Strawberry pickin...

On Saturday, we headed to Rittman Orchards to pick stawberries. We had never been, but it was lots of fun and the view from the orchard was really pretty.

Note to self: Managing a one-year-old in a field of strawberries is more difficult than anticipated.

I don't know what I was thinking by putting Nattie in cute clothes that I expected her to wear the rest of the day! She was more into squeezing the life out of the strawberries, than carefully picking them and putting them in the bucket. She also enjoyed stomping on them and sitting in them. Duh, Mom!

Goofy Ben face, but I still liked this picture. :)

We already ate the entire bucket! Yum!

I have no clue...

...what to title this post and all clever possibilities have left me. :) So, here you go...a post of totally random stuff.

My 31st b-day was a few weeks ago and Mike usually gets me some kind of sentimental, lovey card...but not this year. This year I got the lovely, poetic card below...and I liked it. :)

I think she's cute...and when I turned my back for ONE second, while we were playing on the deck, I found her standing in the pool...next came sitting (while still fully clothed)...awesome! :)

My little tie-dyed, bubble blower. He made this t-shirt at VBS. I thought it turned out pretty cute!

She LOVES the swing and I love containing her (from..you know...sitting in the pool fully clothed)...even if only for awhile. :)

Silly face and sticky outie ears...what a combo!

Funny Nattie story....she has just, in the last few weeks, started actually trying to say real words (other than da-da). I am always telling her she's a good girl and she's now repeating me with her version..."goo gurr." The song "Free Fallin" by Tom Petty came on in the car the other day and you know the words..."she's a good girl...loves her mama...."....well, Mike and I both started laughing because, from the backseat we hear Nattie in her funny little voice saying, over and over, "goo gurr...goo gurr." :)

Here's another one of Benny and his forced, albeit cute, smile. Oh..and in Benny news he has really impressed me lately with sounding out words and writing them...totally unprompted from us! We were at a restaurant this weekend and he was coloring a picture of a house. He handed me his paper and he had written the words close and open on either side of the front door. He spelled open perfectly and had written C-L-O-S for close. I really couldn't believe it. I guess this means he can probably read more than I realized too. :) Today he wrote play (P-L-A), eat (ET), frog (spelled it correctly on his own!), and toad (T-O-D). When we were talking about what he had written and I told him that eat had an A in it...he was laughing because he realized he actually spelled E-T (from the E-T/Extra Terrestrial movie) and so he wanted to spell Elliot too (little boy from the movie...yes...he's seen it and loves it!). I let him have at it and he ended up with L-E-I-T...which made me smile!

Finally, this picture is not for those with weak stomachs. We were headed home from somewhere the other night and, apparently, Nattie wasn't feeling well. She puked all over her carseat...poor baby! When I turned around to ask her if she was ok she flashed me her silly smile. I guess she felt better. (Pardon the chunks!)

Kelleys Island

I took the day off work yesterday and our fam headed to Kelleys Island for the day. It's a small island in Lake Erie just a short ferry boat ride from Marblehead. We had never been before, so it was a fun adventure.

We rode the ferry...

Went on a short hike to the beach and ate ice cream...

Played on the beach for several hours....through both rain and sunshine... (some of us enjoyed eating the sand, as well?!)

Ben caught as many mayflies as he could and stuck them on us... :)

and finally, checked out the Glacial Grooves (grooves that were carved out in the limestone a long time ago)...

It was a good day!

Little Backpacker

Benny had his very first backpacking experience this weekend. Daddy, Uncle Brad, Papa and Ben made a trip to PA to hike the Minister Creek Trail and camp out for one night. There were severe thunderstorms for most of their adventure, but I think my little bud still had fun! I guess the rain stopped long enough for them to put up the tent and build a fire for dinner (dry wood was in a nearby cave?!).

Ben (sporting Daddy's hat) and his new friend, Mr. Toad. He was quick to tell me that the toad peed on him. :)

The guys...

