Photo Shoot

Last week we met some friends at Wheaton Regional Park to do a photo shoot. Our friend Janelle Mays took some amazing pictures of the kids. Check out some of the pictures she took on her blog. Did I mention she's like 14 years old?

Piano

Apparantly in our house playing the piano is a three person job!

Daddy Time

I sent the kids downstairs this morning to clean up the playroom. I went down to check on their progress and this is what I found. I sent Dave this picture on his phone and said "See what happens when you leave!" I think this boy needs some Daddy time!!!

Garden Results

Thought you might enjoy seeng some updates from the garden. The other night Dave and the kids picked a head of broccoli, a head of cauliflower, and a few strawberries. We pulled one carrot to see if it was ready. It was not, but as you can see Alethea was excited nonetheless. It has been so fun to watch the garden grow and to see how excited the kids are about it. I'll let you know if we get anything else. We are trying a little of everything to see what will grow in our yard. The verdict is still out on green beans, cucumbers, and corn.

Just Trying To Serve

Yesterday I decided to try to serve Dave by getting some extra things done. The Mexico missions trip is coming soon and he's trying to spend lots of time with the kids. So, I decided to try to take some things off his "to do" list before he goes. While he was out yesterday during naptime I thought it would be a great idea to cut our front yard. We have a riding lawn mower but I don't know how to use it, so I decided to use the push lawn mower. My thinking was this won't be so bad. I'll get some exercise and serve Dave in the process. So, once I figured out how everything worked, off I went. If you have not seen our front yard, it's a pretty good size with a bit of a hill. I was doing pretty good for about the first third and then I'm thinking "wow, this is really hard". I'm getting out of breath, which is really no surprise considering how out of shape I am. Anyway, by the end, I'm feeling horrible. I finished, not even having enough energy to move the lawn mower back to the shed. I make it to the kitchen floor, where I sit for 10 minutes, then to my bed for another 20 minutes, and finally to the shower. I'm thinking, I have not had a workout like that since high school basketball practice. So Dave gets home, and he's really appreciative, but as I'm describing how awful I felt when I was done, I could tell he was a little perplexed. He starts asking questions about how I used the lawn mower. I'm starting to get the idea that something is very wrong. He begins to ask me if I knew the mower was self-propelled. I did, but I assumed it just worked that way. What I didn't realize is that there is a special bar you have to push for it to be activated. In case you're lost, I just mowed our entire front lawn by my own strength. NOT WITH SELF-PROPELLED!! I could not believe it. Needless to say we laughed a ton at my expense for the remainder of the evening. I went back and forth all night between feeling accomplished at what I did, and feeling like a total airhead.

Strawberry Picking

Last Wednesday we went strawberry picking as a family. Jenny, Dave's sister, who was in town from California joined us. It was hot, but when you have three kids and three adults picking, it actually doesn't take too long. We picked a whole flat, and have been enjoying them immensely. We made pancakes and topped them with strawberries the very first night. We have made chocolate dipped strawberries, strawberry shortcake, and homemade strawberry ice cream. In fact, the whole flat is already gone! We're trying to figure out when we can go back for more!!