Strawberries!!

Today, we headed out to bring Hayden and Lilly to their week-long gymnastics camp (just in the mornings) bright and early to beat the heat and went with Grace and Caleb to meet a friend and her kids to pick strawberries.  Either we were too late, too early, or there just aren't many strawberries growing this year, but there weren't many on the plants to choose from.  Caleb was a trooper (probably because he was continuously eating for about 2 hours straight).  Grace wasn't a fan of the heat/sun and was fussy, but after deciding to sit down and feed her in the middle of the strawberry patch, she was a happy baby.  We finally gave up picking after about 2 hours since we were all sweaty and headed for the Harvest House to just buy a flat of strawberries.  I ended up getting a half flat of raspberries too, so all in all it was a productive day....lots of freezer jam and a pie...and about 6 poopy Caleb diapers!!

Side note:  You can kinda of see a gold crown in the jam picture - that is from the gymnastics camp.  Mark went to pick the kids up and said out of all the kids, Lilly won "camper of the day"!  She got a crown and certificate and they picked her up and threw her into the foam pit!  She thought it was GREAT!!  We were pretty proud.  Hayden also learned a lesson in being proud of his sister even though he didn't win ;)  He didn't quite understand why he didn't win if he followed all the rules too (which I'm sure he did because he is the kind of kid who WILL NOT stray from the rules).  Oh well, just another life lesson...we don't always win!

Princess Grace

Just hanging out taking a nap in daddy's big chair!

1st camping of the season

Last weekend, we headed up to Lake Pend Oreille to Farragut State Park to camp with Grandma and Grandpa.  We had our new tent trailer and Grandma and Grandpa had their trailer...so we didn't rough-it too much!  It rained one night and sounded like millions of golf balls were hitting the roof of our trailer.  Only Grace woke up, but we were glad that we weren't in a tent!!

Grandma and Grandpa had bought strawberries along the way that got too warm, so needed to be eaten.  Our kids didn't have a problem with that!!  I think they were gone the 1st hour we were there!

 Grace's 1st camping excursion

 Having fun with head lamps

 Cooking s'mores (good thing we are ready with headlamps:)

 Doing what he does best...EATING!

 Quality Grandma time

 We hiked down to the lake one day.  Caleb passed out in the backpack

 Sweet baby blues

 Family shots

 hmmm, what should I do with this hand full of rocks??

 Throw them into the lake!!

It was a fun weekend.  The kids got to go in the canoe with Grandma and Grandpa too, but I stayed back with Grace so didn't get any pictures.  Then, Grandma and Grandpa took the 3 oldest kids for an extra day and we headed home with Grace.  It was a fun weekend and start to our summer!!!

Sleepy Eater

The other day, Caleb was nodding off while eating lunch.  He had his eyes closed and I went to get the camera.  As soon as he heard the camera "chime" when it turned on, he opened his eyes halfway and said VERY sleepily "cheese"!!  We have him trained!

Lilly Ballerina

The last 3 mornings, Lilly has been in a ballet "princess" class.  She loved dressing up into her pink outfit.  Usually the parents are downstairs because there isn't enough room for everyone, but on the last day, we got to come up at the end to see what they have learned.  They "performed" Cinderella for us and showed us all their ballet moves.  It was fun seeing her concentration (tongue out and all) trying to do everything.  Her favorite is the "curtsy".  Pretty dainty for a girl nicknamed "bruiser"!!!

Ballet Part 1

Ballet Part 2