Apple Picking

It was our plan to have a lovely family day together enjoying our new area and picking apples at a local orchard. Afterall, James is heading out to Connecticut on Sunday for three days so we thought we ignore the boxes that needed unpacking and the house that needed organizing and spend some quality time together.
We were loaded in the van and on our way, made a quick pit stop at the bank and then headed out on Hwy 27 into Princeton. What a beautiful scenic drive....except for the rain splashing down on the windshield. Hmmm....hadn't anticipated that. Didn't see that when I looked at the forecast this morning. Not quite prepared for rain. Well, what to do? We kept driving and figured we'd see how bad it got. We drove through Princeton and noticed that a lot of people didn't let the rain stop them. Granted, these were people who probably got their forecasts from a more reliable source and therefore were prepared with umbrellas and rubber boots. Regardless, we kept driving and headed North on 206. We kept driving and driving and driving. I expected to see the "Terhune Orchards" sign any time now. We drove a little further and figured it just couldn't be that far. James made a right hand turn down the first road he saw and then did a little turn around in a driveway with the intention of getting back to 206 and heading in the opposite direction. But lo and behold, a no left turn sign. Even in the middle of the county for crying out loud?!?!? Enough is enough. Good thing my husband is a man of character and honesty. He didn't make the left turn (even though there was no traffic in either direction). He obediently turned right and then turned around up the road a bit. Now we were headed back down 206 in the opposite direction. Back through Princeton. (Gee that looked familiar....). Sure enough, we turned the wrong way. (For those of you keeping track, I had made a similar mistake last week when looking for the park on Lover's Lane. From now on, I'm always going on 206 South as a default.)
We passed Lover's Lane as well as many beautiful old homes. Sure enough, we saw the sign for Terhune Orchards. Rather, we saw the sign that read, "Apple Parking". Hmmm....maybe they were expecting large crowds? We eventually got to where we wanted to go. It was still raining but I thought I would still run in and get some seasonal veggies and such. Due to the fact that they were expecting several thousand people coming through the orchard today James was only allowed to drop me off and the gate and then had to drive around and come back to pick me up. I headed through the mud to the small booth where they were selling a few select items. I picked up some lovely apples (I forget what kind but they are quite yummy) some apple cider donuts (still warm, unbelievably yummy) and a cherry pie (James' favourite). It cost me over $20!!!!! Wow, rent isn't the only overpriced thing in Princeton! I got back into the van once James got back to the farm and we headed out on our way back. I immediately gave the boys a donut to share (much to James' dismay, he hates it when they get messy in the van) and then James and I each enjoyed one too. Seeing as they were covered in cinnamon sugar, the boys surely did get messy! Dear Jameson also has quite a sweet tooth so he quickly devoured his portion and promptly asked for more. By the time he was finished his hands were covered in a sticky, sugary goo and his mouth was rimmed with a brown ring. He sure enjoyed every minute of it though. Surprisingly Stellan was much cleaner, how shocking. I then proceeded to eat one of the fresh apples. (It was closing in on lunch time, I was hungry.) Stellan saw me eating it and wanted a bite. OK, you want to eat fruit, no problem, have a bite. He didn't want to share with Jameson so I ended up giving him his own to enjoy. It seemed like a good idea to have them eat their apples, afterall, how messy could they be?
Jameson didn't make a mess at all. He ate most of it and stayed relatively clean. Stellan on the other hand.....he only liked the "idea" of eating an apple; he didnt' really want to eat it. He would take a few small bites, chew them up, then spit them out into his hand. He would then offer that slimey mess to Jameson. When I realized what was going on I would intercept the apple goo and take it and throw it in the garbage. Well, this became quite a game for him. He did this with the entire apple. I ended up putting the garbage pail beside him so he could deposit it directly in there. He thought it was a great game. Yeah, except for the fact that only 75% of the apple makes it into the trash and he was getting saliva everywhere. (Good thing we're still in the rental van. I don't recommend anyone getting at 2007 Montana SV6 from Hertz on Tecumseh. Good chance it's full of Stellan spit.)
We finally made it home where I promptly removed any apple remnants before they attracted fruit flies and made the entire car seat sticky.
What a lovely family day spent together. We drove around for an hour and a half and I was the only one who got to leave the van. We should do this more often.

