{Apples}

We made our annual trip to Eckert's farm in Belleville, IL today to pick apples.  It was a perfect fall day (unlike last year when it was 90 degrees -- or our first year when it was really cold!) -- a bit chilly in the early morning and in the shade and just warm enough in the sun.  The apples were good (last year they were terrible, but we still bought them for some reason...), though a little beat up from an April hailstorm, and the company was even better.  We skipped the pumpkins this year since it's a little early in the season.  They would either rot or the squirrels would eat them by Halloween! 

This is hands down one of my favorite activities of the year.  I think it is becoming one of the girls' favorites too.   Eckert's has done an amazing job of turning the orchard into a true destination and not "just" an orchard.  There is so much to do there and we haven't even explored the kid area with rides and animals yet!  It's always fun to walk through the nursery and look for good deals on end-of-the-season plants and wander through the market and try out the samples.  This year my sister's family and ours picked up lunch at the deli counter and headed outside for a picnic lunch.  They have all kinds of concessions outside now too -- a bbq stand, a funnel cake stand, a custard stand... not to mention the country restaurant (which we rarely go to simply because the wait is so long and we usually forget to put our names in before we pick apples).  They have even put in a little play area for the kids near the picnic tables and a stage for live music.  It is just such a great vibe. 

pre-picking -- they are so smart at Eckert's they even have all kinds of "photo" spots like this tractor set up for people to take pictures and then tag on Facebook as being at Eckert's.  Free advertising!  Very clever.

 

 

  

tractor ride!

 

taste testing straight from the tree is the best!

 getting a lesson on corn from dad and grandpa

lunch!

 it was a little chilly in the shade for ice cream -- but well worth it, I'm sure!

time to play

 the day wouldn't be complete without a little hula-hooping :)

So happy fall is officially here!

Making Me Smile This Week

Millie using the sleep mask my dad gave her from his flight to Nepal to keep the flour out of her eyes when we were baking a cake together on Sunday.  Clever little girl :)

Teddy's smiles ... they are so hard to capture because they generally happen when I am talking to him and it's hard to be fully engaged with a camera in front of my face.  They are SO wonderful though!

Teddy and Scott having after dinner conversation last night -- the view from my seat at the table especially made me smile.

The fashion stylings of my little three-year-old ...

 ... and her current obsession with posing in what appear to be hip-hop dance poses :)

I hope you had lots to smile about this week too!

It's Not Over ...

... 'til it's over.  Every Cardinals fan knows that after the path to the championship the Cards took last year.  Even our littlest fan knows :)

And because we are a two-team family and because it's not over for the Tigers either...

We can only hope for another Cardinals-Tigers World Series!

Housework

I posted this on Facebook, but figured I'd put it here too for posterity's sake.

Side note: I often wonder how wise it is to rely on digital media to preserve all of these memories.  How likely is it that these mediums are still going to be around in 10 years and we'll be able to access them?  I hope I'm not sorry someday that I didn't do things the old-fashioned way and don't have hard copies of all of these things....

Millie proclaimed this afternoon that she LOVES housework and started singing and dancing around the house looking for jobs to do :).  Here is part of her song.  Her enthusiasm was contagious and Merrill decided to get in on the fun too.  Definitely made doing chores more fun for me!  We'll see how long this lasts and if it includes cleaning up toys and craft supplies!

Firsts

Yesterday was a day of firsts for the kids.  The girls had their first gymnastics class (they were SO excited and have been asking to do this for months!)  Even though they were both a little nervous and shy, they jumped right in and had HUGE smiles on their faces every time they got to do an exercise on the equipment.  I am so glad that they are in the same class -- makes things much easier logistically and it makes it easier for them to feel comfortable participating without ME also participating.  The instructors broke the class of 16 or so kids into three smaller groups after the warm-up exercises.  When they called Millie's name to be in a group Merrill automatically stood up and went with her (after the instructors figured out who she was :) ).  I don't know if they would have placed them together anyway or not, but it worked out in the end and both girls were happy.  After gymnastics class we all piled into the car and Teddy got to take his first road trip.  We headed to Terre Haute to visit our niece Katelyn at Indiana State University.  We were so thrilled when she invited us down for the family weekend events and loved getting to see not only her, but the rest of her family.  It's hard these days to make it up to Michigan to visit everyone, so having a meeting ground in-between is kind of nice!  Teddy slept all the way to Terre Haute and didn't scream until we got into town (as we were trying to figure out where the stadium was...).  Not too bad.  We heard a lot of "are we in Indiana yet?" from the girls, but overall the three hour drive wasn't bad.  While at ISU the kids got to go to their first college football game.  Since Scott and I did not got to big football colleges we aren't too invested in the game (unlike our Mizzou family and friends), but it was a fun experience and ISU won so that was good.  The girls enjoyed the band, the cheerleaders, the pom girls and the flag squad the most.  Teddy slept through a large part of the game and then just hung out for the last quarter or so.  I think they were all happy when the frat boys next to us left with their air horn!  We ended our visit with a yummy dinner at a pub and then headed home.  Thankfully all three kids fell asleep for the trip home (eventually)!  Teddy was a little less happy to be in the car on the way home, but after a few feedings finally went to sleep.  Millie was determined to stay awake the whole way home, but fell asleep right about the time the last sunlight disappeared over the horizon.  Merrill fell asleep within 10 minutes of getting in the car :). 

 gymnastics isn't so exciting when you are 5 weeks old...

 stretching and warming up with the group

 the bars!

learning floor exercises -- forward rolls and modified cartwheels!  Millie was so proud that she was able to do the cartwheel all by herself!

road trip!

 also not too exciting when you are 5 weeks old

 eating lunch in the car is always a treat for these two!

 Go ISU!