Changes...and more apples of course

The last week has been full of changes to put it mildly. Brian started a new job downtown, and for the first time in his professional career of 11 years and since I've known him, he's now working a day shift. He's always worked that evening sports shift.

The day shift is exciting because we can all have family time together in the evenings. He's writing at a well-known organization in Chicago, but not doing sports and is in more of a niche-publication like me.

Sorry, I have to be vague for policy reasons. But it's a great job, and he's already enjoying it. This however, means he'll be doing the long 2-hour one-way commute to Chicago that I used to do daily.

On the one day I do go to the city each week, we'll commute together and that's fun. It also means that for the first time since she was born, Liz is now in an all day pre-K class. We moved her to a new school. It's been going OK - and that's putting it quite optimistically.

I think she's at the age where she's testing everyone's limits. Let's just say by Friday, she proudly told me that she ONLY had one time-out that day. Trust me, that was quite an improvement.

The nice thing about this preschool is, it's also close to home as well. The good news is other than her misbehaving, I like this school. We get a calendar of each day's activities. Monday, firefighters are coming to talk fire safety, Tuesday they'll decorate a cookie, Wednesday a veterinarian comes and the fun goes on.

I think once she's settled in, she'll be fine! She's just testing everyone's limits right now - including ours. But I guess that's what 4-year-olds do, right?

For now, here are those pictures from the 2nd apple orchard that we went to two weeks ago. You'll notice no other people nearby. This is the one that's secluded and just reopened as a U-Pick this year - so it's a hidden gem for now!


Here's Liz grabbing an apple at the orchard. We were the only ones there, and she's got a really great hold on it!


Here's Brian right by one of the apple trees. He was a bit pickier than me, and seemed to get the most perfect apples!



Here I am with an apple!



Here's Liz "helping" me last weekend to make the apple dumplings. I forgot to take photos of the finished product. But they were pretty amazing and we've already grabbed a few from the freezer. Reminded me of when we went to Grandma Shidler's and made apple dumplings in the fall. Not that I can claim these were that good - but pretty yummy nonetheless.