Strawberry Picking!

On the spur of the moment Tuesday I decided to go strawberry picking with Elijah. We had been talking about it a few weeks ago but never did it and I really wanted to get out of the house so it seemed like a good idea. It's the end of the season though so only one place around here even had strawberries left! We ended up farther from home than I thought we would, and we headed up north of GR for our berry hunt.

Elijah loved picking berries! He did such a great job looking for them, "picking up the plants" to find them, and making sure that he didn't get any rotten or not ripe berries. He didn't pick a single bad berry (unlike Mommy).

Matea was along for the trip, but wasn't thrilled with berry picking. She scooted along by us happily for a bit, but then started grabbing strawberries and squeezing them to bits. Oops! Then when I tried to walk her she only wanted to walk on top of the plants and not in the rows. Every time I would stop her she'd throw a fit, and also didn't like it if I picked any berries.

We didn't pick for very long and ended up with about a pound and a half of strawberries for a whopping $2. I think Eli ate about half of them on the way home and I snuck some too. They were SOOOOOO delicious and sweet! Definitely more taste than strawberries from the store.  The next morning Eli woke up and said he wanted to go strawberry picking again, so I know he liked it!  I see more strawberry picking in our future next year, and maybe some blueberry picking soon too.

Hunting for a berry!

Got one! It's perfect!

Wait for me, Eli!

Weighing our treasure!

Strawberry picking was fun!

What happened here?

What happens to turn this . . .

Into this?

Answer: You offer the girl a sip of milk from her sippy cup.

Matea really doesn't like milk in her sippy cup (or formula either) so my mere holding it out to her this morning at breakfast induced turning away, kicking her feet, arching her back and screaming. Oh the drama! I love my little girl, but she sure does have attitude already, and she's only 12 months old. The next few years should be interesting to say the least!

Sailing!

Once again this year we made our pilgrimage over the 4th of July weekend to Grandma Amanda's sailboat! We look forward to it every year, and since the house closing was moved one blessing that came out of it was that we had the weekend free to go sailing this year!

We decided to head out on Thursday night after work and avoid the bridge traffic that we knew would be there on Friday, and that was a great decision. We had zero traffic on the bridge and arrived at 9:45. The kids explored the boat and then it was to bed with all of us!

Friday was a cold an cloudy day, unfortunately, so we decided to not go sailing that day but instead go play at the playground under the bridge and have a picnic lunch, with chips (fries) from the chip truck. Saturday we did get to go sailing though, with beautiful blue skies and very few boats out on the lake! On the way out a freighter was coming in, so we got to see that as well. Then, both kids took a nap while sailing so Jon and I got to relax a bit as we sailed. Heaven!

One of the fun things we did with Eli this time was take a dinghy ride in Mom and Terry's dinghy. Eli wasn't sure at first but then LOVED it! We had a good time tooling around the boats and the little river connecting different parts of the marina. We even came upon Matea and Grandma sitting in the cockpit of the Marie Claire. :) And once again we discovered that one year olds are the perfect age for the boat because they can explore but not get in to anything! We had a great time sailing, and I'm ready to go back!

Matea Standing (and Falling)

Matea learned a new trick in the last week or so - standing up in her crib! once I found her that way after nap time the crib was immediately lowered, but that still doesn't stop her, so I think we'll need to lower it again!

Of course, the goofball that she is, Matea loves to pull herself up to a stand and then fall backwards in to the crib with a big grin and laugh. She'll do this over and over and over and over and . . . well, you get the idea. She doesn't seem to tire of it, even when everyone else has. She has now transferred her skill to outside of the crib as well and is pulling up on everything she can get a grip on. Thankfully, she seems to know she can't just fall backwards safely anywhere else than her crib. The little lady is getting more fun every day!

Happy birthday to our sweet little girl!

It's official - our sweet precious Matea is one year old! The year has gone by so quickly and yet it's hard to even imagine life without our little girl. Even Elijah says he doesn't remember when Matea was not around. It is a joy to see Eli hug Matea and tell her he loves her, and to thank God for her in his prayers. We didn't know, a year ago, if we could really be parents to two children and have enough love to go around, but now we know that when it comes to love we don't have a finite amount available to give. Instead our love grew exponentially with the birth of Matea, and we have an endless supply available for both of our children. Love is a miracle!

Matea, you are living up to the meaning of your name, and truly our our gift from God. You are a blessing and we are so thankful for you. You are fun, and funny, and quirky, and have so much personality that your little body can barely hold it all. You are opinionated (wonder where you got that?) and know what you want (and aren't afraid to tell us!). You love being outside and love being around people and are a happy little girl. You already have a daredevil personality and we can't wait to see what the next year brings as we try to keep up with you. :) You are our treasure and we love you, princess.  Happy birthday sweet girl!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy and Elijah