It's time to pick fruit again! We've been using whatever free time we have to pick our apples and blackberries. Hopefully today we'll be able to make some preserves. I'm going to try to make some apple cidar vinegar this year too.

Nolan has been very helpful this year, and loved being able to climb up the ladder and help. He's very parrticular about which apples and berries we can pick. Nothing that is not ripe, blemished or "squishy".





Caleb isn't nearly as picky and definately not as helpful. If he does manage to stay in one place long it's because he's eating everything we pick.



The boys are still remarkaby different. They fight quite a bit now. They seem to try to irritate each other all day long and both get irritated by the strangest things. Nolan will complain that Caleb is "looking at his eyes" at breakfast and Caleb will scream if Nolan comes anywhere near him most of the day. They antagonize each other on purpose throughout the day.



Caleb is still very into painting, music, throwing balls (and other objects).




Nolan loves to build and is very inventive and meticulous. He loves things that fly and go fast including spaceships, airplanes, and race cars. Like all the other boys his age he's obsessed with Lighting McQueen from the Cars movie right now.
He's also been getting into playing some computer games. I got some preschool computer games from a lady and although it seems early, he's been enjoying playing them.

Not much time to write, but here are a few new photos of the house.
This picture may have been posted before, but here is the two story high family room. You can see into the master bedroom and closet since the drywall isn't up yet (or roof at that point).
His and hers shower! =) Mine's the tall one obviously.
Another photo of the back. The covered porch area is almost framed up but the deck won't go on for quite awhile and we'll add some more trim lumber to the porch roof design.

Another view of the two-story room. Our friend offered to help us put a mural up on this big wall. You can see into the attic of the first floor and also the heating registers. Kind of a strange place for them, but the furnace is in the attic.
Here is a view of the front right now. The front porch is being framed up and the fascia is going on today.
Here's James putting up the lumber for the porch.
On a random, note...Nolan made it into the Times Standard on Sunday with his buddy Cole. It came out later than we thought it would but it's very cute!

I'll post some pictures of the boys and our berry/apple picking adventures later today!

We finally got to do some real camping. It was a short trip and last minute, but very fun. We ventured up the South Fork of the Smith River with Matt, Amie and Acacia and had a great time.

Caleb was happy to just throw rocks in the river the whole time, but the kids also swam, watched the fish and dug with toys in the sand.
The boys slept in the tent and we slept under the stars. There were a couple of good shooting stars that night, and we could see a lot more than we can on the foggy coast.
We had a couple of nice cliffs to jump off of into the deep, bright blue water. The river was clear and gorgeous with large rocks and bedrock.

Caleb never wandered far from his blankey and it was in need of a good wash when we got home.

I don't have to bend down too far to be at Nolan's height anymore!

All of the kids spent some time playing in the river. It was a little cold, but hard to resist.

The fair was really fun for both of the boys this year. We got to see a model train set and all of the fair animals.

The goats were the friendliest and easiest to pet, although they tried to eat our clothes.
Most of the rides were for bigger kids and Nolan was still afraid of some of the smaller ones, but the car ride was definately a hit. We also had fun on the giant yellow slide, although I had to go down with both boys.
The biggest treat was the Caterpillar display of all of the tractors. Nolan and Cole even got their picture taken by the Times Standard newspaper, but we don't get the paper so I'm not sure if they made it in there or not.


Nolan got to play on the "digger-thing tractor" at the park last weekend too. Our friend Riley turned one and we had a great time at his party.
Looks like our favorite color is blue. The boys enjoyed hanging out with dad. Nolan is especially enjoying time with dad and is generally upset on Mondays when Dad goes back to work.
Caleb is very independent and very much in to slides. Although this slide was safe enough for him to go down alone. He snuck off to a very high dangerous slide and was up to the top in just a few seconds. I made it there in time to catch him at the bottom.

I had to post this great picture of Riley and his first birthday cake. It's great to see a one year old stuffing cake in his face.

The summer is almost over, but at least we generally have a nice fall here. The blackberries are getting ripe and the farmer's markets are full of produce. Not that I ever make it to any of them! I always forget until they're over. It's a great community for them though and nice when we hit them. Lots of colorful veggies and fruits you can't get in the market. Our friends Rosi and Vinnie brought over their beautiful girl Lily and new baby Aiden. Nolan loves babies and Aiden tolerated having a preschooler staring at him so it all worked out. I spent all day preparing ribs but burned them a bit at the last minute. They were still good though. You can't go wrong with BBQ pork.
Nolan and I have been getting creative at naptime. We built a spaceship one day with wood from the house and some tin foil and paint. A couple of days later we made a great book with photos from popular mechanics and construction paper and foam stickers about spaceships and space. Both the book and spaceship have been a few places already.


We're excited to be done with the house and get rid of some of the scafolding and ladders which are a constant attraction to both boys. Both are able to climb 10-15 feet if you turn your back longer than 30 seconds so it's a bit nervwracking. Large piles of wood are still an attraction too.
Dad is busy staining siding. He constructed a trough for stain and at night he dunks it and backbrushes it. He designed some neat racks to hold the siding as it dries. We're both excited to finish it since it's been a project he has to do 2-3 hours 3-4 nights a week and can't start until the boys are in bed. We can work together on the long pieces, but he usually has to do it alone.
The back of the house is a bit more exciting than the front and we're excited about all the south facing windows and future deck and yard.

It took a very long time to get that second story up but they finally framed it and stick framed the roof. We're still missing sheeting on the second story roof but it should be done by the end of this week. Then they'll install doors/windows and siding and they're gone. The rest is up to us. The plumbing/electric and heating will go in this month and likely the roof sheeting and insulation.
Other than that we're over most of our sicknesses. We all had headcolds for awhile and Caleb's lasted the longest. Last Thursday night he had a fever and was up all night. The next morning he was fine for awhile and then had a febrile seizure and got a bad fever again. The seizure (and subsequent unconciousness) was very scary as I didn't know what was going on, but apparently it's common in infants and was just caused by an ear infection. Tylenol and meds and it's all better for now. He could have another if he gets an infection again, but he'll outgrow them and isn't epileptic. Wish they could give you a heads up on every crazy thing that happens with babies so it's not so scary, but unfortunately there are just too many things to warn us about.