Sweet Berry Farms

Monday we made our annual trek out to Sweet Berry Farms in Marble Falls with the Reners and Joy's sweet grandmother, Bebe. I look forward all year to bringing home a basket full of sweet, delicious strawberries. We picked a great day to come because hardly anyone else was there. There was one small home school group and a couple other families, so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Matthew was all over it this year. He wanted to hold the basket and pick the fruit himself. He would get so excited when he found a good one.

"No Will...don't take that from Henry." Story of my life right now. He still thinks everything belongs to him. Little toot. He did fine until he wanted to be carried around.

We had a nice picnic lunch. Matt was hungry and ate all of that food. He'd been working hard!

And I love this one. So cute!

We visited the goats for a long time. The goats have gotten an upgraded pen with lots of things to climb on. They seemed like very happy goats. And they were hungry. The kids fed them tons and tons of leaves.

Ava gave them her leftover apple from lunch.

I love this moment of jubilation from Matthew. I love this age. Everything is so simple and he can get excited about feeding goats leaves he's found from a tree. It's just precious.

We said hi to the donkeys but weren't allowed to feed them. Quote of the day, "Momma, what's that black stuff between the donkey's legs?" Those are testicles, son. We made one more run up a row of strawberries on our way out. Bebe treated the kids to some homemade strawberry ice cream before we left. Matt inhaled his. It was so tasty! Will slept nearly the whole way home and then another 2+ hours once we got home. Kid was zonked. It was a fun day and now I have freezer bags full of strawberries begging to be put in some sort of baked good!

Easter

Easter was awesome! Except for the part where Steven was at work from 10-6. Boo! We were able to snap a quick picture before the kids and I rushed off to church and Steven to work. Even though it's a little off center and I look pregnant (I'm NOT by the way) it's not too bad! Church was wonderful...an amazing service with incredible music and message. I let Matt come to the service with me that morning and he did really, really well. He was in awe of the music and all the instruments. I was proud of him for sitting mostly still through the whole thing.

After church we went over to the Moran's for lunch and fellowship. Sarah worked hard and prepared a delicious, wonderful meal. It was a beautiful day and we got to enjoy our tasty lunch outside, kids' table and all.

After stuffing ourselves silly we set up a table and let the kids dye Easter eggs and decorate and devour cookies and krispie treats.

Then we had an egg hunt. The kids about beat the door down as they ran outside to get them. They were excited to say the least.

There was lots of trampoline jumping. The next day Matt told me they were playing "dead man" where one person lays down flat and everybody has to jump and help bring the person back to life. Awesome.

Then we had a little photo session. I think it may have started when Mary Claire said, "Will somebody come and take my picture with the bunnies?" And then you'll notice in all the pictures she's holding Gracie and smiling so prettily. She's funny.

Matthew is such a lovable dork. :)

This is my favorite with Hankus.

What a great day. We stayed and visited until it was finally time to come home and meet the hard-working bread-winner of the family who we missed greatly that day. I'm thankful for my resurrected Saviour, I'm thankful for my family, and I'm thankful that my boys have sweet cousins that they adore playing with. Blessed!

Good Friday

We enjoyed our Good Friday with the Reners out at the dock on Lake Travis. It was a gorgeous day; perfect for fishing and a grilled hot dog lunch. Matt was remarkably more responsive to fishing this time around. Perhaps because the fish were really willing to be caught. He handled them and reeled them in. He seemed mighty proud of himself.

Will enjoyed the fishing too until he got tired of that life vest. He wanted me to hold him, and when I did that silly life vest would smush up into his face and make him really mad. Good times.

After lunch and a failed attempt for the boys & I to go on a hike (cue meltdown of the day), we decided to fish some more. I caught a perch, cast again, and then couldn't figure out why all the line was pulled out and I couldn't reel in with my Scooby Doo pole. Apparently Scooby Doo wasn't prepared for such heft. I pulled the line in myself and found a huge, nasty catfish at the end. I was down there by myself with the boys and was not about to stick my hand in that thing's mouth to fish out the tiny hook. I made the decision to cut the line. Sorry Mr. Catfish!

What is most surprising to me about the day is that Matthew had to convince Ava to get in the water. He was so excited to get in even though he knew it was freezing cold. Ava of course came around to the idea and in the end ended up staying the longest in the water and doing all kinds of cool jumps off the dock. It was COLD I'm telling you. But still enjoyable.

Matt found these skull pieces over by the grill area. That face is too funny.

It was a wonderful day! We look forward to more lake adventures as summer approaches. Yay!

