I'm Back!!

My laptop has been (hopefully) restored! Thanks to my awesome husband and my smarter-than-anyone-I-know brother, I have my computer back!! And we were able to recover everything that was on the hard drive. Thank you, Lord!

All that just to say . . . I have a lot of catching up to do (in the blogging world!). Be looking for back-posts because I have this weird, perfectionist side of me that wants all my blog posts in the right order and on the right day. Crazy, I know. So be looking! Hopefully new posts will be up soon!

Applesauce :)

I love fall. When we lived in Haiti, it was the season that I missed the most. The changing leaves, the cool and crisp (but not cold!) air, the hayrides, apple orchards, pumpkin carving, jeans and hoodies, warm blankets, and the list goes on! One thing on that list is making applesauce. I love the day that I head over to my Mom's house and we work together to make yummy pink applesauce! Today was that day and it didn't disappoint! I headed over there after lunch with my three kids. Hope and Aliyah went right down for their naps and Samuel "helped" us make the applesauce. He did a really good job with either helping us turn the crank or with playing quietly by himself. Which is really hard for Samuel to do! He would much rather play with someone. When Grandpa came home after work Samuel did a great job of explaining to Grandpa how we made applesauce. He told him that he turned the crank and that the yucky part of the apple came out the end and the yummy applesauce went down the slide. We had some applesauce for supper and he was very proud that he helped make it! My Mom and I did 2 bushels of apples (54 margerine-sized tubs) in just over 3 hours. Success! Actually, it was probably 55 tubs full but I pretty much ate a whole tub myself while we made it. There is nothing I love more than piping-hot, fresh applesauce loaded with cinnamon and sugar! Samuel definitely shares my love and had his fair share while we were making it too. Hope had 3 helpings of it at supper. Yup - they are the reason that we made 2 bushels this year instead of just 1. Oh . . . and because I love it so much too!
I had good intentions to take a lot of pictures of us making applesauce . . . but I didn't take a single one. But it was a great fall day!!

Samuel's (almost) first trip to ER

Samuel almost ended up in the ER tonight. Daryl was actually at the hospital doing his internship and my Mom was over helping me with the kids. It was almost bedtime and the kids were all being crazy and silly in the living room. Samuel lost his balance and fell right into the TV stand. His ear hit the corner and took the brunt of his fall with about a 1-2" cut. It was a pretty deep cut but (thankfully) not all the way through his ear. He let me put ice on it right away while my Mom called Daryl to see if he could ask a Doctor in the ER (one of the good things about Daryl interning in the Borgess ER!) if they could even stitch/glue there. The doctor said "yes" but after thinking about it more and weighing the pros and cons (namely, the trauma of taking a 3 year old to the ER at bedtime to be held down and stitched or glued up) we decided to just stay at home. His ear swelled up pretty good and was really bruised too. I just let the blood clot and then decided to not touch it again (except to rub bactroban on it every night after he was sleeping!).

I wish I would have taken a better picture of Samuel's ear . . . these are the only two pictures I have where you can *kind of* see the cut and the swelling.

** I'm actually writing this post quite awhile after the incident happened and his ear healed up great! There is a little scar but not bad at all. Definitely glad that I didn't take him in to the ER.

Verhage's Apple Orchard

Today I took the kids to Verhage's Apple Orchard. My Mom and I got together a large enough group of moms and little kids that they considered us a "school group" and did a hayride for us. It was a lot of fun! The weather was warm (near 80) so it didn't quite feel like a fall day at the apple orchard but that's okay with me! Samuel especially loved it and didn't want to leave. We spent almost 3 hours there!

Hope and Samuel. I think Hope was trying to be as tall as her big brother!

Aliyah and her friend Ella looking at the bunny. For some odd reason, soon after the kids spotted the bunny, it ran and hid in the back of his cage!

Playing on the train. This was definitely a highlight for all 3 of the kids!

Me and my 3 beautiful kids on the hayride. I am so blessed!

Samuel and Aliyah with their Grandma

Drinking some apple cider. I think this was his second glass. I was surprised that he liked it!

