Her birthday began this year with a couple of gifts on her table in the morning when she came downstairs. Last year she got so many gifts (even though we always say we're going to scale back - it's a sickness!) that she was overwhelmed opening them, so this year we thought it might be fun to just open presents all day long! She noticed them first thing when she came downstairs and was all giggles opening them up!
We had a special birthday breakfast of a donut with sprinkles with daddy!
After that it was a birthday playdate (and a chance for mommy to clean the house for her party the following day!) and a special lunch with daddy. She even got to have her very first ice cream cone, though we were reminded why we hadn't done that before when it fell on the floor! She didn't care, the few bites she got were fun enough! In the evening we opened even more presents and had cake!
I love that she's still in the stage where she wants to open a few, play with them, then open a few and then play with them. We'll do this again at Christmas allowing the fun to go all day.
Then it was time for cake! Miss L chose a carrot cake from the store and promptly turned the package upside down. I'm not sure if she knew it, but that pretty much sealed the deal on her getting what she wanted!
For miss L's first birthday we gave up the bottle. We traveled back to where we grew up for a memorial for Brad's great aunt and combined it with a big family birthday party for sweet baby L. I just didn't take the bottles with us (which looking back, was INSANE!). We never looked back!
For miss L's third birthday we gave up the binky. She loved that binky, though she's always had a binky AND a blankie and so we hoped that whatever need she still had for a lovey she could transfer to her blankie. Even though she had it only at night, her teeth were just starting to turn because of the binkie, so it was really time. Conveniently the day before she turned three we visited the dentist who told her it was time. We were able to blame the dentist (sorry dentist!) and because of the big weekend that she had, she gave it up without really asking about it much. Woohoooo!
Saturday it was party time. Brad took the kids as much as he could so that I could prepare for the party. I didn't get everything done that I wanted to, but in the end it was perfect anyway!
Wes spent a lot of time that day in his favorite toy, the jumperoo!
We had so much fun at the party. Besides all the good food and good company we set up the slip n slide and the kiddie pool for the kids.
After the party we were all pooped. Miss L went straight to bed and we saved gifts for the next morning. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends!
Very shortly after miss L's birthday is Brad's birthday. This year he wanted spaghetti so we had that and peanut butter pie. Yum! Miss L wanted to celebrate with party hats so we got some. Miss L and her daddy went swimming for a bit before dinner. August is always fun at our house!
I love sweet baby W's crabby shirt. For one thing, he's almost never crabby, but it makes for great photos!
I just think this photo is funny. They are both making the same half smile I'm-sick-of-all-these-photos faces. Ahhh, siblings...
Brad didn't get to blow out his candles. We'd built it up so much for her birthday that her excitement got the best of her when Brad's candles were lit.
Sweet baby W will now drink from a cup. I offer him water at his meals and he loves it. It's just so funny to me because miss L hated the cup. She would always much prefer a bottle! Sweet baby W on the other hand loves finding a treat when he finally gets the thing in his mouth. :o)
Fall is our favorite season around here. There are festivals and all kinds of things going on. This year we kicked off fall with a trip to a local farm to dig for potatoes.
Can you tell she put her own shoes on?
Sweet baby W loves riding around in his carrier.
Miss L really wanted to carry the bucket we brought for our potatoes, but kept stopping and digging for rocks. By the time we were in line for pancakes at the festival we had quite a collection.
The pancakes were YUMMY. Sweet baby W does not like it if you have food and he does not. It seems so impolite not to share and the pediatrician told me that the most current research on allergies shows that there's no real correlation between when foods are introduced and childhood food allergies. She told me to wait on peanut butter for a bit but to just go for it with everything else. So... we're going for it, but trying to do the three day rule for new foods (try it three days in a row since it's the second or third time trying a food that brings the reaction) because he already had an allergic reaction to bananas. (I know! Bananas?!) So far, so good, he's had all kinds of foods with no reaction.
Anyhow... W had his first bites of pancakes that morning.
We've been to this same farm for several years now, but this was the first year that I remember miss L really having all kinds of fun doing the extra stuff that they have there. They have a sluice with rocks and things in it that you can find. I love that miss L stopped and held up her little sifter so I could take her photo. You can tell we do this a lot. :o)
They also have a huge jumping pillow at the farm. We've never been on it, but this was the day!
All that jumping made miss L hot, so she came down to take off her long sleeves, and then it was back up the pillow.
Now, just jumping wouldn't be enough. She's got to jump, then fall and roll down the pillow and repeat. It's just the L way to do the jumping pillow!
I think that may have been her favorite part of the trip.
She did really like the animals though. She loved watching the little bunnies.
