Strawberries Galore!

It has been a long, exhausting, but super fun week for us.  We have had our normal routine of preschool, errands, church, speech, reading, dance, etc. but added onto that was dentist appointments, a field trip to the zoo, and most importantly, a trip to the strawberry patch!  Whew!  I was so worn out on Friday night, but somehow the kids STILL got up at 6 am on Saturday morning.

Jacob's class took their field trip to the zoo this week, and I was able to go with him.  He had so much fun, and loved the giraffes, bears, lions, mere cats and elephants.  We timed it just right and for $5 you could feed the giraffe three pieces of lettuce...the quickest $5 I've ever spent!  Jacob loved it, and I loved being able to have one on one time with him doing something extra fun. Here is part of his class having snack before we really got started in the zoo:

 $5 worth of lettuce for the giraffes:

 That giraffe's tongue was so long...Jacob thought it was "AWESOME!":

 On the carousel:

The kids have been enjoying the beautiful weather, but it is already starting to get hot…which means that the lizards are out!  This is so exciting at our house because anytime we (as in Jacob) see a lizard, we have to try to catch it.  Brian is getting pretty good at it.  You either use a bucket or if the lizard gets in the grass, it is much slower and easier to catch.  Gwyn likes to look at the lizard after it is caught, but wants no part in it.  Annie loves it, and would probably try to eat it if she could ever get her hands on one.  We have been going up to the park at night to walk, and when I told Jacob that I was trying to get into shape and that so I could run around the track, he asked if I would be fast enough to catch a lizard…I told him it would not be happening because I don’t “do” lizards…he didn’t understandJ

Gwyn prefers to slide in the backyard…my kind of girl!

Jason bought Jacob a glove, some baseballs, and a bat.  He loves it, he asks to practice every single day, so Brian and I are both usually out there with him working on catching, hitting, and throwing.  When I put him to bed the night after he first got to use his baseball stuff, he said his favorite thing was playing baseball, and he wanted to see if we could play again tomorrow.  Here he is working on hitting:

Here is a picture of Gwyn just before church, she looked so cute, and this was right before she lifted her dress up...what is it with little girls lifting their dresses up??

 Here is my sad excuse for the play dough I made for Jacob's class this month...I remembered I had signed up for it over spring break, and I think the green was supposed to be for St. Pats, but I'm a little late...needless to say, with its lumps of white flour, I will NOT be asked to make it again anytime soon, oh well!

 Jacob and Gwyn's new favorite thing to do, push Annie around in this little doll stroller.  Annie loves it:

We made it to the strawberry patch again, it had been a couple of years since we went.  The last time was when Gwyn was 13 months old, and she tore it up with the strawberry-juice-looking-like-blood all over her, and Annie did give her a run for her money this time, but I’ll never forget this picture of Gwyn, which I had entitled, simply, GIVE ME ANOTHER ONE:

The kids had a great time, we ended up with 13 lbs of strawberries, some of which will be eaten within the next few days, some frozen, and some given to some lucky friends!  Here is Gwyn ready to fill the basket:

 Annie trying her hardest to get one off:

 Jacob picking, he liked to pick the berries and he really liked telling Gwyn that the ones she picked weren't very good.

 Brian and Gwyn picking.  Brian was the "best" picker, he was very selective on the berries he put in "his" basket, and told the kids to put theirs in my basket.

 She decided it was more fun to just sit down and eat than it was to actually pick them.  She couldn't get them off the vine, so Jacob kept giving her some...she was happy!

 The loot, take a wild guess which basket is Brians:

 Anyone want to help clean me up??

Annie turned 17 months old this week, she’s getting so big!  She is starting to say quite a bit of words, and now yells “NACKS” when she sees me handing out fruit snacks to the kids. 

Here is Gwyn at 17 months:

Here is Jacob at 17 months (seems like just yesterday!):

Here are a couple of pictures of their artwork for the week, we’ve got zoo projects out the wazoo around here…I get to go to the zoo again next week with Gwyn’s class.  She is so excited and has been asking all the time if it is Wednesday yet.

One last picture of an unwanted visitor to our yard...it was spotted twice in the last week, and Brian found it in the landscaping on Friday.  Although it is a non-poisonous Texas Brown snake, as I later found out via Google, it picked the wrong house to visit and unfortunately will no longer be found again (I hate snakes!):

 Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob:  If we can make Annie stop growing, get her to turn green, and have her ears grow long, then she would be just like Yoda!
Me to Brian:  I'm not sure which hand she will be (Gwyn is left handed, Jacob is right handed, and Annie is still unknown)
Jacob:  Annie is 2nd handed. (I was a bit confused, but remembered I had mentioned earlier that I had said that Annie will only get 2nd handed stuff from Gwyn)
Gwyn (she prays every night):  Jesus, please give us a rainbow.
Gwyn to Brian after going to the dentist:  Look what the dentist gave me (she hands him toothpaste), it is for my bottom.
Brian:  No, Gwyn, that is toothpaste (not diaper rash cream), a dentist doesn't give you stuff for your bottom, and if they ever do it is time to find a new dentist.
Jacob to Brian as he's riding on his shoulders:  Your shoulders are okay, but not as good as Grandpas.