Strawberry Patch

One of our favorite things to do in the Spring is to go pick strawberries at a local farm and then make lots of strawberry shortcake and strawberry pies.  We have done this every year since Kate has been born and every year she gets more and more helpful.  Just a side note, yes Kate is wearing Oakley sunglasses and no we did not buy them.  Jeff found them at a soccer field and unable to find the owner, brought them home.  So now, Jeff and Kate have matching sunglasses.  Who knew they made Oakleys for 3 year olds?!  Being curious, we looked up how much they cost- let's just say they are about 4 times more expensive than what I would pay for sunglasses for myself because, unlike Jeff, I don't spend half of everyday in the sun.

Taste testing the produce.

While Kate and Jeff did all the work, Matthew slept and I watched. 

Success!  Kate helped me make some great pies.

Goodberry's and National Boards

Summer is almost here which means it's time to take advantage of a great ice cream/frozen custard place we have-Goodberry's. This stuff is awesome and is a favorite place to visit when it gets warm outside, lots of people even go in the middle of winter. The four of us went to celebrate the completion of my (Maria's) National Board exam-Jeff took the day off to stay with the kids. The exam, which is all essay writing, was interesting. Some questions were no problem and some questions I wasn't too sure about, but the important thing is that it is done and I don't have to stress over it for a while. Here I am celebrating.  I look pretty tired, but that's what happens when you've been studying, getting up every few hours during the night to take care of your little guy, and getting up at extra early to get to an exam on time.

Kate loves to throw pennies in the fountatin and make wishes.  Luckily, her Daddy is very generous so she makes multiple requests.  We asked her what she wished for-these were her responses:

1st wish-"That Precious and Max (our dogs) stop barking."  (We didn't know this was a problem for her.)

2nd wish-"To help Grannie get better."  (Such a sweet, empathetic kid)

3rd wish-"Mommy, I can't tell you" (Who knows what she wished for-this conitnued until Daddy was out of pennies,)

Family Bath Fun

We gave both children a bath together in th e"BIG" tub, as Kate says, for the first time this weekend (with Mommy in the tub and Daddy playing lifegaurd outside the tub).  It was fun family time.  Kate and I had a pretty awesome squirt gun fight before Matthew joined us.

Two pics of Kate & Matthew because getting both kids to smile at the same time is just not going to happen.

Matthew and his Giraffe

Matthew is two months old today and he has already changed so much.  We don't go to the doctor until Friday so I don't have a weight and height update, but I can tell you he is wearing 6 month size clothing already.  He is starting to smile more and more, especially when he sees this giraffe or a ceiling fan.  He loves the fan in our family room.  He smiles and talks to it.  I think he is asking it to be his friend and gets his feelings hurt when it doesn't respond back- it is so cute and innocent.  He is saying agoo and ohh and is noticing the world around him.  He also likes being outside and looking at the trees and plants.  He has just started sleeping for a four to five hour stretch at night, which the experts say is sleeping through the night, but when he is waking up at 2 in the morning it is not sleeping through the night in my book! Happy Two Month Birthday to our sweet boy.  

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Mothers out there!  Here are my precious little ones playing under Matthew's activity gym-one of their favorite things to do together.  It is the pleasure of my life (along with being married to my hubby) to care for and love on these two blessings.

We went to BC to visit the family.  Here is Kate on the porch of the playhouse at Grandaddy & Grandma's.

Group Hug!  Kate and Scarlett love Bear and each other.

Kate joined Jeff for an overnight soccer trip to Charlotte with his high school team.  It was her first solo trip with Daddy.  She had a wonderful time riding the charter bus with the girls, cheering on the team, and doing her first bit of coaching (more on that later).  She was her Daddy's shadow and little helper.  These pictures were taken by the father of one of the players who made the trip to watch the team.  I'm so glad he took these pictures.

One of her favorite things to do was to get water from the water cooler.  Jeff said she was a little beaver going back and forth to get water.

On the bench with Daddy 

Jeff let Kate talk to the team at half time after he and his assistant, Coach Casey, had spoken to them.

Kate's half-time speech: "Kick the ball to your teammates, but not too hard. Stay away from sharks and watch out for Swiper!"

Daddy's team scored in the second half and won, 1-0. Good coaching Kate!  Here she is celebrating the victory.  Can you tell Mommy was not there to deal with the hair?!