picnic in the woods

"Among the delights of Summer were picnics to the woods."

Georg Brandes

photo by Edmund

mother/son moment

There's just something I love about these photos.

This is my little boy who I have the privilege to spend my days with.

It is a joy and a lot of responsibility. He will learn a lot from me.

He is really showing himself to be a social kid. It has been on my heart the last week or so that I hope that he will continue to love people and not just to be social but that he will love people like God loves them. That he will shine His light on the people he interacts with throughout his life.

How do you or would you teach your child to love other people as Jesus loves them?

Kelly

photos by Adrian

1st baseball game

We watched the Pirates beat the Marlins when we went to Pittsburgh from GREAT seats. (thank you Grandma and Uncle Edmund for picking them out)

Our little slugger loved interacting with all of the people around us!

Kelly

there's a first time for everything

and today for us it was the exersaucer!

Thank you so much, Aaron and Becky!!

It has been so much fun as we've been able to watch him getting interested in toys and different things.

Have you had any "firsts" this week?

Kelly

four months

What an absolute blessing you are to your Daddy and I!

We love you so much!!

I cannot imagine life without you and yet remind myself that all of our lives are in God's hands. You are ours to raise for His glory but not ours to cling to. You are His. He has graciously given us to each other to be family.

Your fourth month of life has included more travel - to Colorado and to Pittsburgh to visit grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, & cousins. You have already taken 10 airplane flights in your short life. You are a great flier. You usually sleep most of the flight but even when you don't you're just busy charming the flight attendants and all of your fellow passengers.

Two of the words that people often use to describe you are "strong" and "alert". Both of these make me proud. I pray that you will continue to be strong in the Lord and in His might and that you will continue to be alert as you grow in Him.

You have begun to laugh so much more! Daddy and I love to do things that we think will make you laugh. Kissing you all over, growling at you and even getting a tight hug have been known to make you break out into your great open mouthed laugh.

You are soo close to rolling over from your back to your front. You roll around on your back with both feet held tight in your grasp. You are enamored with your feet. :) It's really adorable.

You're teething. Lots and lots of drool, everything going into your mouth to be gummed HARD including Daddy's finger or anyone else's you can get ahold of, cute squeaky sounds on your pacifier as you chew on it . . .

We read your first book at the library. We sat in the children's section, you in your stroller and me on the window seat and read a Duck and Goose book. If you take after your Mama and Daddy at all I'm sure one day we will be checking out heaps of books from the library. You are enjoying books more and more and are happy to sit and listen to several in a row. Nana enjoyed reading to you when we went to visit her. You have also started handling books on your own. It is so neat for me to see you with a book in your hands. You chewed on Moo, Baa, La La La very enthusiastically last night while Mama and Daddy, Grandma and Uncle Edmond were eating our gelato.

You went to your first baseball game!! You loved it. Pirates vs. the Marlins at PNC park. It was a really nice night and you loved being out and about. You watched everything and seemed to take it all in. Grandma's arms were a great place to watch the game from. The only thing you didn't like was when we didn't think to cover your ears at first and the crowd erupted into LOUD cheers. That bottom lip stuck right out and big ol tears came.

You got to have some special times with Grandad, walking down to the busy corner to watch cars go by and going to see a train.

You got to meet lots of family members this month, your Aunt Mandy, Uncle Jeremy, cousins Caleb and Aaron, Uncle Edmund, Great-Granny, Grandad and cousin Alisdair.

You learned to love your bath and kick and splash all around. I think you cousin Aaron helped you learn this when we went to visit. It was so fun to see you guys together. You gave Aaron a couple of wet slobbery kisses.

Cousin Caleb was really cute with you. He would say, "He's really cute." and when you'd cry during dinner he go over to you on the floor and pat you and say "It's okay."

You went to a park for the first time. The first time you laid in the grass and the second time you rode in a swing with Mama holding you for a few minutes. You liked it a lot.

You continue to mostly sleep through the night. Traveling seems to mess up your sleeping schedule a bit. Ducca worked his rocking magic on you putting you down in Colorado one night.

You are very vocal making all kinds of coos and screeches and sounds. Sometimes it really does sound like your saying "hi".

You've got quite a grip on you and love to grab Mama's hair and Daddy's ears and our arms. You look like a little tree climbing baby when we change your diaper. You grab hold of our arm with both of yours and hold on tight.

You are very flexible. You go with Mama and Daddy all sorts of places, go to lots of different people and enjoy visiting. You are a very happy baby and we are so thankful for that.

If you're crying it normally just means that you want attention and interaction, you're hungry or you're ready for a nap. You still fight going down and keep at least one eye open as long as possible so you don't miss anything. You like to have your pacifier to go down for a nap.

You're a spit-up champ right now. Especially if you've just had a bath or Mama or Daddy is wearing nice clothes or have just had a shower, you keep things interesting. We've got lots of laundry to do. You'll grow out of this though.

You went to cradle roll for the first time at church. Your teachers said you enjoyed it, especially the little animals and things they gave you to hold.

You learned to put your paci in your mouth by yourself! That feels like a huge breakthrough.

You and Daddy watched a Switchfoot concert live on the computer and you really seemed to like it.

We love you, Little Man and look forward to watching you grow and learn even more!

