Morning at the apple orchard

One of my favorite fall memories from when I was a kid was going to the apple orchard.  For some reason, the thing I remember most was the area they had set aside for kids with straw covering a patch of ground.  There was always loose change in the straw for the kids to find.  I don't know if that was at Broom's Orchard or somewhere else, but I hope we can find somewhere that still does that for Ainsley. 

The helmet didn't add too much!

J.D. walked right up, as if he knew just what to do, and stood there!

Clint was a good sport!

Sunday morning, Ainsley and I took off for Carlinville to meet Dad, Abby, J.D., Aunt Sudi, and Clint at Broom's Orchard.  It was a nice morning and we got there not long after it opened, so there wasn't many people there.  J.D. immediately saw the tractor and playground equipment, but he was strapped in his stroller and didn't make it very far!  

Trying to find the "good" trees!

J.D. was itching to get out of the stroller!

We picked a few apples.  They were picked over pretty good, but we managed to find a few.  J.D. would pick one off a tree, take a few bites and throw it on the ground.  It was so cute!  Ainsley loved being outside and took everything in.  

Grandpa helping Ainsley

She liked the leaves more than the apples.

Let me see if I can pull that apple off.....

This apple's pretty tasty!

We were walking out of the apple trees and a guy walked beside us and kind of chuckled and said:  "I guess you don't have to worry about an apple falling from the tree and hitting her in the head!"  I just laughed and told him that I had just said that.  I'm glad that some people can make a joke out of Ainsley's helmet instead of just stare at her.

I ran the apples back to the car while everyone else went on a hay ride.  I'm sure J.D. loved it!

I can't believe that next fall, Ainsley will be walking around picking apples off trees and taking big bites out of them! 

Last weekend was Drake's third birthday party.  He got lots of good gifts and loved blowing out his candles.  We had to sing "Happy Birthday" three times for him, and he had to blow out his candles three times!  I swear, that kid is just like his Mom!!! 

I think this was after the second singing of Happy Birthday and he was still just hamming it up!



Ainsley trying out Drake's new slide

 

Ryder likes it too!



Typical Ainsley face....what YOU lookin' at?

He started preschool last week and hasn't been in trouble yet.  I don't know how much longer that will last....he's pretty ornery!  I was talking to Jennifer the other day on the phone and she was at the gas station pumping gas.  She said that they've switched Drake's car seat and he can unbuckle himself from his new one.  A minute into our conversation, I hear a very loud horn honking and Jennifer immediately says:  "Oh, Drake's got out of his seat again".  She stops pumping gas, opens up the door to the vehicle, and I can hear him just giggling.  She yells at him, gets him back in his seat, and tells him not to do it again.  We finish our conversation as she's pulling into her garage and she parks the vehicle, and tells Drake he can undo his belt and get out.  Ten seconds later, I hear someone laying on a horn.  Yep, Drake was in the driver seat honking the horn again.  Their neighbors have to LOVE them!

Roberts Wedding

Last weekend was Abby and Gabe's wedding.  If you know Abby, you'll know what I mean when I say:  planning a wedding isn't exactly Abby's cup of tea.  But, it turned out to be a beautiful day and wedding.  Don't get me wrong, there were a few mishaps along the way but bridezilla didn't freak out too much.  It started raining about half an hour before the wedding and I thought we were going to have a meltdown, but she held it together pretty good and it stopped just in time for the ushers to wipe down the chairs and the guests to be seated. 

The beautiful bride!

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts

Abby looked absolutely beautiful.  She looked so pretty that I don't think J.D. recognized her at first!  It was either that he didn't recognize her, or he was too interested in riding the golf carts.  It's a tough call!  J.D. looked so handsome in his little tux.  It's too bad that he was busy, busy, busy and wouldn't stay still long enough to get good pictures of him. 


(Photo courtesy of SBR Photography. Check her out on Facebook!)

Here's one with J.D. standing still!!!

Here's one with J.D. running like a wild child!

Ainsley was the flower girl, and Clint pulled her down the aisle in a wagon.  I wish we would have got a picture of J.D. and Ainsley together all dressed up, but like I mentioned earlier, that was impossible with J.D. running around like a wild man!  I have to say that Ainsley made the cutest little flower girl that I've ever seen.  By the way, I'm not the least bit partial or anything.

Cutest flowergirl in the world! 
(Photo courtesy of SBR Photography.  Check her out on Facebook!)

The wedding was short and to the point (just the way I like them), but wasn't quick enough.  Near the end of the wedding, J.D. was standing in between me and Abby, in front of the guests, and started digging for gold.  The look on Jim's face (the grandpa) was priceless.  It was like it happened in slow motion....J.D.'s little pointer finger heading toward his nose, Jim seeing him and starting to "yell" in a hushed tone for him not to do it, J.D. not listening and instead digging deeper and deeper until......he finds the mother-load and strikes rich!  Warning:  if you have a weak stomach do not read any further.  (Jeremy-I mean you).  Jim's face at this point started turning red and it was seriously one of the biggest, green boogers I've ever seen.  I didn't see it for long, because before anyone could say anything, it was in J.D.'s mouth and into his stomach.  I absolutely lost it.  In between Jim's face at that point, J.D. getting full off of one giant booger, and a few other people seeing it, I started laughing.   Yep, laughing so hard I started crying standing in front of the guests as the maid of honor beside the bride.  I couldn't stop laughing.  I did everything I could...told myself I had to stop because my makeup would run, pinched my skin in between my thumb and pointer finger, looked the other way, but nothing helped.  By this point, J.D. had run off and Aunt Peg was chasing him and the guests all thought I was crying because of the beautiful ceremony!  Thank goodness the wedding was about over.  I'm glad Abby didn't turn into bridezilla on me and tell me how ridiculous it was that I was laughing hysterically during her wedding.  That's why I love her!