Mattress Update

I'm happy to announce that the missing support legs have been found. They were at the bottom of my laundry hamper, what an obvious place. Good thing it was overflowing and screaming at me to do something about it. Otherwise I'd be sleeping on the floor again tonight. :)

Touch It

There are certain thoughts that run through a mother's head when she hears "touch it" coming from her three year old's mouth. The images are especially graphic when she knows the aforementioned three year old is in the bathroom with his two year old brother; a little guy who will do anything to please his older brother.
Needless to say when I heard these words I quickly ran into the bathroom. It was at that point that I found Stellan splashing around in the toilet where his brother had just gone pee. Lovely. I'd heard the toilet flush but knowing Stellan's flushing obsession I figured that could have been before, during or after the pee. So, who knows if there was actual urine in the toilet while he was splashing. I'm not one to take chances. I offered some choice words to the boys and tried to instill in them the idea of that actually being gross rather than fun. Stellan looked at Jameson and laughed seeing as his older brother was quite pleased by the action. Jameson looked at me and said, "But Mommy, I didn't touch it. Stellan did."
"I realize that honey but you were the one telling him to do it."
"But Mommy, I didn't touch it." (He looked at me like I was totally missing the point. He thought he was the "good" one because he didn't do it. Forget coming up with the idea and making his impressionable little brother do it.)
Regardless, I scrubbed Stellan's hands (and Jameson's) and sent them on their way. Now it's my goal to distract Stellan and stop him from joining Jameson in the bathroom.

New mattress

So, at first we weren't sure if we liked the mattress. Initially I thought it sagged a bit and caused me to roll toward the middle. Not exactly what I would expect from a new mattress. I wanted to give it a few more nights to see what was going on. There is a 30 day return policy so I figured I would take advantage of that if I hated the mattress. (Hey, ever wonder what they do with those used mattresses? I hope they sell them at discounted prices rather than rewrapping them and selling them as new...)
I organized the bathroom last night (wow do I own a lot of different smelly lotions; they were on sale at Victoria's Secret a while back). After that I decided to have a shower in order to save some time this morning. I love taking night time showers; I actually get a chance to use all of those smelly lotions after my shower if I take it at night. I'll have to surmise that James doesn't like it when I take night showers. Once he's in bed he just wants to sleep; he has a difficult time falling asleep if I'm doing something (reading, putting on smelly lotions, etc...). I could see that he was quite annoyed by my nighttime ritual. Sorry sweetie but need to smell good. :) He was so irritated that he grabbed his pillow and headed to the spare room. I have to imagine his annoyance increased when he realized the mattress was covered with piles of linens. (I haven't quite gotten to that room yet.) He headed to the family room to sleep on the couch. Honestly, not a problem with me, now I get the whole bed to myself. ;)
After flossing and brushing my teeth, I jumped back in bed (not literally but you'd think so by the end result...). When I got into bed there was a huge crash and I felt the entire mattress leaning a bit. I carefully got off and looked underneath. Much to my surprise I noticed one of the suppport beams had fallen. I also happened to notice that the movers who assembled my bed happened to forget to put the middle supports on the beams. No wonder my mattress felt as if it dipped in the middle, it actually was sagging!! Sheesh!! I guess I just expect people to be competent at what they do. Is that too much to ask?
Off I headed to the spare room to take the piles of linens off the bed in order to sleep on the spare mattress. Sheesh.

Moving Day!

The movers came on Monday!! Thankfully Mary Lou offered to watch the boys so we were able to focus on the movers without having them underfoot. They absolutely loved seeing the truck and the guys carrying in all their stuff. Problem was that they didn't know enough to get out of the way. Mary Lou took them to the park and kept them well out of the way. Whew!
Jameson was so excited, he kept saying, "Mommy, our stuff is here!", "Mommy, the house isn't empty, it's full of our stuff". He was thrilled. Stellan just liked looking at the moving truck. He was also quite thrilled but shows it differently.
The guys were much better than the ones we had in Windsor. (They didn't eat our food and leave empty containers all over the house.) It was amazing how much stuff we actually had. I started putting stuff away in the kitchen as soon as they brought it in. What a huge task! We have a lot more space in this kitchen but it was still quite a task organizing it. Unbelievable how much paper all the stuff was wrapped in. It served its purpose though and nothing was broken. :)
The boys came back for lunch and a nap. A bit difficult since their cribs were in pieces. We set up the playpen for Stellan and put Jameson on a mattress on the floor. James stayed with them until they were asleep or else they would never have fallen asleep. Stellan, the monkey, climbs out of the playpen whenever given the chance.
The boys were so excited to play with their toys again. It's like they were all brand new again. We gave them baths and put them to bed in their new rooms. They talked to each other through the rooms and found that quite hilarious. They cried a bit but ended up realizing this was where they were going to stay so they settled in after a short while.
James and I continued to put stuff away and organize. My whole body ached. We went to bed and I fell asleep before I could determine if the mattress was comfy. Overall, a productive day and we were so thankful to be in the house.
Home sweet home.

New Friends

Sunday was church day again. Apparently Jameson had a small fit when it came time to go to Sunday school but I'm sure that he will calm down once he's gone for a few more weeks. Stellan loved playing with Ruby. Actually, give him a car to drive around on the floor and he'll play with anyone. Not my choice to have him lying on every floor but I overlook the possible germs since it really is his joy in life.
During lunch we were surprised with a welcome cake. It's really nice to belong to a small congregation that treats you like family. Helps that the cake was really yummy too! :)
Jameson was the prayer police during the afternoon service. During the ending prayer he loudly whispered, "Mommy, her eyes aren't closed", "She's not folding her hands". Uh huh, how did you see that her eyes were open?
We went to a Phil and Adina's house for the afternoon and dinner. Paul and Amy and the kids were there too. We had a great afternoon and were glad to have the chance to get to know everyone a bit better. The boys had a blast playing with other kids. We got home pretty late but it was well worth it.

