strawberry pickin’

First round of strawberry pickin’ was done last weekend over the holiday weekend – and my-oh-my was it gorgeous!  We ate most of our strawberries and froze a few for future smoothies – but most of them went in our tummies!  Our strawberry patch is about 2 miles from our home, so we don’t have far to travel – a benefit of living in a semi-rural area!

If you haven’t been to a strawberry patch, you gotta get down, you gotta get dirty and you gotta search underneath the big leafy vegetation for beautiful, rich red sweetness from God himself.  (We like strawberries a lot…..)

My current body did not allow me to get down as long as I was anticipating, but I had some good helpers to makeup for my shortfall!

Hudson was very meticulous in his search – he was such a good big brother; he’d find a “gold mine” and then tell Anna where to pick!

Of course, some of us were more inclined to eat more than we picked – eh hem, pictured below ;o)

I am so grateful that we live in a place that we can have fun together, outside, without technology, and make great memories together.  Looking forward to the next round – and then on to blueberry picking and cherries soon!

soccer star

Hudson loves to run, and soccer is a sport that lets him do that in abundance!  Sometimes he is more interested in talking to the adults on the field or chatting it up with the opponent, but he is a fast little guy when he remembers where he is!  :o)

As the youngest player on the u-8 team, Hudson did a great job this spring in Soccer.  His coach said at his team party that Hudson showed amazing improvement and was a great “hustler” by the end of the season when he began to catch on to the game. 

The last time he played was 2 years ago, so we think he did wonderfully!  He’s trying to decide currently if he wants to play in the fall or go for swimming lessons again.

Bubba – so proud of you for sticking to something tough and working hard to improve!  Great job!

Our teeny Ballerina

Our teeny ballerina has a ballet-ball showing off her newly acquired dance skill at the community center dance show.  Her small class performed “bananaphone” (Raffi lovers know the song!) and looked so cute in their tutus and hair bows they could’ve been eaten.

Curtseying for mama…

Emerson and Anna checking their fabulously self-applied sparkly lipgloss.

Showtime! 

Ring-ring-ring-ring Bananaphone!

The troupe…

All in all, taking ballet at the community center was the perfect choice for our little ballerina.  It was low stress, low key, and she got to wear her dress up tutus every week for practice.  The “serious” dance schools get as specific for their dancers as to even the color of underwear and how the hair must be for practice.  I think Anna loved that her dance teacher always wondered what color tutu she was going to show up in for rehearsals.  She did a fabulous job, and of course, 4 and 5 year olds dancing together is so sweet that you can barely handle it.  There were a TON of ahhs when the curtain opened on these cuties – followed by thunderous applause at the conclusion of their 3 minute song.

Love

Lovingly holding one another's hands while helping at school. 
Love it.

Garden Time!

Our 2 adorable kiddos helped me plant the garden in the beautiful sunshine over the weekend.  The 3rd adorable kiddo was present, but yet to see the sunshine for about 8 more weeks ;o)

About a month ago, a kind friend came and tilled the earth for us, and since then, we’ve been preparing the soil – mushroom compost, a little rock picking (because apparently it grew rocks over the winter from last year!), and some organic “Garden Tone.”  My big handy helper grabbed the hoe and helped to break up the soil before we began to mound the rows.

My mama hands got a little busy and a little dirty (as Daddy had a Saturday full of meetings) and I unfortunately didn’t get any film memories of planting – luckily, God gave me a brain that has plenty of fun planting shots in my mind-camera.

This year we have 2 varieties of tomatoes, green beans, yellow zucchini squash, bell peppers and carrots.  The kids wanted the carrots.  We’ll see how that rolls.

My reader (Hudson loves to read) helped me figure out how far apart to plant and when they would reach maturity.  Lucky for us, we found out that most of our garden will mature just in time for the baby to arrive….hmm, I may need my little helpers again come that time, to harvest!

And of course, on a warm spring day, what shall you do after you work in the garden?  Wash the car and play in the suds of course!

Daddy liked his special clean car surprise, as well as his clean sudsy-soapy-wet hugs when he arrived home.

Bump Watch 27-30

The baby bump is for sure growing! 

Week 27

Week 28 (self-portraits)

Week 29

Week 30

The baby room now has the furniture in it – thanks to some manly-men friends and this coming week my awesome hubby is taking a day to help paint the room…it’s all coming together, and it’s getting a little bit more real. 

Feeling fabulous, but can tell the difference in my energy level – I’m spent by the time bedtime for the littles rolls around.  Doctor asked me if I had any inkling whether the baby is a boy or girl, and I said I have no clue.  Of course, everyone has their own opinion and the share freely…even the checkout girl at the smoothie stand. My standard response is that I am carrying the same way that I did with my boy and my girl, so I don’t think that has anything to do with the guessing game for this baby!

And…Happy Mother’s Day to all of my fabulous mamas, grandmamas, and fantastic friends.  Much love to you all.

Part-ay for a 7 year old

Our Bubba turned seven last week and we celebrated with some of his friends from church and school at a local park.  Hudson accurately stated, “I just need to tell the weathermen that it will always be nice on my birthday…cuz it is!”  And he’s right.  Every birthday party we’ve ever had has been on a fairly warm and comfortable day – and 6/7 have been sunny!

He choose a “sports” theme for his party, so the park was perfect. (That and we just like parties at the park because of entertainment and visual beauty value!)  After eating hot dogs, fruit kabobs and chips, the kids split and some played on the playground while the three dads present helped to set up a game of wiffle ball.

Opening presents and having cupcakes was next on the list – and then on to the ultimate warm day May water gun fight!

No party at a park is complete (for my kids) until they’ve thoroughly soaked themselves in the creeks that abound at our parks.  After all our school friends left, the families that remained allowed their kids to get dirty and wet building a dam and catching critters in the creek.  The little ones even found a spot deep enough for them to swim a bit.  I guess when it is 84 the 65 degree water feels good.

All in all, Hudson declared his party a smashing and fun success…and while it wasn’t high tech or loaded with extras, that is all that matters to me!

ALD version–oh, I don’t know…

 

The Anna Language Dictionary has two new recent entries…and I don’t want to forget them because her word choices make me smile everyday.  So as this is mainly my writing outlet/journal for myself, I shall record them here!

 

 

Jiggle – “Mama! Mr. Arthur knows how to jiggle!” (Our neighbor plays basketball for the Harlem Wizards, and while at a show, she saw him juggling basketballs…:o)

Grinder – “Mommy, you push the stuff down there and I’ll turn on the grinder for you.”  (referring to the garbage disposal in the sink)

Happy birthday bubba!