Apple Orchard

I took Caleb and Sophia to an apple orchard on Monday.  We met a few friends at the orchard, ate a picnic lunch, tasted several varieties of apples, took a hike to the trees, picked a few apples, and came home.  It was a gorgeous day to go.  While a little crazy to do with little kids, we had fun.  We picked up some Honeycrisp apples for eating and some tart Jonafree apples for cooking.  I think Caleb’s favorite part was carrying the basket we used to collect apples.  Oh, and eating the apples.  We’ll have to see what he thinks of apple crisp.  Sophia was a little oblivious to the apple picking, but she did fairly well.  She rode in the stroller for half the time, and I carried her in our front pack the rest of the time. If you’re looking for a good hill to work out your calf muscles, you can borrow my kids, my stroller, and my front pack, and head out to Wilson’s Orchard any time!  

Jonah

Caleb heard about Jonah at church this past Sunday.  This is also a story he’s heard at home, and he’s retained the storyline because the it has so much familiar and concrete vocabulary.  So this is how we retold the story this past Sunday afternoon.

There was a man named Jonah who said “no” to God and ran away from God.

There was a big storm (sound effects required), and Jonah went splash into the water. Along came a bi-i-ig fish.

The fish ate Jonah. yom. yom. yom. Jonah was in the fish’s belly, and he told God, “I’m sorry.”

Then the fish spat Jonah out.  Blah.  Then Jonah said “yes” to God and obeyed God. 

Ok, so a few details are missing.  We’ll work on adding details as Caleb adds vocabulary. 

Kudos to a great Sunday School activity, though.  I think Jonah got eaten by the big fish 25 times last Sunday alone.  Poor guy.  (I love how happy the fish looks too. It’s a nice, friendly fish who lures you in with a smile and then eats you.) ;) 

Caleb has also requested the “Jesus is Sleeping” story every morning for the past week.  I’ll have to save that retelling for another post. 

5 Months

Sophia is at the stage right now where she’s starting to scoot along the floor by means of pushing herself backwards, rolling, and turning.  The problem is that it’s usually in the opposite direction of where she wants to go.  She also loves to stand up and support herself (if you’ll help her balance).  She likes to get a good grip on whatever is in her reach and pull it to her mouth.  That’s great when we give her a spoon to play with during dinner.  Not so great when it’s my hair or the book Caleb and I are reading.  Sophia can sleep through the night if nothing is bothering her, but it’s still more of a pleasant surprise than a regular occurrence.

 

A few things I forgot to mention in my rush to post yesterday:

• Favorite new game-peekaboo
• Favorite new toy-the carrot on the bouncer (see above pic)
• Number of teeth currently visible-2
• Number of times she typically eats in a day-5
• Number of diaper changes-nevermind
• Number of smiles-countless

Time Flies

The one-tooth, pirate grin I enjoyed so much is gone.  It now has two.

A good reminder to enjoy each day (and night)!

Labor Day Weekend

    

 

Pictures

An attempt to capture Sophia’s one-tooth grin on camera. Instead, she captured the camera lens.

What happened when I told Caleb to lay back and relax while swinging. I think he forgot the “relax” part.

These guys love each other. Caleb gets the most giggles and grins out of Sophia, and Sophia gets the best hugs and toys out of Caleb. I hope that continues even when Sophia starts taking Caleb’s toys and invading his space.

Apologies

So apparently I sounded a bit bitter in my last post.  Sorry about that.  I’m really not.  Sometimes my humor doesn’t come across very well.  If you had to choose between eating that slice of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake and losing 2 hours of sleep between the hours of 1 and 4 a.m., what would you choose?  How would you react if you heard a baby scream at 1:13 in the morning--and you didn’t even know there was a baby in your house?  The potential infomercials have me chuckling to myself.

I am thankful for Sophia and all she has brought to our family already!  I love seeing her beaming one-tooth grin and her contented spirit as she watches all the activity around her.  I especially love watching her watch Caleb run in circles in front of her; it looks like she’s watching a tennis match.  I love seeing Caleb’s generosity with Sophia as he makes sure she has the best toys.  And I really love seeing her one-tooth grin.  I think it’s pretty cute even though others may compare her to a pirate.  I love seeing her sound asleep, getting he rest that she needs.  I’m amazed at how content she is even when she doesn’t get enough sleep and she’s obviously tired.  Sophia’s a gift to our family, and I look forward to all that she’ll bring to our family.  Losing a couple hours of sleep (Ok, it’ll be a lot of hours of sleep over the course of her life.) is nothing compared to the precious gift that she is.