Labor Day and Onward

 My parents came down for part of Labor Day weekend, so last Sunday evening we had a celebration for Oliver's "birth day" (i.e., his due date). He's now, finally, no longer a negative in terms of adjusted age (calculated from his due date). If he'd been born on time, he'd be about one week old now. Crazy.

On Monday, I dragged my parents and two oldest children to the county fair. (Dan was more than happy to stay home with the baby--he hates fairs. They combine heat, overpriced food, and crowds.) We arrived early, while the concomitant parade was going on, so we avoided the worst of the crowds. Mostly we watched the kids go on overpriced fair rides, but they enjoyed it and we had fun watching them enjoy it. I did have to go on one ride with the kids (they weren't tall enough to go alone) and discovered that I'm not as young as I used to be. While my kids shrieked with glee and squished me into the side of the seat, I struggled to keep my head upright and my stomach in place. About half way through I was more than ready to be done. All I could think was: "How much longer does this ride last?"

 That afternoon, my mom helped me can. With her help, we canned two batches of peach jam (er, syrup--it still hasn't set!), two cans of peaches, and two cans of tomatoes. Thank goodness for moms! This would never have happened without her help.

Our garden tends to be over-generous with the squash, so I continue to experiment with new squash recipes. (Andrew never even noticed the squash I hid in the tamale casserole).

Evelyn started preschool this week and of course I don't have a picture.

But I do have a bunch of baby pictures, courtesy of an impromptu photo session on Friday with my captive audience. I even got a couple of good ones.

 See, look--he's starting to get fat!

 These last two are my very favorite. Such a sweet little boy.