alyse's writing blog

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Picking Apples & Pears

One of my favorite traditions since being married is going to my in-law's house to pick apples and pears in September. And when I say tradition...we've only done it once before. We did it the first year we were married, but last year I had a 2 week old baby around harvest time, so we skipped out on the picking. But this year we were back in the game! Except for John. He pretty much works 70-hour weeks these days, poor guy. But I took pictures for him so he could be a part of this fun day.

On a cool September Saturday, early in the morning before the bees came out, my father-in-law (Norris), Abram, and I headed out to the yard to pick fruit. John's folks have a red apple tree, a green apple tree, and a pear tree. We started with the apple trees.

Grandpa Norris and I picked,

while Abram chomped on apples.

As I was picking I noticed something in the tree:

A bowl?

I found out that I was picking apples in the "Seconds Tree." My father-in-law, Norris, is a talented potter. Potters all have a "seconds pile" where they throw all their chipped and defected work. Norris decided that instead of having a "seconds pile" he wanted to have a "seconds tree." He places his chipped masterpieces into the tree for all the apple climbers and pickers to discover. Apple picking suddenly turned into a treasure hunt for me.

After we surveyed the apple harvest, we moved onto the pears.

Abram explored the backyard,

then he helped grandpa pick.

I stood on a ladder.

Once we were done picking we went to the kitchen where my mother-in-law, Jo, was prepared to help us preserve the fruit. She is a super woman when it comes to food preservation. She cans, juices, and dries fruit and vegetables all year round for her family.

First we soaked the fruit in order to force out the worms and earwigs...ew!

Then we cut the fruit.

And then we dried it!

I can't think of a better way to kick off the Fall season than with a harvest! Thank you Grandpa Norris and Grandma Jo for letting us come and enjoy the morning with you!

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Sheepdog Competition

We went to a Sheepdog competition a few weeks ago. You heard me, sheepdog. You know, like the movie Babe? It was a blast!

While we were there Abram colored a picture for the first time.

I'm just writing his name! I swear he colored his own picture.
I've got a video for proof that is unfortunately too big to upload here.

Here's the final product:

My child is an artist I'm telling you! As Abram was coloring John kept mentioning how well Abram was staying inside the lines.

Abram likes to try on my sun glasses.

It was a super fun day, but we wondered if was really worth $30 since we didn't know very much about sheepdog stuff, but then this happened:

That face is worth $30 any day!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Abram's Birthday Party

We threw a big party for Abram's birthday in addition to the family party earlier in the week. It has been so fun celebrating! Here's some pictures from the party:

I'll have you know I made all those cupcakes! Little trick I learned: Open store bought frosting and dump it into your mixer and mix it on high for a few minutes or so and the frosting becomes super fluffy and almost doubles in size. You get more bang for your buck AND you get fluffier frosting. You're welcome.

Lots of friends and family came to celebrate.

The time finally came to sing happy birthday to Abram, so we all gathered around his high chair...

But he was a little distracted.

We finally moved the balloons away and caught his attention.

And then...the happy birthday song. This is a long video of the song so I don't think most people will appreciate it, but I loved watching it!

[coming as soon as it uploads from the phone]

Birthday beard: