Little Man Walking

Alex is 11 months old and really trying to walk. And like every parent in the history of children, we try to get him to walk back and forth between us. Of course, his older sister makes it a little more...uh, interesting than it was 3 years ago.

Unfortunately it's really hard to catch on video, so this is the best I could do. But he walks along furniture, chairs, you, anything. He's close to standing independently, and he's always got that huge smile on his face. Although it's making me a little nervous, because it's the same smile whether he's climbing into my arms for a hug or pulling all the dishes out of the cabinet and grinding them into the kitchen floor.

Onion Braid

Our garden is growing like wild. Broccoli is done. We didn't have luck with the cauliflower - none yet. Pepper and tomatoes seem slow, and aren't producing much. Anyone else experiencing a bad year for them? But we did get plenty of onions. We planted them in late April and they are ready to pick. I braided them for storage this year....here's how it turned out.

Hair Cut Day!

Saturday was hair cut night. Alex really needed one, but we wanted to get the whole family involved so Sophie got a trim and Joe got a buzz (okay, not completely – just some of the hair).
Alex looks so grown up in his “after” pictures. Sophie wouldn’t pause long enough for good photo, but she looks younger. So does Joe. It was fun, until Sophie wanted to cut Mom's hair. Yeah, no thanks. Just Aunt Meredith has permission to do that.

Sunday evening concert

While Sunday is always bittersweet because of the imminent return to the week day life, there are always highlights. For instance the game Sophie and our neighbor Cassie like played today called "market." It basically involves going into the vegetable garden and picking anything and everything. On the upside, they eat almost everything they pick, heaps of broccoli, orange (not red) cherry tomatoes, snap peas, celery and tiny, undeveloped carrots. After Cassie had to go home, Sophie was still in good spirits, putting on a twirling concert for the camera. You can see she's still eating the feast of fresh veggies from the table. Now we just have to work a little harder on manners. :)

Stuffed Animal Hugs

So it's been a little crazy at the Refermat house. Alex's cold suddenly started coming out his ear (yeah - to gross to go into details). After some doctor issues (his regular doctor didn't have any openings for two weeks, not even another doctor at the clinic apparently. Well, we opted to go to a different one, at least for this issue). Little man has a double ear infection and a perforated ear drum. :( Joe is all about the silver lining and is telling him at least he gets to have that pink medicine Joe remembers fondly from childhood. Personally, I don't remember it so fondly, but that's okay.

Sophie is handling it all in stride. She made muffins with Miss Brittaney yesterday which she shared with us all and today she's thinking about Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Meredith. She said all there names and in memory of them she picked up her stuffed animals from them and is cuddling Clifford (Meredith) and the Serta Sheep (Grandparents). Super funny. She had to have both before I could take her picture today.

Sophie's SLIPPERY Afternoon

Oh, to be a child again and enjoy moments in the summer without thoughts of water prices, endless outdoor chores and being seen in a bathing suit. Hope you are all enjoying summer as much as Sophie is on this Wednesday afternoon with her new slip and slide.

Alex is 11 months and MOBILE!

I know I haven't updated in awhile, and I plan to back track through pictures and events, but that's daunting, so I'm going to start moving forward (and go backwards in the future - it's a heck of a philosophy, huh?!)

Anyway, Alex is 11 months old now - I know, I can't believe it either. He's been crawling for months, first with one leg out, sort of crab like, and now pretty much normal. But he LOVES to walk when someone will hold his hands, he's by the couch or with the push-behind toy on loan from Grandma and Grandpa Burger. Here's the video from a few days ago (before his big sister turned a little green and wanted to share the spotlight).