Sofa Shopping

So, we had to go through another round of furniture shopping with the boys. We dreaded doing this but it had to be done. I surfed the net and found the one I liked, problem was that I couldn't buy it online and the store was an hour south of here. Darn it! We packed up the kids Saturday morning and headed out with our mapquest directions. We were back on the devil's highway. It really isn't so bad as long as you don't need to make a turn or see something on the opposite side of the road that you might be interested in.
The plan was for James and the boys to stay in the car while I scoped out the furniture. I walked into this huge furniture store and headed toward the sofas. Surprisingly I wasn't attacked by the piranha salespeople. I found a salesperson and told him that I could use his help since he looked rather bored. (Literally, he did. He was leaning against a chair inspecting his fingernails. They were rather nasty, bitten and ragged.) Not sure why I chose the obvious slacker but he ended up being quite helpful. Slow, but helpful and quite honest. We headed to the desired sofa and I decided that I liked it and wanted it in red. (Sounds sleazy but it looks really good.) He suggested that I try out the next sofa since the first one was a cheap model used to attract people into the store. (See, honest.) I actually preferred the second sofa and decided to go with it. I then told him I was interested in seeing an entertainment unit as well as some bar stools.
Here's where the slow part comes in. He lead me haphazardly through the store and showed me random entertainment units. I tried explaining the style that I was looking for but he didn't appear to get the picture. Next we headed to the stools and he tried to convince me I needed the taller height. I knew the shorter height was what I needed since we were using them at our kitchen counter.
Meanwhile, James is in the car with the boys. We brought along our video collection to help entertain them. He also headed to Dunkin Donuts for some coffee during my search.
I decided that I had seen enough and it was time to bring in the family. I dreaded this moment but I really wanted James' opinion. We gathered everyone and gave stern warnings about only walking in the store and listening. Uh right, listen? Walk? As soon as we got into the store they took off at a mad dash; one in one direction, the other headed elsewhere. James and I tried desperately to corral the boys while looking at the pieces I picked out. The kids loved the sofa and promptly took off their shoes so they could climb all over it. As we headed through the store Jameson obsessively touched everything he could get his hands on. It's really irritating even though I realize he's just figuring out this new environment. I appreciate that he is curious and loves to learn but enough is enough. Leave the glass balls alone, don't touch the stacked boxes, you get the picture.
After a brief meltdown James and I decided to go with the sofa and forget everything else. I didn't love any of it enough to commit to buying it and the boys were running everywhere. (I really wish my kids would casually stroll along while holding my hand but it just doesn't happen. No matter what techniques I try to employ, they still run at breakneck speed whenever given a space large enough to do so.)
We took the boys back to the van and I went back in to finish the paperwork. Easy enough, it would be ready Tuesday. As I feared they could not deliver since we were out of their delivery area. The salesman suggested renting a UHaul and figured it would be cheaper anyway. OK, no problem, I'm sure James can drive one of those.
Off we went quite pleased that we got the sofa.

The Devil's Highway

Goal: go to dinner and go mattress shopping
Time: 5:00
Date: Friday

Head out on Rte 1 heading South. What should have been a 15 minute drive ended up taking 30 minutes. (Gotta love the commuters who work in NY all week and then head home, wherever that may be, on Friday evening.)

Good food + well behaved children = nice time out.

Head out mattress shopping.
Time: 7:00

Head out on Rte 1 S, miss the store, have to drive and find a jug handle to be able to turn left. Find the jug handle, turn around, find another jug handle, turn around again.

Got to the store.
Time: 7:45

Letting the two previously well-behaved children loose in a mattress store = BAD IDEA
The kids were in mattress heaven. They promptly took off their shoes and proceeded to run through the store picking the perfect mattress to "test". Thankfully we were the only patrons and the saleslady was somewhat patient.

Quickly tried out a few mattresses, picked one out, hauled the kids into the car, headed out to another store to do price comparisons. (It is next to impossible to test mattresses with those two in tow.)

Are we gluttons for punishment?

Heading North on Rte 1. Missed the store. (GPS anyone?) Found a jughandle (eventually), turned around. Found another jughandle and turned around again. Missed the store again. (Directionally challenged?) Repeat the above steps.....

Shall I say FRUSTRATED????? We just want a mattress for crying out loud.

Tried out many more mattresses, picked out one we liked better than the other store, convinced the guy to give us a good deal, signed on the dotted line, got the heck out of there so we could put the kids to bed.

Time: 9:30

Glad we got a comfy mattress out of the chaos! (We slept on it last night for the first time. I was exhausted beyond belief but I think it was comfortable. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.)