How Tall This Fall?????

This year, we were able to travel again for our semiannual trip to Asheville. We have not had the opportunity since Joshua was a month old. That was his very first trip. We also made annual trips just the two of us (Joe & I) prior to having wee ones. What a joy it was again to go there. Living in the coastal area can be a little dampering to us, as we do miss the cool Autumn air, the mountain landscapes, hiking, and taking in sights - especially waterfalls. More on that later...

So, when we got the opportunity to go, we jumped. I was a little hesitant at going, just because I have SO much on my plate, but I knew that there would be little chance for me to go later this year, so I packed the kids and off we went on our grand adventure. Our travel day (Monday) began with breakfast at home, a bite to eat on the road, and after a little mountain roads, we arrived at Sky Top Orchard. It was a gorgeous day overlooking the 100 acres on a mountain top - just perfect for picking apples.


WeI had already decided that we were only going to pick a peck of apples. WHY?? Well, because we would have to have them all week long, and I wanted just enough for the boys to eat. Then, on our way to Spartanburg on Friday, we would be stopping by the North Carolina Apple Festival. I knew that we would be picking up a bushel of apples either at the festival or at McAbee's Fruit Stand near Bloomfield's DishBarn, which is our FAVORITE place to buy apples. So we grabbed a Peck basket, loaded the boys on the cart, and headed out over the hills to where a row of Galas were.


Unloading our wagon at our row of Gala trees. I had really wanted Honeycrisps, but they had already all been picked for the season.



John-Michael picking his very first apple. Too bad neither of his parents realized at that moment that he was picking Black Arkansas apples (his Pa's favorite, and a breed that does not mature until late October)
And we wonder why Adam ate the fruit??

The problem with taking little ones to pick apples, is trying to keep them from biting into every one they pick.





Our full peck of apples. Mommy picked exactly ONE apple. :( Joshua and Joe picked all the rest of the apples. John-Michael was content to eat his.
Oh My! There's a handsome man in the apple orchard! can we take him home???


Joshua enjoying the fruits of his labor. No pun intended. We were having a hard time limiting the boys to ONE apple.
All loaded up and headed back to the barn.
Go faster daddy!! Climb that hill!!
A Mother's contented sigh at seeing the closeness of her wee ones.



One of our favorite things about Sky Top is the "How Tall This Fall?" sign. It's a great marker to use every year to show how much the kids have grown. It was easier to get John-Michael's picture in front of the sign then it was to obtain Joshua's. LOL


Farmer Joe says, "Ya'll come back now. Ya' hear??"

New Wool Dying

So I've dyed a few skeins of yarn, and now I have 17 skeins a little stash of yarn to dye. I have some undyed, but I really need to hank it and weigh it before I do anything with it. So for now, I am tackling the skeins I have ready.

earlier I did this:



This shows off the Teal


You can see the magenta


hanging up to dry, shows the purple and magenta


Shows the Teal & green.

The pictures really don't do it justice, and I didn't feel like taking the time to play with the adjustments for the low light in my home. So I'm going to have to hank it up prettily and shoot some photos, instead of just using my $2000 camera like a point n shoot. LOL

Baby Blanket

So I found a pattern on Rav that I wanted to try for a baby gift. It is a Spiral Baby blanket. This thing is huge! Well, not really, but it did take 4 skeins of yarn to make. I knitted this with an Acrylic yarn in Chunky weight, using 10.5 US circs which were btwn 50 and 60inches long (I had 3 cables connected together). The little white dots you see are the pins since it is currently being blocked on my bed.







There is approx 380-400 stitches in the last round. I stopped counting when I had to frog back from 39 and then restart b/c I was running out of yarn. LOL I have 3 rows of seed stitch for the edge and then a alternating bind off.

Master's Graduation

So after almost three long years Joe and I was awarded a Master's in Science in Accounting with a specialization in Taxation. He also received a Honor's designation for maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Our His directed research project (i.e. thesis) was The Projected Financial Implication of Healthcare Legislation on Economic Activity. I learned so much about Obamacare, it's scary - literally and figuratively.

After completing his course, and applying for graduation, etc... we had the graduation ceremony in Charlotte, N.C.



Joe filing in



Being congratulated and receiving scroll



We did it!!



In the Dorky, stupid looking, distinguished robes.





YAY!! For Daddy!!

Happy Birthday John-Michael!

So my little guy turned one on May 1st. I still can't believe it. We held a small party for him at Chick-Fil-A near our house. I decided against having a big home party as 1. the mosquitoes would have chased us inside and 2. the last party I had, I cleaned up cupcake from one end of the house to the other. LOL

Here are some pics of the event!