Fall Festivities

If there is anything to say about New England, I have come to LOVE fall all over again!  Although I love the south and the nice warm weather, I didn't realize (or had forgotten) of the fun and distinct season changes that happen in other parts of the country.  Having lived in the west, on the West coast, in the south west, the south and now the north east - I definitely think the north east wins the prize of "Best Fall!" 

We'll start out with apple picking.  A couple in our ward was kind enough to let us come over one Monday night for Family night and to pick apples.  The girls had a blast!

Sister Davis then came to my house, let me borrow all of her supplies and taught me how to make applesauce.  I know what I want for Christmas!  I loved it and it tastes SO MUCH BETTER!

Work those apples Aimee!

We made 22 quarts of applesauce in just a few hours.  It was so much fun.  The next day, Ali's class had a field trip to go pick apples. 

 Adalyn and Caleb and I all enjoyed the field trip too!

 Adalyn was so desperate to get on the school bus.  She wants to be like the older girls and go to school.  I told her she could go have a seat on the first step and you think I would have just told her she was going to Disneyland.  She was SO excited!

There were so many apples on the ground - in perfect condition.  At 50 cents per pound, I could help but get more apples to make more applesauce.  Why not?  I still had the tools to make it.  So - 22lbs later, I was back in the kitchen - this time, making applesauce on my own!

 Wash, quarter, cook....repeat.  I added cinnamon sticks to the pots for aromatics.  YUM!

 These apples made PINK applesauce and it is so yummy!  The girls loved that it was pink.  I made 12 pints, and 4 more quarts.  :)

That weekend, we took a ride up out of town.  Any road you take out of Keene has a river running by it and beautiful hills and trees.  They are especially beautiful during September and October.

Attempt at a family picture. 

I love the reflections in the lake!  So beautiful.  Imagine this image, 10 times more brilliant!

Ali and I went on a visit up north and found ourselves at Dartmouth College.  So, I snapped a picture from the car at a red light.  Harvard is on the way to the Boston Temple, I would love to stop there and walk around their campus one day!  I would love to walk around Dartmouth too!

With all the fresh apples, I attempted to make apple cider donuts.  The dough was delicious and smelled wonderful - but - once fried, it didn't taste that good.  I don't think I had rolled the dough out thin enough.  I'm tempted to try again, but it was a lot of work. 

We ended up making mostly donut holes. 

Finally the Keene Pumpkin Festival.  It you google and read about Keene, you're bound to learn about the pumpkin festival.  Each year it gets bigger and bigger, and this year it was the goal to get the world record back.  World Record?  What's that.  How many pumpkins have you seen carved and lit at the same time?  We didn't hang around to see them lit, but we saw over 30,000 pumpkins.  I am sure the official number is out there somewhere - but we made the world record again, for the 9th time!

 Each of the schools held a pumpkin carving night.  The girls were very excited to be involved.  I had them each draw their faces that they wanted me to carve.  Pay attention, because our goal was to find them among the 30,500 some odd pumpkins.

 We carved their names on the back of the pumpkin as well.

 Guess who got to finally ride a school bus?  Because our town is a small one of about 25,000 people, the advised us to take the free shuttle to downtown.  Fortunately there was a stop semi-near our house - so we walked on over and rode the bus into town.  Adalyn thought it was bumpy and scary on the ride down - b ut then she got to sit by herself on the ride home and LOVED it!

 Here is the main grand stand in central square. 

 We saw a cute pumpkin snowman that I didn't get a picture of.  We took a few other fun pictures - you name it, and it was most likely carved in a pumpkin.  I liked the stitching on this one.

 The teeth were cool, and the "red hat" society. 

 Do you remember Ali's drawing?  There's her cute little pumpkin face to the right of her head. 

 Then we found Andie's!  YEAH!

 They had all sorts of street performances, musical groups, dancers, story book plays, etc.  We stopped and listened to this a'capella group from University of New Hampshire.

 Adalyn had to have a picture by the princess pumpkins. 

 This one was huge and way cool.  Never thought of peeling a pumpkin and carving it like this.

