A Pickin' We Shall Go

I loaded up Buttercup & Sunshine and headed here...

This was Emma's berry first pick of the day...

And into the bucket it went.

The berries were just beautiful and GIGANTIC! I think we went a bit earlier in the season this year, so it was much less picked over.

We had this little guy in tow, and he's mobile now, so I set my expectations pretty low for the morning.

It didn't take him long to figure out that leaning out of the wagon+grabbing something red=something pretty darn delicious.

Miss Emma did a great job at filling her bucket.

I was relying on her for most of our pickings...

Mainly because I was dealing with this little guy.

Oh my goodness did he eat some strawberries. Thank heavens I thought to bring his bib.

Attempt 1 at a "together photo."

This is my favorite shot of the day...

Needless to say, Sunshine enjoyed his pickins.

That might just be an understatement.

We met friends at the farm, which is always fun...

And here's attempt #2 at a "together photo." Photoshop anyone?

I gave up and let him do his thing. My what a difference a year makes. This was our trip to the farm last year. Our little buddy was just two months old then :)

We finished up our morning with a couple of touristy photo ops...

Together Photo Attempt #3...a no go. again.

Emma ended her outing with sausage on a stick, while I used every wipe known to existence to clean Sunshine up. I went home with two buckets of fresh strawberries, homegrown veggies, and two of the berry best kids, complete with little red-stained lips. No jam this year....we ate them all! We can't wait to go back next year...or maybe I can convince Rob to go with us this season :)

the rodeo & the ride

meet buttercup and sunshine.

i can't believe that she will actually pose for me now.

unbelievable. she used to look away when i got my camera out. guess i won that one :)

she spotted this on the way in...

but we headed over to see the animals first.

she had to have her photo with a cow...

there were so many babies. i think this one was just a day old.

do you like how it says, "no standing" and she's doing just that? just realized that.

buddy enjoyed the ride.

and this pig enjoyed his sleep. he was snoring. seriously.

and the baby pigs. buttercup would tell you they were "precious."

and they were. she would also want me to tell y'all that she doesn't like it when i call her buttercup.

there were baby lambs too.

along with sunflower planting...

here's half of us....

and here's the other half...

and here's miss emma counting how many people are in front of her before she gets her turn

on this...

horses are still her favorite and standing in that line was definitely worth it.

buttercup had one more thing to check off her list...

this would be her second ride. her first ferris wheel adventure was with papa c.

daddy got to do the honors this go round.

they were up, up, and away.

while carson stayed down below with me.

they were still mid-air...i was using my mega zoom.

and then the ride was over.

or maybe it was just beginning. on our way to the rodeo, we found out that AT&T is buying T-Mobile. and if you don't know already, my sweet hubby works for T-Mobile.

we have lots of questions and very few answers, so if you get an extra minute or so tonight and want to send a prayer our way, we would be so very grateful.

so. very. grateful.

plan b

it's warm here. and the splash pad is our favorite hang out in the summer. emma jumped with joy when i told her that we were heading here for the afternoon. i packed everything up...snacks, drinks, towels, toys, camera...dressed everybody. and we were off. i thought buddy would be happy pushing his little dump truck in the shallow. i was wrong. so. so. wrong. if i picked him up once to put his back in the shallow, i picked him up a thousand times.

for the short amount of time that we were there, this was my view...

i was chasing after our quick little dude and never sat down. at first i was worried about his knees, but they were being covered by his swim trunks. about thirty minutes in and completely exhausted, i picked him up again, and the tops of his little feet were bleeding from dragging across the splash pad floor.

we needed to leave, but had just gotten there. i feared that emma would flip.

but she didn't.

she saw his little feet and agreed that we needed to go home. she's grown up so much.

so, we loaded everything up and went home.

where o where will our hang out be this summer?

i need a plan b.

and fast.

as for soccer...emma's had two more practices and they went beautifully! she loves to run "duper duper" fast, and we've managed to convince her that it's okay if she doesn't score a "bunny trick."

ahhhh...thank goodness.

thirteen months

little buddy, you hit your first post-one year milestone. you're thirteen months now. here's your past month in a nutshell....

• we cut out your 7 am feeding on march 5th. so we are down to two nursings a day: 2pm and 7 pm.
• you sign to us...more, eat drink, bath, and all-done.
• as far as words go, you can say ma-ma, da-da, ma for more, up, duck-duck, nana, uh-oh bye-bye, and night-night.
• you love to clap!


• you still "pat your mama" or "pat your dada," which is so sweet.
• and you give the sweetest kisses, but sometimes you turn your daddy down. i think it's his scruffy facial hair :)
• as for sleeping, you take two naps a day at 10 am and 2 pm.
• and you sleep all night...7 pm to 7 am.
• for diapers, it's size 4 and for clothes it's size 12-18 and 18-24 months.
• and you l o v e that paci.

• you love to eat too.

• here's a shot from today...on your 13 month birthday. time just keeps on flying by....faster and faster each day.

• you love the water, and you love to swing too.
• you are the fastest little crawler i know, but i don't think that walking is anywhere in the near future.
• we were a little late on your one year check up. you weighed in at 22 lbs. 15 oz and were 30 inches long. both stats put you right at the 5oth percentile.
• you have a happy little personality and i've had so much fun being your momma.

To our little bro-bro....you are a blessing to our little family, and we are all three enjoying watching you grow....