As it turns out, my mom needed some more white pumpkins, so we headed back up to the place we like.  This time Mimi was with us while the other two were in school, and she was pretty excited to be there.  She wanted to pick out her own pumpkin, as well as one for 'the girls'.  I think it's funny that she calls them that.  She must hear me saying it.

We had to tell her more than once that 'we don't need that pumpkin, Meems'!

We ended up getting a ton, anyway.  Pile those sweet little pie pumpkins on!

Tonight the girls and I did a 'hair circle', where each person gets their hair played with at the same time as they play with the person's in front of them.  They were pretty thrilled with the idea.  We turned and went the opposite direction after a bit, so Mimi's efforts weren't only on one person.  :)  And apparently Mimi doesn't sit super still, so she's difficult to 'hair do', as well.  That's Meems.

I didn't get a picture, but my early birthday present came today!!!  I finally broke down and got a Silhouette cutting machine from myself and mom and dad.  I'm super excited, and so is my mom because I'm going to help her with a project or two!

Yes!!! It worked!  Out of 4 batches of jelly, one worked.  My goodness.  I was very excited this morning to wake up and check them out!

After I was done at a baptism for a boy in the Primary this morning, my parents and I headed up to the patch we like to buy from in Fruit Heights.  They have fabulous pumpkins.  I am seriously in love with the white ones.  They are so cool.

After a movie, we went to dinner.  This was my mom and dad after hearing some good news.  That the details of will remain secret to the public for now.  But generally, today I learned that Derek will be home a little sooner than anticipated...I am so excited!!!  More on that later, when it's safe to talk about.  Like when he gets home.  :)  They are hams, these two.

Leiden got creative with the play dough this morning.  Using one craft medium to represent another!

Canned another batch of jelly, today.  I only did one batch at a time, and used the name brand pectin.  My fingers are literally crossed that these set up!  Making the juice was rather disastrous for the other batch.  I put the pitted peaches on the stove to cook and make the juice, and promptly forgot they were there.  Until I smelled something burning.  Yeah.  They were on too high a heat for too long, and I've now ruined one of my bigger pans.  Lovely.  To boot, that meant only one batch of jelly!

Gorgeous rainbow up at my mom's house, today!

And a gorgeous snap of Derek and his gigantic ruck.  Good day all around!

The lawn is killing me.  I mowed again, and the grass clippings are everywhere.  Mimi was such a sweetheart.  I had already done the raking, and she grabbed a box and hauled it around filling it with grass from the piles.  Love this little person.

Mac has been interested in making paper airplanes, lately.  I am no good at folding them, but she got Bapa to fold her one today at the shop.  She was super funny...drawing little windows in the airplane with passengers inside.  So cute. 

Giddyup!

Howdy, Partner!  Mimi's Howdy day at preschool was today.  She looked super cute in her hat, bandanna, and boots!  They got to ride a horse while at school, and there was a goat, too!

Applesauce

Mimi asked if she could take some pictures with my phone today while I was working on some stuff...I found like 10 variations of this:

And about 30 variations of this!  She had arranged some candles and their holders in various different patterns and set ups, and taken seriously a ton of pictures. 

Today was applesauce day!  I didn't want the apples to go to waste, and I have a new food mill, so it was time to break it out! 

The girls couldn't really help cut the apples, or cook them, but they could help guide the cooked apples through the mill! 

We did all the apples and ended up with a big giant bowl of applesauce!

Next up, canning!  It's pretty hard to go wrong with applesauce, unlike my messed up peach jelly.  Although at the orchard, I hadn't realized that there was more than one variety of apple in the orchard, and somehow, in all our wandering, we only got one kind!  I read that it's generally better to make sauce with multiple varieties of apples, but this is pretty good, regardless!  

It's fall time on the Macdonald porch!  The mums are still colorful...haven't been baked yet...and it's looking festive.

Mimi was drawing on the sidewalk while I was out arranging.  By drawing on the sidewalk, I mean she had brought out her paper and markers and was drawing with the sidewalk as her flat surface.  What a funny girl! 

She was being pretty cute. 

Then she wanted me to take a picture on the fall porch with her.  Yes, ma'am! 

The girls wanted to do makeup this evening.  Mimi gave it her best effort!  It was a little crazy. 

Got this awesome pic taken in a helicopter somewhere over Afghanistan.  Derek all kitted up with his gear.  Such a cool picture.  I love this man, and am so proud to be intimately associated with our military.  God Bless our Troops! 

Whew!