Travel Tuesday - public transportation

This is my friend Jenny and I. Our other friend Jenni took the photo. The three of us took a girls' trip to NYC in 2006. We had so much fun!

Don't you love how we are dressed alike? We didn't plan it or anything. Very fun.

Do you like riding the subway in NYC or in general taking public transportation?

Do you have any funny public transportation stories?

One time my brother and I were riding the train in Boston and saw this lady with the most enormous and lopsided beehive type hairdo. Another time Adrian and I were in Chicago riding the El and there was this guy who had about a two minute speech on repeat. He kept saying things like, "If there's a protest, I'm 'invoved'. If there's a strike, I'm 'invoved.'" It was interesting.

Looking forward to hearing *your* travel tales.

Kelly

green, green grass

With as hot as it's been in TX this summer, we really haven't gotten outside all that much. The other night at dusk though we were on our way to pick up Uncle Edmund and we had a little bit of time to kill. We stopped at a beautiful park and thought we'd see what Little Man thought of grass. I wasn't sure what his response would be since I'd heard that lots of babies don't like the feel of grass. He LOVED it though. He cried when we picked him up. He was having a great time.

See the spit-up? That's par for the course for us these days.

We had a great time. Thank you Daddy for taking these pictures!

Do you like to lay in the grass?

Kelly

big bunch of balloons

Does this big bunch of balloons make anyone else happy?

I love the sight of them.

For some reason they remind me of Disneyland and the show Reading Rainbow.

(Did you watch that as a kid? Is it still on tv? What was your favorite episode?)

I want to know where they're going and who they're for.

I hope that none of them pop on the way.

We're having a lovely day around here.

I'm feeling the teensiest bit settled which hasn't happened a lot since becoming a mother. It's a nice feeling. My baby boy and I are having a book reading, no make-up yet, giggling, talking to God, vacuuming, looking at himself in the mirror, smore eating (me not him), making plans, talking to friends on the phone kind of day. I am thankful for it.

What are you doing today? And where do you think those balloons are going?

Will you make it a "leave a comment sort of day as well"? thanks.

Kelly

photo by Jenni, tweaked by me

sweet sister has her hands full

My sweet sister-in-love, Mandy, with both of our boys while we were in Colorado.

the stroll

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Mr. Man took a "stroll" in Alaska before a true hike.

This is the estuary where we walked the boardwalks designed to protect the habitat.

Little Guy was feeling a little jet lag I think.

Salmonberries grow like crazy this time of year. They are so beautiful and make good desserts too! You've got to be quick and get them before the bears do though. They like them a lot also.

Have you ever had a salmonberry?

What's your favorite kind of berry?

Mine is probably strawberry.

Kelly

strawberry cloud angel food cake

This is a recipe from my friend Carol. She made it and shared the recipe last summer when a group of women from my church got together. It was soo yummy! Perfect for summer - light and cool.

Here is the recipe:

And as promised here’s the recipe for Strawberry Cloud Angel Food Cake:

1 Angel Food Cake Prepared (either buy one or prepare as shown on cake mix)

1 8 oz. Cream Cheese

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

1 Cup sliced strawberries (can use frozen chopped) Additional strawberries for topping or garnish

1 Large Container Cool Whip

Using an electric knife slice off 1 inch from the top of the Angel Food Cake and set aside the top. Carefully tunnel out the inside of the cake leaving at least ½ inch on the sides and bottom (I usually just pinch off the cake or use a spoon to scoop it out) – save the inside pieces of the cake. In a mixing bowl cream together cream cheese, lemon juice and sugar until smooth. Add to the cream cheese mixture 1 Cup strawberries and the reserved pieces of the cake that was tunneled out. Next blend in 1 cup of Cool Whip. Place this mixture back inside the shell of the cake and top off with the top of the cake. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve (at least 4 hours or until the cake as set-up). Right before serving ice the top of the cake and around the bottom with Cool Whip and garnish with additional strawberries.

If you make it I'd love to hear how you like it.

What is one of your favorite summer treats?

Kelly

Mama and Daddy, you're going where?

So little munchkin is going to stay with a baby-sitter coming up. He's stayed with our parents and our friends in Alaska but this is our first call up a baby-sitter experience. So what's your advice for a first time mom? I don't want to be overboard and leave an entire page of typed out instructions or anything but I want the baby-sitters (who have raised kids of their own so it's not like they don't know how to do this) to have some idea of ways to comfort him, his schedule, etc. I always get such good ideas from you guys so I thought I'd ask. Thanks! Kelly

baby bath

Little Man is enjoying his bath so much these days. He has actually just graduated from using this sling. That's for babies! :)

While we were in Colorado he got to use Nana and Ducca's ducky bath and he liked that. His cousin taught him how to kick around and splash and since we've been home he's been busy getting mama all wet during bath time. I have a feeling this bathtub is not going to last us much longer either. Ducky bathtub here we come!

He's been getting a lot more baths lately as he's teething and a little feverish and I think it helps him calm down and distracts him. He is really cute every time he gets in the bath he gets this look on his face that I call his "bath face" (original I know!). He just gets really wide-eyed and takes a couple seconds to remember what this strange sensation is and that he likes it.

Kelly