Another party PLUS the annual apple harvest

 We headed to the farm Saturday morning and Kippy got to celebrate her 12th birthday one more time!  This time with family and extended family from out of town (Aunt Joan, Aunt Judy, cousins Julie & Maria).

 By special request, Grandma Rose made a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, plus a few extra chocolate mustaches to go with.

 

 It wasn't all about the party at the farm.  There was some work to be done. While Uncle Randy, cousin Brett, & cousin Kaleb were busy bringing in the corn harvest, the rest of the clan worked to get the apple harvest completed.  Although, much of the low hanging fruit had already been feasted on, there was still work to be done.

 The apple trees were loaded with apples, but many of them had become food for the birds who also realized how juicy and delicious those honey crisp apples were. 

 Steve got his traditional job of loading up in dad's Cherry Picker and harvesting all the apples too high to reach by step ladder.

 Dad was in position to catch the apples that Steve threw down and Kippy sorted the apples into the appropriate bucket.  The sorting isn't an exact science, but there is a method to the madness.

If there was nothing salvageable with the apple, it would go into the crap-apple bucket.  These apples got fed to the chickens.  Bluck!  This is all bird damage.  Dirty birds!!

Completely perfect, unblemished apples were put in the "teacher" apple bucket.  These apples were shined up by Kippy and personally handed out to each of the teachers at Our Lady of Victory.

The rest of the apples were sorted out for apple sauce, apple pie or just plain old eating.

 Of course, there was always a kitten or two around to get a little extra attention from Kippy.

 Abby practiced some of her newly acquired driving skills by taking a load of crap-apples to the chickens.

We also didn't miss an opportunity to get some photos of Kippy next to her now 12 year old Red Canadian Cherry tree.  And Meg didn't miss a chance to get some extra love from Kippy too.