Apple Time

A few weeks ago, we went to Skytop Apple Orchard on our annual apple picking adventure.  Each year, our day at the apple orchard seems to fall a little earlier, and this time it arrived in August due to the hot summer, early crop, and orchards picking 3 weeks ahead of their usual schedule.  Mark teases me that pretty soon, we'll be picking apples on Independence Day!  But since Skytop is up in the mountains of NC, it's about 10 degrees cooler than Greenville, so our morning wasn't too hot, and it was another gorgeous day at the orchard.  Each year, it gets a little easier to pick apples with young children (or maybe we just get a little smarter about timing/logistics), and our apple orchard day is one of our favorite family traditions.  One of the best parts are the fresh apple donuts that we scarf down after tromping through the orchards, which we crave all year!  The hayride is always a special time where we marvel at God's beautiful creation with picturesque views of the mountains and apple trees (and Luke marvels at the tractor,wagon, and farm equipment!).  This year was also special because it was the first time that Leah really was able to pick apples and be an active part of the process (vs. riding along in the Baby Bjorn last fall!).  She wore an adorable apple dress and it was so much fun for us to listen to her tell us, "Right here!" when she wanted to pick apples from a specific tree.  Here are some of our favorite pictures from our day at the orchard:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More of our photos can be found in our Winterhoff Family Photo Albums or by viewing the slide show below:
  

Dinosaur Disaster

Those of you who are loyal blog followers may remember the red play-dough incident of 2011, where I had quite a time trying to make homemade play-dough for Luke's preschool class.  Well, we may have topped that one with what is now referred to as the Great Dinosaur Disaster of 2012. 

 

Today is Luke’s VIP (Very Important Preschooler) Day at school.  He gets to be line leader, the teacher’s helper, brings in snack, and shares a “Me” bag of his favorite items from home with his class for his own private show-and-tell.  I wanted Luke’s snack to be special and unique, and had the brilliant idea to make Green Dinosaur Rice Krispie treats.  Modeled after the heart-shaped pink Rice-Krispie treats that we shared with Luke’s preschool class last year for Valentine’s Day, I thought this project would be pretty simple.  We even have a stegosaurus-shaped cookie cutter that is perfect for this snack idea.

Enter the complications:  2 sick children with fevers the day before VIP day.   For awhile it was touch and go whether or not Luke would even make it to school.  He would have been DEVASTATED to miss his special day of honor and I’m honestly not sure I could have handled his disappointment.  But after a day of rest at home yesterday, all systems were a go for Luke’s return to school. 

 

After a VERY early 4:10 a.m. start to the day on Wednesday from one sick preschooler and an unplanned afternoon trip to the grocery store with two snotty, miserable children in tow (to buy the ingredients for the snack),  an exhausted Mama started making the Rice-Krispie treats after the kids were finally tucked into bed last night.   I mixed together the margarine and marshmallows, added the green food coloring, and stirred in the Rice Krispies.  My fleeting thought was, “Hmm, this doesn’t look as green as I had imagined…” but I kept persevering.  I rolled out the sticky mixture and began cutting out the treats into dinosaur shapes using my cookie cutter, but somehow they looked like amorphous, moldy blobs.  And the greenish tint was now beginning to resemble blue cheese.  A faint sense of panic welled up in my chest as I realized I didn’t have a back-up plan.  I called Mark over to look at my creations:

 

 

“What do you think?”  I asked him.

“What are they supposed to be?”  Mark cautiously inquired. 

“Green dinosaurs, of course…” I wailed.

“Um, No,” he replied.  “You can’t serve those to children.   They don’t look right.” 

My worst suspicions were confirmed.  Reaching for my inner Martha Stewart, I tried to salvage the situation.  We grabbed leaf-shaped cookie cutters and attempted to transform the treats into “trees”, which was a no-go.  We even got out our Lightning McQueen pancake mold in hopes that we could make some sort of race car shape, which was equally disastrous. 

 “What would MARTHA do?”  I shrieked.  I glanced at the clock.  How in the world was I going to figure out another snack in the middle of the night before VIP day?  Should I start making sugar cookie dough from scratch and stay up all night baking stegosaurus-shaped cookies?

