a Mommy-made Dress

Here's Bridget in her first Mommy-made dress.  I have enjoyed making little boy clothes for Henry over the past few years but there is something extra special about a little girl's dress.  

I just copied the general shape of a dress she already owns.  I like how it turned out even if it is a bit sack-like.  I didn't think a little baby dress needed any shape but I think next time I will try adding some sort of shape.  And of course I made it a bit big like you do when you're sewing for a 3 month old.  So that adds to the sack look.  But I think she is cute enough to pull off the sack look anyway.

I'm sure there are many more Mommy-made dresses in her future.  

Garden Bounty

Just enjoying the garden bounty over here.  And the face below that Henry pulls when I ask him to smile these days.  Last night's dinner featured tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, and red pepper all from the garden.  

Busy Weekend

Here are some pictures of our busy weekend. 

Waterloo Buskerfest

Morning at the Beach

Time with my family including a walk by the lake

 

A BBQ with friends at which Bridget was too fussy for me to get out my camera

Home in time for beer brewing

And playing in the kitchen with Henry while Kevin takes care of the beer

The Garden

Lots of exciting stuff going on in the late summer garden.  We are eating loads of tomatoes and cucumbers from back there and we are scrounging for just enough lettuce to go with them.  I'm not sure if I'll have quite enough tomatoes at any point to turn on the dehydrator.  Especially now that we have really got the hang of eating loads of little tomatoes - lots of salads and falafels.  

It has been really fun picking with Henry this year.  He's always happy to go picking when I suggest it.  And he's very good at only picking the red and orange tomatoes.  Only once did he wander into the house with 2 hot peppers that were not ready to be picked.  

We are getting a few peppers.  The greenhouse seems to have helped but still the yield from each plant is very low.  And my hot peppers never turn out hot!  Just can't seem to figure out peppers.

We are also currently enjoying a second crop of wild raspberries.  Henry is especially pleased.

And we're enjoying just being in the backyard.  We've been having really nice weather and spending lots of time back there.  

With the cooler temperatures and the dry crinkly weeds it is really feeling like the end of summer.  But we thoroughly enjoyed our summer this year, got out and did lots of summer activities so we are ready for the transition to fall to begin.  Putting on jeans and a sweater feels pretty nice right now actually.

Paris

We had a lovely day in Paris, Ontario on Saturday.  Started with a little hike, we would have liked to do a longer one but Henry was not into being on Daddy's back and there's only a certain distance that you can enjoy walking at the 2 year old's pace.  

The weather was perfect so we made sure to have lunch on one of the patios overlooking the Grand River.  We got Henry his own kid's meal which he was pretty excited about but then ate about 3 bites of.   

But we still had a lovely time on that patio and then finished the day wandering around the town a bit and in and out of a few shops.  Bridget cried on the way home but it didn't ruin our lovely family day out.

Family Portraits

We made a couple of attempts at getting a family portrait while my mum was visiting this weekend.  None of them turned out quite perfect but I think they're great anyway.  These are my favourites. 

Growing Up

Both my babies are growing up.  Both learning new things all the time.  So far I have yet to really feel that "they're growing up too fast" feeling.  I know Henry is a little less cute than he was last year.  And last year was oh so fun when everything he was doing was "for the first time".  But honestly he is more of a real person now, we have little conversations, and all in all he is more fun.

And I thought I would enjoy baby number 2 in a different way, being more into "cherishing the moment".  But this time I know that she is going to be more fun in a few months when she smiles and reacts more and starts to really play.  She is smiling more and more each week but I am still waiting for her to smile more.

But I should mention that at the same time I am cherishing the moment.  Really I'm not waiting for anything even though I know some things are going to get better.  I am enjoying my perfect little kids to the max.

 Bridget's latest milestone is rolling over.  I have yet to see her do it but I am 100% positive that I did not leave her in this position so she must be moving and rolling from back to front already at 2.5 months.

And suddenly this morning Henry can open his own pistachios.  He saw the big bag of unsalted pistachios at the grocery store yesterday and got excited so of course I bought them for him.  That kid loves nuts! 

I apologize if that last picture is a bit gross.  He is showing me the pistachio that he opened himself.  I may be blinded to the grossness by the fact that he is my own kid.  I am still changing his poopy diapers after all - how could anything he does be grosser than that!?

Beach Day

 We had a great day at the beach yesterday.  We went to Shade's Mills, a conservation Centre in Cambridge - just a 20 minute drive.  And it was really nice.  It had a nice area to hike in and an alomst goose poo-free beach.  The weather was warm but not too hot so spent just about all day there.  And both kids were perfect!