Apple Picking and Go Fish

Brian's mom, Alexis, and Joy, Chris, and Kaitlyn, came to visit us last weekend. They arrived late Friday night. Saturday, Brian decided our Gravenstein apples should be picked. Several were falling from the tree, and they really were ripe. We got a lot of apples! I think about 3 5-gallon buckets, total!

At least our apples did well, because our garden is another story. :( Tomatoes are never happy there--doesn't get enough sun--and this summer has been unusually cool, with most days just in the 6os! We saw on the news last night, that for June and July (if I remember right), every day had a high in the 60s, except July 14 was 73! Crazy. Anyway.

The kids took turns climbing the ladder, and they all picked a bunch. I cringed at every "drop", "drop", into a bucket, imagining all the bruises!


I made applesauce Tuesday, about 14 quarts. Yum! It is a pretty pink color, b/c I left the peelings on this time, when I cooked the apples, and ran it through my new food mill. I prefer chunkier applesauce, but was not in the mood to peel all those crazy apples! It took long enough coring all those suckers. We still have a lot of Gravensteins left, that I might make apple butter with...or more sauce... We've been eating them fresh, too.

Caroline liked pushing Kaitlyn in the little car. I think she liked being the one who's the big kid, not the baby.


Thought this was cute of Kaitlyn...


Lauren wanted a picture on a car too. Can't leave anyone out. ;) Austin is so into the Sandlot movies, and practicing baseball, so he was thrilled to play with Uncle Chris for awhile!

All last week, starting July 26, we had Vacation Bible School at church. I helped in registration this year. Every other year I've helped in the kids' classroom usually Pre-K, except 2008, when I also did registration. And Caroline was born in the middle of that week of VBS! The theme this year was Backstage With the Bible, and my kids loved it! They had so much fun! Julia said it was her favorite VBS ever. And they remembered the Bible stories they learned, and what they learned about Nard, a boy in the Philippines, which had to do with the missionary project for the week.

Though that was kind of funny. One morning I asked the kids what their schedules were during VBS, and Austin explained his: "First we go in the sanctuary. Then we do games. And snack. Then crafts. Then Bible story. Then we learn about Nerd..." I kind of just stared at him.

Julia was taken aback and had to think that one over. After a bit, she said, with a huge grin (as I was silently cracking up), "Nard! His name is Nard! Not Nerd!" Oh my.

There was no VBS program or carnival this year, because we had a Go Fish concert instead! We'd seen Go Fish in 2008--in June, before Caroline was born, and all my kids wanted to see them again. Alexis had stayed with Brian's mom that summer, also, and came up to see us and go to the concert with us. We invited them this year too. Chris, Joy, and Kaitlyn came with us. Grandma bought all the kids these flashlights, even Caroline and Kaitlyn got one, and had so much fun playing with them. :)

I just brought our little camera, which does not do as well as the big camera in lighting situations like this. Oh well. Snazzy was the tour name, I guess?? It's also one of their CDs, and songs. Kinda funny, but good, and the kids like it a lot!!

Picture 1: All the kids in their VBS shirts. Lauren really was happy! And smiling! What a goofball! Caroline had been sick the night before, and was still not herself, though much better. She was pretty tired at the end of the show!

Picture 2: Every VBS day had a dress-up theme. Tuesday's was All Black day, like a stagehand would wear. Monday, Julia's leader told me she told her group to wear black the next day, and that Julia replied, "I am not wearing black!" LOL I told her that was right, my girls don't wear black; they like pink, purple and glitter. Hee hee hee. It turned out, they all wore black that day. We scrounged up a couple VBS shirts from a few years ago. All the pants were hand-me-downs, even Austin's whole ensemble! Guess none of my kids wear much black...

They also dressed up for pajama day, backwards day, and crazy hair day. Julia put glitter in their hair for that. The other dress-up them was career day, and I wish I'd gotten a picture of that. Julia was a vet, Austin a race car driver, and Lauren, an explorer. Very cute!

