Blue Ribbon Boy, Momma's Girl, and Other Fun

Our awesome neighbors let Garrett show one of their calves at the county fair last weekend. Garrett took the experience very seriously and smiles/good pictures were hard to come by.

Each of the kids won a blue ribbon (the judge said it was like trying to choose his favorite grandkid) and $2. They encouraged the kids to support the fair and spend their earnings there. We carefully examined every booth and all of the rides and Garrett finally decided to "drive the tracto." It was a toss-up between the tractors and the train, but he seemed to be happy with his choice in the end.

We were disappointed that Greg wasn't up to joining us that morning, but Garrett did great and couldn't wait to get home and tell his daddy all about his big day.

My cousin, Tara, was in town for a few days so we dropped by for a quick visit to see her and her cute kids. I love Abby's face in this picture. Hopefully Abby and Mirabelle will be great friends! We only had a few minutes and I didn't get any other good pictures, but oh well.

We also celebrated Uncle Brian's birthday at our house on Sunday. Garrett LOVES Brian and Sher and talks about them all of the time. You can't tell from this picture, but he was delighted to wake up from his Sunday nap to B and Sher and a house full of fun!

Oh Miss Abigail! She is the world's best baby. She never fusses or cries and is always happy...as long as I am holding her. ARGH! This isn't really much of a problem. Unless of course, I need to eat, drink, sleep, drive, cook, clean, sleep, play with Garrett or do anything other than look at her or hold her. She is a little stinker, but boy does she love her mama!

She is over six months old now and has a few tricks.

Thanks to "sitting lessons" from Grandma, she is finally getting it down and figuring out how to sit. (Of course this only lasts for about 20 seconds before she needs me to hold her again.) :)

She is rolling all over the place and pulling herself up on her arms. This is getting way too close to crawling for my liking. I'm slightly nervous about having two mobile children!

Here she is in action--getting ready to roll. This picture also shows her hair--she has a fair amount of it and it's a pretty brown color. Lots of people tell us they think it has a hint of red in it, but it's nothing like her big brother's.

She had her 6 month check-up yesterday and is doing great! She is a big girl--96th percentile in her height and 75th in her weight. She is so much fun and has the cutest little giggle. She has really discovered her voice and spends a good share of her day squealing and shreiking. She loves big girl food and doesn't have much use for rice cereal or baby oatmeal, but throws a fit if she doesn't get a taste of whatever we're eating. Garrett loves his "siso" and she saves some of her best smiles for him, so I think she loves him, too! Watching the two of them together is the joy of my life. I hope they will always be good friends!

Other updates: Greg is doing well and getting stronger every day. He is still weak and says he's feeling like about 40% of his old self, so we're making progress. He runs out of energy fast and is only good to be up for a few hours before he's exhausted, but he's trying to push himself and is hoping to be putting in full days soon. He's major bummed to be missing the opening of the archery hunt this weekend, but oh well. Thank goodness there's only about a billion other things he can hunt later in the year when he's feeling up to it! You can tell it's almost autumn: Our freezer is a bit bare these days and is just waiting for hunting season so it can be filled with all sorts of wild game. :)

My leg is feeling great and I hope it is continuing to heal nicely. It doesn't bug me much at all and I am so very grateful to be out of the beastly boot!

Life is still good, and we are still thankful for it.