Applesauce and Mizzou Game

This weekend we actually stayed home.....but were very busy. Typical Schmidt weekend I guess.
One of the Powers family traditions that my Grandma did was to make applesauce every year. She used to do apple butter and some other items as well. I can remember when Andrew, Tony, and I would go out and fill the bushel basket full of apples from her 3 trees, and rotten ones got thrown across the ditch.
This past Christmas my mom bought us a foley mill so we could continue making applesauce. So this Friday evening we made our first attempt at applesauce making - and canning all at the same time.


My little helpers of course. Our apples are boiling and it smelled great!



One last shot before the work.


Our first batch of apples.

Abby helping with the foley mill. She thought it was great that she could look underneath and see that she had made applesauce. She is ready to make it again.

More help, and more applesauce.

Megan had to get in to the grove as well.


She couldn't quite reach to get the mill all the way around but still have fun just moving it back and forth. I didn't take a picture of the final product. We ended up with 5 quarts of applesauce. We thought it would have been more, but now we know. It actually went quickly and smoothly and all the cans sealed. Not bad for my first attempt.



Saturday was a home game for Mizzou so we headed out to the stadium for some tailgating.

Megan has her own way of conquering bean bags. She was the secret weapon for the college kids.


Our official tailgating photo. It was one way to keep them contained.

At the game. Abby was actually having a great time so I don't know why she was being shy about the photos. She paid attention to the game, cheered for the "ZOU" and informed Tim she was going to be a dance cheerleader when she grows up.

Here's a little halftime tailgating. Megan I think ate from 8-3 constantly. She especially liked this picnic table. We had to drag her away kicking and screaming.

Mizzou ended up winning, so did Iowa so not a bad game. We got home before the rain which was nice. So our after game BBQ ended up being an after game pizza party with BBQ wings.

Updated Megan & Abby Photos

Megan is officially 18 months old (well really almost 19 months by now) so we had some additional photos taken of her. She continues to look very similar to Abby other than their hair. Megan's is still very fine and of course blonder. Her 18 month appointment was fine. She's 95% in height and only 90% in weight and head circumference. We hope she'll be talking a little bit more in the near future. Tim is getting a little tired of hearing Mama.

Our photo "experience" was slightly more challenging than it has ever been and I doubt it will get easier. However with some major zooming in as the photographer had to have a wide lens to have a chance of getting all of Megan in the photo we got a couple good shots.


Megan at 18 months.


Of course we had to have some Abby photos as well. She is 3-1/2 now, and this was her least cheesy pose/smile of them all.

This was one of the better pictures with both of them, even though it looks like Abby is choking Megan. We'll take what we can get!

This was one of the first photos before the craziness started. I thought the flowers matched their dresses nicely.

Enjoy!

Auxvasse Art Festival

This weekend we stayed home to catch up at home and relax a little bit. Saturday there was an art festival in Auxvasse, MO where Abby and Megan go to daycare and Abby goes to preschool so we decided to go participate. Tim had to work on Saturday and Sunday so the girls and I packed up and headed out.

We ended up dragging our babysitter Taunia, her husband, and daughter with us as well - thanks for being troopers!


Our first activity of the day was to make necklaces out of beads. You can see Abby is concentrating and Megan is just happy to be in a chair. Another older girl from the daycare group made a necklace for Megan though so don't worry, she has one too.


Next was a visit to the Alpacas that were brought out. Megan thought they were great, or she was just happy she had a view through the fence - we're not sure.


There was a 3 day old baby alpaca that Megan thought was great. She was bound and determined to touch one of them and eventually got the tail of the Mama Alpaca.

Next stop was leaf painting/stamping table. Abby's pre-school teacher Mr. Pasley was in charge of that table. You painted a leaf for the outer rim then turned it over and used it as a stamp.



Megan managed to get a beach ball, so spent a good amount of the time throwing it, running in to things, and throwing it again. She was entertaining to say the least.


We also had dance shows put on by the junior and senior dance squads for the high school and also this cheer leading group. Abby is in the front row clapping along if you can see her blue shirt. If you couldn't guess she really liked this part.

Our second to last craft was to make a stamp. You put items (buttons, paper, felt, etc) on a tile; painted it; and then stamped it on the paper. Megan had her own version of course.
This is Carmen's stamp that we are taking apart and rolling.

Now she is loading up her "items".

Finished product. The stamping ladies at the table thought she was just the funniest little girl. She was very focused (her Aunt Colleen will be proud).

This weekend we have the wedding of our friends Justin and Suellen in Burlington, IA. The girls are going up to Iowa City for a couple nights so we can have a good time - kid free.

Fall Fun Festival

This past Labor Day weekend the girls and I headed up to Iowa City for some time with my parents, Iowa Football, and the Regina Fall Fun Festival. We ended up going to the festival during the football game so we had no waiting on rides at all, which if you have kids that don't enjoy waiting in line like mine can enjoy that. Unfortunately they weren't tall enough to ride more than this saucer ride, the carousel, and the "Fun House". But that was enough to make them happy.


Megan was actually tall enough to ride this ride by herself with Abby.


They both had a great time.
After our 25 tickets disappeared (very quickly I might add) we played one fishing game. This picture was right before Megan just started pulling the fish out with her hands. You're suppose to fish out one - I'm pretty sure she had 7.

The weather was great and we got to be outside the whole time until the rain hit on Monday. The girls especially enjoyed my parents sliding glass door - great fun to open and shut.

Monday we took the boat out - pretty windy so the lake was rough in the channel, and since we had a cold front the previous week the water was a little chilly too.

This weekend we are actually going to stay home since we have been on the road for a while. Plenty to always do it seems.