A Great Tradition

We love picking fresh blueberries every Summer! We pick enough to eat most of the year. Muffins, smoothies, blueberry pancakes... Or Annie's favorite way, a bowl full of frozen berries topped with whipped cream!

Ellie getting started!


Austin eating some yummy ones!


Nana letting Austin "help" her. :)


Annie!

Happy Father's Day! (?)

Today is Father's Day!

Jason and Annie came home this afternoon from a special daddy/daughter weekend. They had a wonderful time, and I missed them both so much! I was thrilled that they came back early enough for us to celebrate at home with a nice dinner, dessert, and presents!


But of course, any event at our house isn't complete without some DRAMA, so...here we go!

First there was a bit of an altercation between Austin and Ellie, just after Austin fell against the playset ladder. Somehow in one of those events Austin took a pretty hard hit to his ribs. Later in the evening we were trying to decide if he might possibly need to see a doctor. Thankfully we think he's okay, but we were a little nervous.

Then Jason requested blueberry pie for his special Father's Day Dessert! I have to tell you, I felt like a bit of a pioneer woman as I made pie crust from scratch, and used blueberries we handpicked! It turned out delicious!!!


And then Austin got upset, and flung Annie's plate of pie across the room...poor daddy. He caught the brunt of it, blueberries all over him!


Yeah, there's nothing quite like cleaning blueberries out of carpet, off of chairs, floors, walls, curtains...fun stuff.

So exhausted, Jason and I put the kids to bed, and sat down to watch TV. Phew. Another Father's day done! And that's when I realized...we forgot to give J his presents! Oops! Oh well, he can wait another day I guess. Sorry sweetie, Happy Father's Day anyway!

And Happy Father's Day to my wonderful father, and father-in-law! Hopefully your days were a little less eventful!

Itty Biddy T-ball!

Annie loved playing t-ball this Summer with her sweet little team! Coach Skip did a great job guiding these sweet kiddos. She really did a pretty good job paying attention and learning a little about the great game of baseball. Skip has a passion for baseball, and did a great job of encouraging and coaching. My cutest memories of Annie were watching her run the bases, she had to hold onto the helmet to keep it from falling off her tiny head, and her adorable little white sport skirt! Too cute!

Even Austin tried to play a little, with his sisters pink glove! :-)

Thursday Thirteen...Carissa brought it back!

First of all I gotta give a big shout out to my friend Carissa for bringing back the Thursday Thirteen! Thanks for that girl, because I think I have a good one today.

13 things that happened to me at the zoo today.

1. I was 35 minutes late to meet my friend, who is never late. Surprised? Yeah, me either. And I don't think she was either.

2. My flip flop broke pretty early in the zoo trip when I tried to flip the brake up on my stroller with the toe of my shoe.

3. I begged for masking tape from a lady working the giraffe feeding station. She reluctantly gave me a small strip.

4. I taped my shoe together.

5. I learned it is hard to walk in a taped together flip flop.

6. I learned it is even harder to chase Austin in a taped together flip flop.

7. I learned it is not a good idea to let your super speed son get too far ahead of you when you are wearing a taped together flip flop.

8. I almost tossed my shoes into a trash can about 43 times. Until I remembered I would then be walking barefoot at the zoo. Eww.

9. I learned that leaving Ellie in the bathroom to "decompress" will result in her being very loud. Not bad. Just loud.

10. I learned that things echo a lot at the zoo.

11. I learned (again) that the zoo is not my favorite place.

12. I learned (finally) that the zoo is not my kids favorite place.

13. And I learned that Austin didn't understand the cracker was giraffe food. He learned the hard way.

Recital!

It's that time of year again! The end of May, when everything ends with a BANG! I've about gone crazy with all of the end of the school year activity this year. What in the world am I going to do when they're all three in school? Yikes! It's all been a bit much for my Ellie girl. My routine-thriving daughter has been thrown for quite a loop these last couple of weeks. We're making it though. She was very excited to dance in her second dance recital a few days ago. Ellie takes clogging from a great friend of mine, Ami, who is incredibly patient with my girl. This years recital was a "technical recital", meaning no fancy (expensive) costumes, just some cute coordinating outfits. Ellie is blessed to have her two cousins, Olivia and Elaina, and her best friend Baron in clogging with her! Here are some pics for your enjoyment!

Baron, Ashley, Ellie, Olivia, and Elaina!


Baron, Ellie, Elaina, and Olivia!


Ellie, Olivia and Elaina!


And special thanks to my sweet mother-in-law! Nana came and took care of Austin on the day of the recital. She gave up watching her three grand-girls perform in person to help me out, and I am so grateful for her selflessness. Nana you are a blessing to us!

Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock!

My beautiful cousin Lane married Joshua Whitlock on February 13th, 2009. They surprised everyone with the news that they'd eloped! However they still wanted a day to share with family and friends, so a couple of months later they held a beautiful ceremony at Lane's parents home.

They make the most adorable couple! We've loved getting to know Josh. He is sweet and gently, funny and great with our kids! You picked a good one Lane! :-)

Seriously though, we are so SO happy for these two! Welcome to your beautiful life together!

What a Day!

Yesterday was QUITE a day.

First off, I ran a 5k, my FIRST 5k. That's 3.1 miles for those of you not versed in the "lingo." :) I am still surprised that I can actually run, albeit slowly, for 3.1 miles. That's pretty amazing for a girl who in high school couldn't run for 3 minutes in gym! I am very proud of myself for setting a goal and accomplishing it. I may even run another one, someday! I had two wonderful running partners, Alana and Rich! Alana and I decided to train for this a few months ago, and it was great having an accountability partner. I honestly don't think I would have done this if it weren't for you Alana! So I ran, and then came home to...nap? Oh I wish!

Me and Alana, BEFORE!



Me, Alana, and Rich, AFTER!!!

Next in my day was a birthday party at the park for a friend of Annie's. Lot's of fun, but not very relaxing! Annie and I came home, and then I started getting the kids ready for an evening at my Grandpa's farm to celebrate his 79th birthday. In the midst of getting ready, I put Austin down for a nap. But did he sleep? No!

I found Austin, after an hour of NOT sleeping, standing once again in the second to top drawer of his toolbox/dresser. He'd done quite the number on his room, this time finding an oil can WITH A SPOUT AND OIL IN IT (what in the world were we thinking?!) and had Oiled his Room. That's right. OILED HIS ROOM.

Oh myyyy.

Thankfully the surfaces he oiled were all easily cleaned, but still!

Then I started thinking about the fact that I hadn't seen one of our cats in several hours. She's usually around quite a bit, so it seemed strange. I found her under our bed, with an ACE bandage wrapped VERY tightly around one of her back legs. So tightly that when I removed it she was in horrible pain. At first her paw was cold, and then got very warm, and I got scared and called the emergency vet. Thankfully she's fine now, but it was scary for awhile! Ellie was the culprit, and felt SO bad when she realized the seriousness of the situation. She was playing Vet, which she wants to be when she grows up, and didn't mean to hurt poor Rainbow. That poor cat, she really needs those nine lives to live in this house!

Finally we handled all the situations, and made it to Grandpa's. My kids just love it there! Jason brought the new four wheeler and took the kids, and Grammie on rides! We love a fun time at the farm!

Four Generations!



Blowing out the candles! Austin was SO excited to help. :)



Rides on the tractors, lawn mowers, and four wheelers!



Grammie's first RZR ride!



Grandaddy driving the BIG tractor!



Daddy took the little kids through some mud! At least we're telling them it was mud...



Whew! What a day! It's now 24 hours later, and I'm just starting to recover. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel normal again!