Yeah, it's Friday...now where's my paci! Aaaahhh, got it.

The evolution of a cry.

We were so excited the other day, when upon watering the fruit trees, realized we had our first plum! Weren't expecting anything for at least another season or two, but pleasantly surprised by our first fruit. Our little miss did the honors and gave the fruit a taste...it passed with flying colors and she promptly asked for more.

I also recently discovered a new setting on my camera, which takes pictures really fast (I think it's a sports setting). I happened to be testing it out and was able to capture a quick decline, after the happy tasting of the plum. I can't remember what the reason for it was, but even in tears, she's still just about the sweetest thing around! (Note: not sure why this is underlined and can't fingure out how to turn it off!)

For DanDaddy and FaFa

Sorry it's taken so long to get these posted. Lesson learned, next time you want to email out videos of the kiddies, keep the length of the video much, much shorter! So without further delay, DanDaddy and FaFa here are your Father's Day videos. Hope you enjoy!

Father's Day

Father's Day this year was a great family adventure. We ventured out to Goodale State Park, which we found out is only about 20 minutes from our house. We had our first hike as a family of four, with 2 backpacks, enjoyed a picnic and the wonderful scenery. Ger, you are such a wonderful father, Pip and Boone are so fortunate to be able to call you Daddy.

Piper improvised with her one-piece outfit after a few overly-juicy blackberries resulted in a large quantity of blackberry juice down the front of her outfit. The result of her handy work is what is in the picture above.

Bunnies, Buddies and Bare Bottoms

We can officially say that the BUNNIES that live on our property have had a most fruitful winter/spring. We have gone from seeing them very rarely (last year), to seeing at least 5 or so each morning and evening. Here's a couple caught on camera.

Here's the only indoor one we've seen this year-what a cutie!

While they have thus far been a welcome neighbor, our relationship with them has been tested as of late, since they have officially invaded our garden! In addition, they are feasting on our newly planted grass. Our beautiful cantelope have been destroyed and a certain member of our house has declared war! Oh, did I forget to mention in the title of this post that there has also been a REDNECK SIGHTING recently as well?

Note: For those that are horrified by the actions implied by this photo, I assure you that we believe very strongly in buying locally and are working hard to become as self-sustaining as we can be. That being said, we have added rabbit to our list of items that can be hunted/gathered from our own land! My husband is working to "stock the freezer" to make his first rabbit stew.

Just an early morning hang out session with three BUDDIES!

Sometimes when you are swimming in your pool, you get overcome with the strongest urge to take your bathing suit off and take your BARE BOTTOMED self hunting for fresh herbs.

Water Works

Piper just had her second Parent and me swim lesson this past Saturday. So far, her thoughts about swimming are mixed. During the class, she is fine until the activities/songs that require her to put her face in the water or get her head wet. So once that starts, it's a bit down hill for the rest of the class. But once we get out of the pool and start drying off, she starts giggling and saying how much fun she had. And then she talks about the class all week long in anticipation of Saturday and another class. So, we've been practicing things we do in her class in the tub at night and in her kiddie pool outside, and hope by the end of the classes she will feel more comfortable in the pool.

But for the time being, the term "dolphin dips" is just a fancy way to say, put my head under water and folks, she ain't buying it!

Sittin' Tall

Boone is starting to sit up for short periods of time. He get so excited to be sitting up on the floor with everyone else that he usually he ends up throwing himself either backwards or he topples over to the side. We spent a lot of time outside over the weekend, and he was so proud of himself for sittin' tall in his stroller.

A Look Back

So, Piper just finished her first week in big girl underpants! Whoo-hoo!!!! She started out last Saturday on this latest adventure, and has come a long way in a week. There was a brief relapse back to diapers around Thursday, but then an about-face and no looking back since then. She's well on her way, and we couldn't be more proud of her.

I've come to accept as a fact, that everything in this world is so much more fun with kids, especially your own. And apparently potty-training is no exception. Here's one for the books.

All day yesterday Piper was wearing her dress-up clip on earrings. She also had on some of her necklaces and a few bracelets. So off, we went to the bathroom, this trip taking some prep work to remove her jewelry. However, I didn't even consider removing the earrings, thinking they were safe... After flushing the toilet, she leaned over the bowl mid-flush to take one final look, and wouldn't you know it, one of her clip-ons fell off, into the toilet, swished around with the rest of the contents in the bowl, and quickly disappeared!! Once she got over the initial shock, she, Ger and I had a good laugh and the rest of the day she kept asking us, "Where my odder earring went?"

Everyone Knows that Wings are a Necessity for Flying

Two Peas in a Pod

Pip is in the top picture, Boone is in the bottom picture. The first ones are of right when they were born, the second ones are around 6 months. Two little sweeties!

Summer Fun

Big Girl Unner-Wear and Sittin' Tall!

Piper has been sitting on the potty off and on for awhile now. We've tried various incentive items to get her to sit on the potty more (stickers, etc.) with varying success. However, talking about getting to wear big girl underwear seems to be the best motivator for her. Well, apparently, "talk is cheap", because she recently decided to stop going on the potty all together. I only recently figured out that this was because she was ready to wear underwear and was tired of just talking about it. Geez, get with the program mom!

So...this weekend was the start of wearing "big-girl unner-wear". We gave it a shot on Saturday and she did great! She liked wearing them so much she decided that was all she needed to wear. And she looked so stinkin' cute, who could argue with her.

We put a diaper back on for her nap on Saturday, and when she got up she didn't want to put the underwear back on. So she kept the diaper on. Sunday, after church, she was ready to try again and wore them for the rest of the day. And she also went to school in them today (along with the required 4 changes of clothes-hee, hee!) and was so excited. She couldn't wait to get there and show Mrs. Theresa and Ms. Melinda her "pincess unner-wear".

Boone started using his little high chair over the weekend. I think he really enjoys being at the table on a chair like the rest of us.