Strawberry Picking

The spring season has been off to a slow start with the cool weather we have been having but it is finally Strawberry season around here!

Me and a good friend of mine took our boys strawberry picking last week and he had tons of fun.  I think Neal ate one strawberry for almost everyone that made it into the bucket.  There were also several that I found in our bucket with a bite taken out of them, Neal must have been testing them to make sure they were good enough to bring home :).  

It was a great outing and just in time since this week has brought lots of rain.

Who doesn't like fresh, ripe strawberries right?  Especially this pregnant mamma, who has been craving fruit and ice cream lately.  We have already had them on french toast, on our cereal in the morning, over chocolate ice cream and I'm planning on making some fresh fruit salsa and cinnamon chips for later this week.  Yummmy!

Life Lesson

While enjoying the nice sunny day outside the other day a little caterpillar crawled across the driveway right by my feet.   I called Neal over to show him how fast the caterpillar moved and I touched it with a stick to show him how it would curl up for a second and then start crawling again.  Neal smiled really big and then immediately stomped on the caterpillar with his shoe.   As you can imagine there was a flattened caterpillar and a gooey mess infront of us on the driveway.  To my surprise a few seconds later Neal started to cry.    I asked him why he was so sad and he said, "I want the caterpillar to move again mommy."   It was a sad afternoon as I had to explain to Neal that when he smashes a bug with his shoe it kills the bug and it won't move again.  Life lessons are hard to learn sometimes, but now we are on the lookout for another caterpillar so we can put him in Neal's bug jar and watch him move instead of smashing him right away.    

A Celebration

A few weeks ago we loaded up the car and headed over to Tennessee to celebrate Mammaw's (Tyler's Grandma's) 90th Birthday.   Tyler's parents were able to come down from AK and Aunt Jessi and Uncle Wes from OH along with lots of other family from the TN area.

(All the family that was able to make it to the 90th Birthday Celebration)

We had a great visit with everyone and it was fun to be able to celebrate Mammaw's big 90th birthday all together and just relax for a weekend all together.

(Enjoying a nice walk with Aunt Jessi and Lola) 

What a wonderful legacy Mammaw has left and is still living out for her family.  I love to sit with her and hear her stories of life.  She is a woman who loves her family and it is evident by the way everyone in the family feels so valued by her and important to her.  She spends time talking to everyone and is always eager to chat on the phone with anyone in the family at any time.

I am so glad we live relatively close to TN and can go visit her more and are able to come celebrate special occasions like this one.  

Bring on the pink

We are excited to share that we will be welcoming a little girl to our family this fall!  Lots of pink, purple, flowers and other girly things will be invading our home.

Neal's transformers will have to make room for some dolls 'cause Neal is getting a little sister!

10 on 10

Back in November I participated in the "10 on 10" photo day.  "10 on 10" means that you take one picture every hour for ten hours on the 10th of the month.  A fun way to document a day in photos.  So, since it has been so long since I did a "10 on 10" I though I would try it this month.    This was a great month too 'cause the 10th fell on a week day so you will see a fairly typical week day in our house (no pictures of chores though, I really didn't get any of my chores done that day, it was to nice outside)

So here is our day on April 10th, Wednesday, in photos.

7:00 AM 

(Starting off my day listening to our pastors sermon that I missed one sunday - It's nice when Neal sleeps in 'till 7:30)

8:00 AM 

(Breakfast time!)

9:00 AM 

(Time to get dressed! Neal is learning to get himself dressed so here are his clothes all ready for him, as you can see it was a nice hot day...perfect for shorts)

10:00 AM 

(Coffee with a good friend - and our boys thus the toys on the table)

11:00 AM

(Neal and his friend Josiah "fishing" for their cars)

12:00 PM

(Headed back home from Josiah's- Neal putting his shoes on all by himself.  He even got them on the correct feet)

1:00 PM

(Story time before nap)

2:00 PM 

(I was enjoying the nice spring day in the sun...so are the bees)

3:00 PM

(Neal awakes with his crazy nap hair)

4:00 PM 

(Snack time outside in the sun while we play and wait for daddy to get home) 

There you have it!  This was a pretty typical week day for us and a fun way to give you a glimps of our day to day lives.

TWR: Speaking Hope to the World

Tyler has been traveling a lot this past year for TWR.  Almost all his trips have been to gather footage for a new TWR video which was just publicly released today!  At the beginning of our time here at TWR Tyler was asked, in his first global meeting, to produce a video that would show TWR's international ministry, TWR's international staff and leadership, and appeal to an international support base.   After working on creating the concept for the video, gathering footage, and editing the video is complete.

TWR: Speaking Hope to the World from TWR on Vimeo.

We are so excited and continue to be encouraged by the opportunity we have to work with TWR and be a part of the amazing ministry and reach that TWR has around the world.   (Please feel free to share this video link)

Art Projects and planning for Preschool

We don't really have an official school time at our house.  Neal is still learning to sit still and I am still learning and gathering ideas for "preschool time" come fall.   A few times a week however we do sit down and work on some shapes, art projects, small motor skills and are just starting to work through the alphabet.  

Neal already knows his letters and can recognize a letter if you show him so I think we will be working more on our letter sounds come fall.  I also think working on recognizing numbers and learning to write his name will be on the top of the "school" list this coming year.

I'm considering doing a preschool group with a few good friends from church which would be fun.  However, the school year will just be starting as we welcome baby #2 so adding another activity to our schedule along with the big adjustment of a new baby may not work out.  Lots to think about but for now we have fun doing small projects and art activities together.

Mostly we fill our afternoons with playing, riding bikes, walking the dog and playing baseball (now that the weather is just starting to get warmer.)