Orchards on the Ridge

Here in West Michigan we are so blessed to have so many wonderful apple orchards.  Sadly, many of them lost most of their crop this year due to hard frosts last April.  We set out on our annual orchard tour today hoping to find some apples, and we were pleasantly surprised that yes, there were apples available after all!

Our first stop at Ed Dunneback and Girls for donuts and apples.

Jack feeding the cow.

Our next stop was at Steffans Family Orchard where we picked our own apples, pumpkins, and squash.

The colors are really starting to turn.  Up on the ridge, this is a pretty common scene - apples and forest.  God's beauty!

Our last stop was at Fruit Ridge Hayrides.  Sadly, they ran out of 1/2 gallons of cider right before we got there, but we were still able to get a glass of it.  They have the absolute BEST donuts and cider ever!!!

After all of that fresh air, and a tummy full of donuts, we had one tired little boy when we got home.

28 Months

*He loves to wear his backpack.  He has to be like the other big kids and wear it every time we drop Hannah off and pick her up from school.

*He has taken a liking to one of Hannah's baby dolls.  He calls her doll, hugs her, rocks her, and often sleeps with her (when Hannah will let him).

*He is very quiet and plays great by himself when Hannah is at school.  I'm starting to see who really drags all of the toys out at our house because when he's the only one home our house stays much neater.

*He likes to call people on my phone.  Most of the time my phone is locked, and he can't dial out.  However, he did once manage to somehow successfully dial Jason.  If you ever get a strange phone call from my house, it's probably just Jack.

*He continues to test his boundaries and ignore us when we tell him to stop as he runs away from us.  He's learned the unpleasant consequences of his actions more than once.   

*He loves to color and paint.

*He's really started to play with legos and is quite good at putting things together.

*He likes to play restaurant with Hannah.  He's usually the cook while she's the waitress.

September 2012 Projects

I am amazed and a bit overwhelmed by all of the projects that Hannah has been bringing home this month between pre-school and Happy Heart City at church with the Life Action Ministries Summit (amazing, amazing work they are doing with every age at our church right now!!)  To try to manage all of the papers while still capturing the memory of each project, I'm trying to take pictures of her projects as she brings them home.  Here's a sample from this month:

Learning about obedience at Happy Heart City

Our family and house (with the apple tree that doesn't exist in our backyard).

Another Happy Heart City project

Hannah and Mama :-)

Thumb prints

Family photo book

Art Prize 2012

We've once again made it downtown to check out Art Prize this year.  As in years' past, there's lots to see and do.

Eating popcorn and watching...

this guy play, sing, and even kind of dance at the Gerald R. Ford Museum.

One of our favorites, horses in the river.

The kids and I met up with my friend Jaime and her parents another afternoon and again made it to the Ford Museum to check out another one of our favorites, the penguins.

Of course, Hannah had to be a mermaid.

Jason and I went to some of the more adult-friendly venues on a date night and were particularly fascinated by the musical birds at the UICA. 

First Day of Preschool

Hannah could hardly wait to start preschool this week!

We enrolled Hannah at First Covenant Church's Covenant Kids Preschool last winter. It was hard to believe the big day had finally arrived. Although we were very happy holding off on preschool last year, she was so ready this year! 

 

Jack on the other hand was not as excited.  He was a little jealous that Hannah and I were leaving without him.  He insisted on getting in the picture with her, shoes in hand.

Jack snuck up next to us when I tried to get a picture with Hannah, too.

 

Hannah found the hook with her name right away.

As soon as she walked in, she made herself right at home.

She is already loving school.  We couldn't be happier with our choice and look forward to the year ahead.

Labor Day Weekend

We spent Labor Day weekend at Higgins Lake.  Todd, Courtney, and the kids were up for the first half of the weekend.  It's always chaotic fun when they all get together. 

3 out of 4 looking at the camera's not bad.

Enjoying the lake association picnic.

The kids won all kinds of fun prizes.

 

Hanging with Papa. 

Jason and I were lucky enough to escape for a night up to Traverse City while the kids spent time with Grandma and Papa.  We thoroughly enjoyed our mini-vacation away!

Mud Run

I had a 5k on my list of goals.  When I saw the Mud Run advertised, I thought why not throw in a little mud to my goal?!

Fortunately, I did the race with 4 other amazing, strong ladies.  Here we are, nice and clean in our tie-dyed shirts, socks, and bandanas.

 

Getting dirty!

We all finished in about an hour.  Definitely not your average 5k!

Being dirty never felt so great!!

Dancing

 

Wrenching

Diving

Hannah decided to do a little exploring in the water table with her swim mask.  This picture was taken right before Jack pushed her head all the way in!

Jack's turn.

Stickers

Bet you can't guess who did that to Jack!