Spring Break...Day 1!

Monday was the first "official day" of Spring Break for the kids. We (I) didn't just want to stay at home and lay around. So I have been trying very hard to come up with some things for us all to do but doesn't cost us (much) money. So for the first day we decided to go to pick strawberries. When Josiah and I went strawberry picking a few weeks ago, all the kids were pretty dissapointed that they didn't get to go (even though Jesse is the ONLY one that eats strawberries). So we loaded up the van at 9am and drove to Gilbert to pick strawberries.
As you can tell from the picture below, there are fields and fields full of strawberries.

And these strawberries are not small like this one...

They have LOTS of big ones too:)

Jesse was SO excited to be there:) He LOVES strawberries!!!

Look at that smile:)

Our pickings:)

As you can tell, we have LOTS of strawberries. We are almost done with the first bucket (remember, Jesse and I are the ONLY ones that eat them). I think I am going to try to make some strawberry jam with the other bucket. Those always make WONDERFUL  teacher gifts.

I think the kids had a wonderful day. On our way home from picking strawberries, we stopped at one of our local parks, Gibson Pond Park. We first just sat on a little bench for a few minutes and just enjoyed the crisp spring weather and God's beautiful creation.

There is a waterfall at this park and the kids love to go there and just walk around the rocks and get all wet.

So we all took our shoes off and got wet:)

Josiah especially had fun in the water. He thought it was so cool to get wet.

I have to say, this is one of my favorite pictures I took. Just Riley and Jesse enjoying themselves.You can just tell on their faces that they are having fun.

Beauties:)

I have to say, I had fun:) Joel and I were sitting on one of the rocks just watching them and he said, "Thanks mom, this is the best Spring Break". I love it when they are happy, even when its something so easy and basic!
Who needs Disney World?!?!

So stay tuned to the rest of our spring break:) Lots of fun plans ahead of us!!!

Gefeliciteerd Met Je Verjaardag, Riley!

Yes, our little girl turned 9 yesterday. She was so excited for her birthday to get here:)

She woke up and waited for everybody to wish her a happy birthday. She was especially excited that we decided to go ahead and give her present BEFORE school instead of after school.

This year she did not give me any ideas on what to get her. So she told us to "surprise" her. So we ended up getting her a charm bracelet. They are very cute. They are magnets that click onto the bracelet.

Because Terry had to teach a night class, he came home early and brought Riley her flowers for her birthday. She LOVES getting flowers from her daddy every year. I love that he does that :) I hope he will always do that for her!!

Because Terry wasn't going to be there for dinner I wanted to make her night a special night. So we invited our friend Callie over for a very fancy "Little Ceasars" pizza and I have to say a very AWESOME chocolate cake.

Callie got Riley a special bracelet. I guess this is the "Year Of The Bracelet" for Riley:)

I {heart} The Pioneer Woman!



 This is her AWESOME Chocolate Birthday Cake

After dinner, the kids wanted to show Ms. Callie how to play the "Just Dance" game on the WII. We don't actually have the game, but our neighbor Lilli does. So we borrowed it. Ms. Callie even joined in the fun:)

Jesse REALLY got into it. He was SO funny to watch!!!

We were all so happy that Callie got to come over and celebrate Riley's birthday!

 After dinner, The Fontana's got to come over for some cake. (They used to have a blog but...it hasn't been updated in a while. HINT HINT, Mari)!!! 

We LOVE the Fonatana kids. They each have their own Buddy:)

Samantha and Riley

Samual and Josiah

Samual came running into our house, found Josiah and gave him the biggest HUG:) They both were very happy to see each other!!!

 Thank you Mari, for taking this picture. I love it!!

 Here are the boys watching "The Backyardigans" together on the back of the love seat.

What a Diva!!!

Jesse wanted a picture with Sophia:)

Jesse and Donovan.

Of course Josiah also wanted a picture with Sophia.

Two beautiful Girls!

Friends since kindergarten. I love it!

Two very "tough" guys.

Maybe their not THAT tough!!!

 Riley and I would like to thank both Ms. Callie and the Fontana family to come and celebrate her birth with us yesterday. You guys are wonderful and I am so thankful for all of you. We love you ALL!!

Strawberry Picking With Good Friends

Thursday morning, after Josiah got out of school we decided to meet up with Leigh and the boys and go strawberry picking. We met up at church, put Josiah's car seat in their van, and drove to Gilbert to pick strawberries. The boys have so much fun together:)
When we got there, we got a bucket and started picking. They are SO red, juicy and waiting to get picked. So Josiah had to have a little lesson on how to pick a strawberry...we DON'T pick the GREEN strawberries and we want BIG ones not little ones-like the one in the picture below:)

So he got the idea:)

The Three Musketeers!

Luke teaching his little brother on how to pick the correct strawberries.

"Look Ma, STRAWBERRIES"!!!!

Luke, Colt and Leigh

Our Loot!!!

We had so much fun. We could have spent all morning there but really all the strawberries would go to waste. Jesse and I are basically the only ones that eat them. Josiah was so cute. Since he does not like to eat them he kept saying he was picking strawberries for Jesse. He was so excited to bring a bag of strawberries to Jesse after school.
After we were done picking strawberries, we got to go over to Luke and Colt's house for lunch and a play date. They have all kinds of "COOL" toys over there so it was a lot of fun. They have a "Jeep" and a four-wheeler, so he got to work on his "driving" a little bit. He is not ready for his licence though...I wish I had my camera out there with me. He would drive the four-wheeler with one hand and have a water gun in the other hand....those two things don't work too well with a four year old. He kept running into our van's.
After we were done driving around on the drive way, we went into the back yard and had a little snack and played on their trampoline. I have to say, Josiah was pretty sad when it was time to go. But we are hoping to get together again this week. Thanks Leigh, it has been fun getting together and getting to know you:)