Child Labor

It's no secret that green beans are Sprout's favorite food item. Raspberries, in season, are a challenger, but green beans are the staple of her diet. Surprisingly, she snapped beans for about two hours today while we chatted about Grampy's dump truck. Oma and I had a hard time keeping enough beans in front of her to keep her busy, as we had to snap off the ends for her.

 We canned 35 pints of beans today, but we'll probably need to match that effort to get her through until next year.

Little Blue Truck



This book is probably Sprout's favorite bedtime story. I like to read it because I can use different voices for all of the characters involved. It's about a friendly little blue truck which honks at all of the animals as it passes by. A Big Dump truck comes along and tells Little Blue to get out of the way because he has important stuff to do. Big Dump later gets stuck in the mud, and Little Blue calls on all of his friends (animals) to help push Big Dump out of the mud (including the frog). Big Dump learns that it's important to have friends to help when things turn south.

Today, Sprout and I were headed out to the store when we saw Grampy walking up. His dump truck was stuck in the mud at the bottom of the field, and he needed some help. We didn't need help from the frog, as Sprout and I pulled him out with the "Back-O."

Toddlers tend to dwell upon things, so all afternoon we heard about "Grampy's dump truck stuck in mud!"  Me, "What did we do?" "Pull with Back-O. Grampy happy now!"

I think there are two lessons to learn here. 1) Bedtime stories actually do relate to real life. 2) If you do something embarrasing that you don't want other people to know about, Sprout will totally sell you out!

Huckleberry Camp

Last weekend we made our third annual trip to Huckleberry Camp. It is a family reunion of sorts for my mom's side of the family. Last year Sprout and I left Karen behind even though Sprout was still wearing her cast. This year we spent most of our time working on kid management, so we didn't take very many pictures. I'm hoping that Evelyn will come through with some more pics for me to post (hint hint). Here is a picture of our family, including Dad, who had heart surgery just over a month ago.

 One of the most important things about camping is to get unplugged and enjoy nature... Then again, camping with young children is a challenge, and ten minutes of silence is like gold.

 We brought Skippy along for his anaugural camping trip. While he's still afraid of the camera, he did really well with the other 25 dogs in camp.

 Of course, we couldn't come home without a picture of the Huckleberry Camp matriarch, Aunt Louise. Here she is posing with her great great great niece and nephew. If you want to come to Huckleberry camp but have limited time, I suggest showing up on Sunday morning for her sourdough huckleberry pancakes. I think Elena ate more of them than I did.

 My parents brought their "new" camp trailer along on this trip. All four of us took advantage of the bathing opportunities offered by their trailer, including Marcus. I had to get a picture of his bath because I don't think he'll fit in the sink next week.

We had a great time camping with my family despite our lack of sleep. It was great to reconnect with family, some of whom I haven't seen for years. Attendance was up this year due in part to the passing of my cousin Aaron. His parents made a nice display for us to remember him by, but we did not dwell upon his death during the campout. R.I.P. cousin Aaron.

Horrible Accident...

Or a toddler playing with a marker?

When I got home today, I took off Elena's hat to find this. I was in the middle of freaking out when Karen walked in and started laughing at me.

Two Months

Marcus has reached the two month mark. He continues to do the same things that he has been doing. He's sleeping at longer stretches, likes baths, cuddles, and tolerates his sister.

 He's doing better at holding his head up and rolls at times.

When quiet isn't a good thing

The other day I was feeding Marcus and Sprout was really quiet. Too quiet. So I decided to investigate. This is the same girl who recently found new lotion called Colgate and proceeded to cover her entire body in the stuff. Turns out she was giving her baby a bath in the sink.

 Sprout was looking like a drowned rat herself. The floor was covered in puddles and wet towels- at least she was trying to clean up.