A few Benny hiking shots! All the pictures are pretty blurry because Mike's camera was wet and fogged up most of the trip. I was just glad he remembered to take some pictures. :)

Finally, I just thought this was cute...Can you tell which bag is Benny's? :)

Jack and Court

This weekend I got the rare treat of spending an entire weekend with two of my favorite people in the whole world...Jackie and Courtney. They are my cousins....we have been good buddies for our entire lives, we were all in each other's weddings (each taking a turn being maid/matron of honor) and we just have a special friendship to this day. I don't get to spend NEARLY enough time with them, so this weekend was really fun and relaxing! We left our kiddos at home (except for sweet Lana who is still nursing) and just ate out, shopped and talked. It always feels like no time has passed when we are together.

Cute Lana! That is NOT her hair bow, by the way! We found it at the mall and wanted to see how funny it would look on her. It's bigger than her head!

Court was so excited to meet two of her favorite people while we were out shopping...Jacob and Edward. :) I know I look like some kind of bug in those sunglasses. Oh and I picked out some LOVELY attire for Jackie and Courtney to try on in the fitting room at H&M. I took some great photos of them, but was forbidden from posting them on the blog. :)

Finally, for old time's sake, this is a note I wrote on February 28, 1987 about a day I spent with Courtney. It makes me laugh everytime I read it.

Court and Jack....thanks for such a fun weekend! I love you both...and I mean it! :)

Happy Birthday, Cowboy!

Yesterday, we celebrated Memorial Day and Ben's 5th birthday with Mike's family and our pals, the Hurrle's. It was a really hot day, but at least there was lots of sunshine! When we asked Benny what kind of party he wanted several months back, he said he wanted a John Wayne party (remember when he dressed up as John for Halloween?). Specifically, he wanted his cake to be John Wayne's face. Umm, good one, Ben. I told him I would gladly make him a cake, but that there was no way I could pull off "the Duke's" face. So, we settled on a horse instead. :) The cowboy theme was fun and I was able to find a 6'2 cardboard cut out of John on the Internet, so he could join us at the party! I think my little cowboy was happy. :)

Opening presents and singing Happy Birthday!

Natalie had a ball playing in the water all afternoon. She was soaking wet, but I think because it was so hot, she didn't mind a bit.

Some pictures of the birthday boy with his pal Nate (Donny too!) and cousin Ellen.

John's a sneaky one...I love how Mike doesn't realize that he has a gun pointed at the back of his head. John tried to sneak up on Nattie too.

Some of the party people....Nattie LOVES giving kisses to everyone now!

Finally, a couple of Brad and Christina. They came up for the party and our kiddos (and us!) loved seeing them for a bit!

Happy Birthday, Buddy! :)

My five year old...and some other stuff...

On Tuesday my little man turned five years old! I can hardly believe it has been five years since I spent 24 hours lying in a hospital bed waiting for him to arrive! He has blessed my life more than he'll ever know. It's really amazing how fast he went from....

this..........................................to this

We are having his party on Sunday with mostly family, but he did receive a special b-day package in the mail today from Grammy and Pops and was VERY excited! Mike and I gave him a small fish tank with two goldfish on his actual birthday too. He LOVES them and has named them "Ben" and "Nathan" (after his good buddy next door!).

In other Benny news...after watching an episode of Sid the Science Kid that was all about charts and how to use them ...Ben decided he needed a chart...so, we created one and it's been working out to MY advantage quite well, actually! He gets stickers for doing certain things...like EATING without complaining...etc. After so many stickers he'll get a small prize or reward. So far...he is LOVING it!

Papa and Daddy ran one evening at Silvercreek park, so Ben, Nattie and I went for a walk on the trail while we waited for them to finish.

Checking out the frogs...

Nothing like a little self-timer action right on the trail...

Some "other" stuff from the last week or so...we picked up some fried chicken one night this week and were surprised to find that Nattie LOVED it (ok...not that surprised). I handed her a whole drumstick and she proceeded to gnaw all the meat and skin right off the bone...nothing like her brother!

Finally, a shot of Nattie from today. She has been awake for the better part of the last three nights teething something fierce. I feel sorry for the poor thing, but man does it drive me bonkers during the night!! She is drooling so much it is almost pointless to put clothes on her because they are covered up with bibs and even that doesn't keep her clothes dry! Oh...and her head is one permanent bruise/scratch these days...but I still think she's cute. :)

That's all...for now.