The Smiths, and biennial apples

Today Jeffrey and I did some work around the house in the morning, while Gwen went out to help out with a bakesale at Jeffrey's preschool. We started by fixing a light switch in bedroom. Jeffrey 'helped' by holding the pliers and monkeying around with some wire nuts. Don't worry, I made him stay downstairs when the power was on. The wiring in the switch was weird -- I finally figured out what was going on when I realized that the light switch I was working on was also controlling the bottom set of receptacles in the bedroom .. three wires instead of two for a single-pole switch. But, got it done in the end. After that, Jeffrey helped me put in a curtain rod in his baby sisters room -- this time he held the screws.

After that, Jeffrey and I went to the stores. First we went to Target -- mommy needed a new cell phone. Just a cheap prepaid one. The big thing for Jeffrey was that we also got him his first baseball glove! Got one for me too -- I haven't had a glove for a while. Jeffrey was really excited and we played some catch with a rubber baseball outside when we got home. But, it was just too cold and windy to stay outside that long today.

In the afternoon, Emily, Scott, and their 3 yr old Wren came over for dinner. We grilled some hot dogs out in the cold and the boys had a good time. Wren is just about the same age as Jeffrey, but even taller. They squealed a lot, chased other, and had few tantrums each about sharing toys. Here's a short clip of the two of them playing in Jeffrey's stool:



Last little bit for today: Anyone ever heard of an apple tree that flowers only every other year? Of the three apple trees in our backyard, the one on the left has flowered only every other year since we've lived here. In the spring of 07 when we moved in, it was flowering, but then it didn't in 08. Gwen thought it might have been because that year we had the trees trimmed back quite a bit, and there were a lot of gypsy moths that year. So, last year it flowered, but this spring it's not. Here's a picture (the apple that is not flowering is on the left):



It's fine with me that that apple takes a year off. In the years that it has flowered, it has been by far the biggest apple producer. Since I spend my time in August and September picking up all those apples, the year off is fine with me.

hope everyone's good tonight. Mom, have a good trip and a safe driving.