Strawberry Fields Forever

Ugg. Again with the pictures backwards chronologically. I thought I tricked it this time, but no. I have faith that you will be able to follow this complicated story anyway. Okay. Onto strawberry picking. Fresh strawberries are one of my personal favorite things about summer. The funny thing is, we have three strawberries seasons around here but the Mainer in me only gets the urge to pick in summer. Bad habits are hard to break I guess.

Cutting strawberries with my favorite meal prep assistant. She has even started helping wash dishes. I love her.

And she LOVES strawberry shortcake. YUM!

So does Cam, except she didn't care for the strawberries or the cake. But she devoured the whipped cream.


Look at her making eyes at that whipped cream. Goodness child, have some restraint! Like I should talk. I finished the strawberries and cake that she didn't eat. I'm such a good example for my children.

I love picking strawberries. The little surprise you get when you lift those dark green leaves to find brilliant red strawberries just waiting there for you. It's like opening a present. A very sweet yummy present.

Katie explaining how big her tummy is going to get when she eats all the strawberries.

I love the smile on that boy.

I love this boy too, but this smile is his "just take my picture so I can get back to what I was doing"smile ... I have to catch him off guard to get a 'real' smile out of him. He has spent too much time in front of the camera in his short lifetime.

This was Camryn's first trip to a strawberry farm. I thought she would consume her weight in strawberries, but she didn't. She was actually very cautious and a little afraid. I think she may have been a little worried about what may be under those little plants. Kids. They are so funny sometimes.

{Side Note: See that adorable pregnant woman looking at my baby? She's hoping her baby is as cute as mine, I just know it! Good luck lady. Don't get your hopes up, that's some premium DNA you're gazing at.}

One Down, Two to Go!

Tuesday was Will's last day of preschool for the summer. Another school year goes flying by. Will had a super fun year at Providence Presbyterian Preschool in Ms. Amy's Three year old class. Here is little miss Camryn walking in to pick up Will, and give Ms. Amy her thank you gift, on the last day of school. Camryn carried out her duties with the utmost pride and honor.


Will and his good buddy Will. Will P and Will C as they were known. 2006 must be the year of the William, I have met so many boys by the name of Will that are Will's age. It's a little crazy. How many times can you say Will? Will, will you please.

Will and Abby getting some last minute playtime in. The classroom is stark because it was the last day. It's usually much more colorful and inviting.

Playing with bubbles in the sensory table. Will and Taylor both have younger sisters who think they own that space. They have bonded over this. Misery loves company.

Taylor and Will. Sweet friends.

Here is Ms. Amy. Or as Will calls her: Mist Amy. She's wonderful. Kate had Ms. Amy when she was two. Amy is one of those people who was born to work with children, she has a talent, passion and understanding of young children that is very hard to find. The kids adore her. Parents love her too.

Everyday after school Will rolls down this hill. It helps 'waste' some time between his pick-up time and Kate's pick-up time. There is usually a group of them ~ all the kids from Will's class coupled with a few others. Thinking back to those first days of preschool I am blown away by the changes that have taken place this year. Will has grown-up so much in this short time.

He is still very much my crazy, silly, wacky Will ... just a little more mature and secure. There are times that he reminds me so much of Ben it's scary. But he is very much is own person. Will is what some would refer to as the 'typical boy', his energy is boundless and his gross motor (and fine motor too) are so well developed he puts his big brother to shame in most physical activities. From the time he was two years old he could throw a ball up in the air and hit it with a bat. Every time. Seriously, every time. He is beyond athletic. Name the sport and he'll want to play it. He's competitive and aggressive and driven. But what fascinates me most is his dedication and patience at such a young age. On any given day you can find Will in our driveway shooting hoops. He will shoot over and over and over again. For hours. He may make only a handful of baskets, but he never gets discouraged or bored. He just stands there and shoots, and shoots and shoots. If any of my children are going to be athletes it's going to be Will. He has the talent, the energy, the passion, desire and dedication. And he's only three. I'm excited to see where he goes in life and what he chooses to do. The rest of us will be hard pressed to keep up with him that's for sure. Camyrn and I are exhausted by the end of most days. One can only kick a ball for so many hours in a row, and run so many 50 yard dashes and play 'snake' so many times. (Snake is our version of "horse" or "pig". Only difference is you get a letter for every basket and the first to spell "snake" wins.) Lucky for Cam she can usually steal a few minutes of shut-eye in the car.

Don't you just love the upturned hand and open mouth. Now that's some good sleep right there. Man am I ever jealous.

Ben's 'School' Birthday

Even if you are a summer baby, like Ben, you get a special day at school to celebrate your birthday. Every teacher does it a little different. We brought in TCBY for Ben's special 'birthday' day a few weeks ago to his first grade class during snack time. Nothing like a bowl full of sugar at 10:00 in the morning!

