The Farm!

We celebrated Snug's birthday the day before with our Ohio family, and later with our Michigan family, so on his actual birthday we had no festivities planned.  However, I certainly wasn't going to just let the day go by unnoticed!  We packed up and headed out with our good friends to a 1800's working farm that we love and try to visit at least once a summer.  

Everybody had to use the potty and wash their hands and gather for a group picture before we went in.  

First up was the blacksmith shop where they got a demonstration of how steel bends when heated and about the coal they use to keep the fire going.

Somebody was all about the horses.  That's my girl!

I'm hoping to be able to go back for Draft Horse Days where they have plowing competitions.

Horse lover in training.

Snug and his gal pal have been friends for a long time and I hope that friendship continues even as they get older and have more distain for the opposite sex.  They are just good buddies and I love it.

I don't know how old this lamb was, but I'd say just a few days at most.

The kids enjoyed trying to walk on stilts.

Thankfully one of the adults was mature enough not to just be snapping pictures of everything and took the time to help the children.  Geesh.

Sweet Pea was along too (of course) but rode in the baby backpack 99% of the time.

The handwashing flats challenge gave me a whole new respect for a washtub and board.

The homemade marble run is always a hit.  I was a little disappointed there wasn't anyone working in the kitchen that day as there usually is.  However, that meant that the house was practically ours for quite awhile and the kids were able to play and I could nurse and sit down for awhile.

Checkers on the front porch.

Neither one had a clue what to do from what I could tell, but as they are also good buddies they had a good time trying.

There is a creek bed on the farm that the kids can go down and throw rocks in and look for crawdads.  It was pretty low this summer as we haven't had much rain.

Ok, she is seriously SO cute!

And a good time was had by all.

We're currently in Michigan for a softball tournament and my cousin's wedding.  I'll post more next week when things slow down a bit (you know with Draycare and school starting).  Have a good one!

Snug is 6...Sweet Pea is 8 months!

Wow.  Six years goes by fast.  Snug had his sixth birthday and we celebrated over the weekend.  He had a LEGO theme.  

 Thank you Pinterest for easy decorating ideas!

 His cake was the easiest one I've made in years.  I wanted to make it look like a Lego brick.  The dots are 1/2 of the GIANT marshmallows they sell (I think they are called 'roasters').

 I took cardstock and made circles on them to look like LEGO bricks down the center of the table...can't really tell in my picture though.

 I do believe she is yelling "CAKE"!

 He was thrilled.  The yellow "Legos" are gluten free cupcakes that have 1/2 a regular marshmallow on them.  The only thing I hated was how much food coloring I used.  I'm not into artificial colors, but this was the look I wanted.  I guess they really don't get them often.

 Opening presents.

 This was Snug's gift from #1's parents.  I had to include this picture of LMM as he went whizzing by.

 Snug caught on right away.  I was both surprised and pleased.

 He looked so old.  You know, minus the Diego knee and elbow pads  :o)

 Just being silly.

 We gave Snug a bike.  He can't ride it, and might not be able to until next summer...it is even a little too big along with not having training wheels.  That's ok, he can grow into it.  He is growing so fast we were afraid that he'd outgrow an 18" before he learned to ride it.

 This past weekend Sweet Pea turned eight months old.  She got her first solids unexpectedly at a wedding when we were trying to keep her quiet during the toasts.  I gave her tiny pieces of melon (not our traditional first food for sure) and it indeed kept her quiet.  She was so excited I decided the time has probably come.

 Being in the high chair is not her favorite thing for sure.

 And she wasn't so sure about having a spoon shoved in her mouth.

 She wasn't sure at first about the advacado (our first choice in introductory food).

 The next bite was eagerly accepted.

 After that she fought daddy for not only the next bite but also for control of the spoon.

 She won.  We gave her the spoon and let her go at it.  She only got maybe 1.5 tablespoons.  We'll keep her intake very low so that her milk intake doesn't decrease.

Yup, this eating thing agrees with her. I've made lots of baby food and it is in cubes awaiting her in the freezer.  As organic produce comes on sale at the grocery (or ripe in our garden!) I puree it, freeze it in ice cube trays, and then freeze it.

At six years old Snug is 48" tall and weighs 50 lbs.
At eight months Sweet Pea is 26.5" and weighs 14 lbs 10 oz