And...We're Back!!

I know, I know. It's been For eeeeeeevvvvvveeeeerrrrr! I'm sorry, mostly for myself. I love looking back at old blogposts and reliving memories (most of them ;) and I'm sad I've missed documenting a chunk of time. A HUGE chunk of time, obviously, as I look back through pictures.  I had already sorted through these pics (back in October) and evidently never finished blogging about them, so here they are. 

I'm currently longing for sun-filled days and popsicles, but pictures of a cool, crisp morning with apples and donuts will have to do instead. This is definitely the time of year Matt and I always start having conversations about all the sunny places we could move to... not that we know any different, but warmth sure sounds nice! ;)

Evidently Madi's grown another 2 inches since October (that's probably not even an exaggeration) and Emmitt has just plain gotten BIG! He talks like a big kid; he acts like a big kid and he's grown like a weed, which means he's pretty much a big kid... with the exception of crapping his pants.  Hopefully some things will change...

My Grandma came and spent the month of October at my parents'. We were able to spend lots of time with her, which we all loved. One morning we met Grandma and my mom (Nana), Haley & the boys, and later Ramie and her two kiddos at Bauman's Farm. This is definitely one of the best pumpkin patches in the valley, and thankfully this wasn't our only trip there for the season! 

Here's just a few pics of the kiddos:

Emmitt (2), Crosby (3), Madi (4), Michael (6) and Seven (8)! Believe it or not, this makes up only 5/8ths of the grandkids, soon to be 5/9ths!

This kid might be one of the funniest people alive... never lacking in expressions, that's for sure!

Although someone must give him a run for his money...

Haley and the baby that made her a mommy. :) How'd he get so big?!?! :(

Preparing to jump... this is my LIFE!!!

Coming out as a zombie was a super big hit (in case you couldn't tell). 

Also, random quote from Madi this fall, "Hey Mom, I think when I grow up I'm going to be a zombie cause Seven and Michael REALLY like zombies!!" 

Good, Mads, way to aim high! (I assured Matt not to worry. When we were little my sister used to pick 'working at McDonald's' for her dream job when we'd play MASH and she's proven to be much more successful thus far... ;)

Such a diva among all the boys... *sigh*

Haley insisted on a picture of her milking the cow. I think it suits her well. :)

Judson and Cooper met us towards the end. They now have a new baby brother too!!! 

Cooper and Em are only 2 weeks apart, such good little friends, although we are starting to see more of the boys choosing to play together and the girls choosing to play together as they are getting older... I have no idea why?!? ;)

Proof Weston was with us. :)

And since I apparently never got a picture of my Grandma or mom with us. I added this one of her reading the kids bedtime stories one night at our house. Emmitt was quite accustomed to Grandma staying here and asked several times when we'd go to Nana's house after she left, "Hey, where's Grandma?!?" :) She loved spending time with all the kiddos too, which was so special to watch!

So, hopefully this won't be the last post for the month, but I dare not jinx myself and promise that!!!

An Apple Tradition...

Fall is my favorite. I say it every year. It just never gets old. I have Madelyn trained well. We'll be driving along and she'll say things like, "oh mom, you won't believe the beautiful tree I just saw! It's your favorite!" It melts my heart. I love this age. Life is so exciting at four. She remembers things from what seems like forever ago and is always blowing my mind with her new knowledge.  We're doing preschool at home and this girl is obsessed with writing! I love it and it drives me Ca-razy at the same time! I'm constantly tripping over piles of little papers; every last piece has been written/colored on. I can hardly wait to throw the mess away and then she'll sneak into the garbage and pull out pieces that she just can't live without. It's a never-ending cycle...

Anyway... back to fall at the Olson house. We have an apple tradition (that I've spoke about before, here and here) with our friends.  Mo and I have been picking apples since Madi was a baby and making them into sauce. We love heading to Beilke Farm and picking delicious apples. This year Mary and Grayson were finally able to come along and the fun was multiplied. The saying is true: everything is more fun with kids...

Okay, maybe not everything, but certainly adventures like apple picking!!!

(Grayson (16 mos.), Madi (4), Em (2), Chase (8 mos.), Blake (almost 3!)

The very first picture and everyone was looking. We knew it was going to be a good day. ;)

And you'll note, once again, Madi is the only girl. She's pretty used to it and quite frankly does a fabulous job of keeping all these boys in line... (Blake & Chase have all boy cousins too-7 to be exact- and Grayson has all boy cousins-4!)

This is a classic Grayson pose. Love the little finger!

This is as good as I could get with my two. *sigh*

Such a serious guy! I don't know where he gets it... :)

She's kind of cray-cray about her apples! I wish I would have kept a count. She had to have eaten at least 4 WHOLE apples on our brief outing. For realsies. All the way down to the core!

Proof that lil' Chase got some love!!! He's such a happy guy.

Boys! They were so entertained throwing things into this giant pit. 

...Until the train came along.

It really is the perfect apple farm. Front row seats for the train!

I'm sort of in love with this picture. When Madi saw it she immediately said, "Oh yeah, I was telling Blake ALL about bees and how they live in little white flowers so you can't walk around without your shoes on or you might get stung!" They're such sweet friends... She talks. He listens. ;)

When we were finished picking we let the kids climb to the top of this GIANT saw dust pile. Grandpa Beilke told us to take our shoes off and try it out. The kids loved it, and honestly it was pretty awesome. This picture doesn't do it justice, but these piles are taller than every apple tree so you can view the entire farm from what feels like an eagle's eye. Simple pleasures!

What a fun morning! I love these sweet friends and their little boys! We have LOTS of memories together and I look forward to many more...

A Little Summer Catch Up; Camping Trip #1

I wasn't very great at taking pictures this summer. It was just a weird summer. It felt very "busy" and yet I don't have a lot to show for it! I'm just chalking it up to the kids keeping us distracted and trying to cram all our little family vacations into Matt's 4 weeks off... it makes me feel better anyway...

We went camping (twice) this summer. Our annual Olson camp out came first this year and it was a beautiful weekend on the Breitenbush (after it stopped raining). We love this little river. It was where I caught my first fish on a fly rod, and where lots of Olsons have caught their first fish. The tradition has been to camp here on the birthday weekend of our oldest nephew who turned 16 this year!!!

I didn't pull out my camera enough. Sad story. But I did pull it out long enough to document Emmitt's first fishing experience...

Em and Mia, Riley's girlfriend. 

Oh Winston...

Building/Creating/Mothering something...

Hoarder. :)

Em learning from Daddy.

Pink Crocs and a pink pole. Can't get much manlier than that... Breast Cancer awareness?!? Oh wait, that's this month...

Liv pushing Madi on the hammock. 

We snuck out to fish while Emmitt was napping. I'd say it was a successful nap! ;)

And this was what Emmitt spent most of his weekend doing. Flying down the hill by our campground... or screaming because I wouldn't let him fly down the hill by our campground. It's hard being 2.

And that, my friends, is Emmitt. Pink Crocs and high speed bikes. 

**It should be noted that Emmitt got his own pair of blue Crocs (his sister's were his favorite thing to wear this summer) and a Spiderman fishing pole for his birthday. Family members took pitty on this poor boy... ;)**