Pie Eating Contest!

Last week I made a fresh blackberry pie.  You see, we've let our garden go a bit this year.  I can officially and honestly say that the weeds are winning.  Perhaps they have won, though I intend to fight back, and hard, this fall.  But we have several places in our yard where the blackberries really took off, as Pacific Northwest blackberries tend to do.  But we let them get far enough along that it really didn't make sense to get rid of them until after we benefit from the harvest.  So, now we have blackberries oozing out our ears.  And since it's fruit fly season, and we've never been known to have an empty refrigerator, we have to use them, quickly.  So, our first harvest became fresh blackberry pie.

George had had a late afternoon snack at school less than an hour before bedtime, and I didn't expect him to be very hungry for dinner.  But I did want to share my fresh, pesticide free, made with organic flour, sugar, lemon, butter pie with my son.  So, I served George fresh blackberry pie with whipped cream for dinner.  George was a very happy boy.  He started off with a big grin, happily using his fork to eat his yummy treat.  But things deteriorated rapidly, and George appeared to enter his very first, and uncontested, pie eating contest.

Swimming and a Lobster Outfit

George and I went swimming last Tuesday.  After swimming, I put George in one of his new John Johns-red with lobsters.  I do think he is the cutest child on the planet (I am his mother, after all).  But I'll bet my readers  think he is pretty cute too (though strangers do tend to call him a "she" when he wears these old fashioned outfits).

You may have noticed that he is carrying my car keys.  And in the second photo, the very cheeky, "I can do it!" expression that is so common these days.  Also notice the strut.  This is my George, on his way to the car, to open it (and drive it) all by himself.  It's no wonder he gets so frustrated with me every day when I tell him, again, that he cannot drive until he is 15!

Big Boy Bed

George turns 2 tomorrow.  And in preparation for our trip to Ireland, we put him in a big boy bed tonight.  In his room we put a twin sized bed in the corner, so two sides are against the wall.  Then his crib is still there, pressed against another side.  The rest of that side has an old mesh bedrail (for now) handed down from my sister.  Only the bottom of the bed is "open."  I folded a big quilt at the bottom on top of my nursing pillow, to make a bit of a wedge there to deter falling.  And I put pillows on the floor, just in case.

So far, so good.  We got him ready for bed tonight, telling him he'd sleep in the big boy bed.  When he seemed unsure, we asked him which bed he wanted to sleep in.  He said, "Big boy."  After our normal bedtime routine, I went to put him in the twin bed.  He started fussing, a panicked look in his eyes, "udder bed Mommy, udder bed."  So I lay down with him for a bit.  Eventually, he seemed nearly ready.  So I said goodnight and headed out.  Of course, I watched the video monitor non-stop for the next 20 minutes until he quit rubbing and stroking the sheet and fell asleep.

Now I just have to hope I sleep tonight, and don't spend every moment watching the video monitor to be sure he's safe...

Big step tonight, for Mommy and for George.

Doggie playtime!

George loves our dog Jazzie, and sometimes he wants to be just like her!

Such fun times for a boy and his dog.

Splashing and Bubbles on Mommy!

After playing in the dirt in the garden, George's fingernails were filthy.  I thought a good way to clean them up with out a bath was a big sink full of soapy water.  George thought this was the most fun, especially when he "got" Mommy.  And it was nothing a couple towels couldn't clean up after.

He started out wearing his big boy underwear, but he thought he wee'd in his pants when the water started spilling down his front.  So off they went.

Oh, he thought that was the most fun!

Water play is a pretty regular activity in our house.  These next photos were taken several weeks ago, George's first day wearing big boy underwear.  He wore them for 5 hours with no accidents and several trips to the potty.  Good boy!

Playing in the Fountain

We went to the Arts and Crafts Fair and it was a nice, hot day.  George had a wonderful time playing in the city fountain.

As you can see, he found it quite thrilling to put his entire head under the water!  He was certainly the wettest child there.  My water boy, George.

Oysters! My boy loves Oysters.

We've spent a lot of time out at the cabin this summer with Grandma and Poppa.  Each time we go out, we gather fresh oysters from the beach and cook them on the grill.  George loves oysters.  He'll eat a half dozen in a sitting, and more if he can get his hands on them.  This is truly a Northwest child.

He always blows on them to cool them down.

This face is a "quit taking my picture Mom, my oyster is getting cold" face.

Then in it goes!  And then he asks for more.  Good boy, George!

A Few Summer Days with the Cousins

George and I went over to my sister's family's summer home for a couple days right after I sat for my last CPA section.  George had a wonderful time playing with his cousins Lucy and James.  And I had a great time with my sister.  It was a fun time for us all!

We took a ferry boat to the island where the house is.  It was George's first ferry ride since he was "aware" of his surroundings.  He had a lot of fun running all over the deck, and we stopped to take a few pictures too.

George's favorite highlights were playing in the pool with James and Lucy, sitting in his own innertube, reading with Lucy before bed, and playing in the park.

He was so thrilled to be able to sit in his own inflatable, with Mommy very close by of course.

And being able to share with cousin James was even better!  His cousins are so good to him and love having him around.  We're very lucky to have such neat kids near by.

About here he was pretty ready to get OUT!!

But he went right back to having fun with Lucy on deck.

Even after we left the pool, he couldn't resist the inflatable.  And his cousins had fun helping out.

I adore this next picture!

Later we took a walk to the beach.  George had such fun playing on the giant lawn and exploring the beach with his cousins and his Auntie "Kisstine."

Sweet boy, picking flowers for his Momma!

That was all on the long, busy walk to the beach.  Then the beach brought it's own fun in the form of shells and tide pools!

Such fun to be had by Puget Sound.  That night, Lucy helped get George ready for bed, then she read stories to him.  She is a wonderful reader, very dramatic!  And George just loved snuggling up in the big bed with "Yucy!"

George LOVES storytime, and it was quite special to have his cousin reading to him.

Earlier that day George spent a good amount of playtime on the little playground nearby.  He loved swinging on a big swing for the first time.

And a bit of jungle potty...

Finally, the next morning George and I went for a lovely walk while the others slept in.  We walked down to the Sound and visited two pretty horses.  Then we went out onto a dock where a bald eagle was perched.  It let us walk very close before it flew away, found a new perch, and let us get even closer.  It was a beautiful bird, and the closest George or I have ever been to an eagle outside the zoo.