The Old Barbies

Lauren has been begging for Brian to get my old Barbie dolls and all their "stuff" out of the attic, for quite some time. Since he was getting boxes of clothes down anyway, a couple weeks ago, he also took the Barbies down. We'd gotten them out for Julia when she was about Lauren's age, but she just kind of looked at them and didn't play with them. I got tired of the extra stuff laying around, so back up they went.

Lauren is a different story. She has been loving having the old Barbies down! She's using my things and hers, having a lovely imaginary world made up for them. She has a whole family made up with Ken as Dad, Barbie as Mom, Skipper as the big sister, and a little doll that used to sit with a crocheted dress covering a roll of toilet paper, as the little sister. There are other dolls, and they come into the story as needed. Like when Lauren made them have a wedding. ;)

Austin thought these "new" old toys were interesting too. He added his own masculine twist to the story. I'm thinking that's a good thing! He had his Lego guys outside in the Barbie pool. The pool and accessories were fun, but no way was he going to use a Barbie doll! Lauren set her up in there, lounging with no clothes on. Lauren said she couldn't find a bathing suit for her, so there you go. Naked Barbie lounging with the Lego men floating on their raft. I asked Austin if they were playing tennis in the pool (b/c of the racquet), and he said, "Nooooo....I thought that was one of those things to row a boat!" An oar... But then what's up with hitting the beach ball with an oar??

An FYI, for fun: the Ken that Lauren is playing with is Animal Lovin' Ken, that is in Toy Story 3. I own the original guy from 1988! Kind of cool! He's going for a tidy sum of $$ on Ebay. But mine's not in a box. :( I do have all his clothes and the chimp, but he's been played with, and there's no box. Which makes him significantly less valuable, and also made me not too upset when Lauren broke his head off!! At least it went back on and he's no worse for the wear!

Do you have naked dolls around your house?! My girls have loads of pretty doll clothes, yet most of their dolls are naked! The babies, the knock-off American girl dolls, the Barbies... Julia keeps her AG dolls dressed. Thank goodness! Ha ha. It made for a good laugh to see Ken BBQing in his molded underwear, though. With bare Barbie lounging in the pool right there. I couldn't help but giggle, and Brian just shakes his head. He's gotten used to these scenes!!

Here's a toilet paper doll like I mentioned above. I think we had a blonde one like this too! Unless it was my grandma's?? The brown-haired one in the pool is the one I got from my mom's stuff. She was wearing the sweater in the pool, b/c again, Lauren couldn't find a suit! At least Skipper has one this time!!

And Ken at least now is wearing his suit coat and sneakers. Surely that's how every dad BBQs. Not to mention Barbie in her ball gown. Be thankful it's clothes, right?!

Summer So Far, II

Just a cute one of Austin with a pig, at the fair. Forgot to put it with that post. Oooooops!


At the beginning of summer, it always seems like we're going to have loads and loads of free time to do stuff. But, between vacations, swim lessons, VBS, etc., our time has filled up! I thought the kids would be having friends over lots, maybe going to friends' houses. Well, finally, July 19, Austin and Julia each asked a friend over. It had just been busy, up till then!

Austin had Solomon come. In the second picture, Austin is holding The Sandlot. I'd bought it and The Sandlot II, for just $7.99 for both (love Costco!!), for surprise new movies for our trip to WA. Since then, Austin has been totally into baseball and the Sandlot movies! Every day he wants to watch one or the other. He calls them Sand-a-lot. LOL

Julia had Rachel come, July 19. The girls ate their lunch on the grass outside. Fun! The boys pretty much declared war (see above pic) on the girls, and I think the whole bunch had fun playing that...

July 22 we met up with Brian's mom and Alexis, in Carpinteria. We met at the beach, then ate dinner together at IHOP. Julia went home with them for the weekend. I took just a few pictures at the beach. We were only there 20 minutes or so, but Lauren managed to find a few treasures, and all the kids liked running/playing/rolling in the sand!

