Strawberry Picking

Drew, Maddie, and I met some friends at the orchard Friday morning to pick strawberries.  

 It was a beautiful, warm day to be at the farm!  For $3.00, we got to pick a quart of strawberries, play on the playground, and see the animals in the petting farm.

 We rode out to the strawberry fields on a big golf cart.  The boys were very excited!

 Drew listened well to the picking instructions, and he found some nice berries.

 Cute little berry pickers

 Drew kept showing me all the berries he picked.

 The boys worked hard, but they got hot and tired before they got their baskets filled.  The last little bit of picking was pretty tough!

 Drew with his basket of berries

 Some of our group's strawberries

 Back in the golf cart to return to the barn

 When we got back, we let the boys play while the moms and the baby girls sat in the shade to cool off.  After they played for a little while, we ate lunch, and then they went back to playing.

 Drew was sad to be leaving and would not cooperate for a picture.

 Maddie and me

Maddie was a good girl at the farm.  I had her in a carrier, and every time I crouched down to pick a strawberry, she would fuss.  I think she was just uncomfortable.  She was happy once we got back from the field.

 We stopped for drinks at Sonic on the way home - it was Happy Hour!  Drew chose a strawberry slush since we had been picking strawberries.  The first grade teacher in me loved that he stuck with the theme of the day!  :)

 Maddie fell asleep on the way home.

We had fun at the farm, and we were all a little worn out that evening.  My back and my knees were a little sore from all the crouching and bending (with a baby strapped to me!).  Now we have to decide what to do with our two quarts of strawberries!

Father's Day

We had a very nice Father's Day yesterday.  Jim had to work in the morning (Father's Day is pretty much the busiest golf day of the year), but he got off mid-afternoon, and we were able to spend the rest of the day with him.  We had a family party that evening, and I took a few pictures of Jim with the children when we got home from the party.

 Maddie is getting so chubby!

 We think she might be teething.  She sucks on her fingers and hands a lot, and she is drooling all over everything!  Speaking of teeth, Drew lost his second tooth yesterday afternoon before the party!

 I was asked to bring a dessert to the party last night, and I decided to make fruit pizza.  It was delicious!

 I made mine on a cookie sheet instead of on a pizza pan for easier cutting and serving.

We are already trying to think of a reason to make this fruit pizza again. We really liked it!  Here's how I made it:

Fruit Pizza
Crust:
1 package Betty Crocker sugar cookie dough mix (I had planned to make this from scratch, but I remembered that I had this cookie mix in my cupboard and decided to save a little time on this step.)
1 stick of butter, softened
1 egg
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix cookie mix, butter, and egg.  Pat dough down evenly onto a 9x13 inch cookie sheet.  Spread it all the way to the sides of the pan.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Topping:
1 package reduced fat cream cheese, softened
2 cups marshmallow cream (I made mine using this recipe.)
Mix cream cheese and marshmallow cream completely (I used my KitchenAid mixer with the whisk attachment).  Spread topping on cooled cookie crust, spreading it toward the outer edges, but leaving a bit of the crust uncovered - like a pizza!
Cut pizza into bars (I cut mine into 18), and then top each bar with your choice of fruit.  I used sliced strawberries, mandarin oranges, and blackberries.
I hope you all had a very nice Father's Day!  We are looking forward to seeing my parents next week when they come to visit us!

Baked Oatmeal Muffins

Jim and I have a new favorite breakfast - baked oatmeal muffins.  They look like muffins, but their texture is not muffin-like.  They are almost puddingish, but they hold together and taste very good.  One of these muffins and some fruit will pretty much get you through the morning.

I found the recipe on Pinterest, but after reading the comments, I made it with a few of the many variations the readers suggested.  Here is how I make them.

Baked Oatmeal Muffins
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1 cup pumpkin (I use half a can)
3/4 cup brown sugar
5 cups oats
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix eggs, vanilla, applesauce, pumpkin, and brown sugar.  Add oats, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon and mix well.  Pour in milk and add chocolate chips.  Stir to combine.
Spray muffin pans with non-stick spray and scoop mixture into cups.  I fill mine pretty full because these muffins don't rise.  I also press a couple of chocolate chips onto the top of each muffin.
Bake 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool and enjoy or freeze.  This recipe makes 24 muffins.
These muffins taste great warm, and they freeze very well.  I usually pull out a few from the freezer and let them thaw overnight.  They taste fresh and delicious each morning!

 I baked a batch of these muffins this morning, and while I was baking I had Maddie sitting in the Bumbo seat on the kitchen table.  She was fussing toward the end of my baking and kitchen clean-up, but I wanted to finish, so I let her fuss.  She had gotten quiet, and when I turned to check on her I saw that she had fallen asleep in her Bumbo!

 Drew finished up his Wednesday night program at church last night.  They celebrated by having a carnival for the children.  Drew also got a medal (we weren't told exactly what it was for), and he was SO proud of it.  When Jim and Drew met me by the baby nursery after church, Drew strutted over to me with his chest puffed out to show me his medal.  After he showed it to me, he bent over to Maddie, who was in her car seat, and showed it to her.  It was adorable!

 Our big boy with his medal!

 After I took Drew's pictures with the medal, he took one of me!