I surrendered to my failure and pulled out a jumbo snack sack of individual bags of (gasp) store-bought mini-pretzels.  This would go along with the cut-up apple slices that we were bringing for the class, too.  I climbed into bed, weary from my long day, and praying that Luke wouldn’t remember that I had promised that his VIP snack would be special green dinosaurs.

As we walked into school today, I told him, “Buddy, we have apples AND pretzels for your friends.  Isn’t that exciting?”

And my precious little man looked up at me with big eyes and said, “Mommy, everyone will LOVE them.  Those are 2 of my favorite things!”

And I thanked my lucky stars for the gift of earnest, sweet little boys who know exactly what their Mamas need to hear, and for a wonderful little company called Snyders of Hanover.

Conversations with a Preschooler

1.  Lunchtime at our H-O-U-S-E:

Mommy asks Daddy:  "What F-R-U-I-T do we have to serve with lunch?"  (My reason for spelling this was so that Luke and Leah, my little fruit monsters, wouldn't have melt-downs if they heard the word "fruit" and requested something that we didn't have).

Luke replies, without missing a beat:  "I would like an A-P-P-L-E please."

I guess our days of spelling words as parents are coming to an end soon.  Maybe we'll resort to speaking Italian next.

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2.   A discussion about monsters:

Luke:  "Mommy, monsters are real."

Mommy:  "No honey, they are just imaginary creatures that are in books or on tv."

Luke:  "But Elmo is real, and he is a nice monster.  We saw him at Sesame Street Live last year, in person."

Mommy (stumped):  "Ok, maybe just nice monsters are real." (I'm not yet willing to explain to a preschooler that there are people under mascot costumes, thus ruining Luke's belief in magic, the Easter Bunny, etc.).  But now I have falsely confirmed Luke's thoughts that monsters are real.  How did I get outsmarted by a 4-year-old?!

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3.  Hopefully a hyperbole:

Luke (calling from the bathroom):  "I went poo-poo! Who would like to wipe my bottom?!"

Mommy (losing the virtual coin toss with Daddy):  "I would be honored, son.  Here I come!"

Luke, bending over, hands on the floor, hiney sticking straight up in the air:  "Mommy, maybe when I am 50 or 60, I will wipe my own bottom."

Mommy (sighing):  "Let's hope so, buddy!  Let's really hope so!"

Celebrities!

Look who made the front page of the Metro section of today's Sunday paper:

Luke, Mark, and Winnie are pictured in the bottom photo as they attended Greenville's annual "Waggin' at the Waterpark" day for dogs yesterday. All 3 of our family celebrities will be signing autographs later this afternoon!

Chicago!

I went to Chicago last weekend for my first full weekend away since having children (I am not counting my 24-hour BB reunion in June since it was really only one day/night and went by too fast to process!) .  One of my closest friends from college, Nicole, recently moved to Chi-town and I was VERY excited about visiting her and returning to my old stomping grounds.  It’s hard to believe that it’s been 10 years since my graduate school days of living in Chicago, and it is by far my favorite city.  It's the place where I learned how to be an adult after college, how to live on my own in a big city and support myself while I earned my Master's Degree.  Chicago is the city where Mark and I began a long distance dating relationship, and where two years later, he proposed.   I grew up immensely during my time in Chicago, and transformed from a new college graduate to an independent young woman.  Needless to say, I had a long list of places I wanted to visit and see last weekend.  I warned Nicole that I was going to be a complete tourist, and that I also wanted to eat my way through the city (both of which we did).  There are too many highlights to name, but here is my top ten list for the weekend:

1.       Window-shopping on the Magnificent Mile.  There really is nothing like that endless stretch of stores, bustling with shoppers, right in the heart of the city:

2.  Morning run on the jogging path on Lake Shore Drive.  (We actually got caught in the middle  of a downpour and felt like kids stomping through puddles, laughing and soaked to the bone).  

