Apple Pickin' 2011

This week's theme was "apples." In Kari's and I's arts and crafts class, we painted with apples. For dinner last night, we had "Autumn Porkchops"--where you use red apples. And, on Tuesday night, we went and picked apples!

Earlier this year, one of the dearest couples we had the privledge of knowing, the Flynns, passed away fairly closely to one another. (They were never apart in life, so death was really no different.) This was the couple who opened up their orchard each year to our church congregation and invited us in to pick apples and make cider. (I've done posts on this in the past--it is a magical place!) Well, with their passing, we weren't sure if apple picking would be available anymore. Graciously, one of their daughters, who has bought their place, has once again opened up the orchard and cider press for us to come and enjoy. And enjoy we did!
We invited our good neighbors, the Hofers, along with us and had a BLAST following the kiddos around the orchard as they picked apples and ran free!
(Aren't they a beautiful family?!)

The little girls, Kari and Campbell, enjoyed playing on the gator. They were very reluctant to share the seats with anyone.

Emily, and old pro, did very well picking some primo apples.




Although we went picking last year, Kari was really too young to get into it. Not so this year! She went crazy picking apples! (And there were plenty of lower branches just dripping with juicy apples just for her!)

Christian also did his fair share of pickin'--and was very helpful in carrying Kari's heavy apple bag for her.

Kari, showing us one of her picks.

Almost trying one too....she's very suspicious of food in general, even apples, which are in our house and eaten at dinner all.the.time. Silly girl.

Finally, our attempt at a family picture. Christian was actually in a great mood...he just thought he was being funny and decided to test out his scowl. Ugh. The picture up at the top of this post was the best one we could get. Ugh.

It was such a beautiful night and we're certainly enjoying all of the apples we picked!

The Cutest Kidney Bean...

That we've ever seen!

Baby Bean Lindseth

Due April 25, 2012

Children's Museum Trip

Last week my friend Heather and I took the kiddos to the Children's Museum. It had been over a year since Christian had been there (to the Omaha one) and it was Kari's first time! And, it actually turned out to be a lot of fun! Kari had a great time, driving like a big girl...

And sliding down the slides. Actually, Kari could've spent the entire time in the first room. She loved the climbing, sliding and the shopping in the little grocery area. LOVED that place.

Meanwhile, the boys lived it up as firemen,

And climbing all over creation.

And speaking of creation, we ventured up to the Dawn of the Dinosaurs exhibit. Last time this exhibit was here, Emily was little and absolutely terrified (imagine that!). Christian was all over it though. Here he is in front of his favorite, the T-Rex. (By the way, he's wet b/c he and Spencer were playing in the water area, not anything else :-).)

Kari was NOT so thrilled with the dinos. In general, this is how she took to them--with deep suspicion (imagine that!).

Both kids LOVED the carosel ride!

We had so much fun, we may just make it back there within the year!

Daddy and Em's Trip

Last weekend, Emily and Cubby flew up to Michigan for Auntie Tessa's wedding! It was a much-anticipated event, especially for Emily who could hardly contain her excitement over getting to see her cousins, Reagan and Kaylee, again! From the looks of the pictures I've seen, these girls were pretty inseparable and had a lot of fun playing and getting ready for the wedding together.

Cousins Berkley and William were there too--Berk loved his bin and William loved Berk :-).

The kids all got to do some major camping out in Grandma and Grandpa's basement together and Emily told me she read stories to the girls and to Berk too.

Cubby was the official video-cameraman for the day of the wedding so there aren't too many pictures (from my camera, at least) from the wedding. However, this shot below is of the girls--after Auntie Amy did their hair and they got dressed in the cute dresses Grandma Beckie made for them. (I think much of Amy's weekend was spent doing hair--it seems to be what she's doing in almost every picture I see of her!) Thanks, Amy, for not leaving Cubby to try and do Em's hair!

Here is my beautiful sister-in-law, the bride, Tessa. Isn't she lovely? I love this picture because her smile totally says how happy she is on her wedding day!And, here are the handsome Lindseth men! Looking good, guys!

Here are the girls in their dresses--each of the ruffled skirts are the girls' favorite colors. Grandma even made one for Kari and sent it home with Cubby--it's so cute! They'll be wearing them on Sunday (as long as it doesn't heat up again!)

On Monday, everyone else had left and so Emily got some one-on-one attention (the kind she loves best!) from Grandma and Grandpa. They took she and Cubby to the Detroit zoo and had one last hurrah before Cubby and Emily had to hop on a plane back to us in good-ol' Nebraska! Emily and Cubby both have said what a fun time they had--Emily was so thrilled to be able to be the "big girl" and go on a special trip with Daddy. We're so glad that at least two members of our family could go up and give our love and support to Tessa and Tom as they start their new lives together. Thank you for the great weekend, Grandma and Grandpa! Congratulations, Tessa and Tom!

Marketing Strategies

The other evening, Christian came into our room telling us that he had an itchy bum. Sure enough, not everything was "wiped clean." So, we got out the wipes, cleaned him off and got out the A+D cream so it wouldn't be itchy or red anymore.

Before we could put the cream on, Christian asks, "Is this the stingy cream???" (Target brand A+D tends to sting.) This was brand-name and so we said, "No, this won't sting." And, we proceeded to put alittle on him.

Almost immediately, he jumps up and yells, "This IS the stingy kind! See! (pointing to the cream) It says right here: Stingy Butt Cream!" (The wipes used previously must've made it hurt a bit.)

Cubby and I totally crack up (no pun intended) and decide that the marketers of A+D must be geniuses because apparently, to one little boy, their product boasts as a "Stingy Butt Cream."

Christian Starts Preschool 2011!

Christian started preschool today! He was very excited and went all out--mis-matched socks and he even told me he didn't want me to do his hair; he liked it just the way it was when he woke up!


This year, Mr. Joey is his teacher and he has three friends in his class (Jacob, Sadie and Maren). Since this is his second year of preschool at the Y, Christian knew just what to do and settled right in. It was such a relief that he was comfortable and happy.

When Kari and I picked him up he was all smiles as well and even sang me a song that they had learned that day. We are looking forward to a fun year too--Christian is already anticipating the field trips!

Mommy and Me

This month, Emily and I's date took us to the Mormon Trail Center at Winter Quarters. (We went out on a Sunday evening and so our choices of venues were rather slim, but we had a lot of fun touring around and learning more about the pioneers that came before us.) Emily enjoyed learning how the pioneers counted the miles with a handmade odometer on their wagon wheel (see picture on the left).

We also filled up our mini toy wagons with the "essential provisions," checked out a cool model of a ship that some of the pioneers came over from England on, went downstairs and checked out the quilt displays, and went out on a beautiful evening for a walk around the temple grounds.

I love my little date nights with Emily; it gives us some wonderful one-on-one time (and now that she's in school most of the day, it allows me to give her some undivided attention and she can tell me about what goes on during the day). She's becoming such a big girl so fast; I'm grateful for these moments to strengthen our bond and let her know how much I love her!

Labor Day 2011

God bless America and God bless Labor Day! It was incredibly gorgeous here and we took full advantage of the much-needed day off. Now, you can tell by the pictures below that we went to the zoo...nothing new there! But, since we had Daddy with us, we made sure it was a super-extra-fun day at the zoo by going on the Skyfari and the train! (We usually don't do either because they cost extra money and I need extra hands to help with the kids.) We all had such a nice morning and since it was so nice outside, we didn't even notice how BUSY the zoo was because we stuck to the outdoor attractions and left the inside stuff for a colder day! Kari really liked the Skyfari (a ski lift that takes you over one side of the zoo) because she got to see the giraffes from above (and very close!), the cheetas out and about, and the rhinos nice and close too! (They are soooo much bigger than what you'd think from a bird's eye view!)

Christian was very excited about getting over to the rhinos--he'd wanted to see them last time but we didn't venture that far. This is the train ride--Kari is making her "choo-choo" face. We rode in the caboose!

Look at these cute little blondies--enjoying the view.

Kari got a little nervous when the train started going faster--and, by that time she was pretty tired.

We stayed until just after lunchtime and by then we were all ready to head home...kids got to play with friends, Kari took a 3 hr nap, my mom and I went out to a sale, and Cubby held down the fort! We finished up the day with dinner at my mom's and Cubby just finished mowing the lawn...in the dark :-).

We hope you all enjoyed this rest from your labors!

How Our Days End These Days

As soon as Emily relaxes and allows herself to fall asleep, I'll add a snapshot of her as well. (She's very excited for her upcoming trip to Michigan with Daddy and is having trouble falling asleep :-).)