Jam

Today my friend Jennifer came and taught me how to make jam. I did a bang up job if I do say so myself. The kids think it is yummy and I think that I will never look at fruit the same way again.

My Jam.

You sit them upside down till they cool enough to handle and then you flip them over.

All Gone..

There is all my jam. I still have enough berries to make another batch but I ran out of pectin. I think the sweetest sound today was listening to all the seals pop down :)

Natalie enjoyed a pretzel and was a terrific girl while we did all this. It only took us two hours to make 4 batches of jam.

Blackberry Fun

Lewis came home from his meetings very excited to tell me about a large patch of wild blackberries just off of Braddock Rd. (not far from church). We decided that some fresh jam would be fun and went to check it out after dinner. We dressed tick resistant and off we went.

There were a lot of berries. Most of the black ones were in the middle of the bushes so the adults got those and the kids stayed on the edges finding the black ones there.

This shot is fuzzy because the glass was still adjusting to the heat and humidity. 87 degrees with only about 70% humidity.

Here is Katie picking berries. Yes I do see the poison ivy in there. That was one of the reasons that we wore long pants and shirts. The kids stayed out of the big patches. I think that we avoided any rashes by wiping down with soapsies in the car and then stripping off our clothing in the foyer and washing off everyone and all the clothes as soon as we got home.

Natalie sat in her car seat most of the time.

My bucket of berries. I ended up with 12 cups of berries; which I am told will make me 2 batches of jam. Yummy!!!

Austin, Ally (Ashley's friend), Natalie, ans Ashley.

Lewis is such a dork.
I think that the plan is to go back Wednesday night to get a few more berries before we can on Thursday. Wish me luck :)

Cheeky Monkey & Fun in the Park

Monkey (as I call her) is almost 16 wks old and a total chunk. We really love her and how happy she can be when she is not sad about teething. I took these today in her Bumbo chair and she was just having a good time.

I loved the worried look on her face as Katie gave her a kiss.

The kids and I took our walk alone tonight sine Lewis had an EQ meeting tonight and so we went to the park and the kids played.

Katie loves the tire swing.

Austin looking tough.

Ash and Natalie.

The kids being all cool and stuff :)

Ice Cream, a New 'Space', and a Boo-Boo

This is Woody's, a neighborhood ice cream 'trailer'. It can be found behind Carlos O'Kelly's (I know don't ask, we still haven't ventured inside yet) a local restaurant. People have been telling us about this place since we moved here and we finally drug our behinds over. To our surprise there was good reason for all the raving. It is very affordable and way yummy. We plan to visit a few more times :)

Katie found her first loose tooth while we were in ABQ. The other night she jumped up in a complete panic and proclaimed that it was time for the tooth to come out.

She was so brave and now there is a new space in her mouth. She is so excited to get a visit from the tooth fairy and to continue on the path to being a 'big girl'.

We have been taking family walks at night and Katie finally got her first bike riding boo-boo. Since she jumped up and kept riding through the tears and never gave up, Lewis gave her a ride on the motorcycle.

I love the motion that you can just feel with these pictures.

Adorable kids

I am so lucky that the Lord has sent me such sweet blessings.

Sock-o-late and Secrets

I walked by the kids bedroom last night and this is what I saw. Katie loves to give massages so I gave her her own lotion. It has cocoa butter in it and she says it smells just like "sock-o-late".

Katie is getting to be such a big girl!!! Friday night she learned to ride her bike. While she was practicing she looked up to Lewis and said, "Daddy, my brain was keeping secrets from me. It never told me I could ride a bike!" I love it when the kids say things like that!

I loved the look on her face in the above picture. Lewis taught her the tricks to riding a bike.
"Speed is your friend, and slow is your enemy." She yells this out as she rides. So cute.

Austin and Ashley show their support.

Alexandria

Saturday night we went to Alexandria with Matt and Jeanette for fireworks. It was a great night and an awesome fireworks display (it lasted 30 min). We parked and hiked to old town and then set up our chairs to watch. The kids got ice cream and we got a soda, we listened to music and had a blast.

Natalie did really well even through all the fireworks and the Marine Corp cannons. She is such a little trooper.

Friends Rediscovered

Last week we figured out that our friends Eric and Janalee were in DC for the summer for an internship. On Thursday Janalee brought over some lunch and her three beautiful girls. The kiddos ran through the sprinkler and just had a blast. We cut Janalee's hair and then went to Woody's for ice cream. It was a blast and we hope to get together again before they leave

3 months

Look who is 3 months old! Natalie, my little Chunky Monkey (she'll kill me for that later in life but oh well :)
As of last week she weighs in at 13 pounds and 7 ounces and is 23.5 inches long.
Today she learned that she can suck on just her thumb rather than trying to shove her whole fist in her mouth. She is such a joy in our home and we are all totally enamored with her.