3.       Dinner and tiramisu at Roseangeli’s (my favorite neighborhood restaurant in Lincoln Park), breakfast cinnamon rolls at Ann Sather, and a bloody Mary at brunch.  Such a treat to go out to eat and feed only myself, at restaurants that I wouldn’t dare step into with kids! 

4.    Seeing Wrigley Field again, up close and personal.  I can’t believe this used to be 4 blocks from  my apartment!  We drove by both of the places where I used to live, and so many memories flooded back to me…

5.       Amazing sights from Nicole’s high rise apartment, which included unobstructed views of the downtown skyline and Lake Michigan.  We even saw the fireworks on Navy Pier from Nicole’s windows on Saturday night.  Talk about great accommodations!

6.       Shopping ALL afternoon on Saturday:  from the boutiques on Armitage Avenue to big retailers on North Ave.  (The organizational nerd in me was especially excited about browsing the Container Store!). 

7.       Dinner and drinks at the local wine bar with great conversation and atmosphere, and spending time with Nicole, who has been one of my best friends for half of our lifetimes now!

8.       Taking many touristy pictures of downtown Chicago (some out the sunroof of Nicole’s car), and enjoying the city: 

9.   Waking up on my own, showering and getting ready at a leisurely pace, being able to put on make-up and blow dry my hair, and sleeping through the night 2 times in a row.  Simply luxurious for a stay-at-home Mama of young children!

10.   Catching up with old friends (from graduate school and our dear family friends, Brian and Beth Davies).  Seeing where they live, visiting their little corners of the world, and meeting their adorable children was food for my soul.

 I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my weekend vacation and felt completely recharged when I returned to Greenville.  Technology really did make it so much easier to be gone from Luke and Leah, as we were able to Facetime each day (that’s like Skype for you old timers!).  Mark sent me texts and photos of their activities in Greenville and the kids had lots of fun during their special weekend with Daddy.  When I landed at the airport on Sunday afternoon, I saw two little smiling faces (and one very relieved Daddy!) who ran toward me at full speed and jumped into my arms.  What a perfect finale to my wonderful weekend! 

Back to School!

 

Yesterday was Luke's first day of 4-year-old preschool, and my, what a difference a year makes!  Last year at this time, I was incredibly nervous about sending my son to preschool for the first time.  We didn't know any other classmates or moms, the school was new to us, and I prayed that Luke would like his first experience alone outside of our home. 

 

This year was an entirely different story.  We have been literally counting down the days til the first day of school for weeks.  We even made a paper chain to help with our countdown, and Luke dutifully tore off a paper circle each day.  

 

My favorite part of this picture is that Luke is wearing one of his Daddy's childhood t-shirts (which has the name and mascot of Mark's elementary school printed on the front!)

 

This fall, we returned to St. Giles Presbyterian Church Preschool and enrolled Luke in the 4-year-old class (which is 5 mornings/week from 9:00 until noon vs. his 3 mornings/week schedule last year).  Our Meet the Teacher day last week was familiar and comforting, and we greeted old friends and gave hugs to the preschool director and Luke's teachers from last year. 

 

Luke woke up yesterday morning ready and eager to go to school.  He posed for his annual back-to-school picture on the front steps, and I can't believe how much older he looks as compared to last September:

September 2012 (First day of 4-year-old preschool).

 

September 2011 (First day of 3-year-old preschool).

After gathering Luke's school bag, we were off!

 

 

 

Here's our confident boy, walking up to the preschool entrance:

Mommy is shouting in the background here: "Let's walk AROUND the puddle and not step IN it!"

 

Luke found his hook, hung up his bag, and went right into class:

 

 

These four buddies were in class together last year.  We were so excited that they all moved up together! 

Here's Luke with his best preschool friend, Caleb.  The boys wasted no time discovering the bin of toy trucks and construction equipment:

 

 

The parents stayed for the beginning of class yesterday, and Luke's teacher, Ms. Ashley, read a book to everyone called The Kissing Hand.  The story is about a little raccoon who is nervous to go to school, so his Mommy draws a kiss on his hand so that he knows that her love is with him and he won't be sad. Ms. Ashley passed out markers for each child/parent to draw hearts on each other's hands... Luke politely declined and told me, "Mom, I'm good.  I don't need one!" 