The Friday night Julia was gone, Brian decided to do something special with Austin and Lauren. They had a campout in the backyard. We all ate pizza out there together. When it got dark, we all went on a walk in the dark with flashlights. Austin and Lauren had hot chocolate and some of my leftover birthday cake before they went out to sleep in the tent with Brian. Brian said Austin went to sleep almost immediately, but Lauren was up till midnight, talking!!

Caroline found a lounge spot just her size. She's pretty good about entertaining herself for awhile. Kind of cute how she'll plop down like this with a toy, or just sit reading books in her own little spot for awhile. :)

Pretty Piggies and Popsicle Princesses

Julia has painted Caroline's toe nails a couple times this summer. I make her sit in her booster seat so she's contained, not running around the house with wet polish!! Caroline thinks she's such a big girl! Lauren thinks she is a big girl because she can paint her own nails now. And of course Julia is growing up so much, that it's almost like having a second mommy. Or so it sometimes seems... Caroline is still totally into shoes! In the second picture, she's wearing Austin's flip flops. That's her new birthday baby tucked under her arm. :)


These below were from July 18. Our little ladies in their matching dresses. This is the last year we'll be able to do it, unless I start sewing them dresses. Julia's getting too tall for the sizes. She also told me she thinks she's getting too old for it. Not like embarrassed too old, just too old. Well, my friends warned me. LOL I knew it was coming. ;) Most of them say be glad she went along with it this long.

Picture 1: Caroline didn't want to cooperate at first (no surprise there!), so I told the older two to do what she did. That made her laugh! Picture 2: What's up with Lauren? Is she trying to be the Statue of Liberty?

For these, the first picture I told them, "Make a silly face!" And the second, "Make a sweet face!" Awwww...love how Caroline's copying Lauren!

Caroline's pretty toes, that Julia did.

And these little twins... Lauren tells me at stores, if we're looking at clothes, "Is there one for me too?", or, "Is there one for Caroline too?", or, "But I love matching Caroline!" She also told me, "Every time Caroline and I match, you need to take our picture." Hmmm...good idea, Lauren. ;) I pretty much do anyway, but how fun would that be to look back on, in 20 years?

I was sorting through clothes from the attic: Julia's old things for Lauren, and Lauren's old things for Caroline. It never ends, the bringing down hand-me-downs and the putting up hand-me-downs! I guess, because their growing never ends! Anyway, those pink Croc-offs (knock-off Crocs from WalMart ;) ) were in the box of Lauren's old stuff, and Caroline had fun with them all day long! Putting them on and taking them off, and clomping around in them. She told me, "Ankika's shoes! Annaliese's shoes!" I thought that was pretty good, that she remembered her cousin(s) having shoes like that, from when we were in WA!

Little Fishes

Today was our last day of swim lessons for the summer. :( Sniff, sniff, sniff... The big kids each had 11 lessons with Miss Jennie (actually she's Mrs., but that's what we've called her!) Jennie let me take Caroline in the pool every time, which she loved! Julia is a very good swimmer now. I can tell she is more graceful and stronger in the water. She's also learning several different strokes, that I don't know myself!


All the kids are improving. Austin is so silly in the water! He loves swimming down along the bottom of the pool! Even more fun to throw toys down there to retrieve! I'd be playing with Caroline on the side, and all of a sudden he'd go streaking by, down by my feet!


Lauren can swim on her own, now! At first she needed her flippers (or so she thought), but Miss Jennie convinced her to use her imaginary flippers, and so that's what Lauren does. A few weeks ago, Lauren even thought holding a toy, like a dive stick or a small pool toy, would help her swim. That was too funny. Lauren would hold the little toy in one hand, and go off swimming, and tell us, "I need to use this stick! It helps me swim!" She is pretty confident in the water, which makes me glad, but also scares me. Miss Jennie would have to tell Lauren, over and over, to tell an adult before she went off swimming! Lauren would just decide she had enough waiting for her turn, and off she'd go, swimming across the pool!


