Odds and Ends

In gameday attire on Saturday... WAR EAGLE by the way!!!!!!! Jake and I watched the game with the Rutherfords and Titus' and had a fabulous time enjoying such an amazing game with friends.

We've done a little raking this week.

And in the spirit of full disclosure, I thought I should tell y'all that these trains with all these small choking hazard parts...

are a very hot teething commodity around here. This is the kind of thing that becomes OK with second and third children.

11 months

Yes, this is two weeks late, so I'm going to do my best to say what they were doing AT 11 months, and not talk about new things in the last two weeks! This photo shoot also goes down as least successful in capturing nicely sitting little girls.

Blythe: right now, she's still quick to smile at strangers, but tends to stick closer to me rather than do a lot of exploring when we go out to the library, etc. Still only two teeth, but can eat tons of finger foods, and almost always eats more than Joy. She has a giggly/gaspy laugh that comes out when she's bounced, when other people are laughing sometimes, and at Abby Jane. When you pick her up, she sort of scrambles up into your arms like a monkey. She crawls so much that she's a bit too busy to slow down and learn to do much free standing other than pulling up on furniture.

Joy is a nut. She has come out of her shell and is everywhere, into everything, crawling like it's her job. For instance, at the library, she's 10 feet away from me getting into someone's purse. Then realizes there's strangers around and lets out this LOUD squawky cry. She will NOT smile at you if you're a stranger. But she warms up. She, too, seems good to go with only those two bottom teeth and is amazingly capable with finger foods. Her favorite song is "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee" (thanks, Grammy.)

The girls are playing together and interacting together all the time. Most of the time, it's sweet and cute, but the toy the other one has usually does look better than the toy in their own hands. They gave us an impromptu demonstration of this phenomenon, which is about as good as the picture of the two of them at this age got when I was taking these pictures.

They both say "mama" and "dada", wave, and clap. Not many more actual words, but that doesn't impact the volume level when everyone is "talking" at the same time. Bless Jake's heart, he's in for it.

They can both walk with push toys, but no steps yet. Favorite toys are bowls, rattles, activity table, blocks, Abby Jane's play heels, trains (yes the ones with chokeable parts), and Abby Jane. Black market items are shoes, magazines, and keys. Frequently heard in our home, "BLYTHEY, no shoes for you!" "Mama, look at JO-OOOYY!"

I promise I feed the child, but scavenging is one of Blythey's favorite hobbies. She often gets stuck.

Joy's strong sense of self-accomplishment is about to bust with this new ability to free stand for a few seconds. She is extremely proud of herself and will sometimes give a clap.

That's the end!

3 Little Anecdotes

Mostly unrelated and mainly because I just want to remember!

1. Abby Jane calls roasting marshmellows "marshing marshmellows." When she gets the marshmellow on her upper lip while devouring her s'more, Jake calls it a "marshstache."

2. When we were at the orchard on Saturday, there was a grandad near us waiting on his family (with several little kids) to finish up a few pictures. I asked if he would mind taking a picture of our family. He said sure and reached for Joy from my arms.

I had almost just went along and handed Joy to this man before we both realized that was NOT what was supposed to happen. He apologized profusely for reaching in for my child and said he had just been holding grandbabies all day and wasn't even thinking.

I obviously wasn't thinking, either, as I was about to just hand her off to a grandparent-type, something we do often as well! It was funny.

3. Our cells have poor service at the cabin, so Jake bought a prepaid phone when he went up there a few weeks ago for his writing retreat so I could reach him in an emergency. We used to be big "24" fans, so I named it the "Jake Bauer phone" as all the thugs and terrorists seem to have prepaid phones.

While we were gone this weekend, my Explorer got a new transmission. When Jake picked it up, he discovered it had been broken into (though no glass was broken- they somehow just unlocked it??), and what was stolen? Not the double jogger in the back. But yes, the thug-magnet Jake Bauer phone. Classic.

The Cabin- Part 3!

I got in a couple of a-MAZing dawn runs, and when I got back on Sunday, I grabbed a Jane and a camera to try to catch some of the morning magic in the valley and let her see some cows.

By the time I got back to the valley, the sun had come up significantly, so I ended up getting some fun pictures of my girl exploring.

We took a morning walk to the pond- that speck of pink is the little hiker we're trying to teach to go further and further before she begs a ride off her dad.

I was inspired to get some special shots of the twins that afternoon after getting those of Abby Jane that morning, and they rose to the occasion!

While I was taking pictures of the twins, Jane says, "Mama it's getting pretty crazy out here." Referring to the gnats that appeared late afternoon. So we went to the back creek, where Joy wanted to get in on the action.

We are quite obviously incredibly grateful to our Uncle Wayne and Aunt Boo who so generously bless our family with the cabin! My dad's birthday would have been last week, so it was especially sweet to celebrate him by enjoying the place that he built.

The Cabin- Part 2

Mom stayed the night and got in a little extra cabin time in with our girls after the Gregorys headed home!

Blythe and Joy figured out how fun it is to push the activity table together across the hardwoods. This was pretty cute.
Saturday morning was one of the highlights of this year for me. We found out in March about the U-Pick at Mercier Orchards (which was featured in Southern Living this month!) and I have been excited ever since. It surpassed my expectations. You buy whatever size bag you want to fill, ride a tractor out to a portion of the orchard,
then fill your bag,and taste test as many varieties as you like to your heart's desire.
Everyone got in on the picking...

And the tasting!

It was just a sweet, sweet time of doing something unusual and fall-y on a gorgeous day in the gorgeous mountains with the people I love the most in the world.

These three could have sat there for forever. They were pretty oblivious to us.

The final part of cabin pics to come!

The Cabin- Part 1

We just got home today from a long weekend at our family's cabin. Our time overlapped with my sister Jodi and her family's time up there for a night- we got there Thurs, they left Fri afternoon- and a lot a precious chaos happened in between! Here is Jo lovin on my Blythe.

There was a lot of creek playing- here are the dads and kiddos minus Maggie.

There was also some rock throwing...

Chris a.k.a. Baby Whisperer

Of course there were s'mores...

Abby Jane had her first "sleepover"- all the "big" kids slept in the loft together... though that sleep didn't happen until around 9:30. Here is Katie snuggling with Abby Jane before bedtime!

Maggie got to be the center of attention when all the older kids went to bed. Can you get enough of these rolls? I can't.

That night, us adults were up til midnight playing hearts by the fire- good times.

Abby Jane and Ian on the front porch, checking out the morning weather for us.
Our morning hike went a little ways into the national forest, a trail Jo and I grew up hiking. Maggie hitched a ride on Chris.
Sisters and our kids- Katie (6), Ian (4), Abby Jane (2), Blythe and Joy (11 months), and Maggie (5 months).
Mom came up on Friday afternoon to see the grandkids enjoy that slice of heaven and get to enjoy it herself. This is classic Grammy face that makes all nine of her grandkids feel like the #1 most special kid in the world.
Looking for crawfish.

Friday afternoon ended with a big game of modified football in the meadow- if you have the football, you're "it"...

It was SOO sweet to enjoy that cabin with the Gregorys! We sure love our family! Part 2 of Cabin time to come...