Running Me Ragged

This fall we have been trying to be more active with our kids. Now that Linden is a little bit older and understands more of what is going on around her we have been trying to take advantage of her interest and show her different things. A couple of weeks ago the mayor kicked off the "Heart and Sole" program here in town with a 5K walk. The idea behind the program is to get people to be more active. Each of the participants got a pedometer (including the kids) and we are to keep track of our daily steps for two months. It sounded like fun so we took the kids and started our step counts. Linden and Calvin didn't really rack up too many (see the photo). 

Calvin rode in the stroller the whole time and after about half a mile Travis decided he wanted to jog. I couldn't jog with Linden on my shoulders so she ended up in the stroller as well. I was impressed that Travis was able to push the double stroller (not a baby jogger, but one of those with the little wheels and no foot room) at a pretty good jog for about two miles. I took over for the end and walked while Linden rode on Travis's shoulders. It was fun to see the families there participating. Afterwards they had an obstacle course for the kids to do. Calvin was a little too small to understand the concept, but he knew what to do with the balls. The only problem is he's still not the sturdiest walker and ended up face planting in the concrete parking lot. The scrape looked a lot worse than it actually was but he wore a pretty good mark for about a week.

Last weekend a local church did a fund raiser 5K run called the "Monster Dash". Since I was training for a half-marathon that was CANCELLED!!!!!!! I decided to do the 5K instead. Kendall did it last year and dressed up in full candy corn costume. She said there were other people that had put on some crazy hats and other fun things, but no real costumes. I decided not to go all out, but I put on my bear ears and painted my face. It turns out that I was the only one who dressed up in costume anyway, but I was okay with that. The kids were there to watch me and it was obviously easy for me to be spotted. I even got several compliments on my ears. It was a fun run and I felt really good about my race. It is disappointing that I won't be able to do the half-marathon, but there are always others in the spring.

He's famous!

We have a super star in our house!  Travis was interviewed for a news piece one of the local news stations was doing on healthcare in these hard economic times.  It was a good experience for him and was especially beneficial because he is applying for the executive director's position.  Take a look and wish him luck on his application!

It's That Time of Year Again

When you think of OU/Texas, what do you think of?  Many think of great football, fall weather, Texas State Fair, yummy football food, etc.  In our family it is a little different.  Yes, we are football fans and enjoy a healthy rivalry between OU and Texas, but our weekend generally revolves around a different activity...making applesauce.  Who makes their own applesauce in todays world of Musselmans and individual serving cups from the shelf?  We do.  And it is SO much better than anything you get at the store.  It may be because of all the blood, sweat and tears (blood from cutting the apples a little too vigorously, sweat from all the cooking, and tears because it takes from sun-up until WAY after the sun goes down).  It is a ton of work not to mention the pain we go through just getting to Grandma and Grandpa's with the two kids.  Let me tell you, seven hours is a long time for anyone to be in a car.  When Linden and Calvin are added in to the mix seven minutes is about enough to want to turn around and go back home. 

 

We survived the drive, though, and enjoyed the beautiful weekend.  Travis was the main apple cutter and had a little bit of help from Linden.  She would "help" wash the apples, all the while taste testing several.  She had taken bites from a few before we became aware of what she was doing.

    

After that she was limited to one complete apple at a time.  Kendall, Kenta, Natalie, and Soren were all smashers, scoopers, toppers, and watchers.  The process really isn't that complicated.  Once the apples are cut, they are put into big pots and cooked until they are nice and mushy.  Then we put them through the smasher(a very technical term, I know) that is cranked by hand.  The smasher squashes the apples through a strainer where it separates the good juice and sauce from the other stuff.  The seeds and peel are pooped out the end and are then disposed of in the garden or fed to the cows next door.

   

Once a pot of apples is squashed it is now officially applesauce.  When we first started doing this many, many years ago when I was little (or maybe not even born) we added sugar and coloring to the mix.  Now it is pure apples and nothing else.  It is the best tasting stuff on earth.  Especially with warm, homemade cookies, but I digress.  The applesauce is then put in mason jars which are boiled in a pot of water to seal the lids closed.  It is not a difficult process in terms of the steps that are involved, but it certainly is time consuming.  Thanks to my dad and his streamlining we have been able to cut down the time considerably.  It also helps to have three camp stoves to be cooking on at once.

I have to  admit.  Most of my time was not involved in applesauce making this trip.  Poor Calvin was diagnosed with an ear infection about twenty minutes before we took off to Grandma and Grandpa's so he was cranky and hurting.  He's feeling much better now though.

Linden was in her element.  We spent a month at Grandma and Grandpa's earlier in the summer and Linden was so happy to be back.  She played with all of the toys, scratched Yukon's belly (their old husky), fed the cows and fish, and just got dirty.  It was fun to see her enjoy being outdoors and not even think about the Twelve Dancing Princesses or Dora.  She even got to see Travis go down the zip line and was adventurous enough to climb the jump-off tower.     

As much as I hate going on road trips with the kids, they really aren't bad travelers.  Calvin doesn't sleep very well outside of his bed, so that makes it kind of hard to keep him entertained the whole time.  I've discovered that binkies and crackers will only last a couple of hours.  We took a pit stop on the way home and Calvin discovered some really big balls he wanted to play with.  Too bad they were stuck to the ground.

   

All in all it was a great weekend.  A family tradition we hope will continue for many years.

Oh, by the way, we canned 36 boxes of apples (40 lbs. of apples per box) and ended up with about 500 one quart jars.

Birthday Boy

The past year has come and gone so quickly (and the past week, that's why this post is a couple of weeks late).  It's hard to believe that just a year ago Calvin was a helpless yet opinionated new born and we were trying to adjust to having a second child.  His year has been full of milestones.  In addition to all the normal ones like sitting up, rolling over, getting teeth, he has shown a remarkable ability to spot balls.  Just last week we went to the library which was decorated for the local Hispanic block party.  They had crep paper balls hanging all over from the ceiling and Calvin wanted one SO BAD.  He got very angry that he couldn't touch them, much less take them down and throw them.  His favorite game is taking all the balls he can find and throwing them in the kitchen.  He watches them bounce off the cupboards and then chases them under the table.

Another of his milestones is teasing his sister.  Travis, Linden and Calvin all play a game on our bed where they hide under the blankets like they are in a tent.  Calvin enjoys doing this with any of the many blankets Linden drags around the house.  He laughs and screams and has the best time, but Linden is complaining the whole time that 'Calvin is on my blanket!'  

In addition to these things, Calvin ate his first banana on his birthday and loved it.  It has been  such a difficult thing to get him to eat anything that isn't baby food.  Just this last month he has started eating raisins on his own.  He still won't touch anything that is wet (he had a hard time with his pop-cake birthday cake) and is VERY cautious when it comes to new textures.

Here's Calvin doing one of his favorite activities, reading.

Oh, and he started walking on his birthday!

FREEDOM!!!!!