Wild Pear & Fall Harvest

I can’t seem to remember everything that I want to say when I sit down to post a new blog entry, so I wanted to update on two things:

1.  When we went to the Dentist, he told William that the paci had to go away.  So, that afternoon was the last time W slept with his paci.  For the record, I tried taking W’s paci about five different times before this, and his crazed-paci-withdrawal resulted in my giving it back to him (they are all going to need braces anyway, right?)  Well, this time, William gave up the paci and didn’t look back.  He asked for it ONE TIME.  ONCE.  This was both thrilling and terrifying to me:  thrilling because my boy was able to nap without his paci, which meant that life as we know it carried on . . . and, terrifying, because it showed me how very strong his will is!  I pray often for the Lord to use this little boy and his strong will for His Glory!

and

2.  I forgot to show these cute people and their “men” from school . . . don’t they make a cute pair?  (Please note the red fabric “hair” on Hudson’s “man.”  It was all his doing!  I love it!)

And, William’s glasses-wearing guy—adorable!

Now, onto the pears . . . We have had this pear tree growing in our yard since we moved in, but this year it is growing pears like crazy!  My husband tells me it is because of his attentive pruning that we are now growing so many pears—well done, Daddy!  (GiGi, any tips on how to care for this tree?  or how to make these pears tasty?)  It has been beautiful to look at, but a bit of a mess for the yard (good thing we don’t care too much about the yard right now . . . )  Daddy and his helpers decided to go and pick some pears off the tree to see if they were tasty:

Sister enjoyed the entertainment . . .

Watching and learning . . .

They gathered two bags, like this, which are in our fridge . . . what do we do with these?

Proud of his harvest!

Murphy (yes, we still have a dog) has been enjoying them as well!

Hudson ate several of them and said they were good, but we felt like they were gritty.  William was more interested in big boy things like riding the tricycle . . .

and climbing overtop of their play house . . .

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This spring, we planted a raised bed veggie garden, and I would like to tell you that we have eaten from it all summer long and that I watched out my kitchen window as my children ran barefoot and squealing through the yard while I baked all of our produce while wearing an adorable home-made apron.  But, that would be a lie.  The truth is we have eaten a few random things from it, as most things didn’t grow.  Now, as my husband says, I am all vision (and what he implies is that I don’t have much follow through!) so as the craziness of the summer wound onward, the garden fell to a low spot on our list of priorities.  It seems that the only thing I can successfully grow is children!  That said, we have enjoyed talking to the boys about how things grow and we have enjoyed the food that we have eaten!  One day, in my spare time, I’ll post some pictures from when we did our planting—those were some of my favorites from the spring!

Most of our harvesting happened this past month, so all of these shots are from September.  We had a few tiny tomatoes that were quite tasty!

Curly boy picking his ‘maters.

Proudly holding onto the food that he refuses to eat!

Sister wanted in on the camera action, too . . .

Last week, we headed back out because we saw something that needed some picking!

The boys took guesses about what it was . . . (Hudson was sure that the digger would help us pick the veggies)

I love this picture!

And, William found it!  Squash that was growing in the boys’ garden!

SO exciting!

And, onto tomatoes . . .

what, exactly, will happen if I hurl this across the yard?

And . . . victory!  a big green one!

And, because I cannot help myself, a picture of our tomato harvester from last year . . . oh how precious!

Sister watched much of the action from her post!

We’re excited to see what next year brings!