Strawberry Time

Claire (I swear she has the memory of an elephant) has been begging to go strawberry picking for the last two years. I took her when she was 2, and she remembers it quite vividly. Last year's planned picking expedition was foiled by a nasty bout with the stomach flu for the entire family which ended in a hospital visit for Ben and nearly one for Claire too - fun times - NOT!!

This year, however, we were determined to make it to the fields and maybe create some new memories for her and for Ben.

Found a good one!

Ben was insistent on carrying his own bucket, and for the about the first 10 minutes, he was actually doing a pretty good job picking berries and filling his bucket . . .

. . . that is, until he realized he could eat the berries. This is pretty much how he spent the rest of our time there. For each berry in his bucket, at least two went into his mouth, along with some dirt, various pesticides and no doubt a bug or two. YUM!

We came home with 4 gallons of strawberries!!!! Anybody want some jam???

Mother's Day

I know that I am a blessed mother. I really can't imagine my life without my two babies in it.

My day began with breakfast in bed - coffee and raisin bran. The menu was Claire's idea as she wanted to give me what I always like to eat. We had a great day at church, brunch at a local restaurant and spent the rest of the day enjoying the beautiful weather outside. Claire also treated me to a show of her recent baton twirling techniques. This mostly consisted of her barely tossing it in the air and then threading it in circle eight's between her legs. You had to be there to totally appreciate it, trust me.

I took a picture of the card Claire made me. She worked on it a little all week and kept it "hidden" (right on her dresser) for several days. She and I are holding hands in the picture. She has "the blue eyes and mom has the greeny blue ones."

The indication of true love for a mommy? - sharing the precious contents of your piggy bank.

What We Call Progress

If you know Claire at all, you realize how big of a deal this truly is.

"DIRRRRTT!!!!!" - He's in heaven.

The Wonders of the Imagination OR The "Blessings" of Motherhood

For the last two days, Claire and Ben have been playing a "game" in which Claire is the "Queen of the House" and Ben is the "King of the House." My role in this game is playing the part of . . . "The Slave." After hearing Claire call me "slave" umpteen times, I told her that if she said it just one more time, I was going to put her in "time-out."

Overreaction? I think not.

More Easter Pics - lots of pics

I've had these on my camera for awhile now, obviously, and just keep forgetting to post them. So, now, unfortunately, there's more than anyone really wants to look at all in one post, but lazy me just isn't up to separating them into individual posts. So, deal! :-)

These first few pictures were taken at Claire's preschool egg hunt.

She found a ton - was the only one smart enough to walk the fence line.

What Ben was doing while Claire was hunting eggs.

"Any more out there?"

Grandma came to visit the week prior to Easter.

My mom sent us these beautiful tulips for Easter. They were gorgeous and lasted for a long time.

We took the kids to yet another egg hunt in town. This is Ben waiting for the "go" signal. I asked him to show me a happy face, and this is what I got.

There's the real happy face.

Watching the Easter Bunny on stage

Easter morning

Showing off her Easter Finery

Handsome Boy, and he knows it.

Family Picture - attempt 1

Attempt #2

Claire took this picture of Shawn and me

Sweet face

All done - whew!

My Birthday

No doubt about it, as we age, our birthdays become less and less exciting, and the day becomes more and more dreaded - unless you are a 5-year-old and your mom's birthday serves as an excellent opportunity for you to eat cake that is. Seriously, you would have thought it was Claire's birthday with how excited she was. The entire day she was planning my "surprise" party, which would include party plates, napkins, party favors, party hats (Disney's Cars, no less), cake, and candles. It also had to include a moment when everyone would turn off the lights, hide under the kitchen table and yell "surprise!" when I walked into the room. All of these "secret" plans were shared with me throughout the day, and I even learned that I was to go to my room and shut the door until the "surprise" party was ready.

At the "surprise" party. Don't I look "surprised"? I practiced my "surprised" face while waiting in my bedroom. Claire and Ben were under the table, waiting for me to come into the room.

Modeling our Mater party hats.

This picture cracks me up. I look like I'm afraid the cake is going to eat us, but really I was just trying to wrangle two kids who both wanted to be the one to blow out the candles. Despite my efforts, we ended up relighting the candles after the first go around, so that Ben could blow them out on his own. He felt he got gypped the first time.

I think Claire needs to add party planner to her list of potential future careers. It will fit nicely with the other possibilities under consideration: landscaper, dentist, pilot, and Ben's teacher.