Back to School!

Here we are on our first day of the 2008 school year. Our "academy" has a pre-schooler, two 2nd Graders and a 3rd Grader. The kids were so excited to start school on Tuesday that they were READY by 7 am and congregating on my bed trying to get me in gear. :) Though it doesn't feel routine yet, it does feel good to be getting back into a scheduled day again and I'm thankful to have a weekend....TGIF!

This is Boo last night as she helped me pick grapes off their stems. With all the rain we've had this year in the mid-west, we have a ton of concord grapes from our one vine this year. We made our first ever Grape Jelly and there is some grape juice underway. Don't worry, there were no naked feet involved in the squishing of our grapes.

Today we took the afternoon (and a little buddy) to a semi-local apple orchard. I heard they had honeycrisp apples and I HAD to have a fix! Admittedly, things you love and build up in your mind don't always live up to their expectations. :) Of course we wanted to pick our own and as I helped the kids take turns with the apple pole, the others seemed to be picking apples from other trees (and even from the ground). When all was said and done, the kids had a blast and we have a half bushel of apples that are approx. 50-60% honeycrisp. :) You gotta love kids!