 This guy was probably 6'8" - at least.  And, he was wearing a cool carved pumpkin on his head, and wrists and feet. 

We had a great time at the pumpkin festival.  There were lots of booths around, with all sorts of food to buy.  HGTV was also there, giving away free stuff and candy bags to the kids.  It was fun.  They did an episode of pumpkin wars with the property brothers last year, where Keene won.  If you watched that - then you've seen our little community.  I am sure you can still find it and watch it.  Maybe someday I will.

We sure have been enjoying the fall weather and fun.  It's moving into the high 40's and sometimes low 50's now during the day and we are very cold.  That was our winter in Georgia.  We can't wait to experience the mid-January where it is -10 for a week and gets dark by 4:30pm (NOT!)  Hope you enjoyed all the pictures...I count this as our family journal/scrapbook.  Great way to record memories.  Enjoy the rest of October!  Halloween is just around the corner!

Movie Time

Here are a few small videos to catch some of the fun in our house!

We have discovered that if something bounces on the hard surface, Caleb explodes with laughter.  Of course when you try to video it, he only does some courtesy laughs - but a few times you catch a glimpse of his little chuckle. 

One more.

One day, a father full of a house of 6 bored children attempted to be creative with a new game.  (at least that's how he tells it.)  The rest of us, will always be grateful for the introduction and creation of "Blow the Ball!" 

Enjoy your week!

Caleb's First Birthday!

{September 13, 2013} I can't believe, really that it has already been one year since this little guys was born!  I'm glad I looked back at THIS POST to remember that special day.  I forgot he had such dark hair...and now it's all blonde.  What a wonderful year it has been.  Having a boy has added a special light into our family and he is cherished and loved by all!

 Here is the "party decorations" all ready for him.  The girls were excited in the morning and wanted him to open presents before they went to school.  We even had pancakes for his birthday breakfast!

The little man wasn't too interested in presents and for about 10 minutes, he enjoyed chasing the balloons around on the ground. 

We had just got a new printer (Happy Birthday Caleb!) and so I made a fun birthday sign.  The girls wanted the "Baby Einstein" characters on a birthday cake and I knew that wasn't going to happen - so they made it to the sign.  Such a happy little boy!

The girls were unwrapping everything and he really wasn't interested.  It was kind of funny.

We did get a good picture with him and some new trucks.  (note: all birthday toys were saved from the baby shower toys that I got before he came.  haha!) 

We sure do love this little man, as if I haven't mentioned this before.  He is loads of entertainment.  Here are a few fun facts for us to remember:

*Until a week or two before his birthday he was the MASTER at army crawling and could get around QUICK!  He finally started on his hands and knees and now that is his main mode of transportation! 
*He loves to eat and feed himself.  He is quick to startle you with a high pitched scream if you are caught eating something and it's not on his tray.  I shared the syrup and waffle experience, but it happens with most things.  For example, tonight (Oct.5) we were eating frito laye with tortilla chips.  He had his usually frozen peas on his tray, waiting for his food to cool down.  Well - once I sat down and took a bite - AHHHHHHH!  I think the girls jumped.  Caleb didn't have taco meat and chips on his tray!  So, we gave him his food, and he kicked with excitement and carried on.  Silly boy!
*Sad truth - but I won't give up.  So far, this little man takes after his Dad and does NOT like potatoes.  We had mashed potatoes the other night and he gagged every time I tried to give him a bite.  This is the first food he has ever rejected.  I tried the next day at lunch, and he clenched his jaw and won't even try a bite.  I offered it a second time and he shook his head no!  AHH!  I love potatoes - so, we will keep trying!
*Caleb is quiet the conversationalist, if you have any idea what he is saying.  He loves to laugh at his own jokes too.
*Give this boy a ping-pong ball and a hard surface - toss said ping-pong ball so it bounces and you'll hear uncontrollable laughs.  SO funny!
*Give this boy Ali doing anything silly, and you'll also hear uncontrollable laughs.
*Anytime I go out of the room, Caleb darts straight to the stairs.  Before we jimmy rigged the gate so he couldn't go up them, he would quickly climb the stairs and head straight for the tub, knock the shampoo in and then start banging on the side like a drum.  Fortunately, he hasn't fallen down the stairs....yet.  But he loves to climb them
*Caleb hates shoes!  If you ever want to see him throw a fit, try to get a pair of shoes on his feet - good luck.  (I've yet to have success and if you see him with 10 pair of socks on in a snow storm, you'll know why!)
*Caleb is an all-around good little boy.  He's not much of a snuggler, but he does come and give you random small hugs.  He loves his sisters and his mom and dad.  He sleeps through the night, take a few good naps during the day and is generally a happy camper! 

