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For all those of you out there who can’t believe sweet little Emma could ever do anything mean… here it is – the mean face. I was taking a picture of her just being cute and Zach kept putting his feet closer and closer to her… and thanks to the digital camera delay, I caught it on film. Ahhhh, siblings – at our house they are the best of friends and the worst of friends. (For the record, both of their mean faces are usually provoked!)

It was raining when we woke up Saturday, rained all day, and has been raining ever since! Actually that is not quite true, but it feels like it. It DID rain all day Saturday – hard – and all through the night (even harder), and on Sunday, though. The National Weather Service estimate for our area of Rochester was 11.7 inches for those 2 days! And it has rained at least part of every day since, although we got a few wonderful hours of bright sunshine in between storms Tuesday. We feel blessed and grateful that our house is still dry – we have had many ward members with flooded basements and several communities in SE Minnesota have had severe flooding. Thankfully, our biggest problem has been cooped-up kids – hence the pillow-fort on the couch for something else to do. Funny that they could sit that close together for a long time happy as could be in there but put them that close together without a fort and there is inevitably screaming, pushing and pinching within seconds. 🙂

One of my favorite adventures so far in Rochester has been raspberry picking at a local fruit farm. It is run by a couple as their retirement, and is such a great place. We went last year a few times, but ran out of jam before the berries were ripe again this year… good thing I had helpers this time! (The kids went last time, just weren’t really helpers…) Zach got right into it and picked 2 pints of perfectly ripe berries; and even Emma was a great picker! She kept saying “Is this one red enough?” until she had a pint of her own. (She was SO proud of herself, and insisted on carrying her pint ever-so-carefully all the way up to pay!) I love the atmosphere on a farm – the hard work combined with the beauty of the landscape, the fruit of the land, and the easy-going people – we’ll take it, even if it’s only for the afternoon. And then comes the rest of the fun… the jam! Once again the kids loved helping – they love that every time they eat the jam they can say they made it – from start to finish!

So it is offical… Emma, who has really not been a baby for a long time (although I still sort of think of her as one) has made the last step out of babyhood – she is out of the crib. Nate has wanted to change her crib into the toddler bed for a while now (he swears the toddler bed was the key to Zach sleeping well), and I finally stopped resisting. Still, on the night he said “let’s do it” and I said “OK”, I tried to beg one last night with the crib so I could get used to the idea of her growing up. We left it up to Emma, who said she wanted a big bed, and I gave in. As you can see, she loves it… and she IS a big girl. (For the record, Nate seems to be right about the sleeping…)

The fourth week of t-ball camp was the big game – and Zach has been counting down to it from the beginning. It was everything you would expect from a t-ball game of 3-5 year olds, including our little shortstop getting bored from lack of activity and sitting down for a good portion of his team’s stay in the outfield. He asked all day long if he would be the first to bat… glad we hashed that out beforehand because he ended up last. He was lucky, though – they made everyone else stop after only one base… but since he was last he could run until they tagged him out. He got a great hit and made it all the way around – the only home run of the game (a grand slam, actually…) He was so proud! And to top it off, they got medals at the end… all around a great experience. We will miss Tuesday night t-ball and are proud of our little slugger!

I remember a book titled that from my childhood… well, whoever wrote it probably had a little boy. And a neighbor boy. And a little girl who wanted to do whatever the other two did. Getting to the story – in our neighbors’ front yard is a huge light pole. The other day Zach and Henry discovered that there was a good-sized hole next to the pole (looks like it was made by an animal of sorts) and decided they would dig the hole bigger and knock the pole down. (Boys!) I have had a hard time convincing Zach that the neighbors don’t really want a big hole in their lawn; (why NOT, Mom???) he didn’t buy the reasoning that their dad might fall in when he’s mowing the lawn, and was only deterred momentarily when I told him the police might be mad about the light pole crashing down (all right, not the police, but probably at least the city…) To appease them we have been letting them fill it up with weeds and then dig the weeds out, and although that works for Emma, the boys still try every time we go out front to dig that hole bigger… dirty knees, filthy fingernails, mud-covered shoes (from sticking them down into the hole)… what did I expect? A hole is to dig. (Sorry about that, Godfreys!)

Lately with Emma’s 3 hour naps she has been seeming less and less tired at night – and with Zach taking no nap (but still needing one some days) he is ready for bed by 7. One day this week when he was particularly worn out (as was I) I put them both to bed at 7:30… and at 8:30 Emma was still calling to me every few minutes asking for books and songs and for me to sit close to her bed. Finally she said, “I’m not tired!” and Nate, being less worn out (and always the fun dad) said “I don’t think she is, let’s get her out.” So out of bed she came, right as we were starting to make chocolate chip cookies… and here she is at 9:30 at night licking the beater. Who can be surprised that every night since then she has called out from her crib, “I’m not tired!!” (She is, though, as we have started waking her up from her nap earlier… sigh… I hate waking a sleeping child!)

After living in Utah for so long, and being so accustomed to celebrating the 24th of July, I thought it would be fun to celebrate it for FHE each year. Zach wanted to make handcarts, so we did – and he wanted to pull them “a long way, like the pioneers!”, so we did (if the block and a half walk to our park counts as a long way). I told the kids to load them up with something that was special to them… Emma packed her blanket and a kickboard (her latest obsession, even though it has never been to the pool) and Zach loaded his up with a blanket and a bunch of stuffed animals. The results were predictable, but interesting all the same… Emma pulled her “handcart” all the way to the park and back; Zach’s handle broke in the front yard and I carried his all the way to the park and back. He did kick it up the hill for a little bit, saying: “I think maybe the pioneers did this sometimes…” and then “oh no – it’s gettting damaged!” It was a fun adventure – I think Emma would have made the best pioneer out of the 3 of us (Nate was at a dinner for work so he missed the trek) – she smiled the whole time she was pulling. The thing that I always think about when I think of the pioneers is this: my great-great grandfather William Woodward was a part of the Willie handcart company, and kept a journal of the trek that BYU has since published online. As I searched through the entries in his journal to find some cool story to share with the kids, I kept reading about the weather and how many miles they traveled. It made me think… just walking and camping every day probably didn’t seem like anything very special to them, but when we look back at what the pioneers accomplished it is incredible. I think too often I expect big changes and grand accomplishments; but when I look back I am sure our daily plodding along will have become something much more significant.

It’s not about where you are, it’s about who you’re with, right? After deciding to take our weekend campout in our backyard, we decided we were winners on all fronts. Minnesota campsites just aren’t as secluded as we’re used to in Utah (and even PA), and we opted this time to get an above-ground firepit and bring the campsite to us instead. It was close to the bathrooms, the playground, the fridge (for all those things we forgot the first time to the fire) – and the kids were so excited for s’mores in a bowl (they refuse to eat it all together) and to sleep in a tent that it didn’t matter one bit we were still at home. Zach had a safety around fire book (from the library) that he insisted on bringing out and making sure we abided by all the rules – yes, definitely my son. And we had so much fun that we think we just might see most of Minnesota’s state parks on day trips (although Nate and I have decided we are old and need the air mattress next time!)

So it is finally here… the t-ball camp Zach has been waiting for ever since preschool finished. It was a little crazy, and Zach was a little overwhelmed at first, but he settled right in pretty quickly. Nate got off work in time to be there, and they had a great time together. Zach is a good little ballplayer! 2 more practice sessions until the big game… and he just may wear his green YMCA t-ball shirt every day from now until then!