The raspberries in our backyard are now ripe! It seems like they ripened earlier this year than usual. This is probably due to the fact that a month ago, there was a whole week with temperatures in the 80's, which is unusual for the Northwest.
We have a row of raspberries in our backyard about 12 feet long. We are surprised at how many raspberries those vines produce--maybe about a quart of berries each week.
The girls enjoy picking the berries. Elvin has had to teach Karina how to tell went they are ripe. So she's learned only to pick the red ones, not the pink ones.
Gabriel is almost 13 months now and he's made great strides lately! Literally. On his birthday, he started taking a step or two. About a week later, he was able to take three or fours steps before falling down. Then, all of a sudden, he was walking a couple of feet.
Also, he loves playing games with his siblings or his mommy and daddy. This video shows him playing peek-a-boo with us.
Gabriel just went to the doctor for a check-up last week. As you can see from the photo below (it's a sticker they give you at the pediatrician's office), he's now 28 pounds. He is still off of the growth charts, but the chart is catching up to him. He hasn't gained more than 3 or 4 pounds in the past six or eight months, so he's almost down to the 99th percentile.
Probably why he is so heavy is because Gabriel loves to eat. The curious thing, though, is that he doesn't eat a lot of carbs or protein. In fact, we have a hard time getting him to eat enough of either. He doesn't like bread very much, and only some meats. Pasta is OK.
But what he really likes is fruit in general, especially watermelon! We, of course, really only discovered this when watermelon came into season and now he can't get enough of it. He can eat a lot of watermelon in one sitting.
He likes to stuff it into his mouth.
Sometimes each hand is holding a slice.
Sometimes he leaves the slice on the table...
And eats watermelon hands free.
Here's a demo of him enjoying some...
The other day, he got a special treat...
This is his first popsicle. It was a really warm day.
Here are the girls enjoying theirs. They had been running outside and needed to cool off. Hope your summer is going well!
Our little baby has already turned one year old! Time has flown by and we can hardly remember when he was a newborn.
His birthday was last week on Thursday, June the 6th. We decided to do a mini-celebration on that evening and then later in the weekend, to do another one with his grandparents. So on Thursday, we got some cupcakes that we keep frozen in the freezer just for such occasions and the girls started to decorate them. That's half the fun, right?
After dinner, we cleaned up and lit a candle for him. We all sang Happy Birthday, which he thought was pretty exciting.
The girls obligingly helped him blow out his candle.
Gabriel's cupcake didn't have icing on it. At first, he wasn't sure what to do with it. Was it a new toy?
Like all things, including all new toys, he tastes them first...
Gabriel is a quick study when it comes to food. It wasn't long before he was stuffing it into his big mouth.
Afterwards, we have him his present from Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai (Elvin's parents.) It's a Wahoo inflatable dog. Little kids can sit on its back and bounce up and down.
He is not ready for the dog and doesn't like to sit on it for very long.
But the girls, on the other hand, are getting lots of enjoyment out of it.
Here's another video of the girls pouncing on the dog toy the second Gabriel gets off of it.
On Saturday, we were planning Gabriel's next party. The girls were excited that Grandma and Grandpa were coming over and as time approached for them to arrive, they waited expectantly by the front door.
They finally arrived at last! Gabriel's grandparents got him a little scooter. Assembly required, though, so Grandpa was assigned the task of doing that. The girls decided to "help" him.
Elvin and Eliana helped make dessert. They made brigadeiros, which are little chocolate bon bons that are traditionally eaten in Brazil at birthday parties. They're make with sweet condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder, then rolled in chocolate sprinkles. Eliana LOVES them.
She helped roll them in the sprinkles and enjoyed licking the sprinkles stuck to her finger when she thought Daddy wasn't looking.
But they weren't allowed to eat them until after dinner.
For dinner, we had pulled pork fajitas, corn, and--Gabriel's favorite food--watermelon. He kept looking over to see what Grandpa was doing.
Afterwards, we opened presents. He got on his bike but wasn't sure what to do.
Grandpa tried showing him how it's done.
He also got some books and a stuffed animal dog, with lots of taggies sticking out of it, from his Aunt Jen and cousin Jace from Colorado.
Then time came for us to sing Happy Birthday again!
This time he made quick work of his cupcake.
Like most of Gabriel's possessions, he has to share whether he wants to or not. In this case, Karina has helped herself to Gabriel's new trike by giving her baby doll a ride on it, and is also taking his dog out on a walk. Notice the green bag she has hung over the dog's left ear.
So there you have it! Our little Gabriel is one year old!
Strawberry season is here! There is a farm 20 minutes from our house that has a variety called Hood strawberries. They are adapted to the cool weather here and are some of the sweetest strawberries that we've every tasted. The farm is a U-pick and sells the berries for $1.35/pound.
So off we went!
Each of the girls got a bucket.
Karina tended to stay closer than Eliana. The ground is really uneven in some places and so she needs help navigating the terrain sometimes.
Not a whole lot of picking happened by the girls, as you can see. Karina has a hard time judging which berries are ripe versus overripe and mushy.
Eliana didn't pick very many either.
Instead, she enjoyed wandering off and exploring the rows and rows of strawberry plants.
And so Karina followed suit.
Even if they didn't get a whole lot of picking done, they had lots of fun!
Elvin, on the other hand, got lots of picking done. Eleven pounds of strawberries later, he was ready to go home!
These strawberries are bred for flavor and not shelf life. So after giving away several pounds of strawberries to neighbors, we diligently ate and ate our way through our strawberries until they were all gone.
Eliana has been going to Awana's every week for the past two years. It's sort of a church version of Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. She enjoys it very much because you get to wear a vest and earn badges on the vest if you finish your homework or memorize Bible verses.
At the end of each school year, there is a little ceremony that they do. Parents are invited so we got to go and watch. All the kids sat off to the side. Here is Eliana's class all wearing blue vests. They are called the "Cubbies".
Here are the parents waiting expectantly for the ceremony to start.
The Cubbies are making their way onto the stage.
Here is Eliana holding hands with one of her friends. We're not sure why. Another one of Eliana's friend is waving to her mommy in the audience.
Eliana is graduating from being a Cubbie and next year will move up to the next level called "Sparks". Because of this, she's earned a big blue ribbon to attach to her vest. Her teacher is in the background.
Here are the two girls with their friends. Every once in a while, Cubbie Bear makes a special appearance and of course they want to take a picture with him.
While Eliana is a little sad to be graduating from Cubbies, but looking forward to being a Spark, Karina is super duper excited that she gets to go to Awana next year! She will be a Cubbie in the fall, and is already talking about getting her own blue vest and being part of the crowd. She is growing up!
