Apple picking

Yesterday I crashed the young women's activity:) Abby and I had so much fun. Before we moved to Va I was in young women loved doing activities with them and just being around them. I miss that now that Sean and I are the activities chair people. So when I heard they were going to pick apples I had to come along. It helped that Abby and I never got to go pick peaches, so we went for apples instead.
The farm we went to was about an hour south of Pittsburgh. Great place. It took about an hour to fill our bags with awesome apples. The branches (with apples) were close enough to the ground that Abby had no problems picking nice big ones. Luckily she only ate one while we were there. Otherwise I think she might have gotten sick. The bummer part was that we thought we would be able to pick whatvere we wanted. My FAVORITE apples are Macintosh, we couldn't pick those:( So I had to settle for golden delicious. Not bad when they come right off the tree. And they make great applesauce to, cause I have already made a batch of that!
After we got done picking we went on the "nature trail" hike. Yeah right, it was more of a ropes course. The had these tires to climb, logs to cross, a wall to climb. I stood and watched and took pictures. Then the girls got me to get on the tire swing. I was the last one on, because I was not going to go at all, but somehow got pressured into getting on. So one of the girls took a picture as proof that I was on this tire swing. They tried to spin me, but I had to put a stop to that, it would not have had a pretty ending!

Little Artist's

The girls wanted to use the last of the clay the other day. I figured why not, and it will be gone and they won't bug me again to use it, because it makes such a mess. At least when they use it, even though I try to keep the mess to a minimum.

Sabrina learned about making clay pots in school, I think, from movies about native americans and the pots they made, so she tried to imitate that idea. I don't think she got the whole coil thing. She just started shaping, but it came out pretty good. Sabrina was amazed that I knew so much about clay. At the time I happened to be kneading a loaf of bread and said " I like to work with my hands" Her return comment, " well no wonder, you're always making bread." Not sure the correlation went in the right direction, but I guess it works.
And this would be Abby's creation. She used a little too much water, but we got it to work for her in the end. We had the air dry clay and both pots took about 2 days to dry from all the water, and because they were so thick. I'm sure I will have pictures of the painting process next week, when they finish them. By the way, does anyone know of a more inexpensive clay than Crayola? They kill me, but I haven't been able to find anything else. My girls like to dry and then save the stuff they make, so while Play-doh is great, it slowly disapears becuase it decorates the desk and, or dresser of the kids in their room. Any ideas, let me know.

Evidence

While the weather may not indicate it, I have found evidence that fall is indeed here! The last week it has been hot, up in the 80's, although not as muggy as it was all summer, so I can't complain too much. Sean and I were able to walk 5 miles on Sunday at the park and it was a beautiful walk. But anyway, although it's been unseasonable warm, the leaves are still changing colors. I can't wait until the trees at the park all turn, then our walks will be even better:) I'll post some pictures if that happens. I say "if" because usually about the time the leaves get really pretty it rains really hard and all the leaves come off the trees and you miss the big event. So much for living in the Burgh!

The Great Wall of....um....Wexford?

If you can ignore the scraps in front of the wall, you'll see that Sean has done a nice job on rebuilding the retaining wall in this corner of the driveway. He had lots of problems with the mitre saw that was too small and the circular saws that didn't have enough horsepower or a big enough blade. So a friend of his came over with a chainsaw and made it look great! He'll be putting the finishing touches on it as soon as it quits raining, again. Some spikes need to be driven in and he needs to fill in the gravel and dirt behind the wall, but the hard part is over. YEAH.

Boo Hoo

I miss my friends in Williamsburg, and Utah, and Ohio. I was talking to Sean today and we actually agreed on something:) We were saying that we felt so much more involved and more like we were part of the ward in Va, than we do while we are here in Pgh. It's not like we don't know everyone in our ward, in fact, most of the ward are the same people that were here when we left. The ward really has the same dynamics, a lot of young married, student couples with one or 2 little kids. A few that have more than one or two, but something is different. While in wmg, I didn't think twice about calling someone when I was bored and saying, "hey let's go do something." The few that I could do that to in pgh, have moved away since we left and returned. Granted there is a lot more to do down south than there is to do up here, but ya know.......... So anyway, that is what I am feeling today. I'm not a happy person. Is that a bad thing? Maybe I need to find another job, then I'll be so busy that I won't have time to be depressed cause I have no one to hang out with. But then, once I get more regular subbing jobs, you can't beat the money, or the hours. And watching Abby and Sabrina for a fews days in the week makes finding a regular part time job kinda hard. Okay, enough of me spilling my negativity all over everyone. I just miss all my friends that are in 4 other states and no where near pgh:(

Time to brag

Got my first Calc test back today. Yes, I got an A!!!! This class is going way better than it was the first time I took it 15 years ago. It seems so weird to say that:) Thought you'd all want to know that I am as smart as I think I am :):) (and yes that was total sarcasm)

