Top Secret Orchard

Our church youth group held a service project today . . .

. . . at Top Secret Orchard.

(The new owner named it that because it's tucked away in the hills

and most people have no idea it's there.)

The orchard has hundreds of trees that produce more fruit

than the new owner and his crew can pick . . .

. . . so he invited people to come pick apples to donate to food banks.

Daniel took charge of hauling the wagon to carry apples down the hill.

Todd asked for a ride, but Daniel said the wagon was just for apples.

When the girls took over later,

they decided the wagon only needed to carry apples on the way down.

Climb aboard, Todd!

Pumpkins and Nerd Bait

It's the first day of fall!

There are bushels of cute pumpkins at Trader Joe's . . .

. . . and delicious pumpkin cookies in our kitchen!

(Note to self: Next year, don't bake them until the kids get home from school.

They want to help!)

Today was also Back to School Night at Todd's school.

He didn't come with me, but Anna did

so she could say hi to teachers and staff 

she remembers from last year.

It was fun to see how Todd had decorated his desk.

Unlike his siblings, he has never had a classmate with the same name as his,

but if he did . . .

. . . we'd know this desk was his because the letters of his name

are decorated to look like the Bomberman siblings from one of his favorite video games.

Also, Anna and I hoped something exciting would happen

if we followed this sign's instructions, but alas, we were disappointed.

My dad would have called that little sign "nerd bait."

Back Again

Tonight was Back to School Night at the middle school.

The school scheduled plenty of time for us to visit all of our child's teachers

if we only have one child at the school.

I have two middle schoolers though, so I asked each of them

which teachers they most wanted me to visit,

then I logged my 10,000 steps for the day zigzagging all over the school.

In addition to the usual PowerPoint presentations . . .

. . . I enjoyed reading pithy posters . . .

. . . sage advice . . .

. . . and class rules with a side order of geeky humor (my favorite kind).

The squishmallow planet was fun too. :)

Oh Deer!

It's fun to see lots of wildlife on our property,

but I've been grateful that we've never seen any deer,

which are notorious for devouring veggie gardens and decorative plants.

Alas! A few weeks ago

I spotted a deer strolling along the back edge of our lawn.

I hoped it was just a one-time thing . . .

. . . but then a few days later 

I noticed a fawn following its mom across our backyard . . .

. . . and a couple of their friends traipsing across our street.

With so many garden-munching creatures scampering around our neighborhood,

maybe we should ditch the raised bed idea altogether

and build a greenhouse.

Oh deer!

Badminton Tug-of-War

Joy's gym class played badminton today,

and she enjoyed it so much that when she got home . . . 

. . . she unearthed our old badminton rackets

so we could swat shuttlecocks around on the driveway for a while.

As in days of yore, we eventually moved from the driveway to the backyard,

where it was cooler and the sun wasn't in our eyes.

Anna and Todd kept playing long after everyone else had gone inside,

and most of their play looked like this . . .

. . . but some of it looked more like a tug of war.

I guess Todd won that round.

Back with Joy

I attended Back to School Night at the high school this evening.

Joy asked to come along, which surprised me

because I never did that as a kid,

and I had never noticed any students attending when I went as a parent.

There were a few other teenagers there tonight though, 

so I guess it's not entirely unprecedented.

We watched PowerPoints about teaching philosophies . . .

. . . pondered pithy quotes . . .

. . . and posed for a photo with Gerald Ford.

The teacher in this room also hangs fake windows with tropical pictures on his wall

since his classroom is in the basement and has no view of the outside world.

I admire both his sense of humor and his courage,

since he starts his classes by inviting students to discuss politics and current events with each other.

Joy says the discussions are actually pretty balanced and respectful.

The Banana Solution

Cici has been pestering Tia a lot lately,

so I decided they could use a little time apart today.

I flushed Cici out by setting something on the cage

that she finds utterly terrifying . . .

A banana (even a peel works in a pinch).

After Cici left the cage, I put the peel on a plate 

so she would stay away, but Tia wouldn't see it and be scared.

Actually, I probably needn't have bothered with the plate, 

because Tia is smart enough to realize that the banana bears her no ill will.

Tia: "What's the big deal?  It's just a non-carnivorous yellow berry."

We have a small spare cage, 

so Cici had a safe place to eat, drink, and perch

that wasn't besieged by stress-inducing fruit . . .

. . . but Cici missed Tia . . .

. . . so after the kids came home and played with her a bit,

we tried putting Cici back in the big cage.

She and Tia got along a lot better after they'd had a break from each other.

If things get dicey again though, we have more bananas.

Driveway Service

It's kind of nice having church at 11:30am this year,

because we get to spend slow Sabbath mornings . . .

. . . bonding as a family . . .

. . . or serving others.

The girls decided to write some encouraging messages 

on our neighbors' driveways this morning.

They even remembered that our next-door neighbor hurt his back,

so they wished him a speedy recovery. :)

It's Still Summer

School may have started again, but it's still technically summer

and this Saturday was a great day to meet some friends at the lake.

We skipped lots of rocks . . .

. . . and ate some communal snacks.

Daniel insists that sandy broccoli is just as scrumptious

as sandy carrots.

Some of the kids decided to try catching one of the little fish

that swim in the shallows near the dock.

They spent over half an hour trying to lure a fish into a bucket, to no avail.

Daniel was really bummed when it was time to leave,

because he was just certain they would have succeeded

if I had given them another minute or two.

Hope springs eternal.

As If Starting School Again Wasn't Enough

Life feels pretty normal these days . . .

. . . but COVID-19 is still a thing,

and there have been big surges in COVID cases the last two winters . . .

. . . so after the kids got home from their first day of school

I took them to a vaccine clinic to get our COVID boosters and flu vaccines

('cuz I'm such a nice mom).

Daniel dodged both of those bullets this week because he's sick,

but he'll get his turn soon enough--there's another clinic later this month.

First Day of School 2022

It's that time of year again, folks!

The big, yellow buses are rolling through our neighborhood today

because it's the first day of school.

My kids humored me and posed for some first-day-of-school pictures.

Here's Joy . . .

. . . Anna . . .

. . . Todd . . .

. . . and Daniel.

On his first day as a middle school upperclassman,

Daniel woke up feeling crummy and running a high fever.

What fun is an extra day of summer vacation

if you're too sick to enjoy it?

Birdies Love Millet

Our parakeets have become more social this summer.

I think it's partly because the kids are home for more of the day . . .

. . . and partly because we bought a bunch of millet sprays

so we can feed them their favorite seeds when they sit on our hands.

Cutie little birds!

Summer Cooking

I hate making lunch.  

I don't mind spending an hour cooking dinner,

but at lunchtime I'd rather just heat up some leftovers

and then get on with my day.

Since summer vacation means that five or more Hendricksons

need lunch for about 70 days in a row,

I decided to get the kids involved this year

so I wouldn't just cycle through the same handful of easy lunches

that we'd all get tired of by August.

Every week, each of the kids would take a turn 

making a lunch of their choice (or helping me make it).

The only rule was that they couldn't choose something we'd eaten in the last two weeks.

I've enjoyed having their company in the kitchen,

and it's been a good opportunity to teach them some kitchen skills.

I also thought of a way the kids can earn a little extra money.

I don't mind rolling Protein Poppers, but I don't like mixing the dough,

so I offer $2 to anyone willing to measure and mix the ingredients.

Anna particularly likes this arrangement since she doesn't have a job yet,

but sometimes even Joy likes to score some quick cash.