STRAWBERRIES

Saturday was all about STRAWBERRIES! We were in the field at 7am picking. And, let me tell ya....my kiddos are growing up because they are fast and efficient pickers now. WOW! I was impressed. We picked lots more strawberries than we normally do in much less time. I had to put a stop to it. Enough is enough....it is possible to have too much of a good thing! ;) We normally only pick two of these, but we had these three bins done lickety split. I really enjoy doing this with ALL of my children every year. I hope we will continue to be able to do this as they get older. All of the kids were willing to get up and out at a very early hour this year so that we all could do it together because Heidi and James had a fishing trip planned for this day. We got er done together and the kids were still on the lake by 8:30. :)

Gracie's got that cheesy grin down don't ya think! ;) Ha ha! Jacob went through a "cheesy grin" phase as well. The girl knows how to smile for the camera. lol! Have you noticed her hair? She's growing out her bangs. Heidi did the same thing at age nine. It's a long grueling process. Hee Hee! Oh, and notice the big white bowl that Isaac is holding here. I'm gonna tell you a story about that bowl here in a few. ;)

JAM TIME! :)

Shortcakes ready for Father's Day treat! :)

So, are ya still with me? If you are, I'm impressed! lol. Bless you! ;) As you can see we had a very fun filled productive day!! By the end of the day I was absolutely POOPED!! My body ached. The good kind of ache....the kind that tells you that you put in a good day's work. Anyway, it was 10 pm. Everything was done and ready for the next day. Gracie and Isaac were showered and heading to bed. Tom had just come in from the shop, where he had been working all day. We were ALL exhausted!  I was standing in the laundry room transferring some clothes from the washer to the dryer. Tom, Jacob, Heidi and James were standing in the kitchen chatting with me. Isaac walked into the kitchen (he was supposed to be in bed...stinker!). And then IT HAPPENED!!!

 Remember the bowl that I mentioned earlier. The one in the picture with Isaac...the HUMONGOUS white bowl. Well, I had it filled with crushed strawberries....you know the kind where you add sugar and make them all syrupy and runny and YUMMY! Had them ready for shortcake the next day and ice cream for youth group Sunday night. LOTS of runny strawberry goodness. :) The bowl of yumminess was sitting on the top shelf of the refrigerator waiting for the festivities of the next day, when my little boy of eight left his bed,where he was tucked in for the night, in search of one last strawberry of the day.  He remembered that the strawberries had been in that bowl earlier. So, he pulled the bowl off the top shelf of the refrigerator, opened the lid, in search of one last burst of strawberry goodness to end his day. The bowl was heavier then he thought it would be and was surprisingly filled with liquid strawberries and not whole strawberries as expected. You know what is coming don't you?? Yup....he was not prepared for the weight of the bowl and he opened the lid and down came the bowl and out oozed the strawberry goodness. It oozed all the way from the top shelf of the fridge to the floor leaving it's syrupy, sugary, red goodness splattered over the contents of EVERYTHING in the refrigerator and ANYTHING anywhere within it's reach in the kitchen. I was standing on the opposite side of the refrigerator door, having to use my imagination as to the scene that was so proudly displayed in all it's glory for the rest of the family in the kitchen. All the busy activity in the room came to an abrupt halt. Tom, Jacob, Heidi and James stood totally quiet, stunned and wide eyed.  I stood in my night clothes and wet hair with the refrigerator door blocking my view, wet clothes in hand with every muscle aching for my bed, mouth agape and just said "OH NOOOO, OH NOOOOOOOOOOO" Isaac looked horrified with an ocean of strawberry splattered on his pj's and said through tears "I just wanted one last strawberry" :( :(  Poor little fella!

It was one horrific mess!! The clean up involved removing EVERYTHING from the fridge including all shelving and drawers. Pulling the refrigerator out to clean up the sea of strawberry beneath it. James, being his true positive, optimistic self commented "At least it smells good in here". :) It did indeed! Everyone pitched in and we got er done in about an hours time.And No, I did not think to take a picture. LOL!! Tom said later that I should have! And thankfully, we did not lose ALL of the strawberry yuminess from the bowl. We had enough for shortcake, but had to not do the strawberry sundaes for youth group.

I text Heidi and James a "Quote of the Day" every night. The "Quote of the Day" for Saturday: "No sense crying over spilt strawberry" :)

Love,
Wendy

ps If you made it to the end of this post you MUST be a true friend! ;)