Ben's friends singing Happy Birthday to him. See that blond in the pink? That's Vivian. Don't say anything to Ben, he's very shy about this: Vivian is Ben's first crush. How cute is that!? She's a sweetheart and, despite the outfit, is quite the 'tomboy'. She's also the tallest girl in his class. Tall and blond. Hmmm... just like mommy. Not.

Of course the entire family was there to celebrate Ben's non-birthday. Check out that huge bug bite on Cam's arm. Ouch! Even the insect world thinks she the sweetest little thing.

Ma came to, of course. Ben liked having everyone sing to him. Don't let his quite manner fool you, he LOVES to be the center of attention.

Ben and his teacher Mrs. Cook. She's awesome. And she loves Ben. As a parent that's all I can ask for ~ a teacher that loves and understands my kids. Mrs. Cook does. It will be interesting to see who Kate gets for first grade next year. She really wants Mrs. Cook, but for her sake I hope she gets some one else. Mrs. Cook knows Ben. I don't want that to influence her 'knowing' Kate. We will just have to wait until August to get the teacher list. I hate not knowing what teacher and kids Ben and Kate will be in class with. But I understand the reasons behind it: they like to torture us parents. :0)

Sniff. Sniff. ... Sniff.

It's that time of year again. The final weeks of school. Our schedule is packed full of year end activities and along with them come tears. My tears. Not because summer is about to start and I have to find a way to entertain four kids all day long while maintaining some sort of order and cleanliness in the house (although at times that's enough to choke me up). I just get sentimental this time of year. Okay, so I get MORE sentimental than I usually am. Scary, I know. Didn't school just start yesterday?

Kate's Kindergarten End of Year Party was so much fun. The kids and parents and teachers spent the day at one of Kate's classmates house for some good ol' fashioned fun in the sun. Here are the kiddos doing the water balloon toss. Notice the tall blond about half way down the line on the left. Yep, that's my Kate. She's head and shoulders above the rest ... har har har.

Here's Mrs. Austin's Kindergarten class of 2009 - 2010. I got all teary just writing that. Sniff. What a great group of kids and parents we have gotten to know this year. It's been a great year all around. (Kate's in the back row, the light blue shirt between two orange shirts. She's not the tallest in her class, thank heavens!) So now, Katie will move on. No longer a Kindergartner. Moving upward and onward to first grade. FIRST GRADE! Sniff.

Enjoying the hoola-hoops with her 'rock star' face. Sniff.

Check out at that shirt! Were they trying to get me to break down right then and there?? Class of 2022?!?! That's really not that far away ~ it may seem it, but if the years keep going by faster (and they will) I'll be posting her high school graduation pictures by the end of the week!

Sniff.

Sniff.

Sniff.

My only saving grace right now? Summer! It's almost here and boy am I ready!!

Sniff.

Mother's Day

I will get to my Mother's Day story in a minute. First here is my mom and the kids on Mother's Day. We bought and planted a dogwood in "Ma's" backyard for her. Ben picked it out. I was looking for a Mimosa tree, but the helpful guy at Youngs Nursery told me they no longer sell them, so this was our second choice. It's really quite pretty! We hope to remember to take a picture every year on Mother's Day to see how the tree and the kids are growing. Remind me next year will ya?

Will is dressing himself these days. I told him to put his hands down for the picture. He listened so I won't complain about the soldier posture.

Kate about to cut some flowers. Ma's yard is teaming with beautiful flowers and plants in bloom. She spends all of her free time out there planting and pruning and growing things. The yard has become quite transformed in the seven years she's been there.

The kids just love to go over to play. There are woods for them to explore in, water to play with and holes to dig in. Given the choice they would choose to live there over here any day.

Here is one of Ma's two ponds. This one is right behind her screen porch and has a small fence around it to keep the kids and dogs out of it. Jesse still manages to make her way over the fence though and can be found just sitting in here when visiting Grandma's house.

And here's a close up of the Dogwood we got for Ma. Isn't it cool?! I have been blessed with the best mom ever. My kids thinks so too! I really don't know what we would do without her!! Thanks for everything Mom. I love you. We all love you!

We spent the afternoon at Ma's playing and planting. But my Mother's Day morning was quite the change from my usual Sunday morning and very different from Mother's Days of the past. I woke up in a hotel room. In uptown Charlotte. With no kids. Don't worry I know how I got there.

But before I tell you the story let me tell you a little about Mother's Day in the past.

They've been nice. Nothing great. Nothing terrible. Just a day for the kids to give me cards and their homemade gifts, which I love, but you know, the normal stuff.

Well this year, some one must have tipped off my husband as to 'what mom would really want'. Thank you whoever you are. I owe you one!