Caroline thought she was taking lessons, too. And sometimes, Jennie would take Caroline for a glide or jump. Caroline thought that was just great! She also liked using the "space noodles", as she called the pool noodles. I think she'd heard Space Needle when we were in WA, and somehow thinks the noodles are space noodles. Hee hee... She'd ride her noodle like a horse, and we'd go "give it a drink" by the waterfall.

She also liked gathering Miss Jennie's floaty Disney princesses (bath toys) and give them all a ride on a boat (kick board). Of course they'd fall off, and that was fun too, to reset them all. Sometimes silly Austin would overturn the whole boat on purpose, like today. He tipped the kickboard and the princesses scattered. He cackled with glee, and said, "I'm going to eat you for dinner, one by one! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!" Then, to a princess, while holding her underwater, "You're drowned! Now I will eat you!"



We will all miss our Tuesday and Thursday lessons at Miss Jennie's warm pool! She's a great teacher; the kids just love her!

Another Birthday

My birthday was July 21. Julia wanted to make a Chocolate Celebration Cake from her Molly American Girl cookbook. I suggested she make it for my birthday a few days away, and she liked that idea. She made it from scratch, and it was yummy! I helped her with the frosting, then she decorated it herself with all kinds of sprinkles. She let Lauren put on a *very few* sprinkles. Hee hee


All the kids get so excited for birthdays, even when it's not their own! The presents behind Julia were for Caroline, since I forgot to bring our gifts to her, to WA, for her party there.


Brian had taken Julia shopping, and they picked out two shirts, and a necklace/earring set for me. Brian gave me a portable hard drive as well, as we need one to hold our gazillion pictures that are taking up our main hard drive! Caroline got some books, a mini watering can and garden trowel, and the cutest toy food set. I got it at a consignment shop last summer, and have been saving it. It has a mixer that "works", bowls and cooking tools, and a cake that comes apart and fits back together, with candles that "light up" with stick-up flames that go back in the candle when they're blown out.


Caroline thought the cake was for her too. Some presents were, so why not the cake, too? ;) Brian put on six candles: 3 and 3, for 33. :) Caroline helped me blow them out, and we all enjoyed that yummy cake!

Carnival Crazy

So, back up a couple weeks ago, to July 16. Brian once again got free tickets to the Santa Barbara County Fair, through work. The kids were sooooo excited to go! They mostly just care about the rides. We got all the big kids ride wristbands, and they definitely got their our money's worth! This is a smallish fair, and it was not terribly busy when we went, though more people came at night.


Julia...she still likes the kiddie rides, but is getting more and more interested in the "big" rides.


A little girl came to sit with Lauren on this ride.


These crazy kids spun and spun this apple round and round. Even Caroline tried her hardest to spin that wheel! Good thing I like spinning rides! Actually, I prefer the round 'n round rides over roller coasters! It seems most people I talk to are the opposite.

We only got tickets to share with Caroline. She wanted sooooo badly to ride all the rides the big kids went on! She was too short, though, to go by herself.

The horns made noise on this ride, and Austin honked away, the entire time it ran!! Beeeeep....beeep, beep beep beep!

Brian got a funnel cake for a fair treat (we also ate dinner there). The kids were like birds crowding around Papa Bird waiting for bites with their mouths open!

Lauren wasn't tall enough to go on the bumper cars by herself (couldn't reach the pedals), and was so happy to go with crazy-driver Austin.

We also saw the animals, and all liked seeing brand new baby piglets. Sooo cute! There were lots and lots of pigs there, but other farm animals too. We finally left to go home well after 11 pm. I think the kids would have ridden till they got kicked out of the carnival, if we'd let them! They love the rides the best!