This n' That

It's that time of year again--pruning!  When we bought this play neither of us had any idea how much pruning we would really be doing, or how much work it would really entail.  Thankfully this year is seeming to be much easier since we finally have our yard more or less under control.  It was pretty wild when we first moved here.  The first year we took out 18 pick up loads full of stuff, and that's not counting the two or three long trailers overflowing.  I think we only took out one tree this year--which is considerably less from the last two years.

Anyway, back to pruning.  Bryan has been hitting it early this year, trying to get it all done before we leave for two weeks.  It's his job to prune and Brandon and I go behind and pick up all the sticks.  Brandon absolutely LOVES riding on top of the wheelbarrow full of sticks, but since he's old enough to help this year, we added a little caveat--he had to help pick up the sticks if he wanted to ride on top.  One run without him did the trick and now he helps like a trooper; so much "easier" with help.  It will get better with time, right?  ;)  At least he does it with a smile and a few funny stories in between to entertain.

On a different front, Brandon and Micah are really starting to become "brothers", if that makes any sense.  Brandon is really starting to play with Micah and want to help out taking care of him.  (His latest is wanting to "get Micah up" from nap time, meaning go in and take his blankets off and talk to him until I get there.)  And Micah is really starting to laugh and play along with Brandon.  Here is a classic example.  The other day I put Micah in his high chair with a bowl and spoon and he banged away like crazy once he got the hang of it.  Brandon came along and thought it was the funniest thing that Micah kept throwing the spoon on the ground.  You can see the circle starting to happen...Micah threw the spoon down, Brandon laughed histerically and picked it up, Micah laughed hard because Brandon was laughing, banged the bowl a couple times and threw the spoon back on to the floor...and it goes round and round and round...  I was making supper at the time and throroughly enjoying the fact that they were totaly entertaining each other and loving it!!  Here's what it looked like:



I put this picture in for you to see how he's really starting to use his little arm.

 

The other day we went for a walk.  Brandon's has really started using his imagination in imaginary play and it's been fun watching it develop.  In this picture he is using a stick to "look at the fish through his 'noclers'".

And finally, another big kick Brandon is on right now is Thomas and all his trains falling off the bridge.  He saw it once in one of his Thomas videos and has become obsessed with all the trains falling.  I help him build a BIG track and he uses one corner (sometimes they drive around a little bit) and makes all his trains fall off.  *sigh*

May this Lord's day find you resting and basking in the joy of His presence.