Being a boy

I was on a blogging hiatus due to technical difficulties--our camera's USB cord didn't work anymore. Well, thanks to an early Christmas present to ourselves (a.k.a. a new digital camera), we're back in business.

What good is it to be a boy if you can't do boy things (like getting down and dirty in the dirt, and eating it while you're at it)?













And what good is it being a daddy if you can't make a mudhole for your son to play in?



















Getting cleaned up







Ah, boys will be boys!

Catchin' Up

Here are some pictures I've wanted to post so I'll lump them all together.

One day I was out adjusting a sprinkler when Tyler innocently decided to come to me. He had a quick, wet lesson on sprinklers.





Here's a tired little boy finishing his nap in my arms. I love it!



Tyler STILL loves his Baby Einstein DVDs. He goes to the book shelf to grab another DVD as soon as one finishes.





Here's a cute carrot couple that came out of our garden.

Canning and the County Fair

Tyler and I went to visit my parents for the Labor Day weekend.

As luck would have it, it was THE weekend for the county fair, and some of my favorite people were participants.

Here is Nathaniel with his sheep. Nathaniel won a ribbon in his sheep's division.



Here is Jonathan with his sheep. Jonathan was Master Champion Showman of all the participants!!!!!



Here's Laura's beautiful painting. I didn't get a picture of her with it, but I think she should have won the grand prize. This 6 year old can draw WAY better than me!



Jonathan and Nathaniel were the only ones to enter their pygmy goats. They're so cute! (Oh yeah, and the goats are too!)





Here's Tyler's fair experience. (There were so many places to wander around.)











Lovin' the bubbles Laura was blowing.





We loved watching the "mutton bustin'."



I tried to get a close up of the tiny little kid holding on to dear life on the sheep, but it's turned out to be a very tiny close up. (Maybe you can click on it to see a bigger version. Who knows!)



The Labor Day weekend wouldn't be complete without the Labor Day Parade. We've learned to stand at the very beginning of the parade where you can get TONS of loot.







Here's my (uh, I mean Tyler's) stash of goodies!



I was also able to do some canning with my mom over the weekend. We canned applesauce and peaches. (Wouldn't you know the pears were ripe the day I went home, or I would have loved to have helped with those too.)

I got pictures of the applesauce process, but I totally forgot to get the camera out while we were doing peaches.

Rinsing



Coring and cutting



Boiling



Squishing the good stuff out while getting rid of the rest



I didn't get a picture of the 19 quarts of applesauce or the 14 quarts of peaches that we did, but here's a bottle of each. Yum! There's nothing like home-canned food!



And here's how Tyler passed the time: playing at the counter and riding on the lawnmower with Grandpa.







We had such a great time!