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!!

Last Field Trip

We just had our last field trip of the year the other day. We ended the year at Brookeside Gardens at their Wings of Fancy exhibit. We had been there before, but I felt like this year was the best. The butterflies were everywhere and they were landing on us left and right. I just took the girls and we had a great time. (I don't think Caleb would have liked all the butterflies flying around him.) It has been a fun year doing all the field trips. We'll see what next year holds.






Here are some pictures from the trip before this one to the Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport.

Never a Dull Moment

Never a dull moment at the Brewer household. On Monday, we were enjoying a relaxing afternoon, the kids were playing outside and we were sitting on some lawn chairs before we headed out to meet some friends for dinner. I'm practically dozing when I happened to look up at the girls on the swings. Mikaela gets off and tries to run in front of Alethea's swing. Notice I said tries to. She didn't quite make it. Next thing I know she's on the ground. I go running to her thinking she just got kicked in the head. She did get hit in the head, but not by Alethea's feet. As I'm looking at Mikaela, I notice that Alethea is screaming. Dave starts to look at her. We then begin to realize that she got the brunt of the collision. It was her head that hit Mikaela's head, not her feet. She ended up with a fat lip and loose tooth. Mikaela did have quite a headache, but nothing that required a trip to the doctor. We called the girls dentist, and they told us we should come in just to be sure. So, there goes our relaxing afteroon. We have 20 minutes to get all four kids in the car to a place that takes 30 minutes. Did I mention Sarah was still napping. At the dentist they took an X-ray and everything looked fine. She was such a trooper. If it had to happen to anyone, I'm glad it was her. She was scared and sore, but she was so brave, and has not complained one bit. I wonder what's next.

Spring Party

Last Monday we had our second annual Spring Party. One of the great things about living in this house is the ability to have our friends over. On a nice spring day the yard is amazing. The weather could not have been more perfect this year, and I think we all had a good time. We did an egg hunt, had lots of great food, and topped it off with some ice cream. It's so fun to see how the kids really are starting to enjoy being together and it is fun to think that they all will be growing up in this church together.

Owen looking for some eggs


Carson's Daddy helping him look for eggs


Mr. B, Braden, and Caly (Mattie in the background)


Allyson


TROUBLE! Lauren, Caleb, and Rylie


Sarah and Dada


some girls and Moms... funny how early the boy/girl separation starts


more girlies


Mr. Hydoski overseeing KJ and Caleb in the sandbox