Saturday Strawberries

We took the twins to the all you can eat berry buffet on Saturday and they had a blast. Reese insisted on holding everyone's berry "buckets" and was very careful that no one be given more buckets than anyone else (aside from her, who was allowed to have all the buckets). Puff was much more selective about which berries she picked and she was very careful not to damage her fruit. For the majority of our time in the field, she pointed out berries that she wanted to pick and then issued the order "mommy help you" which meant that I was to "help" her pick said berry or, in other words, "Hey ma, pick that berry for me. Now."

Ryan traversed through the rows, repeatedly stepping on the strawberry plants even after being told not to. His plant trampling stood in stark contrast to his meticulous berry picking. Each time he leaned down to pick a new berry he would hold his bucket at such an angle that he would simultaneously drop ten berries out of his container and onto the ground.

{ carefully picking a berry }

{ then picking up everything that fell out of his container }

All of his berries had little smashed holes in them from when he shoved them down into his container to ensure they stayed put, which were only made worse by the amount of times he had to repick his berries up off the floor. He was so careful when he picked each one that it made his bucket of strawberry jam even more hilarious.

The twins had berry picked last year, but this time was much more fun because of their age and growing independence. We still had to enforce (over and over and over again) some basic berry rules, which makes me excited for when they are just a little older and can run amuck without really being so...amuck.

Joe wore Lola and I managed the dynamic duo. She was quite content to just hang out in the carrier and watch the big kids run and giggle. She wants to be a big kid so badly, but she's still so very tiny. Little bit mastered the art of sitting unassisted this week though, so she's about 40 percent more interesting to the big kids now. Mostly because she has some new (to her) toys that we broke out to celebrate. It's amazing some of the stuff my two year olds want to play with, and they have no problem stealing from a baby. 

Six dollars, ninety minutes and two quarts later and we were in the minivan heading home. I swear these farms should weigh my kids instead of the buckets when we get done in the fields.

mr sunshine, send me a ray or two...

so yesterday I felt a little sorry for myself, i knew i would, but then I had hatched a cunning plan to overcome this the previous night. i declared yesterday to be 'frock making day', a little carrot to dangle in front of me as i drove home from my dr appointment.

ever since i made my dottie angel sunshiney frock a few weeks back i have wished to make another, and another, and another, but alas and alack, i have not. so yesterday was the perfectly perfect time to do such a thing and in doing so i turned a crappity crappy day into a happity happy day! oh that's the spirit Tif...

when i had made my sunshiney 'jolly brighty' frock it made me feel all nice and fuzzy inside. i was particularly giddy about the hmong vintage embroidery bit, which i added a few french knots to, late afternoon just prior to a swim in Mrs W. Machine. after all, the world is always a better place with a french knot or two.

i do like a french knot or two. "oh i know, so do i". do you really? "yes, i do"

i noted it wasn't all bad at all, sitting outside catching the last of the iffy sunny rays we are seeing these days, well not bad at all unless you count my sweet chicken Polly dying in the middle of it all which did cause a bit of an upset to the proceedings, as you can imagine. we are just down to one chicken now, Little Voice, tis true, it is a somewhat sad affair to look out at my back yard where once there were 6 happy chickie peas doing their free ranging thing and now there is but 1. my mother hen heart is quite cracked these days...

school gets out in one week, one week i say! gosh, darn it, i am quite sure the school year only just began a few weeks back. the clock is counting down to summer mode. i LOVE summer mode, i am a lazy parent in summer, i do not demand summer reading schedules nor do daily math quizzes, no sirree! i switch off the 6:30am alarm and turn into a sloth in summer clothing. time slows down and with it, me and my clan. i like it that way... now on the other hand, my man would have it quite a different way. he would like to have all sorts of daily tasks and activities lined up to keep the lads cogs turning. and quite right too, tis not good to let them completely ground to a halt. i hope this summer i can muster the energy to not be quite such a sloth and perhaps meet my man in a middle ground somewhere... but then again, surely summer is all about lazy hazy days with nothing planned so impromptu summer happenings can happen and school work is just a distant memory for 10 long weeks of freedom.

i digress because my head is in summer mode, summer mode bought on by summer sunshiney frocks which need to be worn! so Mr Sun, "HELLO HELLO" i'm here, i plan to be full on ready for your 'long term' arrival in this here part of our big globe. such is my love for you, i am making another frock just so i have 3, so i may alternate whilst the other 2 are hanging on the line drying... yes Mr Sun, i even threw caution to the wind and bought some granny sandals today, not clog sandals but granny sandals for when it gets tres hot and my feet start to swell (as they do when you are approaching the middle of the forties) and i just can't have anything but comfy 'made for grannies, with flexible inbuilt special needs' footwear upon my peds. "peds?" yes peds. isn't that correct?

