How can it be fall its 90 degrees outside, or Ryan and Evan go apple picking

One of my mommy friends suggested we take a trip to the Raven Hill Orchard for some apple picking. They have dwarf trees so the fruit is at toddler level.

We told the boys Friday night that Saturday we were going to go apple picking. On Saturday, we woke up to a chorus of "Apple pick-ing, ap-ple pick-ing"

All the way to the mountains, we heard "Ap-ple pick-ing, Ap-ple pick-ing" and from Evan, "First pick ap-ples, then wash them, then eat them, then make pie!"

We picked about 14 pounds of apples, in less than an hour. The boys had a blast picking apples, eating them right from the trees, and running up and down the rows after rows of trees.

This was really a fun activity for the whole family. I highly recommend it to families, or just to people who want to get out and pick some apples. If we get through our 14 pounds sometime before the harvest is over, we'll be heading out to do this again.

As I cut up apples for lunch today, I was serenaded with our new favorite song..."Ap-ple pick-king, ap-ple pick-ing"

Ket Moo

It's no secret that the boys love music. We've tried to expose them to all genres, and especially not to just kids music. There is no Raffi in this house. That's why the boys love songs from the Grateful Dead, America, Five for Fighting, Coldplay, Leonard Cohen, Journey, Lyle Lovett, and the Beatles. We've also found lots of great music geared toward kids, the kids love it and it doesn't make their parents ears bleed. Some of our favorites include Putumayo Kids, Hullabaloo, and Grisman and Garcia.

Grammie sent us a CD from a great blues/rock/jazz/pop fusion artist Keb' Mo geared toward families and kids. It was a big hit. Now the boys are asking to listen to Ket Moo, and when we put it on, this is what breaks loose.


*Sorry for the poor video quality. It was still a bit dark in the house and I just grabbed my still camera to capture the moment.

New adventures

Another mom friend of mine suggested that we try classes at a local animal shelter. I had no idea that they had classes like this for little ones. This week was horses. The boys really enjoyed themselves. They used miniature horses so the kids weren't intimidated by huge animals. They each got to pet, groom and feed a horse. We did a craft, talked about some of the things horses are used for, (did you know there are seeing eyed horses?) and had a chance to interact with the horses. All in all it was a good experience. It's a good thing since we are signed up for reptiles, dogs and farm animals in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.



We also tried out a new place that teaches little ones foreign languages. They do Chinese, French and Spanish. We signed up for a free trial class in Spanish. Let's say, not the most successful class we've ever tried.

First, it was total immersion. The teacher only spoke to them in Spanish. Which is great, I really think this is a great way to learn a language. But part of my hesitation is my boys are still acquiring language. They seemed utterly confused. I'm sure after a few weeks they'd get the hang of it, but I felt like it was wrong...I can't really explain.

I firmly believe that the boys should be exposed to foreign languages as early as possible, however when they are still asking what everything is, is it really right for me or their teacher to only tell them what it is in Spanish? I mean, really, is this the right way? In my gut I feel that we should say the word in English, and then in Spanish, and then exclusively in Spanish.

Second, the class was too long, the kids got bored, the segments within the class were too long, the kids got really restless.

Third, its really expensive. A hundred bucks a month. Times two.

I just don't feel right about it. I'm going to keep looking for the right program. This wasn't it.

Life lived fully

This past weekend I went to the memorial service for my friend that passed away a few weeks ago. It was a lovely event with more than a hundred people in attendance. There were people from all aspects of Albert's life. Friends he met in the 7th grade, friends from high school, friends from college, friends from after college, friends from poker, friends from sea kayaking, friends from polo, friends from a social group, friends from a charity he volunteered with.

We had a number of speakers who told stories. We had a 3 hour paddle. (to scatter some of his ashes in the Bay) We had a long, laughter filled dinner. We had ice cream. All things Albert would have loved doing with us.

For me there were a couple of things said that day that struck me. Hit me hard, made me stop and think.

Albert's brother Tom said that he asked Albert shortly after his initial diagnosis if there was anything he wanted to do with his remaining time. Albert's response was no, he'd pretty much done everything he wanted.

How many of us can say the same thing? How many of us in 45 years have lived their lives fully, with no regrets, so that if we found out tomorrow we were dying, we would just be content to live our our remaining days just like we had before we were diagnosed?