Hope loved the apple cider too!

After going on the hayride and having an apple cider/donut treat, we went into the apple orchard to pick a few apples. Grandma lifted Samuel up to find a yummy one!

There's nothing better than eating an apple right off of the tree!

My precious girl. She ate this whole apple!

Yum!

Aliyah even joined in on the apple eating. Never to be left out or out-done!

A Hike at the Nature Center

It was a beautiful day for a hike at the Nature Center! Minus the part where I was helping Samuel pee in the bushes and then Aliyah threw the animal cracker bag into the fast flowing creek. I left Samuel to run after it and all the kids totally freaked out. I was trying to hurry back when I stepped in the water and got my shoe all wet. And also minus the part where Aliyah threw Hope's shoe (croc) in the water and I didn't realize it right away. I heard her saying "uh-oh! uh-oh!" but I didn't realize why she was saying that until I was looking for Hope's shoes to put back on her. Thankfully it got stuck on a branch just a little ways down the creek so I ran after it to grab it. And the kids freaked out again thinking their Mom was running away from them or something crazy like that! But it was a good day for a hike at the Nature Center and we did have a wonderful time! I was pleasantly surprised that the only wet clothing object or body part was my shoe and my foot! :)

One Year Old . . . . Going on Three!

- Today we were having the typical Sunday evening snack of popcorn and milkshakes at my parent's house. Aliyah was not content (or even willing!) to eat the little "safe" pieces of popcorn that I broke apart put in front of her. Oh no, she needed to reach into the bowl and grab popcorn out of it just like everyone else.
- We had macaroni and cheese for supper tonight. I handed my Mom a bowl of it to start feeding to Aliyah. Aliyah loves mac and cheese. She gobbles it down. My Mom tried to give her a bite and Aliyah immediately shut her mouth and turned away from the spoon. I explained to my Mom that Aliyah usually feeds herself because she wants to be like her big brother and big sister. But nope, that didn't work either. Still refused to eat out of the bowl in front of her. But yet she kept throwing a fit because she saw the bowl of mac and cheese that I was holding and getting ready for Hope. I tried to switch bowls . . . nope, still the same reaction. Finally, I realized it was because she wanted a spoon with an orange handle just like the spoons that Samuel and Hope had. I gave her an orange spoon and it was like magic - she started gobbling down the mac and cheese!!

The Fish Ladder

After Anna's soccer game today we headed over to the fish ladder. It's a man-made "ladder" that helps the salmon swim upstream. It has "steps" that the fish jump up to get them upstream past a dam. We went last year but there weren't a lot of fish jumping. This year there was a lot more! The first time Samuel saw a fish jump he totally freaked out. I don't think he was ready for it. He slowly warmed up to it and after a little bit he was so excited to watch for fish and would laugh and point when he would see one jump. He liked to remind us that he wasn't scared anymore!

I'm not sure who lost interest first, Hope or Aliyah. Probably Hope. She was tired and it was nap time. She really wasn't too thrilled with the whole thing. Especially when Daryl had to put her in time out because she didn't listen and kept on walking closer and closer to the river as Daryl was specifically telling her to stop.

Waiting for those fish to jump! (Samuel really isn't that tall. He's standing on the stroller!)

I'm a nervous freak when it comes to my kids and water. Especially fast-flowing, deep rivers. Like the one we were at. Or big drops into deep water (like the picture above). All you have to do is look at Daryl's hands in the picture and know that he pretty much has a death grip on both of them.

There was an art prize exhibit near the fish ladder. Samuel and Aliyah used the art as an obstacle course.

And they talked their Mommy into joining them in their obstacle course. Poor Hope was in the stroller having some "quiet time" because she was just too tired and cranky.

I didn't get too many pictures of Hope at the fish ladder because she was having a rough afternoon (she does not do well without a nap!). But I think this picture is a great one!

It was a super beautiful afternoon! Perfect day to spend outside at the fish ladder. We love the many different things to do in Grand Rapids that Kalamazoo doesn't offer. There are days we dream and talk about moving to Grand Rapids. We'll see if that ever becomes a reality!