Johnny Appleseed Day

Brooke celebrated Johnny Appleseed day at school today. We were around for much of it since I was volunteering. Each student brought in an apple and they made homemade applesauce as a class. They all made Johnny Appleseed hats which were supposed to look like they were wearing a pot on their head, just like Johnny Appleseed. And yes, the teacher did call them pot-heads, but I'm pretty sure it was an accident. Ali tagged along and got to make one too. There's a little boy in Brooke class that was in her class last year and is also on her tee ball team. He is always so mesmerized by Ali. Today he said, "She's just so cute, I can't stop looking at her." So funny! All this Johnny Appleseed business reminded me of Grandma Simmens' Johnny Appleseed room she used to have in the Bed and Breakfast.

First week of fall?

When someone told me that this was the first week of fall, I laughed and said "Not in Florida." But I was surprised with our first really nice and not-so-terribly-hot day on Thursday. I had already planned to take the girls to the zoo, so I couldn't have been happier to know that we weren't going to be a big sweaty mess at the end of it all. Brooke carried a purse around with her that day and picked up anything and everything I would let her pick up and keep in her purse. At the end of the day she had pine cones, berries, leaves, a piece of PVC, a red bead, and other treasures. We got to see the elephants get a bath and holler and the monkeys and then we had the splash park all to ourselves. I guess all the responsible mommys watched the weather the night before :)

Seseme Street Live

We got to take the girls to see the Sesame Street Live show last weekend. I think it might have been the longest 90 minutes in Steve's life. But for a mom it was just another day singing about "Sunny days sweepin' the clouds away." Leann got to go with us since we had an extra ticket which made Brooke's day. The girls had a great time and Steve and I had fun watching the UCF security guards chase 2 homeless people around the arena. Who knew the homeless loved Elmo so much??! The best part though, was that we got to see the show for free. About a month ago, Steve got a call from the University of Central Florida Arena. They were going to be putting on a pep rally for an upcoming football game against the USF Bulls. They thought it would be funny to have some real miniature bulls there to taunt and make fun of. So we took a few zebu bulls there and everyone seemed to enjoy having them around. And UCF repayed us for our efforts in the form of tickets to an event. Sadly, we chose Sesame Street. We are such suckers for our kids! After Sesame Street, we took the girls to Uno Pizza and they each got to make their own personal pizzas.

New Cow, Lost Cow, Found Cow

We had a heifer calf born towards the end of last week over at Gordon's house and we decided to pull it off its mother and bottle raise it. We've been wanting to give this a try for a while but haven't really had to opportunity until recently, now that we're settled in our house. Zebu cows are typically looked at more as pets than livestock since their so small, and a tame Zebu is worth more when we try to sell them. Since bottle raising a calf is the easiest way for us to keep one tame, we wanted to give it a shot. So Saturday we went over to Gordon's and got the calf and took it home. Steve's first attempt to feed the calf went pretty well. When he was done, he decided to give her some room to stretch and walk around a bit. She started running around the back yard which was really cute, but before we knew it, she was darting away from the house, down the driveway and towards the street. Who knew day-old calves could run so flippin' fast!? We do now. Anyway, she got away from us and ran into the forest across the road from us. We had to post signs all up and down the street and just hope and pray someone would find her. Well, Sunday evening the phone rang and a lady quickly told us that she was on our street and had the calf in sight. We jumped on the buggy and zipped down the road to find her. She had already taken off by the time we got there, but Steve found her, chased her into the palmettos and was able to grab her. We got her home, filled her belly, and so far she hasn't fled yet! If you have a good name for a female cow that escapes or runs like the wind, let us know. Brooke's name choice is "Fairy Princess Butterfly Flower".

Welcome Carson James!

Carson James DeMoor was born on Monday September 15 to Jill and Matt (Steve's brother). Carson is their first child and he is adorable! He has blonde hair and the sweetest face. Jill was in labor for almost 24 hours (my hero!). Mommy and baby are doing great and get to go home today. And to add a little excitement to their already busy lives, they went under contract to buy a house the same day Carson was born. What a day! Ali and Brooke think the world of their cousin. Brooke keeps talking about how cute he is and Ali wanted to wrap her babydoll up in a blanket just like baby Carson. Ali also said she's going to teach him how to ride a horse which came as a surprise to me since everytime she sees our horses she says, "I'm scared of Pops and Jack". Jill, Matt, and Carson.. we love you guys!

Brooke Starts Tee Ball

Brooke amazes me all the time with how quickly her interests change. One second she's a dancer, then a gymnast, an artist, or a musician. But she really caught me off guard when she said she wanted to play tee ball and soccer. Luckily for us, the YMCA was in the midst of registration for Itty Bitty Sports (4weeks of tee ball and 4 weeks of soccer) right when this interest popped up.

Saturday was her first practice and she is the only girl among 8 little boys on her team. To be honest, I don't think she even noticed. She did great on her first day. I was so impressed with how aggressive she was, chasing after the ball in the outfield, often beating the other kids to the ball. Steve got to do some assistant coaching too. It's definitely hard for one coach to keep nine 3-4 year olds entertained in the heat for an hour.