Berry Picking

These photos are from back in July...but I thought they were worth posting even a couple of months late. Emily, Jack and I spent the afternoon picking oodles and oodles of strawberries & raspberries. I turned Jack loose on the berries, and he thought he had died and gone to heaven. He ate so many he wasn't even hungry for dinner afterward (and for Jack, that's really saying something). After a bit of practice he even got pretty good at choosing only the ripe berries, and picking off the little stem at the top. We've since made several more trips back to the u-pick farm, and we now have a well-stocked freezer to see us through the winter. Just last week we made one last trip for (Jack's favorite) blueberries since our supplies were dwindling more quickly than anticipated - and we picked another 20 lbs! What can I say? The kid loves berries.

Hug Me - Or Else!

Jack's hugs are well-intentioned but a bit too enthusiastic. We're working on being gentle, and he really is getting better...slowly.

Jack Entertains the Ladies

I haven't posted in a while because not a single interesting thing has happened...nada...zip...zilch. Jack has been napping, and I have been sitting on the couch eating bonbons.

Tonight, however, was very exciting, so I thought I should probably blog about it. We had a full house for dinner - Chris, Mandy, & Gwen and Beth & Cassidy. It was lots of fun (if a bit chaotic...but what's life without a little chaos?) and Jack had a ball entertaining his girls.

Fun with Gwenivere

It has been so much fun watching Gwen & Jack as they grow. What cute little buddies they are!

Happy New Year!

For New Year's, Jack partied his little butt off! We enjoyed an evening at Josh & Emily's brand new house (congrats you guys!), ate good food, drank good beer, and kept our baby up late. We expected him to go right to sleep when we got home around 9:30, but no dice, he was still rarin' to go. In fact, he didn't fall asleep until 11:30!

Dinner at the Pidgeons'

Chris & Mandy had us over for turkey dinner last Sunday. The food was delicious & the company was wonderful! Gwen showed Jack all of the new toys she got for Christmas. Jack said thank you by licking her on the head (see top photo), smearing banana bread all over her high chair, and pooping at the dinner table. Hopefully Gwen will reciprocate when they come over to our house for dinner this week!

You know someone's a good friend when...

...they offer to help you with your sick baby. A huge thank you Mandy, Chris, & Gwen for the offer of help and the 'get well' card & balloon.

Sigrún Pétursdóttir

Sigrún came for a visit last weekend, and Jack was excited to see her (so were Josh and I, but we didn't giggle and bounce about it like he did). She is on a mission to teach him some Icelandic, or at the very least to make sure he can pronounce her name correctly. If she is successful, he will be the only one of her friends here in the states to do so.

Horses

Jack met Beth & Cassidy's horses the other day. He seemed to think they were pretty interesting. Plus, the babies look really cute all snugged in under our shirts. Just wait until he gets to go for his first ride...I bet he'll think that's pretty exciting!

Cutie in Booties

A huge thank you to the lovely & talented Emily (recent graduate of WWU's Woodring College of Education, soon to be elementary school teacher, good friend, and knitter of badass booties...who knew?) for Jack's newest footwear (see above)! Thank goodness, because he had just grown out of his previous pair of booties that our friend Kerri (another amazing person - marine biologist, loving mother to Bella, and one of the nicest people I know) had made for him while he was still swimming around in my tummy. How do these ladies find the time to knit? Amazing I tell you.

Kerri with Jack at 3 days old - sporting her handmade booties (the only thing that fit his tiny little feet for the first month and a half).

Emily with Jack - 2 months old.

Jack meets Maya & Chloe

Nicole brought the girls up for a visit on Tuesday so that they could meet Jack. It was great to see them - with everyone's busy schedules we definitely don't get together often enough! Now we just have to convince them to babysit in a few years. They seemed skeptical. I was dying to babysit at their age (changing diapers for $2 an hour, sign me up)...they must just be smarter than I was. We'll have to buy them the Babysitter's Club books for Christmas. Perhaps that will turn them around on the subject.

Here the girls are reading Gallop (a St. Present's Day gift from Kathleen). The "scanimation" in this book is incredibly clever. Jack already enjoys watching the movement of the pictures. Maya & Chloe also enjoyed Jack's book about farts (a present from our friend Michelle...I can't wait until Jack is their age so that he can appreciate it too).

Chloe & Jack

Maya & Jack