Reminiscing

We were at a wedding the other night for John's cousin.  It was a great wedding.  Everything was gorgeous and it reminded me how much I do enjoy going to weddings.  Afterwards John and I reflected on our first year of marriage.  Partly because we had the wedding to remind us of ours and partly because we drove right past our first apartment on the way to pick up the boys.  If I had my pictures around I would scan some in of our first place.  It was awesome.  It really was the perfect first place.  It was an old Victorian house that had been converted into apartments with an addition built off the back for more.  When you walked into our apartment you could see from one end to the other in one shot since all the rooms were laid out in a straight line.  It was charming even with all it's faults, like ugly (and in places stained) wallpaper, the unventilated bathroom that was pretty much in your kitchen, and only having two closets.  But I still loved it.  It had probably 12' ceilings and 9' windows.  Our bedroom was the size of half of our current upstairs and had a huge bay window with a window seat.  The big old baseboards and the old hook ups for the gas lanterns were fabulous.  We had hand me down furniture and were happy with our busy newlywed lives.  We were both in school and both worked at least 2 jobs, but it was wonderful.  We didn't have the internet or cable.  Gasp!  We watched seasons of 24 and Lost on DVD that we borrowed from people. Eventually we got bunny ears for the TV and got two fuzzy channels, the CW and some channel with an "i" as the logo.  And I would record shows off the CW with my VCR and watch them later.  How often does that happen anymore?  We also had a puzzle table.  Yes, a puzzle table.  We would spend hours sitting and doing puzzles.  We did a lot of puzzles that first year.  We had no distractions from the outside world.  Our studying always got done, the apartment was always clean, and we always had time for each other.  That awesome apartment was only $400 a month, with utilities included!  WHAT?  I know, it still blows our mind how little we paid for that place. Working our multiple small jobs kept us afloat and we could save a little money to help when it came time for me to start my first job after graduating college.  We have wonderful memories of that first place.  Of the friends that came to hang out, hosting my nieces and nephew's while my sister had their little brother, honing my cooking skills, and learning how to live together.  They say the first year is the hardest.  I'm still waiting for that year to arise, 8 years later.

Aren't we so cute? And don't we look young and fresh?

while the cat's away....

...the mice will play.

Recently John went to Haiti.  He was gone for 9 long days.  So the boys and I had to find ways to entertain ourselves.  We went to the Apple Harvest Festival, spent time at my parents house, made apple sauce, played outside, made Halloween decorations, played outside some more, got to chat with Daddy now and again, and had MaMa over for a sleepover, haircuts, and firetrucks.  

But nothing beat having Daddy come home.

National Apple Harvest Festival

 He liked the steam engine

 Enjoying our traditional apple sausage.  YUM!  He and Will both loved it.

 Can you tell it was hot?  It was in the 80's.  A little too hot to feel like apple harvest time, but we still enjoyed the food and vendors.

 My big man! 

We had apple sausage, and pumpkin funnel cake. And we bought cider, a caramel apple, and some uncooked apple sausages to bring home.  Nothing beats apple harvest!  A friend had an extra ticket and was willing to let us tag along, hooray!  We also got to take our own personal orchard tour.  We were directed to a field to park in that we didn't want to go in, so we decided to go our own way...a very long way.  We found some gorgeous views looking out over all the mountains and orchards around Biglerville and further out.  In the end we got exactly where I wanted to be in the first place!  I knew we could do it! 

Time out from being cooped up at home. We took a two day break to MaMa and PapPap's house.

 MaMa had the boys help clean the walnuts off the driveway by throwing them into the creek.  They loved it! If they could live outside they would, so getting to throw walnuts and go pretend to fish in the creek and play on the swings and go see the neighbor's barnyard critters was the best! 

