Apple Picking!

Sunday I took the girls to the apple orchard. Like I mentioned in my last post, it is something I like to do every autumn, and it was Sasha's first time going apple picking with us!


Sasha picks her first apple. After we took this picture, I realized that it looked like Sasha has HUGE arms and hands. No those are not her hands, those are mine.

Sasha and her mommy at the corn maze.

Have an apple! Cassie climbs trees and passes me the apples at the apple orchard.

Cassie monkeys around in the apple trees.

Sasha shows off her apple. Once we handed her the baby sized apple, she held on to it for the rest of the trip. Although she offered it to every passing stranger, every goat, and everyone in the restauraunt we later went to. As a matter of fact, she's offering it to Cassie while she takes the picture.

Here goat, have my apple! Just kidding!

Goats! Sasha LOVED them, especially this little one. The feeling seemed mutual. The moment Sasha saw the goats she squealed happily, pointed, barked at them, and blew them kisses. She squirmed in my arms til I let her play with them.

Sasha happily plays with the goats.

"Look at my apple!", Sasha shows off her apple in the restauraunt at the orchard. I love this picture.

Pumpkin Hater- Almost everyone at the orchard posed their little ones in the pumpkin patch for pics, so I thought it would be nice to do that too. Nope, Sasha did NOT like the pumpkins.
The lady at the apple orchard says Sasha is the only baby she's ever seen cry at the pumpkins. "People put their kids with the pumpkins to take pictures all day," she explains, "and I've not seen any of them cry like that"


Sasha sleeps on the trip back, clutching her well-worn "Bad Baby" book.

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At the end of the trip, Cassie admitted that while she originally didn't want to go to the orchard, she's glad we did. She said she had fun. I smiled to myself. I had fun too.

Apple Memories

For several years, Cassie and I had a tradition. When autumn rolls around, we trek on over to a local apple orchard and pick ourselves a metric buttload of fresh picked apples. I usually send Cassie up in the trees in search of the perfect apple. Then I make her carry the heavy bag full of apples to the car while she whines that it is too heavy. We then spend the next few weeks wondering what to do with 3,892,782 tons of apples. Apple pie, applesauce, apple jam, apple butter, apple chutney, spiced apples, baked apples, my mother-in-law's recipe for apple crisp, and just plain apples. So many we get sick of them. Ah, pleasant memories. We're not a family with many traditions, so it's nice to have at least one.

But alas, last year at this time, I was pregnant with Sasha, and it was not wise to go wandering out in the apple orchards. So we had to skip the annual apple picking. I was very sad to miss it. This year, Cassie didn't want to go. I was starting to be afraid that our autumn tradition was dying.
It made me sad. Our one tradition was at risk of dying. In my mind, I had visions of my children growing up, moving away from me, forgetting to call their dear old mother. But come autumn time, I wanted them to notice the weather cooling off and think to themselves "It's almost apple picking weather" and maybe have a few memories of picking apples, cooking apples, and eating them. Or maybe some day when they're mother's, they'll take their own children apple picking. Wishful thinking but is it too much for a mother to want to make happy memories for her children?
We did get to go on Sunday. It was fun for all. And made extra special because it was Sasha's first annual trip to the apple orchard.
Hopefully not her last.

Welcome Baby Madison

Sasha has a new baby cousin.
Baby Madison was born on August 16th at 2:45am at 4lbs5oz and 17 inches long. She is such a tiny tiny little girl but very healthy. She got an 8 and a 9 on her APGAR score. Her mommy got a bit of food poisoning which threw her into early labor but otherwise mommy and baby are fine.
So we went up north to go visit my family and see the new baby. Sasha was mostly disinterested but did stare at the baby with mild interest for a minute or two. Cassie and I got to hold the new baby. As I held her, it reminded me of what it was like to hold a newborn Sasha. My how she has grown in the past year and it is sort of bittersweet that it is all just a memory now.
While we were up there visiting family, we stayed at a hotel. Sasha and I slept very well as the bed was comfortable. I had wanted to take Sasha to the hotel swimming pool but we just didn't have the time or energy.

Despite the 11 month age difference, Sasha and her new cousin should be classmates as Sasha missed the birthday cut off for most schools, and Madison's birthday should put her in the same school year. Basically Sasha will be one of the oldest of her class one day and Madison will be one of the youngest. It would be so neat to see the two girls off together to kindergarten one day. But we shall see what the future has in store for us. 5 years seems so far away anyways.