Berry pickin'

Last Saturday our family went strawberry picking (or "strawby" or "starberry" depending on which kid you are talking to).  It was my favorite kind of morning, overcast and foggy.  And we were even lucky enough to show up at just about the same time as our friends - without even planning it!  We got three buckets of strawberries.  After picking through the very best one's to save for eating we made jam, strawberry pretzel salad, and froze some more for future use in smoothies or maybe even a pie.

Look at these adorable homeless looking children we found :)

Brad teaching the kids how to find the good berries.

Little Mister was so happy to run through the fields and pick berries with his buddy.

It was all you can eat berries while we were picking, and baby sister definitely ate her fill!

Sometimes...

Sometimes when uploading pictures from my camera, I find a series of photos of one or both of the kids that Brad has taken.  I think they some of my favorite pictures.  Maybe it's because, since he's a man of few words, it gives me a glimpse of how he sees our kids and what he thinks is adorable and photoworthy.

And sometimes, I find pictures of plants.  I think in his next life Brad wants to be a photographer.  Or a chef.  Or maybe a chef at one of those restaurants that puts pictures of the food on the menu so he can combine his dreams together :)

Spotlight

On Easter Sunday, the Little Mister was spotlighted in Primary.  They had the teachers help the kids answer the questions so I was a little surprised by some of his answers.  I'm sure they were influenced in part by the teacher and/or the answers of the other little kids.  Since I know I will lose the sheet, I wanted to make sure I recorded his sweet little answers.

Age:  3
I have 4 people in my family.
My favorite food is:  pineapple (this was news to me)
My favorite thing about Primary is:  taking turns (only when it's his turn, I'm sure, because when he doesn't get picked he cries)
I Choose the Right by:  being reverent
One of my favorite things to do is:  ride my bike
My favorite scripture story is:  the Creation (I'm not really sure he knows what that is)
The most important thing I've learned in life so far is:  my sister is special :)

Double Booked

This past weekend Brad did the MudRun with some guys from church.  It was his second year doing it.  It was cold, and they were muddy, but still all smiles.  He had a lot of fun.

Last year the kids and I went to watch but this year we were busy doing our own 5k for Palmetto Hearts.  The Little Mister has a sweet little friend with a heart condition (although you wouldn't know it by seeing her or talking to her, she is the sweetest, cutest, little thing), so we went to support her and her mommy.  I am proud to say I ran the whole way.  And I'm using that term "ran" very lightly.  I was slow, but I was pushing two kids.  In fact, up the last loooong hill, I was barely even passing the walkers.  One sweet man who was running with his son asked if I wanted help pushing the stroller up the hill.  I said no, I wanted to prove I could do it, but I think if he would have asked me just a little further up that hill I would have taken him up on the offer.  And if he was actually trying to steal my kids and run off with them, there would have been no way for me to catch him.  It was a perfect day though, nice and cool and the neighborhood and lake we ran around were beautiful.

I'm not a runner.  I really don't enjoy it.  I do like the feeling afterwards that I have accomplished something, but during the run, not so much.  I only recently started to run again and I think it's only because they put in a small playground in our neighborhood so I can run around the neighborhood and then let the kids out to play.  It's a nice way to spend a morning actually. 

I have learned a few things though.  I hate to run when it's over 75 degrees - and really probably over 70.  Or sunny.  Which explains why my fastest, longest, runs were when I lived in Washington.  I prefer hilly areas to flat, as long as the hills aren't too long.  I guess I like the change up of using different muscles.  And it feels like more of an accomplishment to get up a hill than to, say, a street sign.  Also, I really don't mind pushing a stroller.  Sure, it's more work, but it takes all the pressure off...I can be super slow and people (even in the neighborhood) go out of their way to say encouraging words.  I don't have to worry about having any sort of good form, and I can lean on the stroller up the hills.

For the past year or so Brad has been running a 5k about every month.  I'm hoping maybe I can join him from time to time.  Although, he's way faster, so stroller or not, I will be running my own slow pace :)