"And when the wind takes you, it takes me, too.
When you change colours, I change mine, too.
Try not to think, and I will try to.
When you let go, I will let go, too." -Great Lake Swimmers
Last Sunday morning, I woke up feeling extremely rested. I almost felt like... I. had. slept. in.....? I checked my phone to look at the time and it was 9am. I can't even remember the last time I slept in until 9am after Samuel was born. Kyan was not in bed so I figured he had heard Samuel and had gotten up to take care of him. Just as I looked up from my phone, the bedroom door opened and in came Kyan with a tray of breakfast. Wow! Was it mothers day? My birthday? An anniversary I had forgotten about? Nope, nope, and no. He was just being that awesome person I love, cherish, and thank God for every day of my life. He shows his love in many ways but this morning it was letting me sleep in and serving me breakfast in bed. I love that man! What can I say more! :)
Samuel knew something was special from my reaction to Kyan as he brought me breakfast. He got excited and full of giggles. He helped eat some of my blueberries and tried to feed me some yogurt. If you look closely, you can see how Samuel had already started in on the tray in between taking pictures. It was the perfect way to wake up on a beautiful Sunday morning. I have the two best boys living under my roof!
It all began on a beautiful Friday morning. Belinda and I drove to Mott's Fresh Farm Stand to pick up our 6 twenty-four pound boxes of peaches. While we were there we decided we would can Rainier cherries as well. The cherries were $8 dollars a piece for a 24 lb box. AWESOME DEAL!! We couldn't say no. Of course we were expecting around 15% of the box to be bad cherries but you just can't beat that price. So, we got a total of 4 boxes and went back to Belinda's place to spend the day canning cherries. We ended up canning 48 jars.
Do you think we stopped there? Nope. On Monday, I went back to Belinda's to can 6 boxes of peaches. Samuel had a great time playing in the boxes.
We spent another long day in the kitchen canning peaches. 70 jars later, we finished the task.
We had tons of fun. Belinda was amazing. She was willing to can cherries and peaches (two full days) while being 8 months pregnant. I thought I was tired at the end of each day...try asking the pregnant lady.
This was all of us at the end of the day. Tired but proud of all those beautiful peaches! Yay for food storage!
Samuel has learned to splash, thanks to someone...I won't mention names. :) How long do you think it will take before our floors will need to be replaced?Yikes.
ADVENTURE #2
The time has come at last. His hair was getting long and his bangs were getting into his eyes. So what must be done? Off with the hair! Well, um.........hmmm........but, those cute curls in the back......do I have to?.....He'll look like a big boy and I don't want that yet. So, what do I do?
I just gave his bangs a little trim. Maybe next time I'll have it in me to cut his cute blonde, curly, beautiful hair.
These are the pictures taken after his haircut....I mean, trim. He wouldn't stay still long enough to get a clear shot. He simply might have been happy just to see again. Those bangs were getting in the way.
ADVENTURE #3
Samuel loves to play in the bathroom cupboards. He has a special drawer with his very own bath toys and everything in the cupboards are safe for him to play with....or. maybe. not? I happened to be in my bedroom that particular morning just tidying up a bit. Samuel was playing with his toys in the drawer....or so I thought. Then, out of nowhere I got this whiff of sweet, fresh, clean odor. That does NOT smell like bathroom toys. I ran to the bathroom to find a brand new Costco bottle of shampoo emptied on the floor with soapy little hands and a big grin on Samuel's face. I'm sure he was thinking, "Mom! Check this stuff out! It's AWESOME!"
I have come to the conclusion, that the reason kids make messes are simply to guarantee that their parents don't forget to clean ALL areas of the house. After all, 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness', right? So, doesn't that mean those with kids have EXTRA clean homes despite what it appears? Who knew our kids were actually helping us by kindly marking out areas that needed cleaned most. Who knew, right?
Check this out! We are telling the truth. He really can walk. Now, if you were to ask us if he has taken up walking on a regular basis, we would have to say no. He's a little reluctant to walk even though he knows he can. Silly little boy. He still chooses to crawl. I suppose he'll realize at some point that it's a lot easier on the knees to walk on gravel, grass, sand, dirt, and concrete rather then crawling over it all. I mean, gravel? Ouch!
Samuel has been learning a lot of new words lately. Many of his favorites are, more, dog, cracker, water, wa-wa, Daddy, Ma-ma, Da-da (He sometimes calls both of us by this name), thank you, ball, book, and he'll sometimes say Grandpa. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few words but he's getting the hang it. I love it when he says thank you. Sometimes when I'm feeding him food and he has managed to eat everything on his tray without my noticing, he'll start to say, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'll look over to realize he wants more food. He knows to say thank you after he gets food so why not thank the person before getting food? Hmmm....maybe that's a tactic worth trying. It works for him every time. I'll take thank you any day over fussing or throwing fits. I love that baby!
