for possibly the same toothless grin of a new kindergartener doing his schoolwork.

Two weeks ago we lost 4 teeth in 4 days. First Joe, then Sam, then Joe, then Sam.

As for the school, Sam is an eager student. He just has to find ways to make it more interesting for himself. He makes the letters in his phonics book upside down, or "sleepy", or giant letters or midget letters. I once had a teacher explain that the greater than and less than signs were like crocodile mouths and they always opened up to eat the bigger number. Good analogy, used it with the other four kids. Told Sam. Here's a problem from his math book:

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it...

but you are peacefully asleep in bed in a house adjacent to said woods, you WILL be startled awake, with your husband jumping out of bed, your own heart racing, and your hands shaking.

If this happens after you were awakened to a cat fight on your back deck and before you are awakened by a child slamming a door and running down the hall to the bathroom, you might wonder if staying awake is actually a better option for the health of your heart.

*yawn*

Never quite ordinary

So, Sam says to me as he's walking off to bed, "I put my tooth under my THREE pillows, Mom."

Of course he didn't emphasize it... said it as though that is the perfectly natural way to sleep. Just when you think something ordinary is going to come out of their mouths...