After the wedding, the wedding party went to sit at a few holes (we were at a golf course) while we waited for the reception to start.  Abby had to pee, and there isn't exactly a bathroom in the middle of a golf course, so we helped her squat.   Two of the other bridesmaids had already ran into the woods to squat while me and another one helped hold Abby's dress.  As we're holding her wedding dress up, in the middle of the golf course, one of the bridesmaids (that had ran into the woods) starts to come out and immediately starts hysterically laughing.  I see her and know exactly what she's laughing about and lose it (alcohol was definately a factor with my uncontrollable laughing at this point).  All she can see as she's coming out of the timber is Abby's white butt in the air peeing.  I fall over from laughing so hard and Abby yells at me because she thinks I'm laying in the pee and it just gets worse from that point.  Once we get Abby standing again and I get up, I decided that I needed to go to the bathroom.  Into the timber I went, and that was the biggest regret of the entire day.  Why didn't I just go in the middle of the golf course like Abby?  If I would have done that, I wouldn't have ended up with poison ivy the next day.  That's right...I had a reaction to the poison ivy the next day at Drake's birthday party.  My wrists started itching and Joel kept telling me that I probably had bug bites from the night before (the reception was outside).  The inside of my wrists kept getting redder and redder and Joel finally looked at them and said I had poison ivy.  It was also on my back at this point.  So, I made a trip to prompt care to make sure I didn't need a shot or anything.  Luckily, I didn't and he gave me ointment to put on it and it was cleared up by the next morning.  I've learned my lesson:  I will never squat in the timber again.  Ever.

J.D. seeing Abby for the first time on Saturday.  He wanted back outside!

Aunt Sudi helping Abby get ready

Grandpa Bill and Daddy keeping Ainsley dry and warm before the wedding.

We all rode golf carts to the ceremony site.  Abby had to hold onto her veil so it didn't fly off!

That would be my husband, who was thrilled pulling around the wagon!

There's her tongue!



Thomas and Tanner....it looks like Tanner has passed up his "big" brother and is now taller.

 

Jamie and Thomas

I'm sure the reception got wild and crazy, but this girl was home and in bed by 10:30.  I was completely exhausted from the long week I had and slept like a baby that night.  I'm so happy for Abby, Gabe, and J.D. and wish them lots of luck in the future. 

Harvest is in full swing

Joel and Jim have been in the fields for two weeks now and have got quite a bit out already.  I know I'm ready for them to be done, so Ainsley can see her Daddy again!  I took Ainsley out to the field to ride in the tractor for a little while Sunday afternoon.  She loved it!  There were so many buttons and gadgets to play with.  The steering wheel was pretty cool, as well as the control panel by the armrest.

 

She LOVED the steering wheel!



She's already kicked Daddy out!

Saturday night I took Ainsley's helmet off to give her a bath and she had started having another allergic reaction to the new helmet.  It was only on the bottom ride side of her head, but it had already started oozing orangish stuff out and was all over her helmet.  I gave her a bath, medicated her head and put lotion on it and we left the helmet off all night.  Sunday morning we put the little knit hat on her that we got from the Orthotist in case she had another reaction and we've been doing good since then.  She has to wear the little hat underneath the helmet at all times now so her skin isn't in direct contact with the helmet.  We go back tomorrow afternoon for her follow up appointment.  I'm going to pick up plenty of extra "hats" while we're there.  I had to cut ear holes out for the other one and didn't quite get them matched up!

Ainsley is getting to be quite the snugglier.  She loves to burrow her head (helmet and all) into your shoulder and grab on to your shirt.  She loves grabbing my hair and giving it a few good pulls.  Smiles are still few and far between from her, but it just makes them more special.  If we lay her on her tummy, she works herself around and has just about done a complete circle on her belly.  She scoots a little forward and still isn't rolling over.  She rolled over three times and that was weeks ago and hasn't done it since.  It seems like she's already into everything and she isn't even mobile!  I swear, sister can spot a remote control or phone if there's one in close proximity, and will do everything she can to get it.  How is it that she's already obsessed with remotes and phones and she doesn't even know that she isn't suppose to have them?!?!?

Can you tell Daddy put her pajamas on?  He messed up the buttons!

She's also sitting up to take her baths.  Splashing is getting to be a fun game!

I went back to the dermatologist this morning for my three month follow up since my melanoma diagnosis.  The good news is that I don't have to go back for six months (only because I'm good about doing my own skin checks).  The bad news was that she removed two more moles and sent them off to the lab.  I should get the results back on them in one to two weeks.  She didn't think I should worry about them, but she also didn't think I should worry about the one that turned out to be melanoma.  Hopefully I get good results this time.

I've been swamped again with work, which I should think of as a good thing because there are so many people out there without work, but it just comes at the worst times.  Joel's in the field all day, I'm working very late nights and it seems like every other day we have a doctor's appointment or something comes up.  Abby's wedding is Saturday, so watch for some pictures of a cute little flower girl next week.  Ainsley's going to be in her second wedding and she's only 7 months old!  She's quite the socialite!

Who does Ainsley look like?

There have been numerous times in the past few weeks that I see Joel when I look at Ainsley.  I put her in her crib tonight and put one of Drake's old toys that he is letting Ainsley borrow behind her and took her picture.   I found a picture of Joel when he was about Ainsley's age in his crib with a toy that was about the same as the one I had in her crib when he was a baby....waaaayyyyyy back in 1977/1978.  I only have one picture of me when I was a baby, and I was a little younger than Ainsley is now.  Who do you think she looks like more?


I think Joel was a little chubbier than Ainsley!!!





Mommy wasn't nearly as chunky as Daddy or Ainsley!