Berry Pickin'

Matthew's friend Ava invited him to spend the night on Wednesday. Matthew was more than excited. I asked him if he wanted me to come pick him up on Thursday morning so he could come to Bible study with me and he said, "No thanks Mommy, I want to stay with Ava." Big surprise there. I am told they had a wonderful time and even slept together in Ava's room which may be why they woke up at 6 a.m.

Will & I met up with them after Bible study and we all rode out to Marble Falls to the strawberry farm. Both my kids took a nice little snooze on the way there. The ride was so nice--I enjoyed looking at all the beautiful flowers and scenery around me as we wound through the hill country. We pulled up to the farm and there were probably 6 cars in the parking lot. I couldn't believe it. We've made the trek 3 years now and the place is always packed with bus loads of school kids. I think the threat of rain must have scared people off, but it sure was cool to basically have the place to ourselves. We ate our picnic lunch first while it was very lightly sprinkling.

Then Matt & Ava sprinted over to the goats and fed them lots of grass.

I put Will in the wagon and we headed out to the field to gather our fruit. The berries were huge this year; bigger than I've ever seen them. And so plentiful! Ava & Matt had a good time finding big, red ones. As you can see, Will was diving out of the wagon desperately trying to get his hands on the berries. I freed him from the wagon and he got so very disgustingly filthy. His hands were caked with dirt and he kept trying to suck his thumb but then would fuss that his hands were dirty and didn't taste good. Poor guy. Not the easiest age to deal with in such an environment, but we made it work!

We piled up our box high with delicious strawberries and paid for them so we could then eat them. Aunt Joy bought the kids a yummy cup of strawberry ice cream to eat before we headed back. As I was changing Will's clothes in the trunk of the car it began to rain and continued all the way home.

Now I'm contemplating what to make with all my strawberries. Cupcakes? Pie? Shortcake? Margaritas? So many possibilities.