Berry Picking

A few weeks ago I went blackberry picking with the kids and some friends from church. We traveled up to a pick your own berry farm outside of Houston. Yes, I know, a pick your own berry farm and Houston don't belong in the same sentence, but there are a few around here. It was hot, and hard work, but we were able to make our own freezer jam, a triple berry jam, and also have enough left over to make a blackberry cobbler. Here is a cute picture of Alex before we left.

And not to be left out, here is one of Sarah.
To my surprise, the kids did great for being drug around rows of blackberries. Alex was a big help in picking berries. We still have to work on his colors. We got a multitude of opportunities to work on practicing his colors.He is getting better, and I would only have to occasionally remind him that we were looking for black berries and not the green ones.

They had a fun wagon that Alex loved to pull around. It was hard work, but really rewarding. I am going to check out another berry farm in a few days, minus the kids this time. Thanks Eric, in advance for watching them for me.

Alex gets his own breakfast

Daddy's little Girl

Sarah was six months old last week. She enjoys playing with her play gym and talks to entertain herself. She is definitely a social butterfly. She loves to be around people. Sarah has rolled over a few times, but it is rare. I will have to have her stats in a few weeks because I was late in getting her appointment made. Such is life around here.



Sarah is definitely a daddy's little girl. She lights up when he comes in the room. He can get her to smile when no one else can. She is growing up so quickly. Here are a couple of cute videos of Sarah and us.

Potty Training... Oh, Boy!?!?!

Well, I guess that we are potty training in some fashion around here. It all started about a week ago and we just pulled out a kid potty and put it in our downstairs bathroom. We told Alex that it was a little potty for him. I put some of his books in the bathroom and asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty. He did and now he takes off his diaper and sits on the potty after he has gone to the bathroom. I guess we have all the steps, but they are just in the wrong order. This is all very new territory for us. Any ideas??? I don't think that he is fully ready yet, but he is moving in that direction.
Today I put him upstairs in his room for a nap and I knew that he wasn't sleeping, so I went to check on him and I found him diaper-less with a present for me. Wow are we going to be going through lots of wipes in the future.

Brotherly Love

Alex is at a great age where he is so affectionate to everyone. He will just randomly come up to you and give you leg hugs and then go back to playing. He will also lean his face in and want to get a kiss from you. He doesn't make any puckering with his mouth, but instead it is just a half open mouth kiss. It is too cute anyway. I will take his love anytime. I fear one day he will not be as affectionate as he is now and I will sadly miss it.
He will go up to the cats and say, " Hi, Dadow (Shadow)", "Hi, Angel" and then lean down to try and give them a hug. Well, really it is more like an armless hug and just leaning his head on their backs. Sometimes, if you are quiet, you can hear him say, "Mmmm" as he is giving them or you loves. I love it and can't get enough of it.
At first I was a little nervous about Alex being around Sarah when she was such a newborn, but Alex is such an affectionate little boy that it has been so much fun to see him try and make her happy. I wish that I could get their interactions on video. He is always trying to help take care of her and does a great job at it too.

There have been many times when she has been crying and he will run and get a bottle for her, or grab her rice cereal, baby food and a spoon to try and feed her. Sarah can't get enough of her big brother. She will smile and get quiet when he will affectionately rub her head and say "Hi Eesa (Sarah)". That is his name for her and I love it. It is sticking in our family and that tends to be my favorite nickname for her. Here are the first of many pictures that I hope to have of my two little angels. What a lucky and blessed mom I am to have such beautiful affectionate children.

The Napping House... or is it?

It has been over a month since I have posted and entry. It is a quiet Sunday afternoon. Some kids are sleeping and others are making quite a bit of noise in their rooms when they should be sleeping. I'll give you one guess who that could be....
This is what a typical nap time would look like in our house.
Even though Alex doesn't always nap, I am doing a mandatory quiet time (with or without sleep) for mom's sanity.

Multiple Posts... Scroll Down for a Massive Update

Family Easter Pictures 2009

Here are some of the pictures that we took on Easter. It was so nice to have a family picture with the four of us together. We even managed to get some pictures with Grandma and Papa Jung.

Easter Weekend with Grandma and Papa

My parents came down to visit for Easter weekend. It was my mom's birthday on Good Friday and they were so kind to come and spend the holiday with us. We had a great time. We made homemade strawberry freezer jam, had an Easter egg hunt with some great friends, enjoyed a family photo session and just plain enjoyed being together.
I will let some of the photos do the talking.
Here is Alex with Grandma making freezer jam.

Saturday morning, Eric was still gone to Youth Conference, so Grandma, Papa, the kiddos and I went to our friend's house to have an Easter egg hunt and morning brunch. The food was fabulous! While we were eating, the husbands went outside and "hid" Easter eggs for the kids to find. Well it was interesting to see the different styles of finding the eggs. We had two extremes... content to pick one egg up at a time and sample the goodies in that one egg and then slowly move to gather up another egg and sample the goods. Then we have the other extreme... divide and conquer. Eating the spoils at the very end. Getting the most in the least amount of time. Alex happened to be the model for the first example, and most of the other kiddos were of the latter example. Let's just say there had to be some Easter Egg redistribution in the end. ;0)





Even Sarah and Brielle had their pictures taken. It was a bit bright out, so these are the best we got. Can you believe that they are only about 2 weeks apart, and Sarah is the oldest. Crazy how fast they grow!


Here are some snapshots of Grandma and Papa enjoying their grandkids.

Question: What happens when Jordy LaForge and Luke Skywalker cross paths?

You get this! One swashbuckling kiddo wielding a headband for a visor saving the day with a hairbrush! :0) Way to go my little Superhero!