Ms. Ashley also had bags which the children presented to the parents which read: "In Case You Miss Me Mommy!"  Inside were tissues and Hershey kisses, and she explained to each child why their Mommy may need these things.  Puzzled, Luke handed me the bag and said, "You won't need the tissues because you don't have a cold, Mommy, but here is some chocolate for our dessert tonight."

The last surprise was that a special balloon was given to each child:

We all went outside and lined up:

On the count of 3, the children released their balloons into the air and shouted, "Yea Preschool!!"

It was a wonderful kick-off to Luke's year.  I couldn't be happier with his new teacher and class, and am so proud of my independent big boy for making a seamless transition back to school yesterday!!!    Yea Preschool, indeed!!

Trim Trims!

 Luke coined the term "trim-trims" when he was a toddler to describe his haircuts, and now that's what we say in our house when anyone has their hair cut.  Leah had her first trim-trim on Thursday, which is a big milestone for my once-bald baby girl!  Her very fine, blonde hair has grown tremendously over the past few months, and I love being able to put it in a barrette, ponytail, or pigtails now.  However, I was afraid that our little Cindy Loo Who was sporting a bit of a mullet, as the front pieces of her hair were much shorter than the back.  Leah also has an entire separate layer of new baby hair growing underneath everything that was never going to catch up with the rest (see the picture below for a visual):

Lately, I had been wavering back and forth almost daily with the question: To Cut or Not to Cut... and everyone had an opinion.  Half of the general population insisted that a cute bob was the way to go.  After all, her hair would need to be evened out at some point, so let's do it!  The other half  understood how long we had waited for Leah's beautiful hair to come in and appreciated that, or told me, "She's too little!" 

So when Luke went for his back-to-school trim-trims last Thursday, I toted Leah along and asked our hairdresser, Miss Arianne, if she would be willing to cut Leah's hair sometime in the next few months (when Mommy was ready/sure). 

"I'll do it right now," Arianne replied.

Leah seemed to understand this and we all watched as she climbed up into the stylist's chair independently.  She sat there as still as a statue, looking up at us expectantly and patiently waiting for her turn to have big girl trim-trims. 

Arianne whispered, "I've never seen this.  At this age, they need to be distracted because they are either squirmy or screaming..."

And what went through my head was, "I have 25 pictures of Luke getting his hair cut for the first time at 13 months old."   The event takes up 2 full pages of Luke's baby scrapbook, and Mark even took time off from work to accompany us to Luke's first trim-trims (I can't remember if that was because I thought I'd need help distracting Luke or moral support not to cry at the huge milestone in my firstborn's life).

Regardless, I realized that although I didn't have a camera with me last week, that this was a pretty clear decision.  I did what any sane, practical mom of 2 children would do:

"Go for it," I replied to Arianne.  I knew that we may not have a willing toddler if we scheduled an appointment on another day, and the effort required to do this all over again may be Herculean.

The receptionist at the desk at the hair salon thoughtfully brought over an envelope for me to catch and keep the clippings of my baby girl's first haircut.  Maybe she saw a flicker of Mommy guilt in my eyes that my poor second child was not going to have any photo documentation of this important "first" in her life.  A few of the patrons at the salon gave us wistful, nostalgic smiles as they watched darling Leah proudly grin at her reflection in the mirror.  Miss Arianne picked up the scissors.

Snip... snip.  And then it was over.  The entire process took all of 3 seconds and was actually quite anti-climactic.  I sighed with relief at my decision to not belabor this event and turn it into a ridiculous circus of pictures and over-the-top-ness.

We cheered and praised Leah for being such a good, big girl, and she turned around to find her big brother (who was doing handstands in the middle of the salon).  As she walked away, I got my first glimpse of the back of Leah's head and saw her ADORABLE new 'do!  It's a cute, chin-length little bob that is even, cleaned-up, and no longer ratty and wispy:

Thank you, sweet Leah, for being such an agreeable, happy, cooperative girl for your first trim-trim, and for making it such an easy experience for your mama!