Because Samuel has been concentrating on learning how to talk he hasn't been quite the dare devil in learning to walk. He's a cautious little boy but he's getting brave. Yesterday, Kyan and I were playing with Samuel and decided to see if he would take a few steps on his own. He has already taken a step or two last week but he hasn't done much more since then. Yesterday, Mr. Samuel got brave and started walking the distance. Oh Yeah! Our little boy not only took two steps but two too many to count. We're proud of you Little Dude! He'll be walking before we know it.
This last Monday I drove out to Belinda's to try out a Gluten Free bakery that had just opened up in her town. Unfortunately, as we drove up the the store front, we realized that the only day they were closed was Monday. Dang. Bummer. Try Again I guess. So, instead, we went to the park with a pond. This was lots of fun. Some of the kids went swimming and Samuel did what he loved most, play in the sand.
On August 3rd, Samuel and I got out of the house and enjoyed a little sunshine. We went on a short and beautiful hike out in North Bend called Twin Falls.We met nice people along the way and even came across a large children day camp group. Samuel loved watching the children as they goofed around and played on the trail.
I tried to include the falls in our picture but I don't know if you can tell. The sun was pretty bright.
I'm hoping that Samuel continues to like his hiking backpack for a long time. It's a lot of fun to go hiking with him during the day.
I love to go thrift shopping. One of my favorite stores is Goodwill. One Saturday many months ago, Kyan, Samuel and myself were at Goodwill to find a few things. While we were there, I spotted this chair. If you can get beyond the hideous pink fabric and frumpy look, you can see that this chair has MUCH potential. I fell in love with it and convinced Kyan that I really needed this chair and that it was one of a kind and that it really truly was worth the $36 dollars. He wasn't so convinced but he let me buy it anyway.
Months went by and the ugly chair sat in our living room. It took me a long time before I knew just what to do! With a little bit of fabric and a lot of time I turned the chair into a true beauty. For being my first time upholstering a chair, it was fun and definitely a good learning experience.
I have more ambitious projects to come! I'll be sure to keep you updated! :)
We went to Robinswood Park last Sunday evening to get a little fresh air. At the playground they have these fun little spinning toys. If you sit just right, the weight of your body will keep you spinning. Samuel LOVED this toy. But, during one of his times, he didn't end it very well. As a Mom, I'm not sure if I should admit to this...I thought it was pretty funny.
Even after bonking his head he still loves that toy.
Okay, I know I have posted 3 times in one day but it happens that I actually have some time and a lot of things to update you on.
Last Thursday, Kyan informed me that his parents were going to stop by in the evening to see Samuel and us. Knowing that they love homemade bread and that we had no bread in the house, I decided to make some. My little helper wanted to be apart of the fun. How can you say no?
The bread turned out delicious and I am sure it was because Samuel helped out. He even had to tried the dough to make sure it was yummy. :)
Hiking EIGHT STEEP MILES after not working out the whole week before is not the smartest thing to do. But, Kyan and his scouts were training for their backpacking trip so I decided to join them. We Hiked Mount Si on Saturday. The boys carried their 30 pound packs and Kyan carried Samuel. With Samuel and the carrier combined, it adds up to a little over 30 pounds (crazy huh!). I just carried my little backpack with water and snacks. That mountain is not forgiving. It's strait up for 4 miles and just as bad or worse on the way down (It kills your knees).
Samuel was amazing in his pack. He took his morning nap, ate his snacks and jibber jabbered along the way. It was so beautiful when we finally got to the top. Wow, what a sight! I love hiking, even if it means I'll be sore for the next few days.
Samuel actually got his morning nap in while hiking. He slept for a good 30 minutes.
Samuel is trying to attack me with his chewed up, messy, juicy orange hands.
This is Mt. Rainier. You could see so far out from the top of Mt. Si. It was beautiful.
Okay, so I did pack Samuel for about 2 miles on the way down. But, my knees were hurting too bad so Kyan had to carry him the rest of the way. Thanks Babe! :)
This has been one beautiful day. After cleaning the house and letting Samuel take is morning nap, we went outside to play in the back yard. Since I was in the cleaning mode, I noticed that our driveway could use a good sweeping. So, I grabbed the broom and got to work. I watched him as he went from playing on the grass to discovering his new friends on the other side of the fence.