Albert had his life set up so he had the means to live the way he wanted, to go and do some of the things that most of us can only dream about. But I think each of us can find small ways to live like there is no tomorrow. Now I'm not suggesting some list of things to do before you die, but making conscious decisions to take the long way home, or to eat that steak if it's what you really want, or to say screw the housework, I'm going to sit and play with my kids. It's those choices that might make tomorrow a little harder, or cause you to have to work out a little extra, but really, isn't it worth it to live your life fully and end it, whenever, without regrets?

A little deception can't hurt, right?

So, we've been reading the Harry Potter series to the boys before bed every night for a while now. Ryan and I are done with it and have been for about a week. I suggested we read Eragon, or as I told him, the Dragon Book. That brought tears the first night, so I re-read the last chapter and he was happy.

I love the Harry Potter books, and I've read all of them several times. I'm really not ready to re-read them a mere 6 months after I started Book I with Ryan. I've suggested other options, the Lord of The Rings trilogy, The Princess Bride, Grimm's Fairy Tales, nope, tears.

I decided to practice a little deception with the little man, and I'm starting to feel a little bad about it. I wrapped Eragon in one of the Harry Potter book jackets and have been reading it to Ryan ever since.

The first night after I started reading, he looked at the book a couple of times, and I think he even asked once "Harry Potter?" I continued to deceive and told him to put his head down, and said "yes, Harry Potter".

This can't scar him for life can it?

I hear the half years are the toughest

I'm reading a book on "Your Two Year Old" and it talks about how half years are tough. Kids are super, wonderful creatures when they turn full years, but when they hit the half year, they are crazy, uncontrollable, monsters. (okay that was a bit strong, but, let's just say they are not easy to deal with)

The boys are almost two and a half. Today we had one of those days. One of those monstrous days.

Before 7:45 this morning, we had 5 time outs. Three for Ryan and two for Evan. In reality, it was five in like 15 minutes. Ryan hit Evan. During the apology, Evan hit Ryan. It went on like this until it was me hitting my head on the wall.

Then after OT we went for a walk around the lake and even after going over the rules...hold my hand, listen, do not run away from Mommy. We were not there for 5 minutes and both boys took off in opposite directions. That cut our walk extremely short.

We got home and I wanted to wash off their shoes. All of their shoes were really dirty and could use a quick wash. During the time I emptied the car of 6 pairs of shoes, and got them into the sink to scrub, Ryan proceeded to howl. Endlessly. I job that should have taken 10 minutes at best was now verging on 30 minutes. I kept trying to get him to calm down. Take deep breaths. Relax, go read a book or something for just a few minutes, so I could finish this task. No such luck. He was now telling me, at about 10:30 that he was ready for lunch. He just had a very large snack and hour before, he couldn't be hungry.

I decided to let him wait a few more minutes while I finished washing the shoes. I heard him cry, and cry, and cry. I once again asked him to take a deep breath and comfort himself. I few minutes later, there was silence. Whew, okay, I put a load of laundry in to the dryer and came back out to the living room. There was Ryan passed out cold on the living room floor. Sound. Asleep.

Ryan's been sleeping like a champ, 4 hour naps, 11 hours at night, he woke up at 6 this morning, he should not have been this tired, this early.

I honestly don't know what is going on with him. The last couple of days he's been ready for lunch at 10:30 and ready to nap at 11. He then wants dinner at 4 and his snack at 6:30 and sound asleep at 7:15. He is so off schedule.

Of course, since he had a cat nap, he only slept for a short time and then wanted to get up. He then proceeded to cry every time I left the room for the next two hours. Our teacher was here and he was a peach, and as soon as she left, the wailing began again. It continued until Scott got home a little after 6. By 6:50 he was again crying to eat, and go to bed.

If this is how my days are going to be, times two, for the next 7 months...I think I'm going to need some earplugs and some medication.

I did a bad, bad thing

Almost two years ago I lost my beloved Samson. He was my first true love. He was my cat and only my cat. He tolerated Scott. I still miss him every day.

So, I'm a bit of a softy when it comes to cats.

A few days ago a little gray cat showed up in our back yard. The boys were thrilled to see the Kitty Cat and the Mom who wants to please her little boys kicked in. I grabbed a can of tuna out of the pantry and put it down outside the door to keep the cat around for a while so the boys could say "Hi Kitty Cat" a thousand times. The cat loved it. (naturally) The boys loved it. (naturally) And now, um, she's been back every day since. Today she spent almost the entire day in our yard. I know she must have a home because she is very friendly, and really wants to come in to the house.

I'm afraid she's adopted us as a second family.

I guess it's a good thing that my craving for fish lead me to purchase 3 pounds of salmon and a huge pack of tuna fish the last time I was at CostCo.