Cuddling at the beach after a long day.

 

Taken 6.21.2011 – 27 weeks pregnant with Baby 2!

 

This is the second time the family has been berry picking this year at Lewis Farms. We forgot the camera the first time, but we didn’t make the same mistake twice! We caught the tail end of blueberry season and the beginning of blackberry season – for a total of 16 pounds of berry goodness!

Tom’s already made two batches of blackberry jam and I made a tasty (and easy) blackberry cobbler. Blueberries have been mixed with everything!

Harper was quite the pro and only picked the ripe berries, but did eat several! Nothing like berries fresh off the bush in the summer sun!

 

Growing up, birthday parties were generally a family affair. I did have some memorable “friends” parties (my 16th birthday Hawaiian murder mystery party comes to mind), but generally birthdays were my favorite dinner cooked by Mema, blowing out candles and opening presents from family both present and not, and then playing with Nate.

Here, there is no family. Just friends. I wanted to celebrate Harper’s birthday and didn’t know how to do it without family (Tom’s family came to celebrate Harper’s birthday last year). So we went with the friend birthday party.

Preparations were done – but the big one I neglected was that by choosing the park that does not require reservations for their shelters, I had completely missed there was MS Walk-A-Thon that was going on that day. The parking lots as far as the eye could see were packed. People were everywhere. Shelters were full – there were tents and booths everywhere. I have to admit – panic mode commenced!

There were crowds and live music and finally we found a little out of the way shelter, with the tiniest picnic tables I’d ever seen and overrun with ivy. But it was beautiful, far enough from the crowds to not be bothered, but close enough to hear the music. And so the show went on.

The party itself was a success. I got some cute decorations, had goodie bags and hidden “dinosaur eggs,” Tom grilled some wonderful burgers and we all played and talked in the park. Harper had a lovely time and we made some wonderful memories! But maybe next year, we’ll just do the family party…

 

This is evidence of Tom’s first foray into the world of jam.

We had, earlier in April, went to pick strawberries at the local u-pick farm. Regrettably, we forgot the camera, because Harper took to strawberry picking like a pro! After we had collected several pounds of strawberries at the farm, Tom was determined to make homemade strawberry jam. He found all the supplies he needed and decided to make a delicious freezer jam.

I can attest that I’ve tasted his first batch of jam, and he is both welcomed and encouraged to be the household appointed jam-maker!

 

My sweet little boy turned two. To celebrate, I took the morning off and brought him to the Children’s Museum of Wilmington. He fell in love with the train tables and spent most of his time there, collecting the trains and running them on the tracks. We also had fun digging in the garden, visiting the “dentist” and the Teddy Bear Hospital. But the train station was the winner, and here is Train Master Harper, overseeing his kingdom.

 

Knowing what goodies we had planned for Easter, we planned for his surprise after naptime. I didn’t feel like fighting with a two year old over whether he could bring bubbles to church. So during naptime we set out his Easter bucket – a sand bucket with shovel, full of dinosaurs, bubbles, new cups, books, and sidewalk chalk. When he woke up and came into the living room to see his surprise, I captured this happy look.

We spent the next few hours playing outdoors – drawing with chalk, blowing (and eating) bubbles and playing dinosaurs with Daddy. After playtime, we went to a friend’s house for Easter dinner.

All in all, a wonderful day which started with celebration and worship, and ended with fellowship.