Monday, July 21, 2008

Busy July

Peter showing off his teeth ... there's a third one coming in on the bottom nowSmiles for Aunt Karen
Opa giving Peter orange juice for the first time...
Looking a little lost...he hardly fits in the Bumbo anymore, I have to kind of wedge him in
After fighting with Mom over supper
He's just learning how to wave, and we're loving it!
Mike and I took him out in the rain the other day
A rare picture of Peter and his Mom... I'm usually behind the camera
"I'm swinging in the rain"
Lauren and Tom came for a visit yesterday and gave us presents: a new camera for me and a new baseball hat for Mike. Thanks guys! Haha
The backyard after the fenceposts were put in, but before the fence was built or the topsoil put downStarting to attack our 8 yards of soil
The yard after a few hours... levelled out nicely...what a lot of work!
A few shots I took of Peter this afternoon while fiddling with the camera... I love the first one!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Mid-July Update

And so the summer progresses... we've been busy so far, up and down, and we are looking forward to spending some vacation time with both of our families in a few week's time. This week we are preparing the yard for putting up a new fence to replace the sad excuses for fences that came with the house. We are looking forward to this being complete and for the yard to look fantastic! We'll be bringing in some topsoil to even out the back part of the yard, and once the grass is in at the end of August, we'll be set. For a few weeks now we have been enjoying lettuce and beans from my small vegetable garden, and we are looking forward to peppers, tomatoes, and perhaps even broccoli and cantaloupe later on in the summer. Next year I'll be able to garden on a bit of a larger scale, but for now we have been quite excited to eat some of our own home-grown food.
We have also been enjoying baseball games almost every evening in the park across from our house. It's so nice to be able to sit in the sun-room and have our own free entertainment! However the thing we find the most amusing about this whole situation is that every evening, after the crowd has disappeared, this old man comes slowly biking down the road on his ice-cream cart, his bell ringing in vain. I think I've only seen him around during the game once - seems to me he'd do a bit more business if he arrived when there's a big pile of hungry, hot people hanging around the diamond.
Peter is growing, growing, growing...I'm not sure what he's up to in weight yet, but I'm pretty sure he's toeing the line as far as eligibility for his car seat goes... he's able to rub his feet on the back of the seat in the car, and he's so hard to lift! He's still not rolling or crawling, and is just content to sit and watch. Sometimes I wonder if he will ever learn how to move around, but I'm sure once he starts that I'll wish he was still stuck in one place! All in it's own time I suppose... it's amazing how different kids are from one to the next.
Peter giving one of his precious smiles
Sitting in the corner of the kitchen while Mom cooks supper
He loves books with flaps - he just sits there flipping them open and shut...
...but if you take that book away and try to read him a story from a
BORING book without flaps, he's not a happy camper!!
Playing Peek-a-boo in a boxHiding in the boxCan you imagine being small enough to take a bath in a bucket in the backyard?

Friday, July 11, 2008

Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.
Surely He will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge;
His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord, who is my refuge -
then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
"Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him,
for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Monday, July 07, 2008

No wonder...

Mike and I were enjoying a quiet game of Blackjack this morning while Peter was taking a nap. Playing with just the two of us, we adapted some rule variations, and we each had our own deck. After almost half an hour of playing, I was losing VERY badly, having only two chips left. I think I had won the pot only a handful of times, and the game was turning out to be much more fun for Mike than for me. He seemed to be having incredibly good fortune, and I kept busting my hand against his 19, 20, 21 point hands. Time to find a new game, I was thinking! Then Mike's deck fell off the table and scattered across the floor...and we both had a hard time believing we'd been playing for almost half an hour. Somehow we hadn't noticed that the deck he had been playing with was a Pinochle deck...containing no cards lower than a 9. Never mind having a card up your sleeve, just play with a specialty deck and you'll clean 'em out every time!

Skunk!

As you may have gathered, we've been having some problems with groundhogs living in our shed. Our neighbour borrowed a trap from work and we set it up next to one of their entrance holes. We thought things were going quite well after catching one that very evening. His friends must have learned from his mistake, though, and didn't share their new knowledge with the other animals in the neighbourhood. The next animal we captured was this stinky critter:Ew! Not exactly what we were hoping for! Unfortunately I was out strawberry picking that morning, so I missed the bulk of the excitement. Thankfully, Mike didn't get sprayed when he flipped the trap upside-down, which easily unlatched the door. Mr. Stink made his way out of the cage after an hour or two of finishing up the bait.
And on less stinky news... here's a new photo of Peter. This is one of his favorite books - he loves flipping flaps open and shut, who cares about the story!