Apple-pickin' Time!

It's not every day you get to go pick apples free!

This big tree still had bushels of Early Transparent apples on it after several people had picked off of it. The only trouble was that whoever wanted to get the rest of the apples had to bring ladders, especially a very tall ladder. Jonathan had a tall ladder.

Who needs a ladder when you have branches to climb on??

Timmy getting a fair share.

Danny having himself a fresh apple feast after climbing around a while.

Why did Eve have to pick that apple?

She should have let Adam make the decision.

If you want to know what Crystal and Sammy were standing on to try to reach more apples, check out the next picture.

I was bound and determined to get those unreachable apples, when the very tall ladder leaning against slippery branches seemed too dangerous. So I backed the van up under the tree!



Filling coolers with fresh-picked apples in the back of the van. No, we don't usually carry our vacuum with us, but we were picking apples on the way to our church parsonage to vacuum it before it was to have the carpet cleaned. Our new pastor, Marvin and Cheryl Mosley, should arrive in a few weeks! With Mom and three girls and three vacuums, we had almost the entire parsonage vacuumed in short order. 

With all the apples we got from that tree, the children wanted to have an apple dunking!

So on Timmy's birthday, the children dunked for apples!

Yeah for Timmy!

Rose got hers within seconds! 

Fawns and Frog Eggs

One Sunday in town recently on our way to Grandma and pa's place, we passed this mama deer feeding twin fawns.

Oops! Where did our meal disappear?

Okay! I guess we'll have to fill up on grass for dessert!

Oh! There goes Mama across the street! We better get going!

After the wonderful three inches or so of rain that we got a couple weeks ago, Timmy found a plant covered with frog eggs. He placed them in a big jar of water and we watched them hatch within a day or two and turn into tadpoles. 

This picture was while Elon's family was here. Ezra and Pearl are playing together as they enjoyed doing--Ezra filling in a low part while Pearl played a song.

July 4th Picture with Firetruck

After the never-to-be-forgotten Fourth of July experience pictured in the last post, Elon's family, ours and Iva's went to a park to visit for a few minutes. Iva had brought strawberries, blueberries, and star-chaped cuts of rice crispy cookies to make edible sparklers for the children--the kind that is not outlawed this year!

Amaris is holding three "sparklers" against her cute patriotic jumper--a goodwill treasure. It says, "God Bless America" on the front. 

No sooner did we take this picture than a green fire truck pulled into our street and slowed right by our vehicles. On impulse, not having any cookies left, Amaris quickly handed her three edible sparklers, intended for the children, to the firemen! Then, much to our surprise, the three firemen inside climbed out!

"Do the children want a picture with the firetruck?" the driver asked. Did they!



So we got some pictures, and the firemen asked about the nearest Pizza Hut. "My men have been eating dried chicken and other such things for days," the driver said. "We wanted to go to Pizza Hut tonight!" Jonathan told him where to find Pizza Hut, and Anita started to sing, "God Bless America." The firemen drove off waving, to the strains of our three families singing.

Now Elon is doing what he likes to do--trying to help out. Something was wrong with Iva's van lights, so Elon and Jonathan are trying to figure out what is wrong. 

Cookies for the Firefighters

After seeing the firefighters coming home from shift change Sunday evening, greeted by crowds of people cheering for them, the girl cousins decided that they wanted to make lots of cookies to take to give to the firefighters some evening. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to manage letting them do this and getting them in to town, but we mothers let them bake.

The girls spent hours baking. They made peanut butter, chocolate chip, oatmeal/coconut/raisin, and chocolate with white chip cookies. 

Here they are bagging two or three cookies into little baggies.

The girls put together pages of cardstock paper with Bible verses or a verse of hymn printed on them. Timmy helped cut the Bible verses into strips.

Here is an example of one bag, with "O God Our Help in Ages Past" printed on the card. A red, white and blue bow gives a finishing touch.

The children filled a box with these goodies. It was decided that we would join the crowd waiting for the firemen on the evening of July 4th on our way home from taking Elon's family to Royal Gorge.

Now the boys are in on the project. "Cookies for Firefighters" is what this big poster says.

The girls put finishing touches on.

If only you could have seen the thousand or many more people lining both sides of the streets along a few blocks and corners where the firefighters were coming back to their tent camp up the street. Here our two families have joined others. Elon and Anita are holding the big flag. The children are getting ready to hand cookies into the fire truck window.

You can see some of the crowd further down the street. The largest crowds were at the corners down there, waving posters and flags, screaming and cheering. With no fireworks allowed at all, this was a way to vent pent up energy on July 4th!

Getting those cookies to the firemen! One fire truck drove through spraying water everywhere!

Some of the crowds again.

In the median of the road were some of our relatives and other people.

The children are giving cookies to the firemen.

The crowd cheering. In the center, you can barely see Crystal holding up our "Cookies for Firefighters" sign.

Dusk is settling as more and more trucks go by. Iva's family joined us by now.

Grandma found a child's cute poster on the ground and held it up.

Danny and Hannah and Sarah watching from the sidelines.

You wouldn't know what holiday it was, would you?

Elon's Family Here!

It has been so fun having my brother Elon's family here. The trampoline is a favorite spot, for not only jumping but even for husking corn!

Jonathan called me over to see these two merry cousins holding hands and jumping together. This photo caught them in midair!

The boys and Elon helped Jonathan anytime they could--tearing off roofing on hot days at his work, working around the house, or unloading scrap metal. In the background of this picture is a truck we kept for a friend during the fire when he was afraid he might have to evacuate.

The older girls washed windows...

Cousin Amaris washing window frames.

The girls are eagerly freezing three cases of corn while making plans for making big batches of cookies to take to firefighters.

The corn the girls froze.

Elon's wife Anita helped with several mending jobs.

Danny having a private picnic on top of a step ladder!

We will leave you to guess how many hours are being spent in the kitchen cooking meals for fifteen!

Or how many hours the younger ones amuse themselves! (Two are napping right now, and I probably should be, but it's so fun to share our experiences with family and friends who hardly ever get to see us. )