Friday, June 26, 2015

It's CHERRY TIME!

We look forward to sweet cherry season every year and look forward to going cherry picking.  We went on an adventure with the boys and picked 6lbs of sweet black cherries.




Suddenly I heard John saying, "Gabriel! Gabriel!  What are you eating!"  Since he was in the carrier behind him he couldn't see him. I ran over to find him covered in cherry juice happily eating cherries straight off the tree.  The picture below shows what he was doing.  I ended up pulling a full cherry out of his mouth and one out of each fist.  I had to keep doing that as we picked because he kept yanking them off the tree to eat.  He was very confused why he couldn't just eat them!


All my men picking.








Our view while picking.  I'd love to live surrounded by orchards like this.  Beautiful.


Cabin vacation

We enjoyed a weekend at the cabin recently.  Landon was with MawMaw and his cousins and some extended family having fun.  Will seemed to enjoy his time without his big brother in his business.  He talked a lot more, really took a handle on potty training, and found himself a little more.  It was a great two days away for him.  

Using his muscles to break sticks for the fire.

Throwing more wood on the fire.  He loved helping daddy make the fires.

Cooking in his "little boys"

Will really enjoyed being the only big brother and getting to help his little brother eat snacks and would get him toys that he would like.  





On our second day at the cabin we went up to Raystown Lake to Trough Creek State Park.  The boys and I dropped Daddy off up the stream and then went to a picnic area to wait for him.  We spread out a blanket and fought of the tons of gnats while we played with toys, went down to the creek, had a scavenger hunt, had horses come by, and ate snacks.  It took him about two hours to fish up the stream to where we were.  Once he arrived we hurried out of there because a wedding was about to start in the pavilion behind us.  We found another picnic table along the creek and enjoyed lunch before heading home for a long nap! 

These two played very well together, and that was a long time to spend just hanging out.


Tree fun!


 Our view the whole time was gorgeous.  What a wonderful place to sit and spend time!



Gabriel was still fighting off a sinus/chest cold so while Daddy was building the fires and dinner was cooking he had to stay away. So he hung out in his chair eating snacks and playing.

Our most intense dinner of the weekend was ribs, asparagus, and baked potatoes.  If you look in the fire you can see the foil wrapped potatoes cooking.  I cooked the ribs in the oven and then we finished them off on the fire to get a good smokey flavor in them.  Everything was AMAZING! I may have been over doing it making two racks of ribs,but left overs aren't a bad thing, right?

Will was very proud of helping Daddy build the fire, tend it, and cook the meal. He was a very big boy this weekend.






The cabin has tons of carpenter bees. John plugged a hole with one in it with this flag and the next day this is what we found.  The bee wasn't squished after all, he was eating his way through the flag to get out!

Will picked this for me and wanted me to take a picture of it.  He's a sweetie.

This is how he feels about the ribs.  He ate a ton of them along with half a baked potato.  That's one happy boy!

Silly boy! He kept crawling around with the Mr. Potato Head tongue sticking out.  



Day three at the cabin Landon and the whole crew joined us and we all went to Raystown Lake to Tatman Run beach for some fun.
First time in the water and he was full of smiles!

Nick, Tyson, Sage, and Landon playing- cousin fun!

The second trip to the water was not so good.  He was not a fan of sitting in the water at all!

The Grandma's watching everyone play.  On the left is my Aunt Denise, my Mom's sister.  The two girls along are her grandkids.  They have grandma and grandkid outings every summer.

Zoey and Landon swimming around.  Landon was very brave this trip.  He was in up to his chin with no one around sometimes.  He was giving me a bit of anxiety, but I'm proud of him for breaking out of his comfort zone.

Sage and Will enjoyed playing too.  Will was also really brave and went up to his chest several times, even without holding hands!  

Everyone was worn out by the end of this weekend and it was worth it!  The kids enjoyed it and so did we!

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Gabriel:8-9mon

Once again, I slacked.  I missed doing his 8mon pictures and nearly missed month 9!  Go mom!
Gabriel is my amazing little dude. 


This is the classic Gabriel pose.  He is a model in the making.

Hey Ladies!


Lots of squealing and giggling during this photo shoot!


This is what he did the whole time I tried to take pictures. He crawled off and had to be brought back.  I only got the pictures above by holding his ankles!  The boy can't stop moving.

A classic Gabriel face, bottom lip sucked in.

He's such a goof

He finally made it to his goal....sword swallowing!

Gabriel is hard to keep down.  He will not hold still for a second.  You sit him up and he is immediately on the floor chasing after you or going after what you just moved him away from.  Sometimes I can't find him and he's in his big brother's room getting into things.  The bathroom is also a hot spot for him so I have to keep an eye on him.  At times I have found him in the kitchen dragging around bags of potatoes.  He has also mastered the art of sitting from crawling and has found that is a handy tool in getting into things that mommy thought she put up higher.  He is also really enjoying his big boy meals.  He started crying when I tried to give him puree's.  So I was doing a mix.  Some puree's here and there, but recently he started slapping my hand when trying to give them to him.  It was a messy adventure and sent a clear message....no more!  He loves hugs and diving open mouthed at you for kisses.  And he will not settle for anything other than a kiss on your mouth.  Sloppy, but you just can't resist the love!  Before we know it he'll be pulling himself up and walking!  He wants to be one of his big brother's so badly that it won't be long.  He already crawls after them as they blow by him.  They won't know what to do once that starts!  Make time slow down already!