please momma...PLEASE

we've become "scooter obsessed" around here and "pleeeeeease momma, please" is constantly coming from the mouths of our kids. so last night i was talked into a super speedy bath so we had more time to scoot up and down the drive.

it's offical folks...

at LONG last kate has her first loose tooth.

stayed tuned. hopefully we'll have another picture of this cutie-pie minus a tooth very soon!

and here is trey showing us his loose tooth - hmmmm

making the most of a teacher work day

~skytop apple orchard 2008~

the "mother" load


the perfect apple i picked

hmmmm....

pretty cool to see up close

all the kiddos together:

trey, kate, oliver, kate, samuel, alex, aiden, stella, owen, grayson & miles

trey found a good one

kate found a good one...

owen climbing the tree

me climbing a tree...

me stealing a smooch from a very tired miles

heather and her youngest; miles

trey bear--HAPPINESS is!

our take for the day...

i knew we were headed to an apple orchard but holy moly -- i was not prepared for THIS!

first the setting was breath taking. to get to the orchard we had to wind our way to the top of a mountain and then to find a venue that caters to children and charges next to nothing; it was like a dream come true. fresh air, friendly faces and trees exploding with apples just waiting to be picked. so that's what we did. we picked, we ate, we ate and we picked. at the end of the day we had oodles of apples, 11 tired kiddos and 4 exhausted mommas.

i can hardly wait for our return trip in 2009. Dad! Are you there? I think you would love this. Maybe you can join us next year.

what can you get for eleven bucks?

if you ask me it's high time we all think about how we can spend a bit less, save a bit more and recycle when ever possible.

some of you may have hread me rave about Amazing Savings, one of our local stores. if there is nothing you must have and are prepared to check expiration dates this is the place for you. all local and organic products and all are offered at amazing savings... huh!

so here you have it. above is what i got for eleven bucks! not bad if i do say so myself.

a day to celebrate grammy ~

HAPPY birthday grammy swenson!

thank you for celebrating so many moments with us in the past.

kate wanted me to post the following song that she wrote just for you today:

beattle beattle come and fly

and then go away

bye bye!

apparently this tune was inspired by the beattles

not your traditional birthday melody

but it is an original.

enjoy your day~

hickory nut gap 2008

pete getting a big hug from miles

here we go...

kate & owen able to read US the rules this year

mr. pete leading the way

kate and owen being silly most of the way

just one of the many sunflowers that we stumbled upon along the way

kate and heather trying to find the boys

a good luck charm finds kate

trey trying his best to pick up the biggest pumpkin he could find

miles too

plenty of room for the boys to run

miles catching a ride from daddy don (a.k.a .dr. luscious)

again, what a difference a year can make. last year heather and i both recall sweating and having to carry one or more of our children as we made our way through the corn maze. but not this year. everyone including miles practically ran through the whole thing. probably the biggest difference this year was the number of trivia questions we all got wrong! did you know apples originated in Asia and not WNC? good thing the kids could run ahead and make us all aware of the dead ends... saving us old folks a few extra steps.

following our afternoon at the farm we gathered at our house for one of pete's infamous feasts. grilled salmon, kale, roasted potatoes, cucumber and tomato salad and fresh baked bread. all of which we picked up a the farmers market earlier that day (with the exception of the beer bread i made). as heather said "KUDOS to the chef!"

good friends, good times, good food!

we can't ask for more then that.

first it was "kid heaven"...

and now we've established ICE CREAM HEAVEN!

all it took was a couple of scoops of neapolitan ice cream, some hot fudge AND carmel sauce, whipped cream and sprinkles on top. ask these three and all you'd get would be mmmmmmm.

CHoT-SKi (sp?)

daddy's home! he managed to sqeeze in a quick trip to his alamotter while in baltimore. thank pe-tah, it's been a long time since we all had comfy new sweatshirts. where has all of our iowa garb gone?