Peaches and Blackberries

...Or should I say blackberries and peaches? We spent the day picking lots and lots of luscious fruit with Grandpa and Lisa at an orchard near Hempstead. It was hot, but we had a lot of fun.

Even Peter lent a hand... conducting random taste tests to be sure we were only picking the juiciest berries ; )
We took a break every now and then to cool down...And ended up with an impressive amount of fruit that we split so all could enjoy.

(We even gave some to Ryan because we like him.)

We ended the morning with a picnic lunch and some homemade peach and blackberry ice cream.

Thanks to Grandpa, Peter got his first taste of the wonderful stuff and was instantly hooked.

Of course, we then had to spend all afternoon cleaning and freezing the fruit, but it was worth it! Especially when it came time for dessert... with a little help from the Pioneer Woman, we had the most mouthwatering blackberry cobbler and peach crisp with Blue Bell ice cream. Mmmm!

Super Powers

Does anyone remember that 80s sitcom that had a teenage girl who could make time stop by touching her fingers together? That image popped into my head today as I was cleaning up mess #483 and I decided that of all the super powers out there, that is the one I would choose - then maybe I could do something selfish... like go to the bathroom... without worrying about what state the house would be in when I finished. Because I swear in the time it takes me to clean up one mess, my kids have managed to make about three more! If I only had a nickel....

Photo Tag

The rules are you have to take ten pictures of the following things. And you have to do it right away. No straightening, cleaning or wiping the snot from your child's nose. Then you tag five others. You guys are in for quite a treat since it's Friday afternoon of a sleep deprived week with a sick baby... Here's to keeping it real!

1. Laundry room - for the record, it's also a storage closet in our garage

2. Favorite room - that would be the baby's room because it usually doesn't get messed up... yet.

3. What the kids are doing right now - we like to call this redecorating the house :)

4. Favorite shoes - for summer definitely my Sanuk flip flops

you would not believe how comfy they are!
5. Toilet - not too bad all things considered

6. Kitchen sink - again, better than expected!

Luckily you can't see the counter off to the right where everything gathers while waiting for a home

7. Fridge - one of the lightbulbs just burnt out

8. Self-portrait

9. My closet - half of it anyway

10. Dream vacation - doesn't really matter where as long as it's remote and near water

I tag Tara, Marci, Melissa (We want to see your new digs!), Corrine (you too Miss Hawaii!), and Alexa.

Happy Birthday Lincoln!

Lincoln turns 3!

He is such a sweet little boy - despite his sister's best efforts to move him to the dark side :) He loves to snuggle and lately has started coming up to us randomly throughout the day with a hug and an "I love you Mom/Dad". He loves Diego, Lightning McQueen, Bing Bunny and all animals - although he has a healthy caution of them when up close and personal (thank goodness!). His favorite foods are oatmeal and marshmallows. He loves to laugh and brings a lot of smiles to our house. We're so grateful for our Lincoln!

We celebrated his birthday this weekend with grandparents. Lincoln requested a yellow cake with yellow frosting and yellow candles - did I mention that yellow is his favorite color? We even had yellow ice cream.... mmm, Blue Bell Banana Pudding...

We had a great time playing with family and just hanging out for the day. And Lincoln wants to say thank you for all the great presents he got. He and Leah are having a great time playing with them all. Here are a couple more pictures from the weekend:

Johnny Jump-Up

Peter's all time favorite activity right now is his Johnny Jump-Up. I think he likes it as much for the fact that it keeps him safe from siblings as for the jumping. It gives him quite a workout, however, and often we find him looking like this.... exhausted from all the fun :)

Poor, poor Peter.