Pumpkins and Piano Recital

Purdue has some research farms in the area. (Horticulture is a big deal around here.) The research focuses on things like weed management, soil fertility, insect management, fruit and vegetable production, etc.  At the end of the growing season, they have plenty of extra produce. They let groups (like a few local mothers and their toddler children) come and pick pumpkins and apples for free. 

They took us around the farm on a tractor wagon. 

It was a rainy day, and the first really cold day of the season, so I was very unprepared for the weather. We were all wet and freezing by the end. The boys each chose one pumpkin and promptly hopped back on the wagon before they got too soaked. I stayed out a little longer and grabbed several more cool looking pumpkins, seen in the bottom right below.

Between everyone in the group, we had a pretty good haul, despite the cold rain.

I put all my pumpkins to good use for my student piano recital the next day.

This was my second recital and this year we did a bit of a Halloween theme. I found several "scary" sounding classical music pieces for the kids to learn. 

Some of the pieces include: Toccata in D Minor by Bach (this is the one I played), Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Hungarian Dance by Brahms, Funeral March by Chopin, and In the Hall of the Mountain King by Grieg. Since I have mostly younger students, the selections were simplified, but still sounded really cool.

Not only did they get to learn about some really well known pieces and composers, but it was a nice little introduction for many of them about major and minor keys, and how emotion and mood can be expressed through music.

All six of my students did a great job. I feel so proud watching all of them perform, knowing how hard they have worked.

There were refreshments after the recital. I used our recently picked apples to make a dessert. I've already done plenty with apples this year, so I had to try a new apple dessert.

Mini apple pies!

I used the same crust dough and mini muffin pan that I use to make the mini Pecan Tarts, and filled them with small diced apple pie filling instead. I used my regular old apple pie recipe and it tasted great. All the great taste of an apple pie in one little bite.

Dust Jacket Art

Connor loves books. He can sit for a long time just flipping through pages on books. And he can actually understand books now. He looks at the pictures and points everything out. He even takes parts from different books and combines them. For instance, I can't tell you how many times he's asked me to sing "The Wheels on the Jubal Train" before bedtime. Yes, he just threw some words together and expected it to be a song I know. Let me tell you, it's hard coming up with things on the spot that are happening on this bullfrog's train to the tune of "Wheels on the Bus."

I've gotten off track....

Connor loves books, but he's still learning how to be gentle with them. A few months ago, he had a very unfortunate encounter with one of my favorite books.

Is it ironic that the "wild things" were destroyed by my wild thing?

I'm really glad that no damage was done to the book itself, but this dust jacket was toast. I had to mourn the destruction for a few minutes. Doesn't he know this is a Caldecott winner?!

I decided to turn the loss into a positive thing by making some new artwork for Connor's room. The paper was far too damaged to hold together again as an actual dust jacket, but I managed to glue/tape an 8x10 piece of the jacket back together and put it in a frame.

If you look really closely, you can see where the rips are.

From a few feet back, you can hardly tell.

 Now the art is displayed in Connor's room.

(Next to the changing pad that I probably haven't actually used with him in over a year. The dresser top would be so empty without it...)

Now the dust jacket serves as a warning of what kind of room you are entering.

This is "Where the Wild Things Are."

The house I grew up in

My parents moved away from St. Louis 3 years ago, but have not been able to sell their house... until now. The house is finally under contract! My parents had a few things to do to get the house ready to sell, so they came to St. Louis from California for a weekend in September. I didn't want to miss a chance to see them, so I drove the 4+ hours from Indiana with the two boys for a visit. (Mckay couldn't come with us.) It was nice to see my parents again, but I have to confess that was not the only reason for my visit. I wanted to see the house one last time.

I lived in this house from the time I was 2 years old until college, and every summer through college.

All the trees have grown a lot since I last saw them 3 years ago.

We used to be able to put Christmas lights all the way up this tree. There is no way we could reach the top now.

Last time we were at the house 3 years ago, we put bushes and mulch in this area.

It still looks pretty good.

(A post by my sister shows how the bushes looked when we first put them in, as well as some other 3-years-ago goodies.)

Even though my parents are completely moved out of the house, a few little things were left behind.

The fox in the front yard!

Connor called dibs on this fox as soon as we got there, so he is now in our yard in Indiana.

 This was still there.

Contrary to popular belief, this was not a grave marker.

The steps that wrap around the back of the house to the walk-out basement.

This is such a cool house!

I love how much space there is. The yard is huge.

