Apple Picking

This past weekend was the perfect fall weekend. Crisp, cool air that left you wanting to spend the morning baking and afternoon outside, which is exactly what we did.

Trey and Charlotte's cousin Halle came and spent the weekend with us. On Saturday morning we baked chocolate chip cookies. Halle loves to help in the kitchen and Trey wanted to be her side kick.


After deciding the weather was just going to stay extremely cloudy, and not actually rain, we decided to go apple picking in the afternoon. There is an orchard about 40 minutes away that has rows and rows of apple trees.

Halle enjoyed using the apple picker to reach the tops of the trees.







Trey quickly picked up on the idea of putting the apples in the bag, we just had to make sure he didn't pick up the rotten ones on the ground to put in the bag!








Halfway through Trey and Halle were ready to dive into the apples. Jay found a washing area for the apples.





Charlotte was intrigued by the apples and kept trying to eat the branches she could reach!




Whew! That was fun, but I think it is nap time for everyone!

Sweet Sayings

In the past few months Trey has exploded with his vocabulary and gone from saying one word at a time to non stop chatting with sentences. It is so much fun to understand what he is saying and try to figure out where he comes up with all these expressions.

Every day on the way home we pass some cows in a field. He comments every time "Look, mommy, cows are eating grass!"

He can count up to eleven and will count any gathering of animals along the rode. Today it was "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven turkeys! More turkeys please Mommy!"

He is also pretty good at using please, thank you, excuse me, and bless you. Whenever anyone sneezes or blows their nose he exclaims "Bless you!" Tonight Charlotte was downstairs and she kept sneezing. As Trey runs down the stairs he screams, "Bless you, Larla, Bless you, Larla, Bless you Larla!" When he gets into the room with myself and Charlotte he says, "Mommy I blessted Larla."

Trey is a very encouraging two year old and likes to tell you "Good job Mommy! Good job Daddy!" when you do something like give him a meal or pour milk for him. It is usually followed by thank you but I just crack up when he tells us we are doing a good job.

Every night before his bath he sits on the potty. Some nights it takes him longer to pee than others. One night, after quite a while sitting and procrastinating bedtime I told him it was time to get up and we would try to use the potty again tomorrow. He looked at me and said, "No, Mommy, I pee in potty in 1 sec." and held up his finger to emphasize the 1 sec.

Tonight he had to go to timeout for slamming doors. He is allowed one book during timeout and tonight I happened to give him a book he has that has prayers in it. He kept turning the pages and saying, "Dear God, ABee (his verson of Amen), Dear God, ABee."

The House with the Purple Door

Or as Trey refers to it "There's my house with the purple door!!!" Not to be confused with all the other homes in the neighborhood :)

A few weekends ago we went to Home Depot to pick up some paint samples for possible front door colors. Then we came home and Jay painted drywall samples with 5 selected colors of greens, purples, and deep reds. That evening we went propped the samples against the front door and siding to see what looked the best. In the end the deep purple door won hands down. Sorry it is hard to see here, I was fighting daylight and I am not tall enough to get a straight shot of the house without looking upbecause the land slopes down.



The exterior is not completely finished because the shutters have not been put up. They are a dark chocolate brown shade we think. It's hard to remember a 2 inch by 2 inch sample for shutters you picked out about 4 months ago.

When we went to visit the house Tuesday evening I was pleasantly surprised to see my kitchen in place. I laid on top of the island and cried tears of joy. Well, not really, but I could have. I love all the cabinets and counter space. As Jay said I will have so many places to spread out and leave a mess while I cook!



There is a corner pantry tucked in the kitchen. I think this will be great for storage without having to walk out of the way to get ingredients.



There is even a bookshelf on the end of the island for my cookbooks right by the built in desk!





Here is the view of "breakfast nook." Translation: Play area for the kids so they can be visible by the kitchen and living space. It is really just one part of the living room area.



I am staying in the same place, just a different angle into the living room.



We chose a lot of beige colors just because we didn't want to make color choices we would hate in 5-10 years. Except for the dining room. We decided to go bold with Robin's Egg Blue on two walls. I may regret this later, but I am will to give it a shot to give a pop of color and brighten up the space. My goal for the downstairs was for it to feel light and airy.





This is the view of living room from the front door. I am in love with the fireplace and built in bookshelves.




Finally the mudroom. The washer and dryer should be arriving next week along with the workers installing the sink. I am excited to have a drop off place for bags and such that does not include the kitchen table!





So that's the downstairs. For the house with the purple door.