Strawberry Picking

Back at the end of April, we all packed up and went strawberry picking. We went with some of our friends from MOPS, which made it all the more fun. There's quite a few pictures here, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't narrow it down even more, they were all so cute.

First, here's Phillip, who I would describe as a very careful strawberry picker, making sure he didn't get any bad ones. He finally did eat a few, but was very careful not to eat any of the husk. He did great at picking and gathering though.











And, here's Andrew. I would describe him as a strawberry eating machine! He picked and collected maybe 3 strawberries, then went down the row picking and eating as fast as he could. He was eating every kind of strawberry, mushy, perfectly ripe, still white, didn't matter to him. He was often seen with one in his mouth and one in each hand.







(Thanks to my friend Madeline for this great picture, it's one of my favorites!)




And, finally, here's a few with both boys and a few with all 3 of us. It's nice to actually be in a picture for once.

(That's our friend Emma off to the left.)




This is Riley, Phillip, Alex, and Andrew. They're great friends because we always hang out together. Riley and Alex's mommy is Madeline, who took this awesome picture where they are all actually looking at the camera and smiling!


And one of the highlights was the tractors and animals.


We'd invite you over for some strawberry shortcake, but those strawberries are long gone! Between Phillip, Andrew, and Chris they only lasted 2 days! We had fun and we hope you enjoyed looking at our pictures.

See ya later alligator...

Pancakes

First, I apologize for not posting in awhile, it's been a crazy week.

Here's a quick story to bring you laugh on this Monday. We were eating breakfast this morning. Andrew was saying a word over and over and I had absolutely no idea what he was trying to tell me (don't you just love that "we only understand half of what our 2 year old says" stage?!?). I kept guessing what he was trying to say. One of my guesses was, "pancakes?" At this, he got a big smile on his face and said, "K." That's his version of okay, and what he says instead of yes. I'm not sure if this really is what he was trying to say or not, but it was my best guess. You see, Chris has gotten in the habit of fixing the boys pancakes on Saturday mornings and it is a huge hit! They look forward to it all week. So, pancakes were fresh on their brain from this weekend. After I guessed pancakes and Andrew said okay, Phillip says, "No Andrew! Mommy doesn't make pancakes! Daddy makes pancakes. Mommy only makes (he pauses for a moment, thinking) oatmeal and raisins and yogurt." HA! Oatmeal with raisins and yogurt are our typical morning fare and obviously the only thing I can fix. I guess that let's me of the hook for lunch and dinner! See ya later alligator...

Losing Goldfish

This post is totally for Chris, my dear, sweet hubby because he could not stop giggling when this happened. Really. For about 20 or so minutes after the fact, he was still laughing. So, here you go dear...

In Phillip's Sunday school class, they give the kids a snack. Normally, he's all done with it by the time we pick him up, today though, they must have been running late, because he still had a little paper cup full of goldfish when I picked him up from his class. So, he carried it with him as we walked to the car. Chris and Andrew beat us to the car and were standing by it waving at us as we approached. Phillip starting running to them. As he did this, three goldfish bounced out of his cup onto the ground. He, of course, leaned over and started picking them up even as Chris was telling him no. I walked up just in time to see him put one of those goldfish in his mouth. He still had one clutched in his hand, so I made him throw it back on the ground. He was very upset by this (of course you know how precious goldfish are *insert eye-roll here*). He does this half hop, half bounce thing when he's upset, I guess just to prove to us how upset he really is. Well, he was really upset, so he bounce-hopped a couple of times. When he did this about half of his goldfish bounced out of his cup! Oh, this really upset him and he almost lost more goldfish. I basically then had to carry him screaming to the car and he cried most of the way home. I'm not sure if I've been able to capture the irony of losing more goldfish from being upset over losing one goldfish, but it was pretty funny. (Phillip saw no humor in the situation at all!) See ya later alligator...
PS-I'm sensing a theme here with these goldfish-related posts!