I hope you are all having a good week!  Let me know if you try the baked oatmeal!

Summer Vacation

Last Wednesday was Drew's last day of preschool, and he is now officially a Kindergartner!  He had a great year of K4, and we are glad that we decided to send him to school this year.  Here he is with his teacher, Mrs. Johnson, on the last day of preschool.

 We gave Mrs. Johnson a little gift for the end of the school year.  I made her a frame with a clip so that she can change out her pictures easily.  This was a very simple project.  My mom actually saw this at a friend's house and asked me to make her one for Mother's Day.  I made one for her and one for Jim's mom for Mother's Day, and then I decided to make an apple one for Mrs. Johnson.
I used an 8x10 frame (from Hobby Lobby) and used spray adhesive to glue the apple paper right to the glass.  Once the glue dried, I reassembled the frame and glued a spray painted clip to the paper-covered glass.  I found the clips at Walmart.  I used hot glue to glue on the clip on the mothers' frames, but the clips didn't stay glued very well.  I tried a different adhesive on Mrs. Johnson's frame, and I am hoping that it holds better.
We also gave her a few apple paper pads (from the dollar section at Walmart), and some apple hand lotion from Bath and Body Works.

Drew was only in school two mornings a week, but we will enjoy having little to no scheduled activities for the next few months of summer vacation.  We are hoping to relax and get a few things done around the house. 
Here is Drew getting ready for a nap.  Sometimes, when I am getting him put in bed for a nap, I lie Maddie on the top part of Drew's bed so I can have my hands free to tuck Drew in,  We jokingly call this the "top bunk."  The first time I told Drew that Maddie was on the top bunk, he got quite upset and said that he should have the top bunk because he is bigger.

 It looks like Maddie has her cheeks puffed out from this angle, but she doesn't!  She is just getting some big, chubby cheeks!

 She is very sweet, and we are enjoying having a baby girl in our family!

 A small wardrobe malfunction - she gets pretty mad when this happens.  :)

We have a few goals and plans for the summer.  I have a few skills that I want to work on with Drew - reviewing his preschool work, tying his shoes, and learning to help with a few more household jobs.  We are also planning to read come chapter books.  We just finished "Charlotte's Web," and we are reading "Mr. Popper's Penguins" now.
I am trying to get the children's clothing organized so that I know what we have, what we need, and what we can get rid of.  We are going to try to sell some of it on Ebay.  I buy most of the children's clothes at my favorite thrift store, but this summer, I am enjoying Free Apparel Tuesday at our Sears Outlet.  Each Tuesday this past month, they have posted a coupon on their Facebook page for one free clothing item.  I have gotten these four things for Maddie in the past month - totally free!  If you have a Sears outlet that sells clothing, I would totally recommend checking this out.  From what I understand, they are going to be doing this every Tuesday through July 10.

My parents will be visiting this summer, and then the children and I will be going back to South Carolina with them for a week or so.  We are looking forward to a fun summer!

First Trip to the Dentist

One morning last week, we took a fun family trip to the dentist.  It was Drew's first visit, and he did great!  They scheduled us with two hygienists, and Drew and I were called back at the same time, so I had to run in and just snap a few pictures before my own turn, two chairs away. 

Drew's hygienist did a great job of talking him through everything and showing him all the tools before she got started.

 Checking out his teeth.

 She asked Drew how old he was, and he showed her his five.

 The hygienist told me that Drew will probably start teething with his six-year molars this summer since he has lost his first tooth.  I guess six-year molars usually follow first tooth loss pretty closely.

 I snapped a few last pictures because my hygienist had come down to Drew's chair to hurry me along.  As I left him, Drew was choosing his toothpaste flavor - raspberry.  I thought he would choose cookie dough, but he chose raspberry instead.

From my chair, I could overhear little tidbits from the rest of Drew's appointment.  At one point, I heard his hygienist say, "Be careful.  You almost bit my finger."  They both ended up making it through without injury, and Drew had no cavities, so overall, it was a very good introduction to the dentist!

Life With Two

We have been keeping busy around here as we continue to adjust to having two children.  The housework (which has never been one of my strengths) has suffered, but I am trying to work through a to-do list every week and am hoping that one of these days, we will get at least kind-of caught up!
Drew loves Maddie and has, for the most  part, been sweet and helpful with her.
The other day I was cooking and had Maddie in a little bouncer in the kitchen with me.  I turned around and found that Drew had placed his Wii remotes down - on Maddie!

 Maddie is getting pretty chubby, and she is starting to smile a lot, just not much for the camera so far.

 Drew asked me to take this picture of the two of them the other day.  He knows the way to make his mother happy!

 We got out Drew's old play mat the other day for Maddie, and she seems to really like it.  She looks at herself in the mirror, and she kicks the ball.  I love that her tongue is out in this picture!

 In the past few days, she has started to grab at the fish with her hands.

 Drew is still very much into the Wii, but he has also been playing with his Lego's lately.

 He and I followed the instructions, and he built this little car almost all by himself.

 Maddie tried out Drew's old Bumbo seat the other day.

 She seemed to really like it, but we could tell that she was getting tired of supporting herself pretty quickly.

 Calmness turned to crying, and she was all done!

 We are blessed with two wonderful children, and I am thankful each day to be their mother!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!  Have a great weekend!