Strawberries

It's strawberry season and I've been busy!  A friend of mine called to see if I was interested in a "flat of strawberries".  Which, turns out is 8 quarts.  I (thankfully) went with the 1/2 flat.

These berries are delicious and have been turned into some delicious creations in the last few days!
Starting with...

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream! Yum!!

Next...Strawberry Jelly.  Check out the cute helper!

Stirring like a pro!

Showing off the finished product

And, finally, tonight for dessert we had some delicious strawberry shortcake!

Homemade shortcake!

Clearly, I'm not a food stager/photographer.  But it was pretty tasty!!

I still have about a quart and a half to use.  I'm open to suggestions :)!

What have we been up to?

We've been busy...
Making silly faces with our new neighbors.


Finding turtles.


Having block parties.


Growing pretty flowers.


This is Ethan's sunflower he has grown from a seed. Waiting for it to bloom!


Cuddling on a Sunday afternoon.





Supporting our church youth group by playing some putt putt and hitting some balls at the batting cages.




















Oh yes...I got in on the action (skirt, flip flops and all). It was a lot of fun!

Now you are caught up on our last few days!

Throw-Back-Thursday

Since the mosquito season is upon us, I thought this was appropriate.
This is Ethan at about 2. Doesn't he look pitiful??


He got a bug bite(maybe mosquito) on his face and this is what he woke up looking like!


He was fine by the end of the day :).


Throwback Thursday just might become a weekly series. We shall see :).

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Playing in rain puddles.  Every kid's dream, right?!?  This happened tonight after dinner and after a 15 minute downpour...

They had a blast!!

Children's Musuem

We decided (this morning) to take an impromptu trip to the Bloomington Children's Museum. We have never been there and been taking about going for a while now. What better time, than a rainy Saturday?!? I forgot my camera, so my phone had to do.

They loved the water area...





Building a giant marble run.





Success!!


Tractor driving


Milking cows


Playing a little foot music.


Afterwards, we met up with a good friend from high school and his family, Matt. It was a great visit and a great day!

Photo Friday...Week 37

We had fun with this week's pictures!

Dancing with Your Children

1 More Birthday Post :)

I realized that I haven't shared the pictures from Ethan's birthday day with just the 4 of us.  Jared took the day off, and we had a wonderful day.  We started the morning off with donuts!

And if you remember from last year, we put the birthday presents under his bed and before he can get one, he gets bday swats :).  We all got a turn!

One of his presents from us was a 'construction set' (that's what he calls it, and I don't have a better name for it!)  He has enjoyed being creative with the pieces, but it has instructions for a fort and a few other things.

Here he is, in his boat :)

It's Fun to be 4!! Happy Birthday Ethan  James!

We were hoping to go to the pool all together, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we substituted with a trip to the children's museum and Culvers.

Playing with the trains

Bday Ice cream from Culvers, complete with a candle!

Tonight, we got together with our old neighborhood to celebrate Ethan and Braden.  They have been friends since they met in the hospital (born 2 days apart).  It's always a good time when we get together.  We met for dinner at a local pizza restaurant and conveniently had the whole back room to ourselves!

Silly Boys

Ed and Ruth came too.  Ruth and Nora had a great time.  They brought a present for her too!

Playing with the baby