blueberries!

this morning we went to pick blueberries as a family. it was a perfect morning... a little overcast and not too hot. we came home with 18 pounds of blueberries and have been munching away all day long! there were so many great berries...we all taste-tested just a few while we picked. :) trey especially loved them and was eating them by the handfuls!!

we have muffins to enjoy now, lots of berries in the freezer to enjoy later, and some boxed up to share! what a fun morning!

i caught him!
showing off our stash with a blueberry in his mouth!

p.s. -- rowan was with us too, but the poor girl never gets photographed because she's never really part of the action!  she did enjoy being outside with us, though, and did a great job going with the flow so that we could really enjoy our time.

backyard camping

john and trey are camping in our backyard tonight. john started this tradition with trey last year, and trey was so excited to get to sleep in the tent with daddy tonight! right now, they are reading books, doing puzzles, and listening to the tigers on the radio. i love that they can make memories like this...i know that this is a tradition that trey will remember for the rest of his life. okay...i'm on snack duty and it's just about time!

trey's big red barn

isn't it adorable???

john has been busy building this barn for trey. it isn't quite finished yet...there are a few more small details that still need to be added, but since trey has been hearing about his barn for the past week, we thought that it would be nice to actually let him play with it! and play he does!!! he loves his barn already!

trey has always loved tractors and knows more than i do about farm machinery. one day we were driving down the road and i (trying to be smart) said "look trey...i see a backhoe!". he quickly replied with "no mommy. not backhoe. excavator." needless to say, the barn has been a hit! it is the perfect place for him to store all of his tractors, trucks, gators, and combines. we know that he will get years and years of use out of it, and hopefully it will still be around for our grandkids to play with someday!



ps...the large white piece of wood on the front is where we will write the name of trey's farm...any suggestions???

entering the world of solid foods...

Rowan began rice cereal this week, and she seems to love it! Feedings take a little longer this way, and take a little more effort on our part, but are also a lot more fun! We had to give her a bath after one of her feedings this week, because by the end of the meal she had food everywhere!

It seems strange to pull out these little spoons again!

Of course Trey is actively involved in every feeding, and being the food-lover that he is, was a little bit jealous that Rowan had this special food that was just for her. He asked to have some over and over so many times that I finally gave him a tiny spoonful. I don't think he believed me when I told him that he wouldn't like it, but the look on his face when the taste hit him was priceless! Let's just say that he's not asking for her to share anymore. :)

Rowan's thrilled to have the rice cereal all to herself and is on the road to bigger and better things!

staying busy and acting big

it hasn't been a very eventful week around here, which is just fine with me!  we've been able to complete some projects around the house over the past few weeks (including getting new carpet laid in our basement following this disaster).  anyway, we felt like we had earned some time to just enjoy summer and each other!  the weather was beautiful, and we spent lots of time enjoying our newly-landscaped backyard (another one of our projects)!  

trey is enjoying being big enough this summer to really play independently, as well as join in with the big kids and learn some new things!  rowan continues to amaze me with how big she is getting.  i know that it will be no time at all before she is able to be more independent too -- sitting up and moving around as she pleases!  she had her four-month check at the doctor this week and we were given the okay to start her on rice cereal...i can't believe that she is big enough for that already, but we plan to give it a go next week and begin easing into fruits and veggies!  i wonder if she'll be as good of an eater as trey has always been! (just tonight he ate raw red pepper and raw onion as i was preparing dinner....he told me that both of them were good.  he eats handfuls of lettuce like it's the best thing he's ever eaten.  funny kid.  i guess it could be worse!)  

oh, and we started potty-training trey and he is doing great!  we are trying him overnight for the first time tonight.  we'll see how that goes, but during the day he does awesome.  he especially loves to try every potty that he can while we're out and about.  for some reason every other potty is so much more fun than the ones we have at home!

just some random photos to share from the past couple of weeks.  

we love summer!

rowan is still loving her new trick of rolling over.  pretty much as soon as we set her on her back, she rolls over to her tummy.  and there is pretty much a constant stream of drool running down her chin at all times.  i don't like using bibs because they cover up her cute clothes, but that usually means that we go through multiple outfits every day!

just a cute photo of the boys!

trey had fun the other night figuring out how to throw a frisbee.  he sure isn't going to learn much from watching his mom -- everything even remotely close to being athletic is daddy's department!

trey loves his little sister so much -- and she is getting less and less afraid of him all the time. :)

the exersaucer has become a favorite place for rowan to play.  we are always happy to find things that entertain her for more than a few minutes at a time!  she can't do much with the toys yet, but loves to stand, so this keeps her happy...and that keeps us happy!