Saturday was a crazy busy day around here. Ben's soccer game kicked it all off at 9:00am. From there we went straight to Charlotte Latin for their annual May Day Play Day. It's a small town festival of sorts~ games, rides, food, a fun run, silent auction ect ect. It's the school's biggest fundraiser. And all us lucky parents are not only who the funds come from (because we don't pay enough money to go there in the first place!! Right.) but we are also the organizers and volunteers. After six hours of being in the HOT sun, I was done! Jon and the kids had left about an hour earlier. They had had enough sun, junk food and worthless prizes to last them until next year's May Day Play Day. We drove seperately knowing I would have to be there longer than they would, so imagine my surprise when I get to my car and ... there is Jon! The sneaky little bugger (along with his sneaky assistant, my mom) had planned a night away for him and me and it started at that moment. He even packed my bags. I didn't need to go home to get anything. We headed uptown where I was able to shower in peace, have someone else make me dinner, go to bed without reading any kids books, or tucking anyone in, or singing bedtime songs, or getting water for anyone, or answering a million questions, or give any back rubs, or take cats out of rooms, or turn on closet lights, or move a toy that was not in the right place, or put the dog out, or .... you get the idea. And I slept ALL NIGHT. And I woke up when I was ready. Had coffee in bed, went for a run in the city with Jon (and if you know me at all you know that's the best gift anyone could give me!!), then had a leasurely breakfast with adult conversation (ok so we talked about the kids, but hey at least they weren't there ;). Ahhhh. It was perfect. Relaxing and restful. Just what I needed. Mother's Day is about mom. Every other day of the year is about kids. Jon got it right this time!! Thanks honey, you did good.

I would post pictures here, but as you know Jon and cameras don't get along. Someday I will have a picture of me with the kids on Mother's Day. But I'm not too stressed about it this year.

Let's Build!

There are only a handful of toys that can keep all four kids happily playing together, and wooden blocks are one of their favorites. For the last eight years blocks have been a part of our everyday lives. We love them.

Camryn has just started building towers. Will builds towers as big as he is and then knocks them down. Construct then destruct, it's a boy thing.

Blocks introduce so many math concepts; the relationship between size, weight, balance and strength. It also teaches patience and perseverance. Towers built by preschoolers fall over. A lot.

Camryn is just plain cute no matter what she's doing. Posing for pictures is another favorite past time.

Showing off the 'house' she built. Notice how she used the crates to build against. She learned by trial and error that her buildings will stand longer if you have something that helps support them. The further away her big brother is helps to.

Will measuring up to one of his towers.

Ben and Kate still love to play with blocks. Their play has changed from tower building to city and town building which usually incorporates matchbox cars and wooden trains. There are certain toys that seem to span the age gaps and withstand the test of time. In our house these are: wooden blocks, wooden train set, matchbox cars and sand and water (as in the outdoor sandbox or any beach). Nothing makes me happier than witnessing all four of my kids playing together. It brings such joy. Until Will knocks someone elses building over, or Camryn steps on a sand castle,or Katie steals some one's car or Ben gets frustrated with all of them and stomps off. Then the moment is over and forgotten and tears are flowing. But for a moment, no matter how fleeting, there can be peace. And it's those moments that make me believe that, yes, it is indeed all worth it.

Thirty Four!

Jon is desperately trying to catch-up with me. As he will happily say "I'll always be younger than you!!" ... that's quite alright with me. I will never have as much gray hair as he does. That makes us even.

Jon started off his thirty-fourth year with coffee and the Sunday paper in bed, thanks to his beautiful wife. And when I say coffee I mean hot chocolate. That's right, I'm married to a much younger man who drinks hot chocolate in the morning instead of coffee. He's just a baby after all.

A birthday game of Sorry with the kiddos.

Making the best chocolate fudge cake with caramel icing ever! Yummy!!

Ben didn't want to help bake so he became my camera man during the baking of said chocolate fudge with caramel icing cake.

It's a super easy recipe from my friend Pressley (who I miss!). Just one bowl for the cake and quick enough that the kids didn't lose interest. Perfect. Did I mention it was yummy?!?

This picture snuck in out of sequence. Ben took this at reading time up in the playroom just before bed.

This is what I spent my morning making. From scratch. Thank you very much. The 'white' 'things' are all versions of homemade Twinkies (for my very strange kids who don't like chocolate!). The one in back would be the famous chocolate fudge with caramel icing cake. Did I mention how good it was yet? Seriously good. And gone. we have eaten the entire thing. There is always birthday cake left over around here. Not this time!

Mmmmm. I wish I had more cake to nibble on. The pictures don't do it justice. Oh yeah, Happy Birthday honey!

Back in the playroom. Notice the mess. Now multiply this times 20 and you get an idea of what my house looks like all the time.

Jon and Jr Photosnapper. Happy Birthday Jon. I hope it was a good one and that this next year is the best one yet. I love you. Most of the time. ;)