Brought in about 1/3 of our tomatoes and a few other things to start making SALSA!! Ymmm...

We ran away this weekend to Ocean Park, WA, just north of Long Beach. Scott and I have fond memories of Long Beach because we spent many 4th of July's there back before we had kids... if you've ever been to Long Beach for the 4th, you know why we discontinued that tradition as parents. (Maybe we'll pick it up again someday. When they are no longer on our insurance plan.) Anyway, mom and dad have a time share in Ocean Park and they asked if we wanted to take the first few days of their week since it lined up with Labor Day. Yep! We played on the beach (i.e. dug a giant hole and jumped waves with the kids), swam in the pool, played on the playground, goofed around in Long Beach (good to see the old digs... hasn't changed much) and discovered a new little town called Oysterville (which adorable, despite its fishy name). Gracias papá y mamá for the weekend away! 

Nolan is definitely the more verbal of our two kids. Although he seems to have mastered complete sentences, the thoughts behind the words still have a little catching up to do!
Here are some Nolan-isms from the past few weeks:

Five = more than one.
Examples:
Give Nolan a pancake.
“No, I want five!”
Give him another pancake.
“Thank you.”
*************
Show Nolan two cars and ask how many there are.
“Five.”
Take one car away and ask again.
“One.”


Nolan has heard us tell Carson to, “Just ignore him” so many times, he now self-prescribes the remedy. He’ll run up, say something to annoy his brother, and then dance away, singing, “Just ignore me! Just ignore me!”


”Do you want me to hit my head with a coconut, or what?”
I have no idea where this phrase came from or what it’s supposed to mean. However, if you try to have a serious moment with Nolan he’ll break into a grin and blurt it out. It’s so completely random that it becomes really difficult to keep a straight face.

Get the duct tape - quick!

When my cousin, Rebecca, left for India a few years ago for her husbands new job assignment I thought it would be fun to follow their adventures on the blog they set up. I had no idea at the time what an amazing artist she is! This past spring she posted photos of some pieces she did to celebrate the arrival of their first child and Scott & I both loved them. Once we moved into the new house we discovered one (very prominent) wall that we had no suitable artwork for, so we decided to contact Rebecca about doing some pieces for us. As fate would have it, not only was she willing to do them, she was spending time with her parents in Idaho and would be able to do them before returning to India. Today they were hand delivered to us by my Aunt Becky who went up last week to visit Jim & Peggy and we were finally able to see them - THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL! And they capture the energy and love of our family extremely well. Thank you Rebecca! We will cherish these for years!

To see the original pieces that inspired these, click here and scroll down to the March 17, 2010 entry. Be sure to also check out the beautiful piece she did for her daughter, posted on Aug 16, 2010. It's my new favorite:)

We're getting into late summer on the farm, which means most of the fruit is about 2-3weeks away from being ready to pick... and early-birds are ready now!
We've been plucking blackberries here and there for a couple weeks, and there is one apple tree that we finally picked today since it's started dropping so much fruit. Scott has enjoyed playing with some recipes for apple butter and blackberry jelly while learning the ins & outs of canning, and I've enjoyed the results! Ymmm...
Knowing there are 2-3 more apples trees with decent fruit coming along (not to mention the pears, plums, grapes and more blackberries than we know what to do with) Scott brought the cider press out from the barn so we can start getting it ready for CIDER!! Oh, how I love fresh fruit!!!

We have a temporary new addition to our house as of today - Sweetie the hamster!
Sweetie is the class pet at Carson's preschool and we signed up to take a shift caring for her this summer. Carson was super-excited to see her here when we arrived home tonight and I think she'll be a nice distraction from the fact that all of the cousins and guests have now moved on...

Nolan and Sofia were quite the pair for the past two weeks. Sofia is almost exactly one month older than Nolan and it might be they are simply a little too close to the same age. Nolan could not leave her alone (typical boy?) but Sofia could hold her own and let him know when he was crossing a line. (Good girl.) Towards the end, they finally started to realize they could actually play together with a toy and possibly even get more apples to the fence for the sheep if they stopped fighting over them (OK this was more Nolan taking them from Sofia than vice versa). Ultimately, watching them was pretty funny (if exhausting) and I look forward to seeing them together again, when (hopefully) Nolan has brushed up a little on basic chivalry.

 

Carson gets to have his first sleep-over guests tonight... oh my!