a friend for a friend, who are looking for another friend, and do not believe the rumour 'twos company, threes a crowd'

just like the good old days of dottie angel... 

some may think i was 'touched' by the sun's iffy rays yesterday, and some may be right, but others just may say "tis okay, just Tif rambling on, without a rhyme or a reason, proving some days she may be down, but she ain't never ever out"

'peachy plant pocket handy hangers'...

yesterday and today there has been lots of banging and crashing up above with my wonderful builders demolishing our old bathroom (looky see here if need be). walls have come down and now its just a nice big (well small) open rubblerly space waiting to be built up again into something quite spiffy.

to keep my constant canine companions out of harms way, i have barricaded most of the downstairs of our Mossy Shed, thus confining them and moi to the kitchen and the outside living space. so far we are doing most brilliantly...

 outside when Mr Sun has his hat on 

and inside when he does not

to keep ourselves from going batty, loopy or a little nutso from all the banging and hammering, and indeed calm their little critter nerves we are crafting away on 'peachy plant pocket handy hangers' whilst listening to the 'non stop, back to back' classical music radio channel i happened upon. 

yes indeedy, i have moved away from making little doily hammocks for my little green friends and stepped it up a notch, oh yes! little 'peachy plant pocket handy hangers' no less, which i do believe remind me somewhat of little neck purses and its all i can do to stop myself from popping one around my neck and taking my little green friend out for a jolly to the grocery store

over and out

Tif

footynote: well, yes i will confess, i did tippity tap this ramble with not one but two of my green friends hanging around my neck, and i must say, they were most well behaved and did not cause the least bit of argy bargy despite being in close proximity to themselves and my loopy cardi. i am thinking just how marvelous my little succulent and sedum green friends truly are with their very undemanding ways... yes most marvelous indeedy.

Wonderful Weekends

Last weekend was the kind of weekend I dreamed about having when I thought about what it would be like to have a family of my own. There was nothing outrageously exciting about it. We just had time to spend together, no errands or to-do's or house projects.



On Friday we took the kids to the park and I got to practice taking pictures which was so much easier to do with their dad there to help entertain them, push them on the swings or catch them out of midair when they came off the slides.

{ daddy pushed her down the big kid slide, the horror }

Afterward we took them to a seasonal ice cream and burger shop for dinner. They mostly ran around like wild monkeys while Joe and I ate. After dinner I got the kids their first ice cream cones. Our kids are weirdos and don't like sweets at all. Reese held her ice cream cone and kept saying things like "yummy!" or "delicious!" and pretending to lick the cone. At one point she was trying to climb onto one of the picnic tables with her cone in hand and lost her balance. Her cone landed face down on the bench and she was on her back staring at the sky. Of course, I was trying to take her picture and somehow missed this gem. Probably because I was laughing so hard I couldn't see.

{ what kid makes this face after eating ice cream? }

Ryan just ran around in circles with his ice cream until the actual ball of soft serve fell off the cone. Ice cream abuse. Thus ending our Friday night.

Saturday I drove out to Massachusetts to buy an antique high chair for the baby. I had grand plans to paint it, but now that we got it home I don't know if I have the heart to do it. The chair is so darn pretty.

Lola and I met up with my best friend (her godmother) for lunch to taste test some of the treats we'll be serving at her Christening party and when I got home we took the kids to a family fun night. They saw clowns for the first time, danced to live music and jumped in bouncy houses. It was awesome.

While we were watching a magic show, three clowns were sitting in the audience and Reese was performing for them. Dancing, singing, really putting on a show. Every time the crowd clapped for the magic show her face would beam. The little toot thought everyone was clapping for her.

{ Puff performing for the clowns }

Sunday was spend just catching up on work and getting ready for the week. I woke up to feed the baby around 5 and couldn't fall back asleep, so I took advantage and made myself some coffee and sat outside. The sun was up and my yard smelled like lilacs from one of the only plants we have in our yard so far (there's that damn to-do list!) but it was so quiet and my coffee was so hot. Amazing.

I needed a weekend like this, just a break from the crazy running around. Time to take pause and soak in how blessed we are. I enjoyed my kids so much, I just kept sitting back and wondering how this was my life.