Strawberry Pickin'

I have fond memories of picking strawberries as a little girl with my mom. My preschool teacher mom usually takes her class to a great strawberry farm each year and I have been wanting to go for awhile. After reading my friends, Emily and Kristie's blog post about their picking experience, I was dying to go this year, I could almost taste those juicy strawberries! Well last month, on the way to visit my parents (while Mike was out of town), Daniel and I stopped at the farm my mom has told me about for years. My expectations were met exceedingly! It was one of the best afternoons I've had this year so far! I think I'll try to make it a tradition.


This strawberry lady greets you as you arrive at the farm.


Even though it was the middle of May (typically late for strawberry season), the bushes were still laden with the juicy goodness.



As soon as we got to our assigned row, Daniel knew instinctively what to do, almost before I could get my camera out, he had picked two strawberries, and you can tell by the picture, they were SO juicy. (He has crazy hair because of sunscreen:), and this is a camera phone picture, I snapped it to send to Mike so he could see what we were doing).


We were given this flag to mark where we stopped so the next people who came behind us, would know where to start. Daniel of course thought the flag was for his pleasure. Haha!




They were SO sweet and juicy! Mmmmmmm, Mmmmmmmm!



So irresistible! And just so you know, we were allowed to pick and eat, I guess they figure that into the price. :)


Taking a quick rest until he spotted.......



this! A "tractor" (or a Gator Utility Vehicle-I know this because I am quickly being educated about all the different types of "tractors", we have a couple books about them. If you're around Daniel long, you'll learn in no time tractors are one of his favorite things!)



He wasn't that far from me, so I just let him play on the GUV while I finished picking. He was SO happy to sit on and pretend to drive it!



SOOOOOo I don't really know what I was thinking or why I thought I had to fill up my basket COMPLETELY and almost overflowing??? I picked 2 pints (that is approximately 32 cups). It did come out to be less expensive than buying strawberries in the store. I had 2 days to do something with all these strawberries before we traveled again and I didn't really want to freeze them. I much prefer fresh strawberries to frozen.



This strawberry farm also had livestock. We took a look at the long horned steer, I enjoyed feeding him a clump of clover, a treat for him according to the guy working there. Daniel didn't want to feed him.



More tractors!



There were goats, turkeys, a pig, some calves, a peacock and several other caged birds.




Daniel was in tractor heaven!! Haha!!





Can you just about hear Daniel saying, "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo?" He was very excited to see all these cows, and they were very curious about him, a lot of them came over to him. Momma wasn't too sure about the close proximety to all those cows and it was time to head to Mimi and Papa's house so we loaded up and said goodbye to the best strawberry farm I've ever been to. (I really haven't been to that many but I think it is wonderful and would highly reccomend it!)



I had planned to make strawberry jelly with all the strawberries. My grandmother makes the best strawberry jelly every year and I really wanted to try it. I have never attempted to make jelly or can anything before. I asked my grandmother for her recipe and she told me she just uses the recipe for "freezer jam" on the box of Sure-gel. I needed to triple the recipe for the amount of strawberries I had. This is basically the recipe that I used. If you want to try this, I would follow the instructions that come inside the box of Sure-gel, and remember, do not put glass jars in the freezer, they will break. I don't really know why you would want to freeze this because it is so good you will just want to gobble it up as fast as you can!



It is VERY tasty on homemade biscuits (Bisquick version) as evidenced by the next three pictures.







Next year, I will plan to make this with some of my freezer jam.

A Wonderful Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year! I got to spend it with my two favorite people!! (Last year I worked on my first mother's day.) Mike made me waffles for breakfast, before we headed to church. I can remember not too many years ago that going to church on Mother's Day and Father's Day was very painful for both me and Mike because we so longed to be parents. It was nearly impossible to get through the services without crying. I choke back happy tears now, that God so faithfully answered our prayers! After church we had a picnic lunch at a local garden overlooking a beautiful lake. The weather was perfect and I couldn't have been happier!


To GOD be the glory for this little man who calls me mommy!


This picture totally cracks me up because it is SO Daniel! He's got a stick and he must have thought it would be funny to mess up my hair with it! Haha!! Love that boy! You can almost hear him saying, "aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh"



So typical of this little dude to play with his stick in the "wa", as he calls it.



I love you buddy!




Playing on the playground after our picnic.



Daniel was being so sweet to Mike, he started kissing him on the lips many times.




Thank you God for this man and this young man whom I love SO much!!!





