Apple Time!

 So it has already been getting cold here and Grandpa came over yesterday with a bag full of apples for our family. (We love Grandpa!) It reminded me of these pictures of Will last year or maybe it was two years ago, wow time flies. Anyhow, thought I would share these with you and wish you a happy fall full of all those fall favorites: caramel apples, apple pie, apple crisp....

A Maple Syrup Mess!

How do you clean maple syrup off the floor? I recently got to find out the answer to this question when I discovered a Sam's club size syrup bottle completely empty on my pantry floor. I am not talking about real maple syrup, but the high fructose corn syrup stuff that is so much cheaper. Honestly when I first discovered this I think I stood in shock for a few minutes thinking how I would even attempt to clean up such a sticky mess. I don't even know how long it had been there smashed in the back corner of my pantry. I imagined one of my boys stepping on it trying to reach the bag of marshmellows that were now opened and hard. I wondered if they had noticed the top breaking off and syrup pouring from the container and debated in their mind to tell their mother but instead ran quickly away from the evidence of their mischief. Hmmm...I just decided to walk away myself for the moment and went to the internet to find out tips on cleaning up syrup. Some ideas I found were to use wax paper on top then scrape off, flour and then scrape, pouring a can of soda on top, freezing and then chipping away, and some others. Obviously freezing wasn't an option. I decided to try the wax paper first since it seemed to be the least messy. A big fail. The syrup would stick to my scraper and nothing else. Next I tried the flour. It made a huge mess but I was at least able to scrape off the syrup from the floor and into the trash. I won't lie. It was still difficult but workable.

 

Here is my littlest guy who thought that what I was doing looked like a lot of fun and managed to get through my "barrier" of items.

After scraping for a couple of hours (yes it took that long), there was still of bit of sticky residue left on the concrete floor. I decided to try the soda tip. I took one of my husband's diet sodas (I wasn't about to waste the good stuff) and poured it on top of the residue and let it sit for a little while.

I then took a rag and some hot, soapy water to the floor. It cleaned up nicely despite the paint marks that are still there, but I was really tired of scraping by then. Besides, I had a couple of boys coming home from school soon that I needed to have a little talk with :) and a pair of pants that now needed a good washing. 

He rules the roost.

I can understand how so many people say that the youngest child perhaps has it the easiest or gets their way...a lot. In my opinion it is because the parents are too exhausted from all the other kids to do much about it. Oh alright, and most of us have learned not to sweat the small stuff. This is true with our youngest and well, he is just so cute even with spit running down his face and hair that looks like pig pens from Charlie Brown. Yes, this one does get his way often and if he doesn't, we are sure to hear about it (and so are the neighbors).

Sorry about the flip of this picture but for some reason blogger won't import it correctly.

This winter has been slow and filled with the stomach flu bug that will just not leave our family alone. We are all tired of the sicknesses and are finally, FINALLY, enjoying some time of good heath which we are so very grateful for. Our 2nd boy recently got baptized and I have never seen anyone more excited to do so. The boy was grinning ear to ear for weeks. He also received scriptures from his grandpa and he was so excited to have them and wanted to keep them nice. On Sunday he happily took his scriptures to church...in the box! I told him he didn't need to take the box, but he pleaded with me to let him. Well, the box has disappeared now (hmm...) and my hubby and I purchased him some scripture covers which he was just as thrilled about. So grateful to have this boy in my life who fills my days with laughter and smiles.