September's Nitty Gritty

Labor Day

We went paddling (canoeing... my spell check says "canoeing" is not a word, I checked canoelovers blog to see what he calls it (since he is the professional) I will use his word: Paddling) at Governor Dodge State Park. It was beautiful weather, the lake was smooth as glass and so clean. We haven't gone paddling since we lived in Austin and my paddling skills were far less than impressive, but by the time we were done, had greatly improved. Luckily the boys never fell out (despite several attempts) and we had a great time.

This lake was surrounded by beautiful trees just starting to change color. It was beautiful scenery and the beach of imported sand was great to play in....


And, according to Carter, it was yummy too.

(This kid! I've never seen any kid eat sand/rocks/dirt more than him.

He LOVES it... and I can't keep it out of his mouth)







Canning Corn

(This was actually August) I got to harvest and freeze all of Ben's corn while he was conveniently out of town. I got it all done during nap time though, so it wasn't so bad. It brought back memories of a being a kid and canning ALL SUMMER LONG. My mom canned everything: green beans, tomatoes, salsa, spaghetti sauce (the BEST I have ever tasted) corn, zucchini, apricots, peaches, pears, applesauce...and more.. like I said, EVERYTHING. It was our summer duties to help. It taught me a lot and helped form a good work ethic. Now for me, I don't think it is very cost effective to can, and I am OK with "store vegetables" so this is probably not something that I will routinely do. But when your husband plants rows and rows of corn, what-da-ya-do?

FACE PLANT!

Great. Not only does this kid snack on non-nutritive substances, I am finding he is accident prone. He face planted on cement steps right in front of me. He wasn't even going up or down on them, just standing still at the bottom. I am not sure if he lost his balance or what, but he didn't use his hands at all to stop him. I thought for sure his nose was broken. But, luckily, no. Just scraped. The picture on the left is the day it happened, you can tell it is just a little pink. The next day when it had scabbed over, Bridger saw him first thing in the morning and yelled to me, very concerned, "Mommy! What's on Carter's face!?"









Construction Zone



They finally finished repaving our street. My neighbor across the road said, "There are two seasons in Madison: winter and road construction."
We have a huge front window with a perfect view of it all. Bridger has been the project manager from inside yelling things like:
"No, Man, No! Not there!" "Dig! Backhoe, Dig! ....More!" and "Close your ears, Carter, this is gonna be loud!" or "Keep movin, truck." and if they are not out there soon after breakfast he asks, "Where are the conruction men?" It has been hilarious to hear the commentator and although the project has taken a lot longer than it seems like it should have, the boys have been well entertained by it all.




Books

Carter has recently taken a love to reading books. Several times throughout the day, he will pick up a book and crawl into my lap to read any book over and over again. I am enjoying him actually choosing and wanting to hold still... this is a scene in my life I know I will miss someday.