We missed being with our own mothers on this special day. I love you mom and am so thankful that God gave me to you to be my mom, you set such a wonderful, godly example of what being a mother is all about. I'm also thankful for my mother-in-law who raised an amazing son and who loves me like I'm her own daughter. All my aunts, grandmothers, sister's-in-laws, and friends are also such wonderful mothers and each one has taught me more about this incredible role I am now honored to have. And to any of you who read who desire to be mothers, I pray for God's peace and comfort during your trial, that you would trust our heavenly Father and place your hope in Him! And I pray that God would answer your prayers and give you the desire of your heart.

After Daniel was born, these verses meant a lot to me and I have them written and posted inside my medicine cabinet in my bathroom:

"Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created." Ps 147:5; 145:9; 148:5

"He gives children to the childless wife, so that she becomes a happy mother! Hallelujah!"
Ps. 113:9

Daniel's First Visit to Disney World

In my previous post I blogged about our first night of our weekend getaway. Our second day was Daniel's first visit to Disney World! This trip to DW was different than any other time I've ever been, this time it wasn't about me, it was all about Daniel! I love watching him experience so many new things for the first time. He is usually a very happy little guy but I'm learning he can be very timid when experiencing something new for the first time. You will see in the pictures that comes across and then he warms up by the end of the day. A few things I learned on this trip:
1.Staying at a close Disney resort with Monorail access is a luxurious bonus which I greatly appreciated! (Not a necessity but a wonderful treat none the less!)
2.We didn't need to rent a $15 stroller once we got there. (We rented and used one of theirs in the morning, and then used our umbrella one in the afternoon and it wasn't a pain to me at all to take our own)
3.The baby station was awesome! It was a air conditioned respite! A place with multiple changing tables, high chairs, bathroom, and kitchen. I highly recommend you take advantage of it if you go to Disney with a little child (especially one still in diapers). I never knew about this little room before having a baby.
4. Next time we'll check ahead of time about the hours of operation of the park. So happened Grad Night was the day we went and the park closed at 7pm.
5. One short day is enough for our 18 month old son.



Taking in the sites of the castle for the first time...Not too sure about all of this yet.



I love this picture and Daniel's little arm and hand clutching to Mike's arm, he had quite a firm grip on daddy. This was taken in line to our first ride, It's a Small World. I think we got to the park around 11 and walked right up and onto this ride. Daniel's button on the back of his shirt says, "1st Visit", the staff at the Polynesian Resort gave it to him when we checked in.




SOOOOOOOOooooo much to take in! He started out sitting in between Mike and me and very quickly moved over into my lap where he remained the rest of the ride. I don't think he really cared for this ride so much, there is a lot going on inside, maybe a tad bit of over stimulation for this guy.




Finally a smile after riding Dumbo, the three of us squeezed into our Dumbo cart (we didn't want to split up because the fun for us was watching Daniel's face!) He did like this ride.



On our way to find something to eat, we ran into a fun parade.



After we ate lunch, we took the ferry boat back to our hotel and we all took naps, which was great for all of us! I would have never done this before having kids. I've always had the mentality, you have to pack as much as you possibly can into your day at Disney. My sisters can vouch for me that on one family trip, I chastised them for wanting to stop and eat! Saying something like, "here's a granola bar, gobble it up and lets keep going!!!" LOL! So I rode rides I've never ridden before (that I remember?) like Peter Pan and The Pooh ride, and we rode the train, which I had ridden before. Mike got to go in The Haunted Mansion while Daniel and I waited outside and watched some birds. This picture was taken towards the end of the day, we discovered that if Mike got Daniel to do "high five" it was a great way to get him to smile!



Here is our token family picture in front of the castle with 1000 other people all doing the same thing at the same time. :)



When it was time to exit the park at 7pm because of Grad Night, we decided that instead of being herded like thousands of cattle down Main Street to then go wait in another long line to board either the Monorail or the ferry, we would stop and watch the ducks until most everyone else had left. Great idea! Daniel LOVED running around the tables on a patio overlooking the water with a great view of the castle. It was the perfect way to end our day at Disney.





And then we let him run down Main Street, what is really what he wanted to do!



We made our way back to the hotel, fed Daniel a quick dinner and then took turns eating at the bar of a sushi place while the other one chased Daniel around the hotel lobby. Again, a completely different Disney experience than ever before, but in a good way! I can't wait to go back and do it all again at the most magical place on earth!