Egg Hunts

Last Sunday our church had a picnic and Easter egg hunt out at the Quarries. It was a gorgeous day, but mighty windy. I had to keep both hands on my chopped beef sandwich. We enjoyed visiting with friends, and by the end of lunch Matt was more than antsy to begin the egg hunt. He was so focused on his future candy consumption that he was in no mood to be photographed. Neither was Will.

This year they "hid" the eggs (or scattered them, really) on the tennis courts. I know, not a challenge in the slightest, but this was the preschool group.

Matt went tearing after it, and Will did just what Matt did at his age. He found his first egg, opened it up and ate its contents thinking that was his prize. Pretty cute.

Thursday after Bible study my small group had a picnic lunch and an egg hunt for the kids. Will grasped the concept a little better this time along with help from his big brother.

We already have an entire basket full of candy before the actual day. Matt even had an egg hunt at school earlier this week, so we've got 3 hunts behind us already. I believe I'll be repurposing that candy in the eggs I fill for Sunday. Matt has been hiding eggs for me all week long, it's pretty cute. We're looking forward to an awesome morning at church followed by Easter fun at the Moran's!

Camp Rener

Last week Steven & I had the pleasure of staying at the Rener home and taking of care of their two children while Zach & Joy were on an awesome vacation in the Pacific Northwest. It was a crazy week and we were all exhausted by the end of it, but it went really well and I dare say the kids had some fun too.

Thankfully, these kids get along really, really well.

Matt nodded off Tuesday after school while they were watching a movie. So cute.

We washed the 4Runner. Anytime these kids can put on their swimsuits they're excited.

We played at the park. Steven got some cute shots of the big kids.

The kids ran in the sprinkler in the front yard.

Until they were so cold they had to huddle together for warmth!

We had lots of fun with the sidewalk chalk and spent a lot of time outdoors in the awesome weather.

We had sno cones, we ate at Chick-fil-A & Whataburger, we played at our house, we went to the gym, and we even fit in a birthday party. It was a big week!

Matt & Will

MATTHEW asks me to go home a different way every time I pick him up from school. He is bored with my usual, efficient route and wants to explore different streets. At this point I feel like I have exhausted all possible routes back to our house from the church. Nothing makes his day like discovering a new neighborhood and new streets. We delivered a meal to someone from our church recently, and we stumbled upon a neighborhood where the street names were all months of the year. Matt about jumped out of his skin with excitement. When we returned home he immediately got on Google maps and found all those same streets.

WILLIAM has a favorite game he likes to play in the car whenever we arrive somewhere. I open the door to unbuckle him and before I can even blink he's taken his shoes off and thrown them. Why does he wait until that very last moment when I've got my purse in hand and Matt is standing right next to me ready to go? He knows it irritates the fire out of me, that's why. Good thing he grins at me so cutely when he does it.

MATTHEW went on and on for no less than an hour the other night about how he wanted a Shaun the Sheep birthday party when he turns 6. In November. It's his favorite tv show at the moment, and he has watched all the episodes so much that he has them all memorized; even the titles of them. Last weekend he talked Pam's ear off for probably 30 min. about every detail of what happens in his favorite Shaun episodes. That night he was planning out his birthday party, he had every detail thought out. He wants a cake with the field for the sheep, the farmhouse, the pool, all of it. And then he wants cupcakes with all the different sheep on them, and he has already assigned them to all his friends. Honestly, he went through every person on his guest list in his head and decided which sheep cupcake they would have. It was hilarious. He even drew me a sketch of what he wanted his cake to look like. What's even more awesome though is that then he told me that he wanted a map party for his 7th birthday and a nutrition facts party for his 8th birthday. Steven said, I think people are going to stop showing up to his parties. :)

WILLIAM thinks everything is his. Just ask him and he'll tell you so. Mine is his vocabulary word of the month. It's all very typical of his age and stage, but man is it no fun. Will will be playing and poor Matthew will be at the other end of the house and start playing with something...Will will hear it and scream "NOOOO!!! Miiiiiiine!!!" all the way there and then declare a tug-of-war over the coveted item. Good times.

MATTHEW got to do some awesome things this past weekend while his Grandma & Grandpa were still here. We went to the Lone Star Roundup on Saturday; a hot-rod car show. Lots of really neat looking old cars and even better people watching. Matt devoured his hot dog. Sunday after church he got to go with Daddy, Uncle Tim & Grandpa to watch the Longhorn football scrimmage.

WE will be having a good time taking care of the Rener kids all next week. Fun adventures await!