Whew!  Today was a day of running around!  I needed to send off Derek's birthday box today so timing would work out with his schedule, there, and I still needed to find AND wrap his main gift, because it was a last minute idea gotten yesterday evening.  I had promised the girls a trip to an orchard to pick apples, and Mimi had another birthday party.  Yeah.  The gift I wanted was not in the first store I went to, so I got wise and started calling others.  Finally found it, then had to drive there, buy it, wrap it IN the back of the car, then seal up his box (which is SO awesome!) and race to the post office before it closed at 3, and still have enough time to drive to the orchard.  Like I said, a bunch of running around.

So, the box...super fun to decorate for birthday!  I used wrapping paper to both decorate and wrap little presents.  But the most awesome part as far as cute presentation was the 36 pinata!  I made it from cereal boxes, and cut crepe paper for the outside covering.  A fun little addition to the box, for sure.  Can't wait for him to get it!  His birthday is still a ways away, so he'll have to decide if he wants to open it early, or wait until the big day! 

We made it to the orchard...nothing like the orchards in MN, but a tiny orchard, nonetheless.  This was actually someone's backyard, and they allow people to pick the apples.  Pretty crazy.

The girls had a great time wandering around with their grocery sacks, trying to find apples that didn't have worm holes. 

I sent this one to Derek, and the first thing he noticed was the apple above my head...I hadn't noticed it at all until he said it!  It looks like it's going to bonk me in the head. 

The day was pretty warm and sunny, so not super fall feeling, but fun anyway. 

I would love to have some fruit trees, someday. 

They seemed to like wandering around more than actually picking the apples, and A LOT of them had holes, so I think they didn't feel super successful. 

Mimi helped us weigh out our fruit, while the owner told us about how he doesn't like the new organic practices they've been using the last few years.  Sure, no pesticides, but TONS of bugs in the fruit.  I guess you win some, you lose some.  His apples were reasonably priced, and it was a pretty quick little jaunt to his orchard from our place.  I'm pretty sure they don't have apple orchards in Vegas...maybe I'm wrong.  We will have to search far and wide for our fall activities next year! 

After taking Mimi to her 'Frozen' birthday party, we headed to another park.  There was a little amphitheater, where the girls took turns watching and performing.

Mac drew this pic, today.  She's pretty excited for Christmas, I guess!  And sweetest thing, ever...she included a stocking for Derek!  He's the 'D' on the left.

After we got home this evening, the girls were playing outside while I mowed (getting SO tired of that...) and I saw a leaf bug.  I called the girls over, and wanted Leiden to pick it up so I could get a picture of it.  I ran to get the camera, and she tried to pick it up, but it started scurrying up her arm!  She kind of freaked out, and shook it off, but I missed the moment!  She tried to get him to climb on her again, but he didn't seem interested. 

Crazy day!

This weekend Mimi's social life far outshines any of ours.  She had a birthday party tonight, and she has another one tomorrow night!  I promised the other girls we would go to a park, and it ended up being a hot day, so we stopped for slurpees on the way.  Pina colada!

The girls enjoyed running around and yelling and playing at a park up at the University, and Mimi had fun at her party.  Perfect!

Mimi came along on several errands, this morning, as it's a non-school day.  She has really enjoyed having school three times a week this year.  On some of the days without school she seems a little more at loose ends, and on others she seems to like the slower (or faster, depending on what I drag her around to!) pace.  She found these at the party store.

This afternoon all three girls put on their skates/rollerblades and took to the sidewalks!  Mac is doing well with form.  I hope what she's learning on the sidewalk will translate into more fun on the ice while ice skating!

Bless their little hearts, they are still young enough to suit up and get all the protective gear on without complaining.

They often ask me to take their picture these days.  I happily oblige!

Bigger is Better

Stopped off at Smith's this morning, and was greeted with this!  Seriously, seeing pumpkins at the store makes me GIDDY!  I LOVE this time of year, and this year it's even more exciting!  These pumpkins were enormous.  This pumpkin and I are sharing a spot on the bench.  It's as tall as my torso!  There were some other guys there who were exclaiming about the huge pumpkins.  This was by no means the largest, there.  They were on their phones, presumably to their wives or girlfriends, asking if they could/should buy huge pumpkins.  I was actually kind of cracked up about how excited they were.

This green mass is a tomato plant.  ONE tomato plant.  I have no idea what happened to make it so large, but it is completely out of control.  I have never seen a tomato plant get this big.  Something seems to be a bit abnormal for it, though, because while it is huge, there aren't tons of tomatoes, and even fewer that turn red.  So something is up.