The last days of summer

Goodness I need to be better about my blogging. It's been over 2 months since I've last blogged and a lot has happened. So much so that I don't think I want to fit it all into one blog...so maybe I'll just blog about the super fun and important stuff.

We spent a lot more time down at the Emrich Farm in Chehalis and had an absolute blast. We had the privilege of helping pick the massive garden my parents nurture every year and canning a lot of the produce. We picked apples, peaches, pears, beans, zucchini, corn, potatoes, pickling cucumbers, dill, cabbage, tomatoes, pumpkins and mini pumpkins. I probably forgot something...actually I'm sure I did, but you get the picture. We also did some target practice and just some good ol' playing.

How many hands does it take to get ear protection on Shelby??

Success! And OH so cute!

Our little garden stomper...with a mouthful of cherry tomatoes.

Kaeli absolutely LOVES Cold Stone and the store in Chehalis recently closed, leaving her without her favorite treat; oh no! I decided to stop at the closest Cold Stone in Lacey on my way down to Chehalis one weekend and picked up the largest container of her favorite ice cream for her. She and Shelby were in heaven, as you can plainly see. These ladies love their ice cream!

The bigger the bite, the better it tastes!

Nic and Becki were able to spend a few weekends down in Chehalis too during the summer. Jane and Shelby hit it off and were best of buds. These two are so stinkin' cute! I just love em. They each had matching necklaces one weekend and wore them everywhere. These two are constantly on the go and wanted to be outside in the sunshine every second they got.

Shortly after this picture the wheelbarrow tipped over...no toddlers were harmed; just scared.

She looks like she's screaming...but she's actually super excited.

Shelby cannot get enough of watermelon. I swear she ate 1/2 of one herself this particular weekend! And it wasn't the personal sized ones either.

Cheeks full of cherry tomatoes, yummmm!!!

My parents grew an amazing dill patch this year and some of the stalks were over 6 feet tall. This picture I took is of Shelby and Kaeli trekking through the trails of the dill patch. They're dwarfed by it! I absolutely love this picture. If you haven't seen my parents garden you need to see it sometime. It's amazing!

A panoramic view of the awesome garden. 

We went to the fire department with Pops. Shelby loved her little fire hat.

We took breaks during the hot summer day to come in and eat ice cream sandwiches. She's a fan!

I took one weekend and baked till I was tired of standing. I ended up with 98 zucchini muffins and about the same amount of banana muffins. They're great to freeze and make easy healthy snacks. Shelby couldn't wait to get her hands on them.

We took one weekend and went to Point Defiance Zoo. I had a total brain malfunction and forgot to take pictures until we got inside at the aquarium. She loved all these little neon fishies.

Play time!

She would have gone down the "Otter Slide" all day if we let her. Up and down and up and down...over and over again. It was pretty fun though!

In September Shelby started swim lessons. We enrolled in the "Parent & Tot" lessons and it was...well...let's just say a roller coaster of  emotions for 4 weeks. Some days were great and some days were not. She is getting more and more comfortable with the water now, so we'll be starting another round of lessons on Monday. Woohoo!

Ryan turned 31 on Sept 20th!

Loves for daddy.

Shelby loves to put coins into her piggy bank that Great Grandma Kershaw got for her last Christmas. So excited in fact that she came to show me she was done, tripped over her own feet and came crashing down. We are now in the market for a new piggy bank. She was absolutely devastated and ran off sobbing. Poor thing! I picked up the pieces and she noticed that the money slot was still intact on a larger piece and tried to put money into it again.

Poor little piggy.

Shelby now has an obsession with closing doors and has to close every door of every room she goes into or out of whether it's a bedroom, bathroom, pantry or closet. This video shows one of her mistakes...I heard little cries for help from her room which usually end up as great photo ops (she's never in danger, just gets herself into predicaments she can't get out of herself) so I grabbed my phone and took this video. Poor thing. She's never done it again though!

And last but not least I'll end with this SUPER cute picture of our pride and joy dancing on our kitchen island. Normally I would tell her that it was a "no-no" and get her right down, but I couldn't resist this picture. Last Sunday was a fur boot kinda day and I just had to capture her cuteness. She even says "cheese" for pictures now. She's a hoot!