Poke berries and Grandparents' house

As summer begins its transition into fall (however gradual it may be...) the mornings and evenings are becoming pleasantly cooler and I find myself easing back into full time work. I have never ceased work (if only for a few months after Heath was born), but for the past 15 months or so I have been taking it pretty easy (working only 2-3 days a week) and I am now expected to go back full time. I am somewhat happy about what lies ahead with the semester (teaching 18-20 yr olds about the wonders of biology and working with undergraduates on bird research), but in reality will soon tire of spending less time with the boys and Jason and the daily challenges that come with being a working parent (fixing healthy lunches and the orchestration of childcare drop off/pick up). Thankfully I do not teach on Fridays...a good compromise? I will do all I can to leave my work at work, leave work early to take the boys to the park on beautiful days, and be in the present at all times. Alright...here we go.

I want to share a fun thing I did with the boys the other morning on just such a Friday when I decided to stay home....we crushed some poke berries that were growing in the yard and painted with them!

We went to visit Grammy and PaPa this weekend and had a great time. In addition to riding the bike and push tractor down their long hill/driveway, PaPa took the boys across the street in his tractor to see the chickens,

and they both really liked the tart apples that we picked from the floodplain of Buck Run.

...so Alder is still with his grandparents and we miss him dearly. School is closed this week so he is there until Wed. He has grown up noticably in past few months. We are so much better able to reason with him about things and he seems overall more content. He has entered his second phase of the "whys" and is pretty relentless in wanting to get to the bottom of various questions. Rhyming words are silly, fun games we play and he continues to enjoy his brother's company (for the most part).

Heath is such a riot these days. His ability to communicate is increasing a lot. He says (though only understandable to us) mamma, dadda, dog (any four legged animal), book , water, down, grunting at us (for teetee and poopoo - though this is typically happening during and not before the event), hoo (sound for an owl), ball, alder, and really every day is something else new. Very little signing, but we seem to be making progress in the last few days....Very exciting. He continues to be such a sweety - hugs and kisses and smiles.