Pittsburgh Children's Museum

We went to the Children's Museum a while ago. The girls had a blast. The entire museum is for kids. This is the sideways room. It made me sick, couldn't do it. The girls kept going in it. They are crazy!
Yes they are at the wheel of a car. Luckily the thing had no engine or battery:)
On the top floor they have a "pool" where the kids can play with boats, and are able to dump water with a bucket and some ropes. All kids wear rain coats so they stay kinda dry:)

My husband the handyman:) Take 2

Sean was able to get most of the supplies he needed to rebuild the retaining wall. Oh, what fun. The railroad ties are about 4 inches square, while the circular saw makes only about a cut 1.5 inches deep. You do the math. This created some interesting lines on the end. But it worked. This would be me, using my, um, yeah, to hold down the log while Sean cut it. After using the circular saw he needed to use a hack saw to get the piece out of the middle. Fun, I tell ya:)
And this is at least part of the wall, at least one side is partially done. He has to drill holes in the logs and then use a sledge hammer to pound the rebar through the logs and into the ground. I think I'll be absent on that day:)!!

Boys drool

We have found that playing Uno is a great way to hang out and have some fun. Last night however, the girls started taunting. "The girls win, the girls win" was their chant if either of them won. So when Sean won, he did the same thing, and this would be the result:) The girls attacked and it ended up being a full on wrestling match. Who said girls were wimpy?!
You'll notice in this picture, Abby does not look happy. That was because this was immediately before meltdown. I didn't realize I had caught it on "film". Not sure what made her so mad, but boy was she:)

Playing Horsey

This is a new twist on an old game:) These two are crazy and come up with this stuff all on their own. They switch who is the horsey and who gets thrown, so this video is only half the story! They are lucky the couch is at just the right height where neither of the get hurt. We were rolling.

My husband the handyman:)

Sean's day off is on Monday, and he decided he needed to get some yard work done. This would be project number one. The retaining wall that was here was rotting away and had become home to a number of furry little creatures as well as a hive of yellow jackets. So he took it down. He also dug a little further up the driveway so that he could expand a little more. I forgot to take a picture of him, but he was a dirty mess!
This is the pile of dirt he extracted in anticipation of getting the wall in, and then filling in behind it. You can see the railroad ties that he got for the job as well. Luckily he covered the dirt with a tarp because it rained all night and half of the day today, so the mud would have traveled into the yard and down the hill. It would have been a lovely mess, luckily we avoided that one. His next project became the rust on my truck. My poor
truck:( I hate Pittsburgh and the crap they put on the roads. My truck didn't rust while living anywhere else, but here. Now it's rusting away. This is the bumper after we took the plastic cover off. Lovely, ain't it. So he took the wire brush to it and is going to grind it down. Hopefully sometime before it gets any worse:) By the time he finished digging the dirt and taking off the initial rust it was time for dinner and he didn't have time to finish with the painting and whatever else it takes to finish this job. So it waits for a less rainy day. Hopefully less rainy day soon:)

Labor day picnic

Last Sunday we were able to see my mom when she came in from California. She was actually escaping from the heat. She said it was supposed to be over 100 in Cali, while she was in Ohio. We were grilling up burgers and some lamb, and guess who got to cook. Sean gets that duty no matter what:)

Here is a picture of mom and her boyfriend Al enjoying some great food.

Sean was fooling around with Bobby on the swing and Bobby was having a blast. Later he followed a cat around the yard and even tried to go down the hill backward so he coudl catch it. The cat was having none of it though and would always stay just out of reach. My Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Kevin showed up a little later and showed us pictures from their cruise in Hawaii. On our way out Al loaded us up with lots of fresh hamburger and lamb that he had bought at the county fair. Good eatin'!

It's September?!

Where has the summer gone?! I just realized today that it was September 1st!!! WHAT?! Sometimes I get so depressed when the seasons change. Especially from summer to fall, although, fall is my favorite season. I realize how much I didn't do this summer and how much I could've done if only I had gotten off my butt and done it. Now school has started and.. well, there is no time to do all the fun stuff. I guess I have to make a list so that I can start early next summer, then maybe I won't be so depressed at the end of summer. Or maybe I am just depressed because I know school has started and I no longer have any excuse not to work, since I will be subbing this year. hmmm, something to think about.

I'm nuts take 2!

I finished Abby's outfit today. I thought I was going to have her here so she could try stuff on and I could fix it as I went, but of course, that was not the case and I had to wing it.Here is the outfit, as you might be able to see, there is a jacket, blouse and a skirt. I really hope it all fits, cause otherwise, I'll be doing some alterations, and I hate doing them. I even managed to put shorts inside the skirt, even though the pattern didn't tell me how. I'm getting good. HA, maybe I should also tell you that I managed to put the facing for the neckline on the wrong side of the blouse and had to start all over again. oh, yeah, I'm getting good alright. Sometimes I wonder why the heck I sew. Usually for stress relief, but I screw up so much that it can be more stressful than anything else.