Caramel Apples

We used some of our apple-picking apples for a caramel apple adventure. We invited Jacob over to join in the fun. It was messy, but they sure were delicious (especially since I dipped the apples in chocolate and then caramel!).

Oma's birthday

We had everyone in town last weekend to celebrate Oma's big birthday! Oma and Papa got to watch the kids' soccer games. Saturday afternoon, we hung out at home and had a nice dinner, with cake and presents to follow.

Rudy, concentrating on making Oma's birthday card...

Buddies

We have friends that moved out of the neighborhood about 2 years ago and moved back this summer. It's like they never left! Rudy and Jackson were both babies when they moved, but it hasn't taken them long to get to be good friends!

Apple picking

Our big adventure after a delicious brunch on Sunday was apple picking. We avoided the orchard close to town and headed out a bit further. It definitely wasn't crowded, but I think we decided we're going to stick with the orchard we've been visiting since I was a kid!

We wore this one out!

Ready to Race

It's been all about tag, hide-n-seek, and races around here lately. The races are "extreme" though - I think this one was down to the playground, up the rock wall, down the slide, around the tree, do 6 jumping jacks, and run back to the driveway!

Breakfast Cooks

Breakfast Chefs

We had a lazy Sunday morning. The boys were hungry, and they decided to make everyone breakfast. I'm not sure what the recipe was named. It was some sort of yogurt parfait that included M&Ms, sliced bananas, whole Reese's cups, and brown sugar.

Brady's soccer

I'm also coaching Brady's soccer team. Most of these kids have played three or four seasons, but we have a few novices. The team has gotten so much better this season! I love coaching these kids: three of them are neighborhood friends and I've gotten to know a few others from Brady's school.

I love the tongue :)

Rudy's Soccer

This is Rudy's first real soccer season. He's played around the house with us enough to get the basics, but he's never been old enough for a real team before. Practice isn't always a success (some 4-year-old meltdowns) but he loves his "real games." Often in the midst of the game, he'll make a good play, or even in the middle of a good play, and he'll look over at me and grin or give me a thumbs up.

Outside the box

I’ve been volunteering in Brady’s classroom once a week for the past few weeks. One of the activities I helped the kids with recently was a word sort.

The words/pictures were : shirt, pear, ball, doll, pants, bat, boat, bike, jet, apple, car, jacket, shoe, grapes, and game. They were allowed to sort them any way they wanted, as long as they could explain their rule to me.

Nearly every kid had four categories: clothes, toys, vehicles, and fruit.

Brady showed me two piles of cards. One had shirt, pear, pants, apple, car, jacket, shoe, and grapes. The other had ball, doll, bat, boat, bike, jet, and game.

His categories? Needs and wants.

Triathlon #3

For the third year in a row, I finished this triathlon. I talked Heather into "racing" with me this time...I can't seem to get anyone to do it more than once?!? It was a beautiful day for a race and I took about 4 minutes off my previous best time.

My adoring fans...

(There is just no way to look good at the end...)

Although I do look much happier when it's over!

Harvest Festival

After the kids' soccer games, we headed to a local harvest festival. It was small, but still enough to entertain the kids for a few hours: tug of war, a few games, crafts, fire trucks, and a hot dog!