beautiful weekend

some pictures from our hike last weekend. a stunningly beautiful late summer day. here's boopers and pete, shortly after she nodded off in the backpack.












here are the "kids," taking a snack break on the "summit." aubrey WORSHIPS cabot, and it is a rare day when he lets her pet him.





and again. so cute. can you tell that i gave aubrey her first haircut? it was a bit of a challenge, and i'm sure it's not very even, but i got the job done, and it turned out alright.


back to work!

five steps!

i am having a proud mommy moment!

today aubrey took five steps. the most she's taken yet. of course, i wasn't there to see it, but. still. i'm so proud!

blushing. heeee!

old mcdonald...

funny story!

last night, while in the bath (which is the time of day where aubrey sits still long enough to play games and sing with us), we were going through our usual rotation of singing songs, playing with toys, splashing water, and pointing at body parts, when aubrey said, quite clearly, "eee iy, eee iy, oooooh."

pete and i looked at each other. surely, that wasn't a coincidence. but, had we ever sang "old mcdonald had a farm" with her? not that we could recall. this prompted us to sing through a couple of verses of "old mcdonald," during which aubrey happily swayed back in forth.

apparently, on the ride to "school" this morning, she blurted out "eee iy, eee iy, ooooooh" again. so pete asked aubrey's "teachers" whether they had sung old mcdonald recently. it turns out that old mcdonald is the purple room's FAVORITE SONG. so funny!

it is amazing to see aubrey make connections and to get a glimpse at what her thought processes are. heee!

howdy

sorry for the lull in posting. i really have no excuse except that, well, it's summer.

and it's been a very rainy summer. cucumbers are out of controll in the garden, so clearly they are thriving in all of the wet weather. the tomatoes, unfortunately, have taken a beating. we are finally seeing small broccoli heads form on some of the broccoli plants, though. and i think this weekend we will be making a big batch of pesto. and probably pickles.

we are in the middle of some big painting projects: pete took this week off to paint the framed section of the house. and we are about 40% finished painting the kitchen, too. (a bright yellow. goes well with the cherry cabinets and soapstone countertops. at least i think so.) hopefully those projects will get wrapped up in the next week or so.

aubrey is so! close! to full-on walking. you should see her speed along with her cheapie plastic walker! it's one of the cutest things i've ever seen! she's really good at steering, too. so the first independent steps could come any day now.

she is also rapidly expanding her vocabulary, and impressing us daily with her discoveries. the other night, while in the bath, she successfully pointed to her: ears, nose, eyes, mouth, and head. wow! i was floored! we are also very good at identifying animals and making their corresponding sounds. she is especially good at woofing and panting like a dog. she can also squawk like a monkey and mooooo like a cow. ; )

now if i could only get her to grasp the concept behind the word "no." hmmmm....

mmmm...bubbles.

who knew that bathtub bubbles could be so delectible? here's miss a, having just taken a big refreshing (?) gulp of bubbly goodness.

blerg.

that pretty much sums up how i'm feeling right now. you know what its like when you've entered a contest to win an awesome prize and you find out that you probably didn't win the prize but you're not 100% sure and the not knowing is just eating away at you? yep. that's how i feel right now. it sucks.

so to make myself feel a bit better, i'll share a funny tidbit about my brilliant gal: about a month ago, while biding time in home depot waiting for dada to pick out the perfect switch plates and other electronic devices, aubrey and i galloped around, looking for those warning signs that they place at the entrance to an isle that is closed off for safety reasons. these signs are usually equipped with a picture of a STOP sign, accompanied by the words "for your safety." (aaaah. the attorney in me smells liability...for your safety? hah! yeah right.) anyhoo...every time we came upon one of the signs i would stop in my tracks and put my hand up near aubrey's face and declare, "STOP! for...your...safety!" she thought it was hysterical.

recently, on our nightly walks around the village, we've noticed that aubrey will put her little pudgy hand up and say "STAH!" whenever we approach a stop sign. then she cracks up. isn't that so cute? i can't believe she remembers that day in home depot! she is, obviously, a lot smarter than i give her credit for. ; )

summertime photos

one of boopers favorite things to do these days is hang out in the back yard and splash around in her kiddie pool. i don't blame her, really. it's been so friggin' hot out! she really is a little fish...she LOVES the water! a future olympic swimmer, perhaps? we'll see.

new big things to report: boopers is getting very good at standing independently. she practices all the time. it won't be long before she takes her first steps! i'm giddy with excitement for her. (and a little nervous for me...i'm not prepared yet!) she has correctly referred to me as "mama," and pete as "dada." she also can woof woof like a dog on cue. she is soaking it all in these days...mimicing sounds, gestures, faces. i have to be more careful what i say around her!

and the garden is really starting to flourish! in addition to the daily cucumbers and lettuce we've been harvesting, we have zucchini ready to pick! soon the arugula will be ready and hopefully we'll have more peppers on the way. and lots of tomotoes. yum.

and before i forget, here is a picture of moi, with the new hair cut. so far, i'm lovin' it.