Sweet Berry Farms

My good friend Reianna and I decided to take the kids strawberry picking last Thursday. Between the two of us we have 8 children, the oldest of whom is 6, so going anywhere together is always a little nuts.
Anyway, I pulled Em out of school, we drove about an hour west, and had a great time picking strawberries.
It was a really nice day for picking. Not too hot, not too crowded, and plenty of ripe berries for the picking.

The kids got right down to business

Look at all those lovely red strawberries! Emily said she was pretending to be a farmer as she picked.

After we paid for the strawberries ($41! we must have picked 15 lbs!), the kids dug right in, dirt and all. I think Jacob ate three.

After lunch we went to check out the goats and horses.

I was surprised at how much Caleb loved the goats. I told Joseph later that day that we may need to get a family goat as a therapy animal for Caleb. (Not that he has major problems, just because it brought out his best side and because he spent so much time with them and enjoyed it so much... okay, so maybe "therapy animal" was not the right term to use, but you know what I mean.)

The strawberries have been so yummy to have at home. It was a little stressful Friday night when I realized they wouldn't last much longer so I was up until 2am making jam and freezing strawberries, but now we have a freezer full of handpicked strawberries and delicious freezer jam! I feel very happy about all of this.

Springtime Soccer

So, Emily and Caleb started soccer again at the Y on Saturday. It is really fun for them to be on the same team and Joseph and I appreciate having only a single game to fit into our schedules.
Saturday was pretty crazy - Primary teacher brunch, soccer game, barbeque, quinceanera...
anyway, I have been sort of slack about taking pictures lately, but someone on the team was kind enough to send these out.

Wahoo!! Go Elephants!

Campus Tour

Joseph's department recently moved to a new building. It is a fancy new place with very modern design.
We took the whole family out to see it a couple of Saturdays ago. The weather here in Austin has been beautiful lately, so it was really a very pleasant activity.

They didn't really want to, but I made them stop so I could take a few pictures.

I loved seeing this rag-tag group of kids working their way across campus.

Joseph holding the door for Elinor as we entered his building.

 

The main floor of the building, just inside the front doors.

Kind of a cool sectional, yeah? Maybe we should get one of these to wind throughout our apartment so we'd never be without a place to sit.

A table close to where Joseph's desk is. I may need one of these in my future kitchen!

Jacob on the floor next to the giant table.

Outside on a balcony, overlooking a large, modern, very expensive sculpture.

It is called "Circle of Towers" by an artist named Sol LeWitt. Emily really wanted to play in the sandbox in the middle. Picture taken from here.

This is me blocking your view of the sculpture. I decided to include this picture because I am rarely on the blog and I put one of Joseph in this time as well.

I do love Austin in the spring ... Now we just have to cross our fingers for a mild summer!

Living with kids.

Today I was getting ready for church and put some lipgloss on. Caleb looked at me and said,
"Now your lips are more beautiful than your face."
long pause. "Thank you."
He said, "you're welcome" with such sincerity that I asked,
"Was that a compliment?"
He answered, "What's a compliment?"

Joseph and I had a good laugh over that little conversation. It's what living with kids is all about.

Moving on, my friend Reianna and I went to a bike park the other day with all the kids and it was so much fun! We moms were kept almost as busy as the kids, tending to fallen kids and very young babies. I forgot the camera, but Reianna somehow managed to take a few pictures of the kids.

Emily worked and worked to master this loop and finally got it.
Once she figured it out, there was no stopping her!

Caleb is a natural biker and got the loop no problem. Then he was done and ready to go home. Sort of gives you an insight into their personalities, doesn't it.

Elinor was fearless on her little Strider bike. She tried anything the big kids did.

Caleb might not be super into it, but I like having my kids exercising all morning long and all tuckered out by lunch. We will definitely be returning to this park before the weather gets too hot!

A workhorse of a carseat

So, I know this is sort of a stupid thing to post about, but when Caleb turned four he got a booster seat so Elinor and Jacob both moved up a carseat. That means the good old baby carseat ended up out at the dumpster.

This carseat (along with the coordinating stroller) were given to me and Joseph when I was pregnant with Emily six years ago. I really liked this carseat/stroller set that was way out of my price range so my mom and sisters were super awesome and group-gifted it to me. All four of our babies came home from the hospital/birth center in this and it held up so well the whole time! They also all slept really well in this seat, which was a plus. It is still in great shape and looked almost new as I was carrying it out, but it did expire in October of 2012 so it had done its time.
I was feeling strangely sentimental about the whole thing as I was walking away, so I snapped this picture.
Goodbye, old carseat. Thank you for serving us so well!

International Festival

Today was the International Festival at Mathews Elementary School. Emily represented Japan again and did a fantastic job. I don't know how she is the only Japanese student in a school like Mathews, which is fed into from family student housing.
Anyway, here is a cute picture of her hurrying to get to the gym.

Waiting for us at the gate.

Little siblings waiting for the show to start. Elinor does that face a lot.

The start of the parade.

Here she is! Isn't she cute?

Saying her part: "Konnichiwa. My name is Emily and I represent Japan. Sayonara!"

Here she is doing the Korean dance her class learned.

I've gotta teach this girl to embrace her Japanese heritage! She has told me a couple of times that she wants to be Korean. What a silly girl.
The International Festival is such a fun program put on by the school. We have really enjoyed being a part of the Mathews community during our stay here in Austin.

Joseph and Caleb Age.

Caleb is now four years old!
We kept the celebration low-key this year. I just didn't have it in me to do anything big. I think Caleb still had a fun day. He really is a great kid. I love his energy and his crazy barefoot run and his low voice and his intensity.
Joseph shares a birthday with Caleb. He was at school for most of the day, but came home to the chaos of present opening and new toy exploration. Joseph is a really good person and a great husband. I don't know what I would do without him. When I feel like I can't handle things he is always calm and reassuring. He works so hard to keep our family going and is so cheerful along the way. I think he might be the most popular grown up among the kids in our ward. Today he dragged in a microphone, his laptop, and a projector to singing time so the kids could see the harmonic frequencies of their voices. I don't know if they totally understood what that meant, but seeing the image responding to their singing sure made them sing well! I don't think my primary chorister every did that for us when I was a kid - not even once.

They got a giant cupcake birthday cake. Joseph gave me the cake pan for Christmas and I think it's pretty awesome.
I love my boys!