Apple Picking!

On Saturday morning we went Apple Picking at Barthel's Farm in Mequon.

When Jack woke up that morning, the first thing he said was "Are we going apple picking today? I am so excited!"

Grandma & Grandpa Stollenwerk came with us. It was a beautiful fall day, sunny and cool with just a little bit of wind.

Jack brought his own bag to put his apples in :)

The boys did really great. Jack spent most of the time picking with Grandma & Grandpa. He listened very well and only picked the good ones off the trees, not the ones on the ground.

Jayden walked around most of the time on his own. I only carried him when we had to cover longer distances. He enjoyed walking around the trees - and he carried around an empty juice cup the whole time!

Jack is such a little farmer. (His hands were a little chilly!) AND we got his Packer hat back! Grandma brought it home for him - it was at Chase & Jillian's house... I thought we had lost it for good :)

Jayden picked one too! (out of the bag)

Our two giant, full bags of apples wedged into the stroller - those strollers sure come in handy for carting stuff around... the kids sure don't sit in them much!!!

Off to the pumpkin patch!

Jack was so excited to get a pumpkin! He found this big one out in the middle of the field, and after rolling it around a bit, he did manage to pick it up. But he didn't get this one, he found a different one.

Jayden playing with the muddy pumpkins too.

That Jack is so strong!

Grandpa & Jayden with his pumpkin seat.

We got home around noon. And after a small lunch (the boys had eaten their sandwiches in the car) it was nap time! They were both exhausted, and Jack actually slept!!!

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So I got busy baking...

While the boys were sleeping I made a German Apple Cake in loaf pans (so they were smaller), a batch of Apple Strusel Muffins, 2 of the Barefoot Contessa Apple Crisps, and a Caramel Apple Cake. They are all delicious :)

After the boys went to bed that night I made 4 batches of applesauce to freeze. That was exhausting. And the next morning I made another batch of the Apple Strusel Muffins to freeze, because they were so delicious.

Can we rake yet?

Jack cannot wait to rake leaves! He has been asking all week to go out and rake the yard - however, it has been way too wet and rainy & there aren't too many leaves down yet..... so on Friday afternoon after the rain stopped and the sun finally came back out, he raked and driveway up, made a little pile & jumped in it and threw it at Jayden. They both had lots of fun :)

Pink Eye!

Jayden has pink eye :( Yuck!

He woke up from his nap this afternoon with his right eye all gooped shut... so I called the doctor right away, and they were able to get him in at 4:30. However, since everyone else's kids are sick today too, we ended up being at the clinic for over an hour :( But Jayden was VERY well behaved. He's such a good boy. And now he has some eye drops to help.

However, I am a bit upset we had to go in at all. When Jack had pink eye (twice) I just called and a prescription for the drops was sent to the pharmacy for me to pick up with no appointment necessary. Oh well.

Not great pictures, as I was holding him on my hip and he was squirming around a lot. But you can kind of see his right eye is puffy and red :( Poor boy.

One positive to going to the Dr. was getting an update on Jayden's weight... he was 19lbs 6oz. Only slightly up from the end of August. He seems to be starting to flat-line again on the graphs. Which I don't understand because that kid eats all the time now!!! But Dr. D didn't seem too concerned.

Rain boots!

Those boys and their rain boots :)

A Fall Saturday!

This morning the boys helped daddy "take down" the garden. It was very messy and fun work :) Afterwards, Jack went with daddy to the dump, too!

We had so much fun at play group this morning, both boys took really nice afternoon naps. After waking up, Jack played with Play-doh (new cans!) for a little while - always a treat for when he is a good boy (or it's raining - both were the case today!)

Then Jack & Jayden enjoyed an afternoon snack of "Jack Cheerios" They are actually Apple Jacks - but Jack started calling them Jack Cheerios earlier this week and it was so cute that's what we call them now !!!

Play Group!

This morning the boys and I had our first play group get-together! One of my high school classmates set it up through facebook. Only about half of the online "group" could make it today, but we still had lots of fun. We met at the Good Shepherd Church nursery - so their were lots and lots and lots of toys, and it was close to home :)

The boys played very nicely and had a great time with all the new toys and I had fun talking to other moms my age :) There were three other kids - two girls, 6 months and 15 months (perfect for Jayden!) and another boy who was almost 2.

We are going to try and meet once a month on Saturday mornings for an hour or so.

Potty Training... Day 100 or so...

Obviously stickers aren't working to get Jack to poop on the toilet...... so we are done with that approach. He's doing very well otherwise.

Al's Run 2011

We had a beautiful, cool, partly sunny day for this year's walk! Everyone had lots of fun.

The boys were all set and ready to go walking early this morning. Jack wore the Champion shirt this year, in honor of his big brother.

Jayden and I were dropped off at Marquette with Grandma, and everyone else came on the school buses from the parking lot at Summerfest. Jack had lots of fun on the bus ride.

Jack had lots of fun playing with Chase and Jillian before we started walking.

Uncle Hayden got a new Marquette hat for his birthday while we waited :)

Katie made us a new shirt design for this year - it looked great!

The kids pushing Jack to the starting line.

Jayden did not like riding in the stroller....

Jack didn't either - he got a ride on Grandpa's shoulders for most of the walk.

I carried Jayden (& his blankie - which he will not let out of his sight lately)

Our team this year - Uncle Greg, Auntie Megan, Jillian, Chase, Grandpa & Grandma B, Uncle Hayden, Jeff, Jack, Jayden & I.

We finished three miles!!! (which gets pretty long carrying a kid the whole way...) But both boys were really good all morning, they just didn't want to ride in strollers. Next year Jayden will be big enough that we'll just bring our wagon.

After the walk we had lunch in the parking lot - sandwiches, pasta salad & desserts:)

Jayden entertained himself after eating his peanut butter crackers by playing under the table with a box of plastic forks.... who needs toys??

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Thanks to everyone who walked with us and/or donated again this year. We raised $341 this year, and $3,241 over the past 5!

Doing Corn!

On Saturday afternoon we went down to the pond to do corn. Grandpa & Uncle Greg had already picked it from the field that morning, so as soon as we got there I put Jayden down for a nap and we started shucking!

Jack was good helper for a while.... then he decided to just watch.

That's A LOT of corn!

It's delicious :)

I shucked for a while, then cut, and then went in to bag it up after Grandma cooked it.

When the corn was all finished - we got about 90 bags in just under 3 hours !!! The guys headed out back to help Grandpa work on his new shed. The boys had lots of fun running around.

Jack had lots of fun playing with Chase.

Chase, Jack & Jayden relaxing on the swings before dinnertime :) We had a very full, fun Saturday!