We're so glad he is a part of our family!  Oh, and if you noticed, he didn't have a picture of a cake and candle and eating it and all of that.  Well - yes, unfortunately, the camera was MIA during that part of the day.  We didn't have a formal birthday party, but he did eat a cupcake, just not with a candle and on his own.  We were at a social for Shawn's work and so it was underplayed.  I still feel guilty about that one - but I'm sure we'll make up for it on year 2.  (haha)

Back to School

{August 26, 2013} Just a few days after Grandma and Grandpa Pratt left, it was finally time for the older girls to go back to school. Our summer felt extra long with getting out May 13th. Andie headed back August 28th and Ali was September 3rd. We sure did enjoy our summer though, but it was time!  Here is the Mr. enjoying the back to school BBQ.  He spends a lot of time in his stroller!

Tuesday morning, our last day of summer vacation, we decided to have Waffles for breakfast.  We were all eating around the table and suddenly Caleb started screaming and getting really mad.  He had waffles on his tray, he had milk in his cup.  We couldn't figure out what he wanted.  Finally, I realized he was getting mad anytime someone was getting a new waffle and putting syrup on it.  So, I picked up the syrup and put a little drop on his waffle.  He got so excited, kicking his legs - HA!  we found what he wanted....to be just like everyone else and get what they were getting.  Here is his happy face once he had syrup!  Silly boy!

I took Andie and Ali got get a new shirt for school and they got to pick it out.  This was Andie's.  She told me how she wanted her hair done, which bow to put in it and what colors to make her sign with.  What a cutie!

I thought I would take a few pictures of our drive home, to give people an idea of where we live.  The red barn looking building is the YMCA.  It has only been open for just over a year and is RIGHT across the street from where we live.  Fortunately, we get an affordable discount through Shawn's health insurance - so we have a family membership.  Caleb, Adalyn and I walk over nearly every day.  Adalyn takes a gymnastics and swimming class on Thursday and the girls are involved in a soccer camp on Tuesday's.  It's so nice and new and HUGE.  Big step up from Bodyplex (although, we do miss the free Friday night date night!)

Pulling into our neighborhood complex.  It's landscaped very pretty and kept up. 

I had a huge wall in our main living room area and attempted a "collage" of decorations.  It works - I just wish there was a window....it's such a dark room!

Ali start Kindergarten (or as they in New England "Kindy-garten") a week after Andie.  She attended Kindergarten orientation and got to meet her teacher, color a picture, go on a bus ride and have a snack. 

She finally started the day after Labor day and chose a Hello Kitty shirt (surprise, surprise)  :)

{September 9, 2013} A week after school started, the girls had school pictures.  I never order the insanely priced pictures - but always try to get a good one before school.  We were out waiting for the bus and I thought these turned out cute. 

I didn't realize that they both had the same hair style.  haha.  Above, Caleb is once again in his stroller.  For a few weeks, everyday when the girls came home, we would sit out side, play and ride bikes.  It was so nice to sit out on the front lawn, the girls could ride bikes and not worry about too many cars or crazy people.  :)  We live in a retirement community and our kids are the only kids around.  I personally love that it's quiet and its fun to see our neighbors come sit on the porch and watch the kids play.  We have one neighbor, Leigh, who is probably in her upper 80's and she ALWAYS comes out.  She loves to play with Caleb's toes and you can really see the memories fill her eyes as she watches the girls ride bikes.  Now she is all alone - so, I'm glad we can bring joy to her!