Apples, Apples and more apples

Today was a busy day. First we got up to get Ali to the soccer field by 8:00 am for pictures. It was 29 degrees but sunny. All the kids were dressed in the soccer uniform with tons of layers on top of it. When it was time they stripped the layers off and then went to get pictures taken. I know it was cold because after getting in the warm car it took ten minutes for my hands to stop hurting.

Then we took Ali to Lake Arrowhead for her nutcracker practice. We watched her as she practiced because it was the first time and it was only a half hour. After dance practice we went to the Running Springs fire department where we walked around the booths they had about fire safety. (We don't even want to think about it but it is fire season again so pray for no big fires this year.) The girls saw sparky and smoky the bear so they were happy. They also filled their bags with goodies from the booths and their tummies with cookies and punch.

After that we decided to pick apples to make applesauce with. There is a tree just outside of town that doesn't belong to anyone. It is on the side of a steep hill and for ever apple Cameron shook down there was one that rolled down the hill. After he climbed way up in the tree and took a bag with him we filled a paper bag and half full of apples. We were pretty happy about that but knew it wouldn't make that much applesauce.

Later we decided to go pick some more apples. Cameron's sister had already been to one tree where there are a lot of apples and she took most of the apples but we decided to see what else we could glean from the tree. Once again Cameron climbed way up in the tree and shook the apples down on our heads. Cameron would say cover your heads and look down and Ashling would curl into the cutest little ball. We took every last apple from the tree. Cameron enjoyed himself after he climbed down from the tree by throwing rotten apples at trees and watching them break into a million little pieces.

We then had a garbage bag filled with apples and went to Cam's parents house to get the applesauce maker. But on our way we saw an apple tree loaded with more apples. I couldn't resist and I asked the owner if we could pick the apples. We loaded another large garbage bag full of apples. The girls liked this apple tree because they could pick the apples.

Later Cameron's mom called and said she had two bags of apples delivered to her doorstep and if we wanted we could have them too. The only problem is I am only a third of the way through the applesauce process so next week I will be cooking, mashing and canning all the applesauce. But at least my food storage should be much improved and the best part is that it was all free!

We came home and I finished cooking homemade cinnamon rolls and of course ate them. It was very cold today and the girls were freezing from playing outside in the cold for so long. The girls took a shower to warm up. When they take a shower Ali turns on the shower and gives herself a shower. Ashling usually waits until Ali is done and then she gets in. This time when I went downstairs to give Ashling her shower I found her curled up in front of the floor heater where she said it was very warm. She was so cute there I just had to share it.

Hurray for Apples and fun family Saturdays!