She also loved this baby potbelly pig named Elmer.
After all that exploring it was time to dig up some potatoes.
I'm sure there's a reason they plant ground cherries with the potatoes, but man the thorns on those things are brutal! The best bet was to wait for the tractor to come by and till up the row making it easy to find the potatoes and getting the nasty ground cherries out of the way.
...and as always seems to happen on our you pick adventures, I eventually herd the children and Brad ends up doing most of the work to get whatever fruit or veggie it is that we're after. :o)
It seems that transportation is generally miss L's favorite part of any excursion. When we saw the fireworks it was riding the bus to shuttle back and forth. This day we rode a "hayride" to get out to the potato fields. Miss L usually has the most serious of faces on when she's with a bunch of strangers. This day was no different. Just moments after this photo was taken she said, "I having FUN!"
This is just a random cute picture of sweet baby W. He's got peaches on his face there (I think). The boy loves his solids.
Labor day was cool at our house. The whole weekend had been cool, but it was the very last day for the pool to be open, so around dinner time we headed over to enjoy the very last pool time for the summer.
Right about that time my little man turned seven months old. At seven months old sweet baby W can sit really well on his own with no support needed. He likes to swing in the baby swings at the parks and stayed for music camp at the church. Wes is a happy boy eating two meals a day and still waking up twice a night. Here are his seven month elephant photos.
I remember it was right about this time with miss L that our bunny photo sessions started to deteriorate. Sweet baby W was proving to be a bit of a difficult subject since he really wanted to be moving around.
The next weekend we decided to head to a local seed festival and on Friday afternoon we decided we'd go camping as well. :o) (cause we're crazy.) It could have gone so very wrong, but two nights out in the wilderness did us all kinds of good. We arrived after dark, so poor Brad ended up setting up the tent in the dark. Saturday morning we woke up refreshed and ready to have fun. There's nothing like waking up in the mountains!
Miss L was very happy to be spending her time outside and I thought it was funny how she found ways to occupy herself. She spent a long time watching herself make funny faces in the back of the van.
Brad is our camping cook.
...and there is nothing like bacon, scrambled eggs and batter blaster pancakes. YUM!
Sweet baby W took a nice morning nap in the mountain air. He woke up happy and grinning!
After breakfast it was off the the seed festival at Monticello. We got to ride a school bus as a shuttle, so you know that was miss L's very favorite part.
Once we got there it was all yummy food and fun!
There were gardens to explore. Look at that giant bean and gourd!
Some of us had more fun than others. :o)
Brad and miss L learned all about worms and got some more worms to restart their worm bin.
...and there was lots of running around.
Sunday we headed home and stopped to take photos and look over the edge at a few overlooks. Every time we would pass one miss L would ask, "can we stop here?"
Miss L's favorite activity at the overlook was throwing rocks over. We probably shouldn't have let her do that, but it was very cute.
After that weekend, we've mostly spent our time at home.
Here's another random photo of W with food on his face. This time it's beets.
Miss L is very much into pretending right now. While we were taking a few photos of sweet baby W, she started using her own "camera."
I love the milk mustache.
Sweet baby W all clean!
Last week we reached a big milestone for miss L. She started preschool. The night before school we got everything ready. She picked out her snacks and packed up her new backpack.
She woke up on the first day very excited to go and daddy stayed home to go with us!
She had a good breakfast and got her backpack and shoes on and we took some photos in front of the house.
We were finally ready to go!
I think this photo is funny because there was a little boy standing right behind us screaming his head off. I think miss L was wondering what in the world she'd gotten herself into.
She hung her backpack on her hook and kissed everyone goodbye and she was off.
When I picked her up in the afternoon she was so excited and talking a mile a minute. She told me lots of things though the things I remember the most were that her favorite part was snack and that you aren't supposed to play in the water when you wash your hands. They also sang some kind of song about a frog with counting. I have to admit I shed a few tears. You want them to grow up and to achieve and experience, but it's kind of sad too. She loves school!
Saturday we just went to the grocery store, but I had to take a couple of photos of this. I just love matching outfits.
Here's what happens to your nice big sister shirt after a day of playing...
Brad spent a lot of time this weekend in the backyard. We're totally redoing everything back there, taking out the diseased peach tree and take out the huge garden bed that the previous owners had and making room for more grass and more room to play. Miss L helped her daddy quite a bit. I really love the outfit.
Brad seems a little underdressed, but he's working very hard!
It's really sad to see that tree go, but it's going to make so much more room out there and it was sick. Goodbye tree!
I'm hoping to see you next week! We're sick so it'll be a short one, but sometimes that's the best. :o)
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