Bicycle Seat and Swing Park

These are some pictures from the beginning of May. Joseph hooked up the seat on the back of my bike and Kilynn gets quite the thrill out of riding in it. She even loves it despite the fact that she can't see anything most of the time due to an over sized helmet. The helmet fits ok when she's not in her seat, but when she is on the bike the top of her seat pushes the back of the helmet up so the front goes down over her eyes. We have a little park with a play structure that is just around the corner from our house, but it doesn't have a swing. Whenever I mention going on a walk or a bike ride Kilynn says, "swing park?" The park with a swing is a little over two blocks away.

Who are these toys made for anyway? Look at the concentration on his face. He's even sticking out his tongue!

Good thing she's got that helmet on. You never know what might happen!

More visits for strawberries

Adam and Ori came with their kids the weekend of July 4th to get their strawberries. I love that we have an abundance of berries on this side of the state so that people come down to visit us. I always worry though that other kids will be bored stiff here. We don't have that big of a yard and we only have girly baby toys. I think it turned out pretty good anyway because Caleb and Wesley have good imaginations and found ways to entertain themselves. For instance, They put Kilynn's baby pool under the slide and had fun splashing and spraying each other for quite a while. We took the boys to the fire station to see the trucks. Caleb was very excited to be lifted into the drivers seat...

...but the excitement wore off quickly. It was a little too scary up there!

We were glad Adam and Ori came down when they did. We got to celebrate the 4th with them a little early. The Saturday before the 4th we had a BBQ and made homemade root beer. It was a lot of fun and very delicious.

The boys could hardly wait until dark because they even came prepared with fireworks. Every time I'd talk to them on the phone prior to their arrival, all they could talk about were the fireworks they were bringing. They were very excited! It was pretty funny because Caleb made friends with the kids that live across the street and he was begging all day to go over and invite them to come watch the fireworks that night. At sundown, Ori finally told Caleb he could go knock on their door. He excitedly ran over and knocked. When no one answered the door the very second he knocked, he ran down the front steps, into their yard and put his face up to their front window to see if they were coming. Then he tore back up the stairs to knock again. He repeated this routine about three times in a matter of seconds before they finally came to the door. We got a kick out of watching him!

We like people to come visit. We're glad that there is such an abundance of berries on this side of the state to give family another reason to come stay with us.

Strawberries!

This was a weird summer since it was so cool. Strawberries were about a month late. We are usually picking them around the end of May or beginning of June. This year, Joseph's parents had to wait until the third weekend in June to come down and get them and they were just barely getting started! Nephew and Niece Aaryn and Adryann came down with them. It was great to have them here! I felt bad though because morning sickness was becoming a major issue around that time. I was so embarrassed about the way I acted the whole visit because I was such a zombie. Toward the end of their visit I felt it necessary to tell Penny and Wayne our news so they wouldn't think that I'm always so lazy. Penny said she had wondered if that was what was wrong with me but said, "Don't worry I won't tell anyone." Well apparently she didn't outright tell anyone, but in a few days after we got home, we got phone calls from two of Joseph's siblings saying, "Mom says you've got some news to tell me!" Thanks Penny! We'll remember this for next time:) Caught part of a baseball game one evening. Kilynn likes her Grandpa-especially when he lets her get away with stealing his sunglasses!

We spent a couple hours Saturday morning picking strawberries. I think they got about 85 lbs. and it about put Aaryn over the edge. He didn't know what he signed up for when he agreed to come on this trip. When it came to washing, cutting, and packing them in freezer bags, we got to hear a constant stream of complaints for the couple hours it took to complete the project. It was pretty funny and pretty amazing to hear the many different ways he could find to complain about his situation. He was pretty sure he was going to die.

Adryann quietly and diligently helped. Sweet Adryann.

Whew! You made it Aaryn! (this picture doesn't show all the strawberries)

We're having a...

...nother Girl! Isn't she cute?! She is going to have the same feet that Kilynn has. Kilynn's big toe is very seperated from her other toes. This picture doesn't show it very well, but both girls will be good at wearing flip flops.

My Canning Buddy

I was snapping beans today and Kilynn thought it looked so fun. I let her try snapping one and she got really into it. At first she would snap each bean in half and I'd follow up and snap ones that weren't small enough. As she went along though, she seemed to realize that I wasn't just snapping them in half and she started snapping long ones in half again. She was helping me fill up jars, but she was doing such an amazing job that I let her have her own jar to fill. Everytime she snapped a bean she had some exclamation to make. She'd either say "SNAP!" or "Good job Kilynn!" or "You did it!" or "POP!...(and then singing) Goes the Weasle."

This is the jar that she filled up all by herself! All I did was put my hand in every now and then to pack them a little tighter. She was such a cute little canning partner. I hope her enthusiasm lasts for when she is older! I had the perfect amount of beans from our garden to fill seven quarts today. No more and no less! How often does that happen?

I'm so behind!

I've been behind on everything for the past three months. I've been pretty sick and tired so far with this pregnancy, so things have been piling up while I lay around all summer. I haven't been blogging because it isn't as important in my mind as things like laundry, dishes, cooking and other everyday things you can't get too far behind on. Believe me though, I've gotten pretty embarrassingly behind on those things over the last three months too. Anyway, I'm feeling quite a bit better now and I am a little more on top of things lately, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up on some blogging. I just uploaded all the pictures I've taken since May so they should be making their way here soon. I guess I'm just doing this post to commit myself to sitting down and catching up. Hold me accountable!

The Latest Model

Hi! My name is ???? I've been sitting in here for about 14 weeks. I'll get out of here somewhere about January 31 or so. In the meantime I will be growing and growing. You can see I already at least have a head and a spine! Can't wait to meet everyone!