Yummmmmmmm...Strawberries!

So I took a little time off in the middle of June. I was going to be headed to NeoCon in Chicago for the yearly Interior Design TradeShow (another post) and I thought I might as well extend my fun week since work was slow and the weather for June was already beautiful. I headed up North to the old stomping grounds and caught up with my friend Steph, we stayed up late cranking out some Art which I then took to show to show an owner of a unique gift shop just down the road the next day (another post). Then met up with my girlfriends for Neocon in Chicago for a few days and then headed East to pick up the kids from Gram and Gramp's house. They had had a blast with daddy for a long weekend and then G&G for a day before I got there. And they were super excited to get to play again with cousins Noah and James for the day before we left. Amanda and I decided to head out for a little adventure with the older ones while baby James slept (don't worry, Grams stayed with him). So we headed down the road to a Strawberry patch . I think Amanda was a little unsure about the adventure at first, but it ended up being alot of fun.

The kids were great about finding strawberries, which we had to reiterate as only the bright red ones over and over. And then they wanted to show you each and everyone they found which was cute (at first).

They did a great job and it held their attention for about 20 min before they realized they could eat them, then I spent the next 10 min. convincing Lilly not to eat another one (as she shoved them in her mouth over and over).

We actually filled up the whole box before the kids started running around all crazy.

And now I think it is almost the season for Blueberry picking! Yummo!

And FYI, if you bring a few ziploc bags of strawberries back to show daddy don't step on them in the car (and therefore take them quickly out and set them on the shelf in the garage) and then accidentally leave them in there for two days in the midst of 90degree sauna-like weather because they will turn into two bags of mush. Sorry Tim! And sorry that we didn't get to enjoy the rest of our strawberries! :(

Oh Silly Lilly

Well, as I have said before...Lilly likes to eat. I guess she takes after her mommy in that regard, except for the fact that she will eat just about anything which comes more from her daddy. I am glad she is an eater unlike our other child who is not, but she is definitely the messiest eater I have yet to encounter. And even if you think that she can't make a mess of the lunch you have given her...think again. I think she is just really creative and right now this side of her is best shown in her "food art" as I like to call it. No matter how many times you tell her to use her spoon she always resorts to her fingers...

or just the entire fist. And I think there is some confusion to her about the difference between something like yogurt and her other love...LOTION. She loves lotion and if she finds a bottle she will bring it over to you to put some on. Well, what she will also do is take the yogurt (or peanut butter) and smother that all over herself as well. Makes for lots of baths and lots of clean-up duties...ALL day long.
Here is the peanut butter incident. And YES...that is peanut butter smothered all over her legs. So let me tell you the story behind the picture. Lucas and Lilly were both sitting at the peninsula counter eating pbj's for lunch on their stools. Lucas was having poop issues (a whole other blog) and needed to go and sit on the potty. Thinking Lilly was content with her pbj, I went in the bathroom with Lucas to read some books to him. When we came back out (after no success) this is what I encountered. Lilly was now sitting on top of the counter and was covered with peanut butter. There was one bonus to this...it had not yet been coated into her hair (which use to be her favorite thing to do with food). She looks so innocent doesn't she? I had left the pb out so I could eat some celery and pb and obviously she found the open container just too tempting. Let me just say that peanut butter is not something that comes off very easily...and by the end of the wash down in the kitchen sink, I was pretty much covered in it as well. Ahhh...good times.

I will let you in on a tip though; One good use of peanut butter other than eating it is to remove gum from hair. Seriously...it works. My mom had to do it with me and my sisters a number of times when we were little. For some reason pb greasiness works great at working the gum out hair, it isn't a quick process but better than having to chop your little girls hair off after her sister put gum in it! Right Tiff?

Yummmm!

First corn on the cob outside on the deck! Yummm!

I guess you only need those front 8 in order to eat corn on the cob!
This is about the only vegetable Lucas eats (without a fight)...guess we need to fix corn on the cob at least once a week this summer!! Have you had your corn fix yet?