It brought back memories of my wedding reception, held in the very same place 5 years before.

Like I said, there was a few things to be done around the house. For the most part, the renters who had been in the house for the past 2 years took pretty good care of it. But....

We went into the laundry room and found that the washer hook up was leaking. 

It was a very small leak, but enough to be troublesome, and the hookup sticks out far enough that the water was spilling down the wall and filled a garbage can.

It took me a grand total of 5 minutes to come up with this genius solution:

Use an old credit card (or AAA card in this case) to divert the drip back in to go down the drain. Simple. Easy. Cheap. Granted, this was a temporary fix until Dad could actually fix the drip, but I was pretty proud of myself for thinking quickly. My quick thinking skills have suffered since having children.

I brought some toys from our house along with us to keep the boys entertained in the empty house.

They mostly kept busy by exploring the huge house. And they managed to find a few small toys left behind by the renters. (Like the Nerf gun next to Dallin pictured above.)

The boys got to spend a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Connor especially liked jumping on the air mattress.

And riding around outside on his car.

And sitting on Grandpa's tractor.

Perhaps the thing I will miss the most about this house is the kitchen.

This may be the best kitchen I've ever had the privilege to cook in.

Tons of cabinet space, the granite counter tops, TWO ovens, TWO sinks.... 

And somehow my dishes were always magically done by someone else. That never happens at my house.

Goodbye house. Thanks for the memories.

Apple Picking

Dallin's preschool class had a field trip to go apple picking. We went to the same little family farm as last year's field trip. First, everyone got to taste several varieties of apples while the farmer told them about how apples grow. Then the kids colored pictures of apples.

We hopped on the wagon and the tractor pulled us around the farm.

We passed the big pumpkin field and made our way to the apple orchard.

I was surprised at how small the tress are. I asked about the tree size and was told that they are dwarf apples trees, chosen specifically so that they're easier to pick. No ladders required. They produce just as well and because they're small, you can fit more trees and get more apple production per square foot.

The farmer showed the kids how to gently pick the apples and place them in the bin.

 The apples our kids picked would be cleaned and sold. Don't you love free child labor?

 This cute little fluffy dog lives on the farm and rode the tractor with us. 

Connor never left the poor dog alone.

Each of the kids got to pick two apples of their own to take home. So I guess the kids were paid in apples.

Then the kids got to sit and have an apple juice box.

I loved seeing Dallin drink the juice. He never drinks juice. I'm not really heartbroken about him not liking juice because there are certainly healthier foods out there, but his refusal to try new foods is a difficult struggle for us. He is highly motivated by his peers though, so he'll try pretty much anything as long as other people are doing it. (I can see that this will become a problem for us later on in his teen years.)

Lastly, a picture with his buddy Kendal.

They were too busy looking at the dog, but they always looks so happy together.

Fair Oaks Farms

I forgot to post about one more adventure with Mckay's parents. This happened between the beach day and the downtown Indianapolis day. We took a trip to Fair Oaks Farms. It's located about 45 minutes away and it a BIG dairy farm.

You can look around at displays and exhibits inside, and then hop on a bus for a tour outside around the facility. They show you where the dairy cows live and where they are milked. It really makes you think about all the work (from both humans and cows) that goes into each cup of milk.

Being a milk making facility, they only keep girl cows that make milk. So they keep them on a constant schedule of pregnancy and lactation. With so many pregnant cows, it's almost guaranteed that there will be several calf births on the day of your visit. You can view them in the birthing barn.

They bring a live, laboring cow into a "theater" of sorts. The cow is protected from onlookers by a glass wall. You sit quietly in the darkened room, wait and watch. It really is fascinating to see.

It's amazing watching the momma cows work all by themselves with almost no intervention.

The baby boy calves are shipped off to facilities for "other" uses, and the girls are kept there to be raised and  to make more cows/milk. And the circle of life starts over!

A new addition to the farm is the Pig adventure.

 Similar to the cows, you get to see how the pigs live and are cared for, and where they birth new pigs.

This is really just a pig raising, inseminating and birthing facility. All the babies born here are sent to different farms. And I guess there's not a big market for pig milk....?

Needless to say, the two boys loved seeing all the animals. After the tours, we had a delicious lunch of  gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and paninis, made from cheese produced right there at the dairy.

Dallin and Connor shared a quesadilla and got most of the sour cream on their faces.

Then we played outside for a bit. There was a huge trampoline-balloon-pillow thing.

We all jumped on it for a while.

It was a fun day at the farm.