Weekend

Action shots from the weekend. We had a good one. Parents came up on Saturday for the afternoon. We played outside quite a bit and are starting to get good tans. We've seen lots of rabbits, frogs and birds. The other day Olivia and I were outside messing around and she picked up a caterpillar. I told her it was such but she did not belive me and called it a grub. I forgot about it for a while and we kept on walking around and weeding. About a half hour later Elena came out and started talking with us. Olivia held out her hand with the little caterpillar in it and called it a grub. Elena wasn't so sure that she wanted Olivia to be playing with grubs. I reassured her that it was a caterpillar but I don't think she was 100% sure.

Zach is so proud of his walking. He just goes and goes. He doesn't want help getting around either. He almost would rather be left behind than accept help getting down stairs. He isn't so sure about the baby pool we have. He gets his feet wet and that is about it. The water was even very warm today but he didn't like it. He just likes to waddle around on the deck as fast as his chubby little legs will take him. 

Farmer's Market

We had another successful run at the farmer's market. They have a lot of stuff down there. There are about 50 booths or so and everybody has things like flowers, veggies, bison jerky, honey, baked goods, cheese and there were musicians there too. One high school girl had her violin and an old guy had a guitar. We bought some honey, a loaf of bread, some rhubarb and a potted flower. I saw some regulars from work and talked with them a bit.

Olivia the Fearless went climbing in her room the other day. Elena was sitting upstairs when Olivia handed her a scrap of parchment. She had moved a plastic toy tote next to her dresser, climbed up on it and then she hoisted her way up the dresser. Standing on that about four feet up she grabbed hold of the wallpaper border that Elena and I had lovingly glued up and she tore foot and a half section out of it. Then somehow managed to climb her way down without hurting herself.

A few pics

Hiding in her box of diapers




Deer in headlights and a nutcase laughing



A highlight of the day 

Lawn tractor

We bought a lawn tractor the other day and it has been going great. Much easier to mow with that thing than by pushing. I mowed for about an hour today and did the whole backyard.

We've been playing a lot outside when it has been nice. Those few days when it has rained have really been downers for the whole family. The kids just are on 11 the whole day without their usual outlet of running the trail, sandboxing and swinging. Zach is a big time walker now and doesn't want your help. He practices on stairs yet. He heads for either the front door step or the step from the garage and he'll climb up. Then he turns around and bellyflops down and scooches down. He lays almost parallel to the step and drops a leg over, then the other and then pushes with his hands his belly a bit to come to standing. That's what is supposed to happen and usually does. He's getting better.

Zach is also a big helper around the house. His favorite job is to help unload the dishwasher. He's so amiable that he doesn't mind if you are loading it at the same time. He just goes ahead with his job and unloads.

We have a little flower garden that we've been trying to maintain with weeding. It's been going OK but I don't really know what is what all the time. I'd go around and pull obvious weeds and grass and toss them in the lawn. This has been going on the past few months but I haven't been pulling all of them. Some plants that I thought were good ones have turned out to be nasty weeds. Doh. And they have taken over huge thick areas of territory. Too much for me to pull out and I start thinking about just using some Round-up to nuke the whole bunch. Elena tells me that she has some bulbs and stuff to plant and that chemicals won't be the best. She gets out our weed-eater and I show her how to run it. She takes it and tears things up. I shoveled up the dirt then and she planted her flowers. I made the mistake of not telling her to change into jeans before using the weed-eater. Yea, that wasn't the best.

Olivia and I went walking in the woods the other day. She ran off ahead all giggling and shouting making lots of noise. Apparently there were deer hiding where she was going and she almost got bulldozed by a couple of does. It didn't scare her and she just kept on running. Goofy kid.

Olivia the Older Sister

Olivia usually likes to play with Zach. They will jump around in the castle, swing, play in the sand, bathe, watch movies and eat together in good fashion. It becomes apparent that she wants to be left alone when she gets a little extra nice to him.

"Here Zach, drink bottle."

"Zach, you stay there."

"Zach, want a nap?"

She is so polite. She'll tilt her head just a little bit, get right in his face and be all concerned for his well being.

Or she'll just kick him. We're working on alternate means of conflict resolution for that one.

stuff

A few weekends ago my parents came up and helped around the house. We walked the trail and cleaned out the bird houses and put up a bunch of shelves in the basement. We have a load of boxes just sitting around down there and those shelves really helped in organizing a bit. I bought a bunch of brackets and we used scrap boards I had laying around the house so it was a fairly cheap project. We've been working to unpack some boxes and it looks a lot less cluttered down there and it is much easier to walk around without tripping over everything. I found a big box of clothes that I hadn't seen since moving so that was a good find.

Elena also put up a bunch of decorations in the kids rooms so they look a lot more like a room instead of a cell.

Olivia has been a good big sister. When in the bathtub with Zach and he gets in her way she will volunteer to help Zach out of the tub. She will ask him, "Zach, get out of tub?" or she will tell us that wants to get out and get behind him and lift under his arms. In the most innocent of faces tell us that Zach is ready to get out.

Zach is getting much better at walking. He will giggle and laugh as he is puttering around showing off his big stuff. He still is eating and eating.

We went to the Byron Zoo yesterday. We saw a turkey vulture, some otters, some hawks, bald eagles, badgers, a cougar, coyotes, wolves, snakes, owls and a bobcat. It was a good time except that Zach was crabby from needing a nap so we didn't see the whole thing.

We went to Stewartville yesterday and bought a lawn tractor. A John Deere 135 series. They're going to deliver it on Tuesday so that will be a good break for my poor little push mower. Even though that is probably the best push mower I've ever used. It isn't self propelled but it had a 6 horse motor and was brand new.