Picture Purge

A couple weeks ago it snowed.  A week later it was beautiful with record highs but during that really cold week I was racking my brain to come up with things to do inside to keep my kids from tearing each other apart. 

My kids loved loved loved this one.  I've been waiting for just the right day to waste my entire supply of tape and that snowy afternoon was it.  Of course the putting together of the track was more fun than actually playing with it but it kept them happy for a while.

Lots of piano time

Random art projects.

And the occasional glow stick bath which is always a huge hit. 

One Saturday afternoon we took the kids out to this apple orchard I had heard about.  There were apple orchards on every block in Indiana and apple cider runs were always a big part of our fall traditions.  Really delicious apple cider has been hard to come by since we moved back to Utah but this place in Santaquin was pretty good.  They didn't have cider but they did have apple juice.  They also had really delicious cashew caramel ice cream cones. 

We also picked up about 23 pounds of pears while we were there because we can't seem to say no to pears.  We didn't quite know what to do with them because we were not in the mood to can them and we didn't know how they would hold up to freezing. 

So we made pies.  Lots and lots of pies for our freezer.

Also, a couple days before Halloween, we went to this little pumpkin walk up the street.  It was so fun, despite losing Charlie 3 times and Jack having a complete meltdown over something super stupid that I can't even remember now. 

Mostly though, the iPad is what gets us through until bed time.  I have a love-hate relationship with that thing.  I appreciate that it will calm everyone down and allow me a minute to catch my breath but I'm also in constant fear that I am allowing it to permanently damage their little brains.   Ugh, I'll worry about it when I'm done with being pregnant....