He walks the line

Baby D has been toddling for a little while now. One hesitant step at a time, growing (gradually) more brave every day. None of my children were very motivated when it came to walking; they all much preferred to sit back and cautiously observe for a good amount of time before testing the waters themselves. We can now officially classify David as a fully upright hominid. Now that he's sure that this whole walking upright thing isn't just some fad, he's going at it full tilt, even going so far as to run away from his own dear mama!

Putting things by

There's nothing like spending an 85-degree summer afternoon standing in front of a stove with all the burners going full bore, trying to keep several huge pots full of water boiling. Oh yes, it's canning season!
Yesterday was Pickle Day (actually, it was Tuesday, but whatever.) The big box of cucumbers we bought at the market last week now fills a dozen quart jars, and my house reeks of vinegar and garlic.
I'll probably have to do this exact same routine at least two more times to make us enough pickles to get through the winter. We're not taking any chances, you know, in case there's another Great Pickle Famine. The Becker Family will have pickles a-plenty, by Jove!

Market Day with the Beckers

We loaded up this morning and headed downtown to the Public Market this morning. You can sorta see the shopping cart we bring in the trunk; it does it's job, but stuff on the bottom has a tendency to get squished, so we end up doing a lot of shuffling around of stuff as we go to make sure the heavy stuff goes underneath the squishy stuff.
As is usually the case when we go shopping, our trip was cut short when we ran out of room to haul stuff (this even after sending the boys back to the van to drop some stuff off.)
I was ridiculously, deliriously happy to find a purveyor of sour cherries, and I bought all he had. Further along in the market there was another seller, so I'm hoping there will still be some available when we go to the market next week. Sour cherries are extremely fragile and have a short season; we had picked some a few weeks ago, but weather, uncooperative babies, and busy-ness with other stuff precluded another trip to the farm. We'll get at least a few more cherry pies now!

Gratuitous baby cuteness

Babies are cute and little for such a short time. Fortunately for a pork chop like David, that time has not yet passed.
He's very funny when he wakes up in the morning.
He likes to play hard-to-get, scampering around inside his crib.
If no one is immediately available to free him from his prison, he tries vainly to climb out.
When this doesn't get him anywhere, he goes back to complaining and posturing. If he gets real good and mad, he'll throw his blankets and stuffy bunny out onto the floor. That'll show us.
Good thing he's so cute.