The Apple Doesn't Fall Far

Apples. Most kids like 'em. Most adults like 'em. Sawyer takes a few tiny bites all over the surface and then leaves it on the kitchen table, "I'll save it for Daddy" he says. But try to take an apple away from Eliza and you have one pissed-off 10 month old. No delay, she just goes straight into an angry cry. I admit it, sometimes I take the apple away just to see her display.

Apples also remind me that fall is soon to arrive. School is starting. Sawyer will go back next week, Granddad Ed is back on UNC campus WALKING the halls of Dey Hall - and one step closer to retirement. And I am the new kid on the block at Carolina Friends School - Chapel Hill Early School. This is a huge transition for me and certainly requires a post of it's own. I'm feeling incredibly honored and blessed to have joined such an amazing community of teachers and families. More on that later, but check out the website (http://www.cfsnc.org/).

Now go eat an apple. You know what they say about apples... but remember to wash it, those pesticides will kill 'ya.

-Hallie

hallie is getting frustrated

I'm working on changing the template for The Cherry Tree. But running into trouble. Hope it works, let me know what you think!

But for your trouble - and so this post isn't boring - here are a couple of anecdotes for you to enjoy:

1) Sawyer has been singing Sam Cooke lately. He likes to sing, "That's the sound of the men working on the chain...gaaaaang" Nice. And he's a total nature boy these days. He picked up a giant milipede today and said it was the "daddy milipede". Then he placed it on Butterfly Trail so daddy milipede could find his home.

2) Eliza is trying to say "uh-oh" and has been pointing at everything. She is learning not to put things in her mouth when we say "no no". She seems to like playing with Sawyer's toys the most. She has begun to make car sounds when she and Sawyer play with cars. VROOOM!

3) Back to work soon. Looking for a nanny. I interviewed a nice young woman today. It felt like a strange trip because it seems like only a couple of years ago I was the nanny who was being interviewed by a mommy to care for her kids. Now I'm the mommy. How did that happen? (no comments please - I know how that happened)

3 is enough, I think. Thanks, loyal readers.

-hallie

A Grinding Halt

We are in the Dog Days. Despite the unbearable heat we have been pretty busy. I have found myself nesting - though not in the same way one nests when expecting a baby. I think I'm nesting because soon enough I'll be back at work and I won't be spending quite as much time noticing our outdated light fixtures, plants, the gravel...

In case you were wondering here are some of the fun things going on in the Cherrry-Montgomery household...

Butterfly Trail - with back breaking weed pulling and plenty of raking, we have made a nice little woodland path through our front yard. At the start of it is a butterfly bush (which survived the transplant from Oakwood Drive to Coachway) so we named the path "Butterfly Trail" With some good advice from Ed & Helene we hope to cultivate and plant shade loving and deer resistant plants in the fall. It's a peaceful place...walk along it and it's kindof like walking a labrynth.

The Truman Show - our favorite all-black slinky cat from Charlotte has come to live with us (again). Truman has been relocated from Dan and Paula's by way of Grandmother Cherry's to make his home once again in Chapel Hill. Let's hope he can avoid the cone this time!

"Hi Kitty" - On another cat note, Eliza has discovered that she can talk! It's unmistakable. She can say "Hi Kitty" fairly clearly. Yes, her "first word" was in fact a 2 word sentence. But she does say it to a cat, a zebra, a chimpanzee. So she hasn't quite gotten the full concept. I hope we'll upload videos soon.

Hit the Deck - Our friend and master builder, Luke, is building a deck that will wrap around the sunroom porch. It looks wonderfully structurally sound so far and will be a beautiful outdoor living space soon. And the added bonus is that the uprooted ferns and shrubs once surrounding the sunroom were beautifully transplanted by Uncle Dan to the aforementioned Butterfly Trail. Rest assured if you are reading this you will be invited to a housewarming and see it for your own eyes.

Stay tuned...many more exciting regular everyday accounts of our lives to come.