We DEFINITELY Eat at Cici's Too Much!!

We like Cici's Pizza - a lot! It is a frugal person's dream...our family of four can eat for under $13. And right now, they have a promotion where 2 can dine for $9.99 (check out that rhyming!)! Since kids under 4 eat free, that means we all dine for 10 bucks, not bad at all. Plus, the kids love it. We go there probably twice a month. If we even turn into the strip mall, the kids start shouting Cici's! Cici's! So, I already knew that we probably ate there too much, but it was okay. Until tonight, when a Cici's commercial came on the TV. Phillip stopped right in the middle of what he was doing and said, "Mom, it's Cici's!" And they both started their chant, "Cici's!" "Cici's!" HA! Then Phillip went to the kitchen and asked Chris if he was cooking pizza for dinner!

The Goldfish Bandit Strikes Again

We're hanging out at home today. Andrew woke up before Phillip and had his snack and got some alone playtime (his favorite!). Phillip woke up a little later and wanted a snack. So, I sat him on the couch with his goldfish and juice in front of him on a TV tray. Andrew, of course, wanted some goldfish, but I told him no because he had just had his own snack. About 10 minutes later, I see Andrew streak across the room, reach in, snatch about 3 goldfish and stuff them in his mouth before I can even blink my eyes. Of course, my reaction is a little delayed because I'm still trying to process what I just saw. Phillip pitches a fit! He wants those goldfish back - NOW! I have to go scold Andrew (although he does get a nice little reward for his efforts) and appease Phillip with two new goldfish. A few minutes later, Andrew is standing a few feet away from the TV tray with a glint in his eyes and a sly grin on his face. Phillip immediately recognizes what is about to happen and quickly calls mommy to the rescue. I have to jump up at lightning speed (which is no easy feat) to avert the criminal before he can pillage again. At least he hasn't stolen anything from the grocery store - yet...

Jellybeans!

So, we're visiting my parents for a week. We have a nice dinner of chicken & beef shish-kabobs, mushroom rice, and peas fixed. The boys aren't too fond of steak, so we were going to give them chicken. I served Phillip's plate with peas and rice and put it in front of him. I asked my mom to cut him up some chicken. I told Phillip to go ahead and eat his rice and peas and that Grandmom was cutting up his chicken for him. He said, "I don't want chicken." I said, "Well, what do you want?" (thinking he was going to say steak.) Phillip thought a minute and said, "Jellybeans!"
See ya later alligator...

A Day in My Life

Phillip, who's almost 4, talks all day, every day and questions everything! I thought I would give you a little glimpse into my life. Here's the background...It's lunchtime today. I normally give the boys their vegetables first so they can be eating them while I'm fixing their sandwiches. I give Andrew his in a little suction cup bowl because it's easier for him to eat them this way. Phillip gets his on his plate. They have to have eaten at least half of the vegetable (today, it was peas) before they get some PB & J (because this is the most coveted part of lunch, by far).

So, the conversation goes something like this -

Phillip: "Where's Andrew's bowl?"
Me: "I took it."
P: "You took it?"
M: "Yes, I took it off his tray."
P: "You took it off his tray?!?" (Totally incredulous, like I told him we were flying to the moon.)
M: "Yes, he finished his peas so I took his bowl off his tray so he wouldn't play with it."
P: "Oh." Slight pause "Andrew finished his peas?"
M: "Yes, he finished his peas."
P: "He finished his peas like a good boy?"
M: "Yes, he finished his peas like a good boy."
P: "I'm not a good boy?" (All sad like his dog just died!)
M: "Yes, you are a good boy, but have you finished your peas?"
P: "No."
M: "Well, eat up."

And on and on and on. That child can turn any sentence or even a thought into a question. And the questions just keep coming, once one topic is exhausted (about 3 questions past when it should be), he just moved on to the next one. I just keep chanting to myself, "he's learning, he's supposed to be curious, it would be bad if he wasn't talking"
See ya later alligator...