Random June

Larson diligently worked hard on his daddy's Father's Day card this year. He discovered my hole punch and just went to town! I have no idea where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle stickers came from, but he happily applied every last one to the card as well. I'm pretty sure he has no idea what they are, but I guess they seemed appropriate for decorating.

Besides celebrating how much we love and appreciate our daddy, June was filled with gardening, beach outings and our first preview of summer heat. Not to mention that June means our CSA starts up again!

** I know. Here it is September and I'm talking about stuff that happened three months ago! But this blog is also a place for me to record our family happenings. Maybe someday I'll be organized enough to make scrapbooks of it all, but for now, this is it (other than the monstrous digital photo files on our computer!). So bear with me as I relive the highlights of June, July & August. At least I'll go in order :)

Picking Strawberries

A few weeks back, the family headed out of the city for a morning of berry picking. It was a beautiful day and the fields provided lots of fruit to pick!

Wagon ride out to the fields:
Cora enjoyed the day on mom's back, with only a few protests...I think those were related to wanting to eat the strawberries and not being able to reach them! Notice that Larson's not shy about trying a sample:

Larson showing how it's done. Like the hat? Scroll to the next photo to see where it came from!

Larson & Kaleo hanging out in the berry patch:

The berries were huge and beautiful, but not the most flavorful locally-grown berries I've tasted. They were certainly good enough to make a big batch of jam and these beauties:

This was my first foray into jam-making. All I have to say is: thank goodness for locally-owned "hardware" stores that are still in business after all of these years, because otherwise I would have had to order my jar-grabbers and funnel (these are the two implements I decided were actually worth purchasing) online. Seeing as my freshly-picked flat of strawberries probably didn't want to sit out for 3-5 days while I waited for something to arrive in the mail, I was grateful. The jam turned out great and wasn't hard to make at all, although I think next time I will look into using the low-sugar pectin. The regular kind has you using a whopping 7c of sugar for 4c of crushed berries - yikes! Not surprisingly, the jam was a big hit with the boys...

Little Chef

Larson helping with the French Toast preparations this weekend. Look, Kate, he finally got a haircut! :)

Brett just came downstairs from checking on him. It's 9:30pm here. Larson's bedtime is technically 8:00, but we've been having just a wee bit of trouble with that one since the days have been getting longer. Last summer, when Larson was 2, it was pretty easy to convince him that it was nighttime: we just put a dark blanket over his curtains to black out the room and he went to sleep at the usual time. Now he's on to us, and his favorite activity when he's supposed to be lying down falling asleep is to sit on the side of his bed, inside the curtains, and "read" at the window. I mean, c'mon, the sun's still up, why shouldn't he be?

And you might think that these late nights mean that he's sleeping later in the morning. Ha ha, au contraire! As far as Larson is concerned, when his eyes open at 7:15 and there's sunshine, it's time to start the day. So far, he seems to be holding up ok with less sleep and did take naps most of the days last week. I'd be curious to hear what anyone else has to say about kids and sleeping when the days are long.

Sweet smiles

Just a few day-brighteners:

Reaching and exploring

Getting into stuff is so much fun! Here's Cora showing off her baby leg-warmers while reaching for Larson's game (please ignore my inadvertantly photographed foot!):

"Hmmm...what's up here? I can't even see it, but I know I want it!"Playing at the train table:

Helping to load the dishwasher (isn't she advanced? Next week we'll be working on cooking dinner, hee hee):
"Oh, hi mom! Getting into the dishwasher? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"What's in here? Oh, look! A fun place to hide out!"

Malia's Birthday

Stephen and Karyn are the first friends we made when we moved here 5 years ago. Their little girl, Malia, just turned 3 and we had a chance to celebrate at her birthday party last weekend. It was a beautiful day to be outside, eating cake, hanging out, and watching the kids carouse in the bouncy house. Thanks for having us over, guys, and Happy 3rd Birthday, Malia!

Larson & Kaleo in the "bouncy"
The birthday girl with her Hello Kitty cake!


Cupcakes with sprinkles!

Malia had wardrobe changes to show off not one, not two, but three party dresses! (the third one being the poufy Tinkerbell dress she got as a gift, natch)

Kaleo looking very sweet before moving on to his next mischief agenda item. This is one smart and crafty kid!

Afternoon at the beach

We had a mini-heat wave out here last week, so on Sunday, we decided to retreat to the beach. Cora got her first taste of sand (literally, actually...) and Larson had a blast running around in the water, throwing rocks and chasing birds.

I love the crinkled nose that comes along with her biggest smiles:

Just as we were about to pack up and head home for dinner, a train came around the bend, whistle blowing and all. Very exciting.

The whole family: (not a great shot, I know, but at least all members are present and more or less looking at the camera...we take what we can get these days!)