Jakob Daniel and Everleigh Grace Hall

Everleigh wins the award for fullest diaper (should have packed her suit!)

Farms and animals aren't exactly Aunt Karen's thing, but you'd never know it from her time at Shelburne Farm with the kids.  She bravely carried Everleigh around and helped her touch the animals (I think KJ might have touched the sheep, but that was probably accidental contact.)    Jakob had a particularly exciting trip this time around because he finally got to touch a chicken.  I was brave too because I actually held the squirmy thing, and he was tickled by giving it soft pets.  He also went into the chicken coop to help find eggs in the nests, and he was thrilled to discover one.  He would have preferred that we were able to take it home with us, but after a bit of convincing he put it in the basket.

The kids were so excited to show Aunt Karen our new house, especially the apple trees.

One of Jakob's favorite books lately is a Pete the Cat book where Pete is learning to play baseball.  In the story, Pete gets thrown out and instead of getting upset, he says "I'm not sad, I tried my best." There's a construction site on the way to daycare with two huge diggers, and Jakob loves to guess before getting to the site whether the diggers will be working or "resting."  Most mornings they've already started their work for the day before we drive by, but sometimes we're ahead of the game.  That was the case yesterday morning, and although Jakob was disappointed he guessed incorrectly, he said "I'm not sad, I tried my best."  So cute, and such a great lesson from Pete the Cat!

Everleigh LOVED looking at the bubble tower and the fish at Echo.  It's so fun to visit there now that both of them are old enough to enjoy it.

I'm fairly certain I heard Everleigh say "all done" last night during bath time.  Of course it was more like "ah duh" but she said it as she was trying to climb out of the tub, which would be an appropriate time to claim she was finished with the bath.  Some ability to communicate (besides pointing, lunging, and screeching--all of which she's very good at) will really help to alleviate some of her frustrations.  I remember when Jakob started talking that it came in a torrent of new ability at the beginning and he hasn't stopped talking since, so fingers crossed Everleigh is hitting that stage!

About a month ago, Jakob and Everleigh's friends Asher and Logan (brothers who are each about 3 months younger than our kids, respectively) had their birthday party at the Sandbar State Park in Milton, Vermont.  The morning started out with severe storms and we were worried we wouldn't be able to go, but the skies cleared around 10:30 and the temps were hot.  The kids loved playing in the sand and swimming in the warm, shallow water.