More bragging

Grandpa and Grandma have Reed today, and Gerry is gone on a backpacking trip and suddenly I have time on my hands to step back and appreciate my family more. I already bragged on Reed in the previous post, and now, I'm feeling the need to brag on my baby and my husband!

Spring and I were just having a wonderful nursing moment. She was snuggled up, nursing, but was also fascinated by the necklace I'm wearing. She'd settle back and nurse for a few moments but then almost immediately have to sit up and play with my necklace. Then she'd sit back again, only pop right back up. Then I signed "milk" for her while she was nursing and she thought that was great. She smiled so big that she couldn't actually nurse, but I could see her tongue still moving, trying to anyway. Really cute! It's nice to have days like today where I have the time to let her explore and I can just appreciate the age that she's at and how curious she is. It's the close moments like these that I know I will miss when she's older.

And Gerry. There was this great moment a few weeks ago when all four of us went to the grocery store. I was getting ready to put on one of our slings to carry Spring when Gerry said, "I really want to carry her." The sling that we had with us is very pink and very girly, and I LOVED that Gerry didn't care. To me, that is a REAL man. I know he misses us while he's out in the back country and we miss him too!! I look forward to a time when we can all go backpacking together!

I'm so lucky to have such an amazing family.

Big brother

It's fun watching Reed be a big brother. Of course, not all of the sibling interactions are positive. Two recent incidents come to mind. A few weeks ago, I heard Spring fussing and came around a corner to see Reed, sitting on her back, Spring splayed on the floor (a failed attempt at a pony ride days before left him trying to ride a lot of things for the next few days). And just a few days ago, I left them alone together for a moment only to hear Spring cry. When I came back, I asked Reed what happened and he told me that he bonked her head with his guitar. At least he's honest right?

But yesterday, we had two fantastic brother moments. We were getting ready to go to the grocery store and Reed decided that he wanted to bring Elmo, so he ran off to his room to get him. When he returned, he had Elmo and Teddy (another very special toy). He put Teddy beside Spring and announced that she could play with him. So sweet!! Then later, Spring had a mysterious bout of vomiting. I was taking her temperature and she was NOT happy about it. She was trying to pull the thermometer out from under her arm and I was desperately looking around for something to occupy her hand when Reed appeared at the bedroom door and asked "You need some help?" Yes! I asked him to go get a toy for Spring and he did just that. Such a good helper!

A lasting impression

Our trip to NW String Summit has made quite an impression on Reed. He's been having concerts for us where he plays his ukulele along with music (he prefers to play along to Norah Jones for some reason). He pretends to put our earplugs in, goes and gets snacks from the vendor village, and has even run back to camp for various forgotten items. I love it.

This morning, Reed was dancing and eating his breakfast, and we had a great exchange. R: What is dancing for? Me: Dancing is for having fun. R: Music is for dancing! -- Truer words were never spoken!!

In other news, I think Spring may have started trying to wave goodbye. Time to start with the sign language!

Horning's Hideout 09

Gerry and I took our fifth annual trip to the Northwest String Summit this past weekend. This is something we look forward to all year long. There's good music, wonderful people, and camping at one of the coolest places around.

Highlights from this trip include reconnecting with friends who we made over the years at summit, camping with good friends, Reed saying salanamander (there was a pond there with lots of rough skinned newts), seeing the space station pass overhead one evening during the music, and of course, lots of great music!!

The lowlight of the trip was that Spring came down with some sort of bug the night before we left. We decided to go ahead and go and hope it wouldn't be too bad, but she was out of sorts for most of the weekend. Poor thing is still under the weather and worse yet, we managed to spread the bug to other kiddos and parents while we were camping. :-(

As a result of Spring being sick, we didn't take tons of pictures, but we did get a few good ones.

Spring thought it was hilarious to sit in the suitcase while I packed.

Mommy and Spring, enjoying the music.

Daddy and Reed enjoying the music. The camera freaked out because of the dust, but I love this picture anyway!

Spring crawling on Daddy.

Darkness means it's time to play with glow sticks! Spring was enjoying chewing on her glow stick so much, that Reed thought he'd see if it was all she made it out to be.

Reed listening to the music, playing with our poi.

The happy family.

Summer fun

We've been spending a lot of time outside lately!! I've been a real shutterbug trying to capture good pictures of Reed, who is getting increasingly difficult to photograph because he's always in motion! And of course, if Reed is out of photo range, then I'm taking pictures of Spring.

Love this little white dress!

Spring has been starting to enjoy solids... which is to say, she actually eats them now instead of just spitting them out!

More time outside!

How cute are both babes with their sunglasses on (or sun-kwocks as Reed calls them).

Smiley girl!

And one more, of Spring just for good measure.

Reed and his garden.

Reed was playing in the water that leaks out of the faucet when the hose is turned on.

Another good one of R.

Gerry and my dad went crabbing. No dungeness, but a limit of red rock crab!

Crabby!

Catching up on June pictures

I need to play catch up on some good June pictures! Here are Spring and I observing Daddy working on the fence.

Reed, lounging on the couch.

We took the kids down to Olympia so Gerry could help some friends install new bamboo flooring. Mommy E and baby J accompanied us to the farmer's market. It was a tight squeeze in the back of the Escort, but we made it!

Then we headed to the Olympia children's museum. Reed loved it!

Spring and J loved the baby mirror.

Reed got to drive a school bus (and several other vehicles).

Then after heading back to E's house so the kiddos could take a nap, we headed back out to a park so the daddies could get more flooring done. I'd love to know what Spring is saying to J!!

Reed on the teeter totter.

Spring reached the top of this climbing wall with only a steadying hand from me to help!

Reed at the summit of the climbing wall, telling Spring not to come up! LOL!

Big boy

Out of the blue, Reed came up to me today and said, "I'm getting to be a big boy now." So I said, "You sure are." To which Reed, pointing to his upper lip replied, "Yep, I got some whiskers growing!" It was so cute! I made a big fuss and oohed and aahed over his lip, even though obviously there was nothing there (except for some macaroni and cheese residue). A little later, he pointed his cheek and said, "I got some whiskers on my cheek too." Apparently he and Grandpa had been talking about whiskers a few days ago and the conversation really stuck with Reed.

I highly recommend...

checking out this post on our friend Katt's new blog!