 We decided to can applesauce while we were there.  So we went to an amazing orchard to get our goods. When we lived in Waynesboro we frequented this orchard, and I really miss it.  They have huge crates of apples that you can pick and choose what you want.  The boys loved helping pick the apples.  They also have the most amazing cider. It's unpasteurized, they have a huge steel tank and they fill up your jug and seal it up.  It's the best stuff in the world.  We also bought our pumpkins while we were there because they had crates full of pumpkins for $1.50.  Mind. Blown.  I got four beautiful pumpkins.  I love that place.

 This apple was huge.  The one type of apple was just humongous. 

 Some of the deliciousness. 

 (ignore the towel reflection, they were too hot to move at the time)

 Applesauce made easy, the Squeezo! I love this thing.

At the end of the week MaMa came over for a play date and sleepover on Friday.  Sadly, it poured buckets, reportedly 8", so we did not play outside, nor did we do anything we had planned.  We holed up and played indoors.  But Saturday the sun came out so we ran out before I had to go to work and got our hair cut.  

Will's first real hair cut!

 The before shot.  A little shaggy, the back had little curls,which are gone.

 He did amazing!  He refused the cape,so he was covered in hair. That was his only complaint, all the hair.  I spent a lot of time picking it off his pants and brushing off his hands. But he sat perfectly still and moved his head just the right way. He did amazing!  Such a contrast to what Landon was like at his first hair cut. He was the same age, and he screamed and cried and carried on.  Will even let her use the razor to trim up his neck and around his ears! My brave little man!

 The best after shot that could be obtained.  He was too into his reward lollipop to care about a photo op.

After we left the hairdresser we went past the fire station right down the street.  To our surprise they had firetrucks, ambulances, paramedic trucks, rescue boats, police motorcycles and more sitting out.  So we pulled in.  Fire prevention week time!  

Landon wouldn't get on any of the trucks, but Will climbed up into the firetruck seat.  He also ran laps around the back of an ambulance.

 Trying on the helmet

Smokey the Bear freaked out both of the boys.  But after we got home Landon did nothing but talk about being a fireman and that Smokey was his friend who went with him.  

 Watching the fireman get all his gear on.

Can you sense Will's displeasure at being so close?  Neither boy would get close to him.  It was a great idea though.  They let them watch him put on every piece of gear.  Then he walked slowly up to them talking to them. With the respirator going that is a little scary.  It's like Darth Vader is coming.  And they had someone else telling them about how they would look like this if there was a fire and not to run away because they are good guys.  It was a really great experience.  The boys loved it!

DADDY'S HOME!!!!!

Pre-bed wrestling with Daddy.  I love this group of boys and I love having them all in one place again.

Boys and bugs

I haven't posted in forever, so I think I owe you a photo drop.  Mainly because I want to put them here.  Enjoy my kids.  Mostly they are pictures of them looking at bugs.  They do that a lot it seems.  BOYS!

 This bunk bed was harder to put together than it should have been with two boys always "helping" out.

 Woolly worm  investigations

 He didn't enjoy it climbing on him that much, so he put him on a piece of styrofoam 

 Will attempted to stab it.  Landon saved the little guy from death.

 He found this moth (dead moth) on the kitchen floor.  After examining it inside and having a mini moth lesson we put it outside.  Well, he went outside later that day and was back to investigating the dead moth.  He was very upset when Will crushed it a little.

I noticed this guy on our pampas grass so we checked him out.  He kept an eye on us, which freaked me out a little.  I'm always sure bugs are going to jump on me unexpectedly, and he was huge.  When he struck the famous "praying" pose Landon got excited, "he's praying, Mom!"

 The golden raspberry bush is my favorite thing ever.  We planted it on a whim three years ago and it has been great.  We had never had them before.  They are amazing, and they get nice and big.  The best thing is that it is still producing.  It starts a little later in the summer and gets attacked by bugs, but now that it is fall it is still full of berries and bug free.  We only get a handful at a time.  Partly because it is young and partly because the boys glean from it daily.

 I thought this grasshopper was pretty cool.  It has a hook for a butt...what is up with this thing?  So once again, we had to check it out.

Some of the beauty that our yard provides.  I do love backing up to a field.  Mornings are just gorgeous.