Happy Halloween

They both had a blast! We could not call the tiny one by her name, she was CINDERELLA!

Dentist

No cavities, great job girls!

Last time the crazy dentist told her she would lose 2 teeth by Christmas.  Our great hygienist Amy was so mad at him.  This time around those same teeth are still only barely loose- only Amy and the dentist can tell they are loose.  She told Celia they are not popping out by Christmas and she would check them in May.

The picture is not great but she actually was fine.  We do need to perfect her spitting aim as she hit the wall instead of the little sink bit according to the hygienist it happens all the time!

So we are set for Halloween candy!  

Here are some cute park pics

Science Factory

Celia had off from school on Friday so we took advantage of our free reciprocal membership and went to the Lancaster Science factory.

The girls had a good time.  We stayed there for almost 2 hours.  Celia jammed on this PVC pipe instrument.

This was a sand pendulum.  Audrey just liked the sand part.

Audrey's GI doctor actually has one of these simple machine ball contraptions but I think it is more exciting outside of the doctors office.

This was a large microscope.

Dance around the black lights and prisms

A knex simple machine.  knex was a big part of the museum.  Celia really loved them.

Even the entrance offered some fun.  Our favorite part was the parachute tube.  You shoved a parachute into a tube and it shot out the top.

Linvilla

Audrey and I dropped my mom off at the airport and then on a whim decided to stop by an orchard that was somewhat on our way home.  It is very popular for field trips but it was not overly crowded.

Audrey really loved the ducks, she could have stayed near their area for our whole visit.

I thought this display was very cool.

I took this photo for Pete

Audrey thought these were Popsicles.

Miss cutie

Hamming it up.

Oh and just so she does not feel left out. Now I am noticing that she picked out two different socks to wear...

Guess who got a new phone!

Yep I traded in the flip phone for a smart phone. I love the camera!

Celia's End of Quarter Work

Celia's school is studying Islands this school year.  I love how it is an entire school project and that they are all working together.  The kindergarten class had Easter Island.  I was excited to hear this as my friend Jeff got married on Easter Island.

Celia named her island, community island

Did you notice how neatly Cecelia printed her letters???

That's what happens when you start handwriting without tears at age 2.

There is her orange goldfish, super cool

This is the whole table

The first grade class made this turtle!

Celia's class also made some Moai, according to Celia it is the head statue thingies

at Easter Island.  

serious little student

Applesauce

I found out a few years ago that our local orchard sells "seconds" apples.  I bought them one year on a whim to make applesauce and as I was peeling them I discovered that there really was nothing wrong with them.  In fact most of them were perfect and yummy.  They have not raised the price of them since I started, $13 for a very, very, very, large basket of them.

So, as you can see- that is a lot of apples.  The bag is trash bag size, they are not mini apples

Celia helped me make the applesauce

Celia rarely helps me with cooking projects anymore so it was a nice treat

We used our fancy apple corer and peeler that my Mom purchased for us

Celia especially loved when the apples turned out like big swirls

Here she is demonstrating the coolness of an apple spring

So making the actually applesauce is very easy.  I like to make it on the stove.  I know that a lot of people swear by crockpot applesauce and I love my crockpot however I find that the texture just is a little off when I do it in the crockpot.

Put in the Pot:

Apples

Cinnamon (really according to your taste preference)

1/8th to 1/2 cup sugar depending on the apples (tart at more, sweeter apples may need no sugar)

Enough water to cover the bottom of the pot to prevent the apples from burning

Cook on low until desired texture.

I like our applesauce with some chunks in them but you can cook it until your desired texture.  I often add nothing to our applesauce and then add some sugar or cinnamon if needed.  This batch of apples were a bit more tart then I am used to so I added some sugar to the second batch.

And she's out...

