a new bed, a haircut, visitors, and a campout

september has been keeping us very busy. there's been a lot going on in just 2 short weeks.

at the end of august, jacob got a new bed. a bunk bed. oh boy oh boy! it was like christmas in august for him. he was thrilled, and it was so fun to see him so full of joy. unrelated, i have also stopped giving jacob an afternoon nap. after several months of naptime frustration, disobedience, etc, i realized that he was just ready. so now we have "rest time" instead. and he has been more than willing to be in his bed for an hour or so. it's almost like a treat. he's growing up!


jacob gave himself a haircut. i had only left him alone with the "youth" scissors (safely strapped into a booster chair, mind you) long enough to get kate out of her crib and get back downstairs. i guess he only had enough time to do on snip. glad i wasn't out of the room any longer! i thought about saving the chunk of hair for his baby book, but not until after i had thrown it in the trash in my frustrated rant. and i wasn't wanting to dig through the trash to save it.


my aunt vivian and uncle duane came to visit on their cross country drive to colorado. the kids loved having them and i told them they were welcome to visit ANY time they bring me a bushel of fresh ripe chambersburg peaches from york, PA. :o)

box was overflowing when i started slicing them to freeze them, but i had to stop to get a pic

grandma and grandpa mclane came to visit that same weekend, and we kept busy shopping and eating and playing. it was a fun, but exhausting, weekend. when they come to visit, we always seem to make a trip to the creation museum. and on this particular time, kate and i had the opportunity to ride gomer the camel. jacob declined.

kate and grandma, heading across the "bumpy bridge"

this past weekend, jesse and i got a last minute urge to go camping. after looking online for a good campground or state park area, and noticing most of the good ones were 2+ hours away, we decided to save the camping trip for another weekend and to camp out in the backyard instead. the kids had never been camping, so this was sort of a test-run, you know, to see if they could endure. and they did. they loved it. it was jesse who was ready to head inside at 4am. lets just say, he realized that shorts and a tshirt was not appropriate attire for the 50-ish degree temps. and the matresses were oh so uncomfortable. we carried the kids into their beds, managing to keep them asleep. both of us had back-aches for the next 48 hours. i guess we are getting older...how sad.

kate and jacob, marshmallows in hand, they would not stop moving!

today i started a very very casual (homeschool) preschool with jacob. kate tagged along and was a trooper. jacob was more interested than i thought he'd be. but i did learn that his attention span was very short. we will have a lot of practicing to do. i really have no clue what i am doing, but his little bit of interest did boost my confidence and i think this may just turn out to be a new exciting part of our day. at least for a few weeks, right?