Prunes

Here is the token "Baby's First Prunes" photo. Caleb didn't love them as much as Riley did, but they served their purpose today...thankfully! Look carefully and you can see his cute pout behind the pruny mess.

5 Months Old

Lovey

Caleb has not been sleeping for naps all that well and only takes short little cat naps. He also likes to get up really early and can't always settle back down to sleep. So, after hearing this, Great Aunt Lynn sent Caleb a lovey just like 2nd cousin Brady's. Brady loves his giraffe and so far Caleb loves his cow. This morning when he started waking up and found his cow, he was delighted and snuggled with it for awhile, giving Mommy a break! Thanks Great Aunt Lynn!

New coat

Riley's winter coat for next year came in the mail today! I got it one size too big so it will make it through 2 winters. This doesn't appear to be a problem with sleeve length, but the coat is REALLY long on this shorty.

As good as it gets

Well, after two more days of time, this may be as good as it gets for this bloom. The color in the picture doesn't do the flower justice AT ALL, and I'm still not sure what it is. I may have a hard time identifying my flowers this year because the bugs and weather have stunted  the height of my plants.

Quick Trip

We made a quick trip to Ogunquit yesterday for the night to visit with my Uncle Bob and cousin Margy who were visiting from VA. Then we went to the beach for about an hour (only, because Riley didn't sleep well last night and was cranky).

Uncle Peter helped Caleb put his toes in the Ogunquit sand for the first time.

Still Waiting

So, almost an entire week later, I am still waiting for that first dahlia to open. It has made some progress, but not enough for my liking. We have had a rough summer here so far. I first sensed the return of the leaf hoppers at the end of June before we went away for a few days. I sprayed when we got back, but had to divide my spraying over a few days because I ran out of spray. Then we had about two weeks without any rain and with scorching temps. The grass all died and all plants looked pathetic. It was tough to water everything because of the deep watering dahlias need. I have so many and ran the well dry for an evening once when I tried to give them a good soaking. (In fairness to the well though, we were running the washing machine and the bath at the same time as well.) Then I noticed some adult leaf hoppers (which are actually quite pretty) and some aphids the other day and sprayed again and again ran out of spray. I've also been combating Japanese Beetles and have one of those bag a bug traps hanging which I thought were so dreadful in my mother's garden when I was growing up.
At any rate, I think this dahlia will be quite lovely once it opens fully. If it ever does.

First Food

Caleb had his first bites of rice cereal tonight. He has been watching us eat with interest, so we decided to try and see it he would like the cereal. He LOVED it and ate it all with great excitement!

Who will I be?

My first dahlia of the year will open within the next few days. This is exciting in and of itself, but there's added excitement this year because...none of my plants are labeled with their names. Riley helped me plants the tubers in the fall, and putting the name markers in was just one added step that seemed too much at the time. So, I'll figure it out when they bloom!

Friends

Today we went to a big park in Nashua to meet up with one of my oldest friends, Jenn, and her kids. Riley and James played on the playground and then we all had a picnic lunch and Caleb and Annalise rolled around on the blanket! One the way home, Riley and I stopped to share a dish of soft serve while Caleb slept beside us.

Annalise and Riley checking out one of the belated birthday presents for James from Riley and Caleb.

James getting smooches from his mommy. 

Annalise giving Caleb a nice pat on the head.

Mommy, Riley, and Caleb.

Baby Ballet

Riley went to her first baby ballet class this morning. It's only 30 minutes, but she really liked being with the other little girls in the class. Here she is right before we left!

New Kitchen

Many thanks to Grandma's friend who gave us her kids' old kitchen set for Riley to play with!

And many thanks to Grandma for always keeping her eyes and ears peeled for things we might like!

Happy 4th!

Isn't it nice that the Red Sox wear red and blue?! It makes dressing kids for the 4th of July so much easier! Doesn't make picture taking any easier though!

Friendly Farm

On Friday we went with friends to visit the Friendly Farm. Riley was just as unsure of most of the animals this year as she was last year. The animals are so conditioned to getting food that they sometimes swarm people to get it. Not fun for a short 2 1/2 year old to be completely beset by goats, no matter how small they are!

Feeding the goats - much better when they are held back by a fence.

Feeding a bottle to a 1 month old cow.

Sheep with Daddy.

Movin' On Up

Because Caleb will soon be starting to try cereal and other baby food, we decided that now was the time to move Riley up to her big girl booster seat at the table. We made a big deal of it and bought big girl place mats for her at the store yesterday. She picked out two Elmo ones. Daddy picked out a map of "El Mundo" (everything on this world map is in both English and Spanish - just to confuse things for a kid) and the presidents.

Caleb also practiced sitting in his new chair.