adventures in the garden!

i may not post as much as i used to, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to post about.

(well, some days are uneventful. or not blog-worthy.)

late last week we tried adventures in potty training for madison.

it was a short adventure...

to be continued later.

before her hiatus from potty adventures, i snapped a few photos.

just because.

the kids had some balloons to play with.
ya know, something new and out of the ordinary
(because balloons aren't an every-day thing here).

cole discovere, all by himself, what happens when you put a balloon in front of the register (when the fan, furnace or a/c is going. it's wisconsin- anyone's guess as to which of the three will be running on any given day!).
i didn't suggest it. i was doing my own thing when i heard him squealing and laughing with delight. the kid's inquisitive, that's for sure.

the weather was decent on saturday, so the kids and i went to the farm to help with bringing in the garden.

we started with apple-picking.
(there's a tree right behind mom and dad's house)

i love this photo- it's like trick-or-treating!
(and it's the closest they'll come; personally, i'm not into celebrating halloween. it's a personal choice, and i don't think any less of people who DO celebrate!)

i haven't taken them to an orchard yet, so this is the first time they've picked apples.

they had a ball!

maybe we'll hit an orchard or two next year.

"ah-poh, gamma!!"

oh, he's lovin' it!

sorry, madi- that bag weighs more than you!
(didn't stop her from trying to haul it around, though)

it wouldn't be apple-picking without an apple picker, now, would it?

two in the hand is worth... ummm... a huge grin?

yum. can't you just smell 'em?

as if picking apples (and throwing the icky ones out in the weeds) weren't fun enough, great-grandpa flew over the farm, which REALLY got the kids excited.

after the apples, there was the garden.

mom planted a few mini pumpkins- i thought the kids would get a kick out of that, too, but apparently it didn't have the appeal that apple-picking did.

they attempted it

(for photos'-sake)...

and then moved on to running up

and down the cornrows.

oh, and they decided to harvest dirt clumps.

(at least they were having fun, right?)

after lunch, madi went down for her nap, but i know attempting cole's would be futile.

so he went with dad to bring in wood.

what's more fun than getting a four-wheeler ride AND helping grandpa?

meanwhile, mom and i brought in what was ripe from the garden.

some of it could have used more ripening, but with freeze warnings out, that wasn't an option.

we did get all this, though!

two pots of tomatillas, several butternut and buttercup squash, two bags of apples, a muskmelon (that may be tasty after spending a week on mom's counter), a bunch of mini pumpkins, some big pumpkins (half of them ripe, but green ones are nice for fall decorating too!), and a mess of chili peppers.

this one single plant, knee-high and not very bushy, yielded more chili peppers than i thought was possible. it made me chuckle... one tiny plant, SO many peppers!

(watch for another pepper-themed post, coming soon!)

one of the things that cole looks foward to doing at the farm is riding the "motorcycle".

it's a ritual.

this time, he parked it VERY carefully next to his daddy's four-wheeler... he lined it up perfectly!

(i think he misses his daddy)

even though he got to ride on grandpa's four-wheeler, i took him out for a spin on ours. it was the first time i've ever driven it. (there's a reason for that- me and motorized toys don't get along very well. it has to do with a dirtbike and a tree, a snowmobile and a tree... you get the idea).

i didn't hit anything, and both cole and i had fun!

we even followed my dad back out to the woodpile, then got caught in a downpour halfway through loading the trailer. we hid under some pines until it passed, but by then cole was ready to go back to the house. he started walking that way himself (and dad told me he'd walked all the way back himself before), but turned around and ran back with a grin once he heard the four-wheelers start.

funny how engines have that kind of persuasive power over little boys!
so...

after a long, fun day, we had mom's tuna noodle casserole and sour-cream apple pie for supper- totally yummy! and the best part? for the first time in two months, i was not only hungry enough to eat but didn't feel awful afterwards. i think we're hitting the end of a rough first trimester, yay!

*

that was our weekend.

what did YOU do?? :)