Applesauce + Raspberry Picking

If there's one thing Liam has done since he was born, it has been to go raspberry picking!!! See here and here . Even though raspberries are now not his favorite thing to eat, he still tried a few and picked a few and found other ways to amuse himself at the patch. Another tradition Liam loves is making applesauce with my family. Mostly because he gets to splash around in apples, take bites and turn the applesauce crank. I love these little experiences I get to share with him year after year. He remembers them and talks about them all throughout the year. We look forward to taking his little brother with us on our next adventures in the orchard.

33 weeks

This babe is growing quickly now. I feel it's strong movements at the most inconvenient of times lately. Say, when I'm piping on icing details for a cake or desperately trying to fall asleep, but it just reminds me I have a strong baby boy growing steadily and nothing makes a Mama's heart feel better and reassured than that!

It has been a busy couple of weeks, moving back into our house, cleaning, washing baby clothes, taking stock of what we have and still need for the baby and the house, celebrating a birthday and a wedding.

 Our floors are hopefully going in this week and we have some meetings with contractors to finish up the details of our house. Liam is desperately looking forward to bringing his toys downstairs again and I am as well. Right now our dining and living room sit empty and we miss having a downstairs ( besides the kitchen and laundry room) that function like livable spaces.

We just got a second, more family friendly car, for Jason, ( bye, bye old truck) to drive to work everyday. A Honda, Element that will be more reliable, with way better gas mileage and have room for trips to Lowes but still fit two car seats. Not exactly something we wanted to take on this summer, but a necessary must for our life right now.

We are enjoying the little tastes of fall. We stopped for some pumpkin donuts recently and I've been knitting baby things ( and hopefully some for Liam too)

I'm still working some banquets and taking cake orders for the foreseeable future. That's life right now at 33 weeks.

At the beach 2015

 We woke Liam up early Sunday morning to surprise him with a day at the beach. We'd been promising all summer, that when we moved back home, we would go to the beach. This kid loves sand. In fact, at playgroup you can usually find him in the sandbox, regardless of who's around playing or not. It's his happy spot.

So imagine his delight when he realized he had an unlimited sandbox for the day. This was his first time at the beach. Each year, we mean to go, but something always comes up. We haven't been since I was pregnant with Liam.

He loved the ocean too. It was fun to watch him get acquainted with the ocean, waves and tides. We took a few dips in the "pool" as Liam called it, but most of the day was spent playing in the sand. We stopped for a picnic lunch and to get custard on the boardwalk. And to really make the day special, we stopped in Philly on the way home so I could get a lobster roll. A pregnancy/ summer dream come true. It was really a lovely relaxing family day, that was well deserved for everyone, considering the grueling, bumpy summer it's been for Jason and the long time we spent away from him and our home.

Corn Party

 Liam loves Nana and Pop's garden. In fact he would rather pick lima beans than ride bike. He gets so excited when he sees either of them in the garden, he goes running for his boots. The corn came in last week, so Liam finally got to experience a day of picking, husking, brushing, cooking, soaking and cutting off the corn to freeze for the winter. This was something I grew up doing every summer, so it was nice to share it with him. Although I will admit with the addition of a corn de-silker machine, it does take hours of the "fun" away. Hours I use to spend with my Grandparents brushing and listening to their childhood stories. Liam, however, diligently feed the machine with corn, when he wasn't busy trying to figure out how the thing worked. He even helped brush some of the extra hairs off, but his favorite task of the day was eating it fresh cut off the cob! Mine too!

Liam's 3rd birthday

Liam's birthday was pretty laid back this year. With renovating and living at my family's house it just had to be. He requested to make and decorate his birthday cake, so that's just what we did. Sprinkles, fondant confetti and Flynn the firetruck were just what he wanted!!! We also got to go to the crayola factory with my family to help celebrate his special day. We all had a fun time making crayons, spin art,  and exploring all the fun, hands on exhibits. We had hot dogs and corn on the cob per Liam's request for dinner and enjoyed cake and presents back at our house, so that Daddy could be there too!