Fishing at Dusk

This past weekend the kids had friends over to fish. They left out on the four-wheelers right before the sun went down. With only a small flashlight, Chad and his friend managed to keep up with all four kids and catch a few fish to boot!

I thought these were funny pics of them loading up on the homegrown four-wheeler attachment:

Getting into Everything

Abe is getting into everything these days! You can always tell where he has been because he leaves an Abey Trail behind. Lately he climbs into the kitchen cabinets and throws out food and Tupperware. And he's really proud of himself too, you can tell by that smile!

Strawberry Picking

Yesterday after finishing our school work, the kids and I went to the strawberry patch. This patch has the yummiest berries I have ever tasted, I never remember getting berries this good! For the last few years we have been savoring those few weeks of the year when the berries are ripe. Yesterday we made 2 different strawberry pies, 2 batches of freezer jam and had a quart of berries left over to freeze!

Spring Fever

We have had the windows open all week enjoying the fresh air and perfect temperatures. This past week was rather uneventful, but that's how we like it!

Piper and I attended a Mother/Daughter dinner last Saturday, the night before Mother's Day. We went with my Nanny, my Mother and my Sisters and my Aunts. The food was delish and the entertainment was cute. Piper was able to help with the "Magic Show" (unusual at a church event??) since she was one of the few young girls there. From there, Piper spent the night with my Mom, Nana.

We watched the church nursery Sunday morning and I was able to finish sanitizing all the toys and furniture. I can barely keep my own home clean, let alone the nursery!

Monday evening I went to dinner with Amber and Bonnie. We had the most wonderful time and plan to go out more often. Nothing beats "girls night out" for encouragement and laughter.

Tuesday was Piper's Keepers of the Home meeting. They are working on their swimming badges and she is so close. She needs to work on her stokes a bit more and she will have it! We are also memorizing the books of the Bible. I was planning to add one a day and learn them with her, but she is flying though them. She's got the first 14 already!

We had our last MOPS meeting Thursday morning. I have been in MOPS for 5 years which has been awesome, but we are ready to move on.

This weekend has been quiet. Abe and I ran errands while Chad had Piper and Nana had Cohen yesterday. It is so much easier to get groceries with one child!

Backyard Fun

We absolutely love our backyard. Our house is tiny and just enough that we don't go crazy, but the backyard makes up for everything the house is missing! Chad has carved awesome trails through the woods for walking and riding the 4-wheelers. Right now the greenery is filling in and makes the trails a beautiful walk.The kids have already gone swimming a few times. They have found some vines and ropes to swing from and practice their "big strokes" in the deeper parts of the creek. I don't know how they stand it, my feet freeze when I step in!

Fishing is another pastime around here. Several nights a week, Chad takes the kids to different fishing holes where they catch a variety of fish and throw them back in. Last night, the kids had a cousin over to entertain. They didn't catch anything but they had a great time!

And the corn crib is the kids' current hideout. They mastermind stories about what happened there years ago and move the old corn cobs around to create a "home".

Bad mom, cute pics

So Abe has become quite accustomed to sharing whatever I am eating with me. I promise the kid eats constantly, if you give him something he WILL eat it. And he cries when he realizes the baby food jar is empty when I am feeding him meals. I have to race to the cupboard and get some kind baby appropriate snack after his meals to get him calmed down!

Well, we all decided to snack on an ice cream sandwich while playing outdoors at Aunt Ashley's house. Abe immediately was reaching for mine and started grunting like he does, so I said "Here, take it!" to see what he would do with it. Well, he devoured it. I had to grab the pieces that fell and throw them away so he would not ingest an entire ice cream sandwich!


He would hardly look up for a picture, I guess he was scared the ice cream sandwich would disappear if he took his eyes off it :)

Splashing Good Times

It was soooo hot at Aunt Ashley's we opted to get out the baby pool (she keeps one for her dog) to stay cool. My big kids mostly enjoyed having control of the water hose and spraying each other and us, but Abe LOVED the water. He generally loves having a bath and this was just a big bath for him. Piper would take her hand and splash it down on the water and Abe just cackled like I have never heard before. He started splashing too and just had a blast!


And here is a cute picture of Aunt Ashley and Cohen before the water play ensued: