Tradition!

Fall is the time to be a Roses. Roses love the fall season. It probably helps that Laurel's favorite color is orange, holiday: Halloween. Brandon's especially favorite tradition is making cider with his great great grandmother's cider press. No joke. This thing is the real deal and very old. I finally got to participate this year.

It begins with picking a ton of apples. Brandon drove around and found random apple trees on property lining the roads in our Corvallis area, asked the owners if we could pick the apples and then we cleaned the tree dropping the apples straight into the truck.

Next, we cut the apples in half to make the crushing process easier. We picked the perfect day to do it this year; it was warm and sunny, which is a rare find mid-October in Oregon.

The apples are then dumped into the top part while someone hand cranks the crusher, turning the apples into mush/pulp.

When the unit is full of crushings, a round wooden disc, attached to a screw-like rod, is placed on top and pressed down by twisting the rod. Here, Dave is using a long board as a handle to twist.

The juice is then pressed out of the mush and sweet apple nectar goodness (called Apple Cider) comes out and is stored in 16 milk jugs or given as gifts. And let me tell you, home made is even better than the store bought stuff (and not just because it cost nothing but labor).

Mom and Dad got to help out, as well; they had a lot of fun. As did we all!

Pumpkins!

For FHE on Monday, Brandon and I carved our pumpkins! Yay! Brandon carved the pirate one on the right and I carved the one in the middle. Brandon's mom gave us a pumpkin (the one on the left), which I carved the following day. It was pretty fun.

The black tree in the middle is a Halloween decoration I am very fond and proud of :) I painted it and I like it a lot. It makes me feel very crafty.

This is the first time I've done something other than just the most basic face for a pumpkin; I'm not the most creative. So, I feel pretty good about my work.

A Chain of Gratitude

While working on my Primary lesson this morning I came across the following idea that I wanted to pass on. So while I am thinking of it... here it is!

Amy writes, "I wanted to share an idea I heard last year. This is a Thanksgiving idea and it is lots of fun. You take strips of 8"x1" ish colored paper and put them in a jar or can. Each day every family member takes turns writing down something that they are thankful for that day on their own strip of paper. Put the strips in a seperate container. On Thanksgiving day you take turns pulling out random strips and reading aloud the things that your family members are thankful for. As you read them you tape them and make a paper chain. This chain when complete then goes around your Christmas tree so you can remember through the holiday season that we are all thankful for so many things and you can see all of the blessing that God has given us."

I discovered a very handy tool for capturing screen images. It's called "SnapIt", and after a quick and easy install, it's ready to be used anytime without any extra steps.

Perhaps you have used that "Prnt Scrn" button on your keyboard to capture screen images. Whenever I do that, I have to use one of several applications to crop the image down to what I really wanted to capture.

With "SnapIt", anytime I want to capture something on the display, I just press the "Prnt Scrn" button, draw a box around what I want, and it's saved just that fast. It's also stored in the clipboard, so you can immediately paste the image wherever you want.

"SnapIt" allows you to change the default settings to your liking, so there are no extra steps required -- a real productivity booster!

You can go to this link to try it for free: Screen Capture Software

Birthday Pictures

These are a little late, but here are some pictures from Russ' birthday last month:

He wanted to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese on his birthday (can you imagine a better Dad?)

Opening the gift he practically requested (which was not a CD - gasp!)

Birthday kisses

Russ doesn't really care for cake, so this year we made a "donut cake" (he does care for donuts, particularly apple fritters)

Hooray for the big 3 0!!!

Therapy Update

This video has nothing to do with therapy, it just shows a really cute and happy baby.

Brenna did meet with both her therapists for the first time this week. The occupational therapist came on Monday to do her evaluation. Brenna wasn't in a particularly good mood, but she made it through the poking and prodding and checking. The OT gave me a series of 8 stretches to do with her each day, 10 reps each. The stretches work her shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist, fingers, and thumb. Two of the shoulder stretches are pretty uncomfortable for her, but she tolerates everything else really well.

The physical therapist came on Wednesday and did her evaluation. She was very positive about Brenna's prospects for improvement as she checked her strength and weight-shifting and "helping" and I don't even know what else. She just gave me one additional stretch for Brenna's leg. It stretches out her calf muscle and is supposed to be held for 20 seconds several times a day (like whenever she gets her diaper changed). She mentioned the possibility of bracing her left leg at night to keep her toes from curling under so much.

Both therapists will be making weekly in-home visits. I am very thankful Brenna's condition was known so early, and that she is able to get as much help and see as many competent specialists as she does. We adore this sweet little girl, and are so thankful to have her in our family!