My sad face, a bad picture, but you get the picture.  So Thursday evening I was happily playing legos with Celia and when we were finished I attempted to stand up.  Normally that is something that is quite easy for me however it evidently was not to be on this particular day.  I stood up, twisted my knee and heard a pop.  Now everyone that I have since mentioned the story to makes the comment after I say pop " Oh that's not good".  At the time I really thought nothing of it until I tried to move again and folks, let me tell you that if you hear a pop- that is NOT a good thing.  I could barely move and it wasn't just due to the pain, my knee seemed to be sort of locked in place.  Not fun.  I recovered after a bit but was in pain.  So I was worried, I iced it and was pleasantly surprised when I awoke the next morning and my knee felt okay, stiff, but ok.   An hour later, another pop, more pain and landing flat on the ground made me realize that I was not ok.  I made some calls and got into see an orthopedist.  Audrey was a trooper, we had to wait 90 min for X-rays and she was awesome!!

So the orthopedist is 99.9% sure I tore my meniscus, he even started telling me about the surgery to repair it until I cut him off.  I asked if we could wait to talk about it after the MRI- I mean really???

I should mention that this was the morning that I read to Celia's class.  I still went however the whole time I was reading I was thinking about what was going to happen if I stood up again and went down, I would take out the whole first row.  I was fine standing up.  The storytelling seemed to go fine but I was a bet off that day, imagining all the things that could wrong.

I do not take slowing down well at all.  That is likely why I had not visited an orthopedist 10 months earlier when I first started having knee issues.  I just altered my exercise as needed and made plans to eventually see someone.  Now this current issue could or could not be related to that knee pain.  The theory is that perhaps I had a minor tear and then it just became bigger when I got up the wrong way (the meniscus often flips when you have a tear and that is what cause the extreme pain and knee locking according to the orthopedist). Evidently though, twisting your knee the wrong way can tear your meniscus.

A little bit too much info provided here and it is likely boring to most!!  So I had my MRI done Friday evening and I am seeing the orthopedist Wed afternoon.  If it is surgery it is not awful surgery, heck if I get it done on a Friday then I may even be able to return to work the next week.  But as we all know, surgeries are never convenient!!

Audrey and Mommy days

I have been very torn with sending Celia to a full day kindergarten.  Our district has 1/2 day kindergarten, a shorter day then many preschools.  Celia just misses the district cut off of Sept 1st so she is on the older side for Kindergarten and it just made more sense to go full day.  We picked her school for many other reasons.  But I am home typically 3 days a week and so I miss Celia a bit.  But I also see how much more she gets from a full day kindergarten.   So that leaves Audrey and Mommy alone for typically 3 days.  I was really nervous about it because it is harder to entertain just one kiddo but we are doing okay.  We have had some playdates, moms morning out, some trips, and also just some time spent at home.  I get to learn so much about Audrey that I am well aware of now that I would not know if I was working full time.  It helps that Audrey is the easiest she has ever been and she is so happy.  She is so cute too.

We have been on many adventures just in our neighborhood too.  Last Tuesday we went on a leaf walk and I did not expect it to be so interesting for Audrey

Fall Summer

It is October 5th and it is 85 degrees, it is hot.  The leaves are turning and I am stocking up on warmer clothes for the girls, yet we are currently wearing shorts and short sleeves.  It is crazy.  Even this week it is still going to be in the upper 70s.

 I love Fall a lot and the girls do too.  They love to spend time outside and do,
well weird things like in these pictures.

Still not sure what this was about

Do you notice the rain boots?  I got them at a consignment sale

with plans to decorate them with puffy pant to make them more girly.

But Celia thinks they are fine just the way they are.  So do I.

Pretty Fall leaves are popping up throughout our neighborhood

Again, no clue, but I think the rain boots perfect her outfit!

They were $3 by the way and look brand new.

Maybe she is wrangling in a tree?  No idea

Pretty Mums in Pumpkin orange are thriving in her front yard.

The girls brought these home from school for Mother's Day

I am enjoying the warmer weather but I am ready for cooler days!