It's that time of year again

We're finding fawns all over the neighborhood.

Garden bounty

After days of rain and then being gone for the weekend, Graydon and Mami braved the marauding mosquitoes this evening to harvest tomatoes from the garden. Graydon is very excited about this harvest. Good thing we picked up mozzarella at Costco the other day...! Daddy is out mowing (also very over-due but without such a delicious reward). More rain predicted all the rest of this week.

Mmmm, Salad!

Graydon enjoys his salad, especially with balsamic vinaigrette.

If I could be any ocean animal..

... I would be a sea turtle! Note the accurate depiction of the Leatherback shell, Tante N.! He said it was "because they help coral reefs by eating sponges and you can track them across the ocean!"

Safety first, even for pups!

Needless to say, they didn't stay on long.

Laundry Helper

While Graydon and Wiley regularly help with laundry, Portia got a little more creative this time. But she did retrieve the dryer ball for us! :)

And, to those of you who are thinking - wow, either that's a really tiny kid or their dryer is enormous -  you would be correct. We have industrial sized appliances. Portia is actually in the 99th percentile for length.

Happy First Birthday, Portia!

We celebrated Portia's birthday in two increments - first, we crashed someone else's birthday party on her actual birthday, so we got to wear a cute dress and play in their yard. Then, on Sunday, we drove to Dripping Springs. It was somewhat true to its name this visit... dripping. So we had cupcakes and opened gifts from Nana & Gramps and BJ & Aurora in the trailer. Portia has great fun with the ribbons!

A determined rider

Never mind that she is riding a blue concrete cow, Portia is determined... to do something. Not sure what.

Trophies!

Graydon has been playing soccer in a "Jr. Academy" program this spring, which is a step above recreational soccer but not yet real "try-out" style select. Graydon has really enjoyed and been challenged by it. Here are our boys (they play 6 v 6 so 8 is a full team) with their runner-up trophies from the end-of-season tournament. We had fun explaining to Graydon that this was a trophy not everyone got - his team really earned it! And they did, too. Their general improvement in passing, positioning, and team play has been really exciting for a soccer has-been like me to watch. And it turns out, in addition to being strong, fast, and determined on the field, Graydon has some considerable talent as a goalkeeper! They don't have dedicated goalies yet - they rotate through the position wearing a pinney - but when it was Graydon's turn, he really shone. It's all I can do to keep myself under control on the sidelines... :)