Apple Picking: Season 4

The day started off drab and promising of rain. I saw water dripping from the eves outside the church window. I thought our 3 weeks in the making plan was doomed, but by the time church was out, the clouds had cleared. We would meet BahBuh and Yaya
and get them out of a few hours of studying, to participate in our fourth year of tradition. Cailen and Riley have both been apple picking since they were in utero. This was Cailen's "fourth" year and Riley's "third." Crazy since Ri is only 17 months old and Cailen is not yet 3...But the reality is they have been on this earth long enough to say they were here. :]

Caillou was picking apples on tv this week and Cailen actally asked me if we could go apple picking. Little did she know the plans had already been made for this weekend. She was pretty excited about it. Riley was pretty excited that there were "nummies" all over the ground. I had to keep an eye out that she wasn't eating them off the ground while I was trying to take my celebratory pictures. :)


Well it was a fun afternoon and we all came home with a bag of apples each. 3 in total. Yikes!

We picked Kendalls this year. It struck me as funny that I almost wanted to name Riley that, until I heard a woman in a store calling to her daughter Kendall and I didn't really like how it sounded.

I thought this was sweet....

Super skills....

More and more Cailen reminds me how amazing I am...and/or simply, the wonders of being new to the world. The other day I bought a box of (deliciously flavored mind you blackberry- pomegrannet and cranberry-raspberry) yogurt made by Yoplait. Normally we buy individual yogurts of the Walmart persuasion. So anyway, I was sitting innocently, eating my yogurt, when Cailen hops on my lap to share...Suddenly her face looks confused..."Mommy! How'd you do that?...It's upside down!"... So the inverted cup top made her believe I was magically eating from the bottom of the yogurt cup, we now call them "upsidedown yogurt." :)

"They seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere..."

I found this itty-bitty, orange flower at the base of my steps, hiding under some others. I never even realized it was there. I did some investigating with my dad and found out what it was. It turns out it was a pimpernel! (Having read The Scarlet Pimpernel in high school I always pictured that the flower would be bigger but I guess the character being so elusive it would seem fitting.)

Anyway, it's very dainty but the colors are very striking. They come in blue, orange and red. They are sometimes called the "poorman's barometer" as they close when the weather is turning bad/air pressure changes. I had assumed they just closed up at night like the asters. When closed, they wrap their petals around themselves like a microscopic rose bud. The leaf pattern under the bud is a perfect star shape, which I also found endearing.


The petals are orange, the center purpley and magenta. The stamen are yellow.
It's very colorful for such a small flower. I really like it. Anyway, here are some pics I took of mine for you to enjoy.

Wild Thang...you make my heart sing....

Little Miss Personality