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!

Sister is 11 Months Old!

Sweet, sweet Sister is 11 Months Old! (Truthfully, she’ll be ONE in a little over two weeks—ah!) She is so precious and so much fun to be with—we all adore her company and are loving watching her grow!

Every now and then she wakes up a little sweaty from her naps, but that doesn’t stop the cuteness . . .

Oh, those legs! In this last month, she has learned to pull up on things, and she loves it! Her music table is one of her favorite things—she loves to dance and sing along to the music, and her brothers often join in on the fun!

Sister continues to take a great ole afternoon nap with her brothers (thank you, dear children, for sleeping at the same time, most of the time!), and she tends to wake up early (6:30 is at the later end) for her morning bottle and snuggle with Ma-MA and/or da-Da-DAA! Mornings with little miss blue eyes are oh-so-sweet!

Anna has become the best dinner eater in our home. She takes 2-3 bottles each day, and she eats three big meals, with snacks in between. We started her on milk this month, too, and she seems to like that as well. She loves to blow raspberries and make noises, and she officially has 4 teeth on the bottom and 2.5 on the top (one is slowing poking in)! While the boys are typical toddlers and hardly interested in dinner, this girl will eat almost anything you put in front of her! Chicken with green curry—YUM, chicken enchiladas—Yes please!, a tomato off of our teensy plant out back? OF COURSE!

Anna’s hair has started to curl on up, too, and it is so precious! I’m pretty sure my hair was stick straight as a baby, so I’m not sure where she got these sweet curls, but I love them!

This little love continues to want to be heard, too—she is very expressive and does her best to communicate LOUDLY and as clearly as she can. She loves to look for birds (“Burr”) outside or play with the birds dangling from her birdy mobile. She has started to repeat some of the sounds we are saying, although she mostly says Ma-MA and Da-Da-Da right now. Her favorite things are singing and clapping, and I’ve noticed that when I have her to myself (while brothers are in school), she is quite chatty. Can you imagine? Another Reppard that enjoys talking?!

Shake, Shake, Sister! She loves to shake and sing in the car, and she has learned the hand motions to the boys’ favorite song about tractors/backhoes/firetrucks/rockets. Anna has been caught more than once trying to sing “trac-tor trac-tor” and waving her hands in the air like the firetruck “zooming down the street!” She has no hesitations about playing with hard hats or trucks, but she does love playing with the Little People Farm and Ark animals the most.

When she is not making music or singing, sister is working in the kitchen. She LOVES this kitchen. LOVES IT. (Thank you, THANK YOU, A Monny and Uncle Fred! What a hit this kitchen is!) She takes things in-and-out of the doors, in-and-out of the sink, and she crawls all around with pretend food in her hands and mouth. It is so adorable!

This next picture is totally out of focus, but I love the blurred curls and those big blue eyes—Anna is hard to photograph since she is on the move!

She is working on standing up on her own, and I just know that she’ll be walking running before we know it! She is such a fun little one to be around—she adores her brothers, her Daddy, and her cousin Charlie very much! She has a tinge of anxiety about leaving her Mama in the nursery at church, but we’ve realized that her lovie can help with that separation. (And oh, how she loves her lovie! When we give it to her, she giggles and grabs it up to put it on her face—it is so cute!) She is learning to hold her own a bit more in a house with two older brothers, and no, she is not afraid to wear her pink and her bow to a morning of seeing trucks!

(more trucks to come . . .)

Oh, Sister, we love you very much! Pretty soon, you’ll be able to tell your brothers yourself to stop biting your toes and to get their fingers out of your eyes. You see, my love, you are just so dear, we cannot keep our hands off of you! We love you, Little one—We YUB you YOTS and YOTS!

The Dentist!

At the beginning of last month, the boys, Anna, Sugie, and I headed to the pediatric dentist for the boys’ first check up.  Both H & W did really well at the dentist that day, and the staff at the Dr’s office was phenomenal!

The boys had started school the day before, and I didn’t cry . . . but, seeing them sitting in the dental chairs just made my eyes well up with tears!  They are getting so big, so fast!

They did a great job explaining all of the tools to the boys.

. . . and they got to play a bit, too!

This hygienist has one cute little helper!  See his hand?

Sister was wide-eyed during the whole thing . . . And, when the dentist put his finger in her mouth to check her toothies, she BURST into tears!  She may be a tad dramatic!

William kept a close watch on the hygienist and he had his hand on his for most of the cleaning (which, for William, lasted about five seconds).

After surviving our first family dental experience, we met Nonna and Cousin Casey for lunch!

And, Pop Pop was there, too!  What a fun post-dentist treat!

Brush and floss, people, brush and floss!