Merritt's Quilt

Landon's Grandma Hilda makes a quilt for every grandchild.  It has become a rite of passage for my children to be photographed on their quilt.  You may remember that I posted about Zetta's quilt here. [though the pics are down temporarily, sorry].  This was the first time that I gave Grandma advance notice about the gender of our baby- because we didn't find out with Hale and Zetta!  Grandma chose the pattern and the material and surprised us after Merritt was born.  Grandma is incredibly skilled with a needle (she was recognized with an award of excellence at the NWWA Fair this year) and she also has a wonderful eye for colors. Grandma makes careful selections and always makes a pattern look its very best!

Merritt is over seven months now.  At seven months it felt like she was "awakened" to the regular operations of the rest of the family.  For example, she is usually looking at whoever is speaking in the room. If Hale and Zetta break into giggles, she giggles too.  She gets jealous if we are eating and we don't feed her.  It's been really fun to see her interact with the family dynamic.  

She is working on her top two teeth right now so sleeping has been a little rough this week.  She is starting to push up onto all fours- so I'm sure she'll be crawling before we know it!

See Merritt's two teeth?

Goodbye Preschool. Hello Raspberries.

Hale finished his last day of Little Stars preschool today.  It was so bittersweet.  His teacher gave him the "diligent star" award because he works so hard and puts his heart into everything he does. We are so proud of him.  This past week I have noticed so many new things that he can do on his own.  He has been dressing himself and laying out Zetta's clothes before I get up in the morning (which is sometimes difficult when the outfits he picks are not quite appropriate).  He loves to play card games and help me cut up the vegetables for dinner.  He really is ready for kindergarten.  I'm still getting used to the idea of having him gone three full days next fall.

Hale's last day of preschool

The weather is warmer and the days are longer and we are moving into this summer season with both dread and excitement. This is the prettiest time of year for the raspberries.  The fields are full and green but it's not a jungle out there yet.

The bees were just delivered and are starting their work.  Even though they've been stung before- the kids are unafraid of the hives and walked right through a swarm of bees to bang on them with a stick.  Yikes! Fortunately, we were paying attention and stopped them before they learned the hard way.

 Just another few weeks before we can taste our first berries!  I checked my jam stockpile and we are JUST going to make it through. Phew.

Petals!!

We had a glorious beginning to the month of May.  Grandpa Tom and Grandma Pat were here for 10 days.  It was SUCH a fun visit.  The weather is unusually summery and we have been enjoying all the color blooming in our yard.

The trees that anchor the four corners of our driveway bloomed during the last weeks of April and it was an amazing sight to behold.  I could see it a few miles away coming home from town.

 

I thought, "I wonder what will happen when all those petals drop to the ground?"   The answer is this:

and then this: