Little forager

I made this bag for Jacob's 2nd birthday so that he could collect his own treasures when we go out, or bring along a toy that he wants to carry. The other day he grabbed his bag and wanted to go out for a walk. He has also knows where my shoes are, so he got me my shoes and wanted me to have my own bag. I have a bag that looks similar to his, so I grabbed it and we went off on our walk. We ended up walking all the way around our block. It is a walk that takes normal humans 10 minutes, but it took us about an hour. We met some neighbors and explored every single thing on the block with great detail. His favorite question is, "What's that?"
He also collected some things to put in his bag--a stick, a few rocks, some seeds and dried blossoms. He also found 2 different places to slide. It's so great to experience things through his eyes and also watch him learn more about his little world.

crayon rolls

I've been wanting to try crayon rolls for a while. These were a fun, fast project--made for some special girls. The notebooks were fun to make too. I used recycled paper and extra cards for the top and bottom pages. The one thing I might do next time is create a flap for the top of the roll so that the notebooks don't slip out. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the project. I have also seen these rolls with rick rack trim, but I'll have to save that for next time. I'm still not expert enough to sew that in without error.

Hot summer days

Well, here is my hair cut. I don't really do well with close ups. So, this is the best shot we could manage. I like the length. It's a lot lighter now and not so hot. I can also still pull it back if I want to get it out of the way.

More Jacob shots with our succulent pots.

Meet our friendly garden gnome whose hat got broken when Nate tried to lift it with one arm. Luckily it was only the hat and not the head or something else. It still hasn't been repaired. Hopefully it will grow back someday.

This is Jacob's favorite place to play. What boy wouldn't want to have all of this gravel for a bulldozer to shovel around?

At the old homestead

It's kind of fun seeing Jacob playing in the yard I played in growing up. Not much has changed. There is less dirt and more plants now. More plastic containers and less toys, but it's still pretty much the same.

Jakey had a great time with my parents. He didn't miss us at all when we left him there for 2 days. Here we are at 7 Hills park. One of the all time greats--as Mr. Monk would say. It has changed a lot too. I don't know if they still have the old tire swing that Bonnie and I used to go on--the one where that mean girl wouldn't stop pushing us until Bonnie threw up.

They definitely did not have that bee at the park when we were growing up. I think all of the playgrounds have been replaced a few times since we were kids.

Jacob loved all of the buckets that grandpa keeps around the backyard.

Number 9

This is the Winning Hearts and Minds chocolate cake that I made for our anniversary. It wasn't anything special--mostly a lot of eggs and chocolate. It was very dense and moist inside with the slightest crispy crust on top. That part was great. Nate picked some flowers from our garden. Too they got cut off in the picture, but they did look nice.

We got to go away to Napa for a few days when we visited my parents. This is where we stayed.

We also got to go on a bike tour and got to go on free wine tastings as part of the tour. It was a great way to see everything. I would definitely recommend it, except maybe not on a day when temperatures are over 90 degrees.

This was actually our least favorite winery, but the guy doing the tastings was nice and they did have good olive oil.

Idyllwild Retreat

We were so lucky to be able to get away to Idyllwild with our small group. Here is a view of one of the lovely cabins we rented. They were so great and clean, with full kitchens. So much fun.

What is a retreat without good food? We had plenty of that, and good desserts, but here is a picture of one of our heirloom tomatoes.

Here are most of the kids in our group minus Gideon. They are all so sweet and had a great time exploring the forests of Idyllwild together.

Jacob's 2nd birthday

By the time Jakey's birthday rolled around, he was all better. This is 2 days after his surgery and one day before his real birthday. We decided just to do a small family party this year because he's still not able to understand and anticipate his big day. It was nice not to have a big party to plan especially with the craziness of the week. However, we still were able to have a nice celebration for Jakey. His favorite toy inside was his train and his favorite present for outside was the basketball hoop that dad got for him. I baked the French lemon yogurt cake from Homemade Life for his cake. He licked off some of the icing while I was putting it on. What else is a cake for anyway?