Dan is the fastest man in Brandon*!

Dan ran a 5k a couple weeks back and won!
*The high school cross-country team was not allowed to participate and the guy who got second was recovering from an injury. While winning a race is something to be proud of, we can’t have our favorite ginger pastor friend getting too cocky.

A greeting from our little guy:

That plant often has at least a couple dozen bees on it so we spend a lot of time explaining bees to Oskar. Little things, like no touch and don't pet it like a puppy. He does pretty well and spends a lot of time waving and saying 'hi.'

Monday was going to be so productive. After 3.5 months of living here we were going to get our licenses switched and get new plates for our car. We arrived at the DMV with many papers and a sleeping chomper in hand. After a no-nonsense discussion with the DMV lady I discovered that to switch my license I need my current license, birth certificate, social security card, marriage license, and two pieces of mail. Seriously? Don’t you think that to receive my current license I have already proved who I am? I don’t really want to switch it over anyway, it’s just a hassle that I need to pay for with my time and money. Oh, and what about the license plates? Can I get those at the Department of Motor Vehicles? No, no I can’t. I need to go to the courthouse for that. Obviously.

I'd like to thank all of you who participated in the lively children's sheets discussion on Facebook. We clearly have the big problems of this world under control. Some of you may be wondering why I'm looking for bedding when my child is still under 2. We never got a crib. With the travelling around and not knowing what was coming next, it was cheaper and easier to get a pack'n'play. While convenient, it does have a bit of a downside. It is about 4-6" shorter than a standard crib and my kid is a bit on the tall side for his age. Observe:

Dude needs more room. We are skipping the toddler bed because I don't want to spend money on such a temporary thing. He still often sleeps in a ball and is rarely this stretched out so I don't think he is uncomfortable, but he will be soon. I did find some bedding I'm happy with (colorful tiny monsters) and we picked up a headboard at an antique store today. I texted a picture of it to my parents. My dad said it looks a little rustic, and my mom told me to watch out for splinters. It's an old gate, and it needs a bit of work, but it was cheap and I'm excited to see what comes of it. Next month I will be able to get Oskar's room painted and hopefully get it set up for real. I've waited because I want to sand the walls a bit and there is a possibility of lead paint a couple layers down. Dan's sister is moving out some time in October so then he'll be able to sleep in the spare room while I fix his up and be free from danger.

At MOPS last week we took a personality quiz/strengths inventory type thing and although it turned up no surprises, it was still fun to do. It listed restlessness, impatience, stubbornness and bluntness as my natural limitations. To this I replied that being stubborn is not a limitation.

We picked up some free grapes at church a couple weeks ago. They looked like sweet red grapes. They definitely weren't. They were very sour, with big seeds and yellow flesh. Very interesting- like a grape/cherry hybrid. I could hardly put them back so I decided it was time to make some jelly. I had never made jelly before and the whole process was very much an "I don't know if this is right, let's see what happens" experience. I also went from, "I don't think this will make very much, we probably won't need to actually can it" to "Ahhh.... crap.... I think we need to can this... how do we do that?" I say 'we'- Dan was my taste tester and hot jar clean-up guy. I definitely made jelly- and I even sealed the jars correctly! The jelly is sweet enough, but still has a sour-ish after taste. I never should have doubted myself- once I got the food mill assembled correctly on the first try there was no stopping me!

Before

During

After

Dunzo!!! One for the fridge, three for the cupboard.

Last weekend we all went out with a group from our church to volunteer at the 20th Annual Buddy Walk that promotes acceptance and inclusion of those with Down syndrome. It was a fun morning- despite the bug bites that turned into baseball-sized welts. We stood along the path holding signs featuring some of the kids with Down syndrome. Oskar said 'hi' like a pro to people as they passed us and we helped some take pictures with their signs.

Oskar flies down the slide in his giant t-shirt.

I mowed the lawn the other day and despite taking precautions, I ran out of gas. The left front of our yard has a 2'x10' mohawk. Very trendy.