Climb on.

Merritt achieved a milestone the other night. He went from his hands and knees to standing without support. . .on his changing table. So much for the sedate second child - he is even more agile and fast than Gavin was at this age!  Climbing on everything is his next trick he has been working on, as seen in the picture below. I also watched him try to scale the train table unassisted today (which he did yesterday with the assistance of a basket of toys, which made an excellent ladder).

This past weekend the boys and I joined the Albaugh crew at a Strawberry Festival, where we consumed a LOT of sugar. . .strawberry shortcake, strawberry smoothie, and peppermint lemons! Gavin enjoyed the hula hoops and obstacle course, and chose to have his face painted like a lion.  Here is a pic of my two wild things bonding.

We are all spending as much time as possible outdoors, and Merritt is having a good time taste-testing nature. . .rocks, daisies, mulch, etc. He has a complicated palette of tastes (but some of his real - edible? - favorites are cold unsalted green beans from a can and cubed tofu rolled in wheat germ). Maybe he just doesn't have any taste buds???? 

I don't know. . .I see an awful lot of Schulz in this boy. . .

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how much he likes potting soil. He really likes potting soil. . .

Cheryl and Brenda gave us a couple new additions to our landscaping. I am so incredibly excited to have a cactus in our front yard!  FYI though, it is kind of false advertising to label something 'spineless cactus'. . . I have renamed it 'not so spineless cactus when planting without gloves'.

Remember those flower boxes my dad made us? They are blooming!

We created a new garden for Gavin - he planted several rows of corn, some green beans, cucumbers, watermelon, peppers, carrots, and tomatoes. He is really hopeful that we have a surplus of veggies so he can have a vegetable stand. We will post updated pics as his little seedlings grow.  I love surveying the garden each morning for sprout sightings!

We made stepping stones for our garden so we could remember where to step and where we planted seeds. What garden stone would be complete without googley eyes?!?