Strawberry Pickin'

There is a u-pick strawberry patch a mile or so up the road from our home. We moved here last year a bit too late to take advantage of those strawberries, but it has been my plan all year long to take the boys berry pickin' so I could make some jam this summer. With Brooke coming any day, I wasn't sure that plan would come to fruition, but it did! I guess I was feeling energetic or something, because the day before she was born, we went with the grandparents to the farm. That afternoon my mother-in-law and I put up two batches of strawberry jam: freezer jam and cooked jam. I'm surprised I haven't taken any pictures of the jam that we put up! (Now that I'm a blogger, I've noticed that I take pictures of odd things! LOL )

Anyway, here are some pictures of our strawberry adventure:

Brooke Lauryn

Brooke Lauryn was born to us safely on Thursday, June 25, 2009. She weighed 6 pounds and 1 ounce, although when we brought her home she weighed in at only 5 pounds 9 ounces! (A little bit of fluid loss is normal in newborns.) She is a tiny slip of a thing, but already so precious to us. I'll post more later, but for now I at least wanted to get a few pictures up for everyone to see. (And yes, I suppose because I wanted to show her off!)

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

In case you did not know it, David and I will be heading to the hospital in the morning to have a baby girl. Just thought I'd let you know so you can keep us and the baby in your prayers. We'll be going in for the baby's birth around 8. We're all excited! I told Trevor he could come in the afternoon to see his baby sister, and Wow! Did that ever feel weird to say! The boys will soon have a sister!

Just Stuff

Tonight after church we played some Jenga around the kitchen table. The boys had a good time and were hamming it up for the camera. I can't tell you who made the tower fall the first time - but the second time it was Cole.



We're busy getting ready for the baby's arrival. We were able to get one more sneak peek at our daughter last Friday on the ultrasound. She was weighing in at about 6 pounds and the technician could even see some hair! Of course, it could be peach fuzz, but that was kind of fun to think about. We have only 7 days left until we meet our baby girl. We're all pretty excited. The other day we asked the boys if they were ready for the baby to come, and Cole said, "Yes! I don't want Mom's tummy to be like that anymore!" I'm not quite sure how to take that, but to be honest. . . I don't want my tummy to be like this anymore either! Ha!

My Three Sons

It is not often that we go out as a family, where we don't get some comments about the THREE BOYS that we have. We've heard it all, it seems, but last night was probably the funniest one I'd ever heard. We were all at Wal-Mart doing our grocery shopping. I wasn't paying much attention to things, just looking at my list and trying to get the job done. Suddenly this man said to us, "Do we know what this next one's going to be?"



I looked up from my shopping list, smiled a victory grin and said, "It's a girl!!!"

The man just kind of looked at us in awe and said, "Well, the clothes will be a lot more expensive, but I bet your neighbors will be really glad to hear that!"

It was pretty funny. I didn't ask the man how many children he had raised, but we are thankful for our boys and soon-to-arrive baby girl. God has really blessed us with good children.


Since it was a rainy day in the afternoon I let the boys do some painting. I made them go shirtless to preserve the clothes.




Cole got new pajamas last night. They were on the clearance rack for five dollars. We couldn't really pass that up. I was proud of Trevor and Logan for being good sports about it. Since it was a clearance, they didn't have all the sizes we needed. But nobody complained about Cole's good fortune.

I Scream, You Scream. . . .

. . . . We all scream for ice cream! Several weeks ago in Trevor's Sunday School class he won some ice cream gift certificates for saying the books of the Bible. For one reason or another, we haven't been able to use them until today. It was the perfect after-soccer treat on such a beautiful day. I had to capture a few shots of those boys, enjoying their summer treat.

Through The Net

I got a few pictures today of Logan, smelling the clover and picking the "flowers" for Momma. Look at the crinkled-up, little nose! Does it get any cuter than that?

The End

Today we played our final games of soccer for the season. Woo-hoo! Both teams won their final games! We were pretty excited about that. Cole scored one goal today to help his team win. And even though Trevor didn't score a goal, he really did a great job defending the goal from the other team. We were very proud of both of them.

Here's a last glimpse of Cole's team. You may recognize that handsome coach!

(Chance, Joel, Cole & Ella)

Every child that played got a trophy today. Cole was excited about that, since Trevor received three trophies at the end of school.



Trevor's team. Look at that toothless grin!


(Ben,Jenna, Trevor, Joey, Braedon & Tyson)

Spike

The kids finally decided to name the goat Spike. I had planted a few pots with flowers, and in the middle of one pot was one of those spikey, leafy plants. We came home that afternoon to find the goat eating my spikey plant! Aaaggghhhh! So in honor of my plant, the goat's name became Spike.

We went to "just look" at the goats Monday night. I was teasing my husband. I said that he is such a city-slicker, if we even got a goat, that it probably wouldn't even survive until morning. Well, guess what? I was only off by 24 hours! Wednesday morning David went to get the goat from the barn, and poor Spike couldn't even stand up! We have no idea what happened to him. (Yes - we fed him and gave him water!) Poor Spike went on to his eternal reward Wednesday morning. I did feel badly for the poor guy. The kids took it in stride pretty well.

I guess we'll be on the hunt for another goat soon!

Plum Tuckered

Yesterday was a long day for Cole, especially since he didn't get a nap. We went to a graduation service of one of our teen girls, and on the way home Cole fell asleep in the van. It took quite a bit of movin' and shakin' to get him roused and out of his seat. Shortly after coming in, I noticed Cole wasn't around. I looked in the little side porch and there he was! I guess he didn't even want to make the effort to go up the stairs and get his pajamas on!


(My vanity almost prevented me from posting this picture. We had just cleaned the side porch last week, but as you can see, it didn't last very long!)

So Sweet

My hubby is so good to me. As the days of this pregnancy are nearing an end, you can imagine how I'm feeling. It's just time to meet this little girl and move on with life -- without waddling! Today I got a delivery from the florist shop. Each time I get roses the first thing I do is smell them. The second thing I do is count them! Isn't that funny?!?! Sure enough! I got a perfect dozen. Aren't they gorgeous?

The Toothless Wonder

Big things have been happening in Trevor's life the last two days. Sunday night at church he *finally* pulled out a loose tooth that had been bugging me. This afternoon he pulled out the *other* loose tooth in his mouth! I told him that losing your baby teeth means you are growing up, and he smiled that big toothless grin!

I can't keep from chuckling when I look at him though. He fell off his bike today and got a couple of bumps and bruises on his head! With all those missing teeth he looks like he's been in a school-yard brawl!

I Can't Believe I'm Saying This!

I can not believe I'm saying this! Tonight we got a goat! Yes, a real, live goat! We went to the Sale Barn here in town which auctions off all kinds of livestock. We watched quite a few pigs, donkeys and a few goats being auctioned. One of the men from our church was there. He had just received a goat from his uncle for free and thought he could get us one too. (Gulp!) So we walked down to an area in the barn and got us a goat! This was the last of a trio of free goats. It's strange, because it does not have big floppy ears.





I did not get very good pictures because it was after 9 o'clock when we got home. Pretty dark for photography. But here are a few of our nameless goat. The boys are thinking of names and tomorrow hopefully we'll name him. It's funny. . . . they haven't even thought of calling the goat Chicken Nugget or Big Mac, even though they had no problem thinking up those names for their little sister! We'll see what they come up with in the morning.