Patrick's Berry Farm

On Friday, August 31, we took a special trip to Patrick's Berry Farm near Apple Hill with our awesome friends the Wisners.  This was a special trip as it was going to be our last time hanging out on a Friday morning before both boys would be in Preschool.  The trip was fantastic and lots of fun.  We had the best time picking delicious blackberries and raspberries   All the kids were natural berry pickers.  Here they are in action.

 

Evie loved picking the berries, but wasn't interested in tasting them.  She also was wanting water during our adventure, which I of course I happened to leave in the car and would have gone back to get except for the fact that the berry patch was down a long steep hill at the Farm.  So we had to cut our trip  a little bit shorter than we had hopped, but nevertheless it helped us save money and not buy too many berries.

Here is Evan tasting a blackberry...he put it in and then ended up spitting it right back out.  He wasn't a huge fan at first, but I am sure he will enjoy them in the future.  He absolutely loves strawberries and blueberries.

Here is the whole family.  Elaine got in on the fun too and slept through all of the berry picking.

You may have noticed in the pictures the boys and Natalie got to wear a pretty neat bucket strap contraption allowing them to pick the berries hands free.   It didn't fit the little girls, but the boys thought it was pretty cool!  Here is Tyler modeling his along with showing off his blackberries. 

 Here are both of they boys showing off some of their recent picks.

Jayne thought the berries were super delicious and couldn't get enough.  You were only supposed to taste about 3 or 4, but Jayne didn't think that rule really applied to her.  She especially loved the raspberries.  Such a cutie!
 
Here is the Wisner Family in action too during our time together.
 

 After collecting our berries we headed back to the picnic area for lunch.  The best part is we were the only people using it that day.  We had the whole park to ourselves.  It was fabulous!  Here are the kids enjoying their lunch and Elaine hanging out after her berry picking nap.

 After lunch all four kiddos had a blast playing together.  It was so neat to see them interact.  They are all finally old enough to join in and have a great time.  Just check out these pictures.  Adorable!

 
What an awesome adventure.  Thank you Natalie for suggesting such a fun outing.  We are sure to make this a yearly tradition.  Can't wait until next year!

3 kids in a blanket

Evan and Evie both wanted me to take their picture with Elaine and here is what you get...some of the cutest pictures ever!  We sure do love our babies.  Here they are all cuddled up on October 6.

 

Elaine at 2 Months Old

Elaine turned two months old on Saturday, September 8.  Her two month milestones include:

-She sleeps through the night!!!  This happened for the first time on September 2 and has been pretty consistent ever since.  We are so blessed.
-Constant smiles, she especially loves her family!
-She is growing stronger and continues to work her muscles daily kicking her feet and waving her arms in the arm.
-She likes to suck on her fingers/fists on both hands as a past-time.
-She is a great eater, sleeper, and pretty much overall super happy and easy baby.  We are beyond blessed!

We couldn't be more in love with this little darling!

Big Girl Bed!

On Monday, September 3 we switched Evie into her big girl toddler bed.  She was so excited.  She never really tried to crawl out of her crib, but we figured the time had come to switch her over and then she could just get up in the morning and not have to wait for us to hear her crying to come get her.  We gave her the choice to see if she wanted to switch and she didn't really even have to think about it and said yes with a big smile.  She told us her bed now had a gate and she would like to have a bed just like Evan's.

So that evening we made the switch and Daddy got to work to change things over.

Before, doesn't she look like a girl ready for a change. :)  Just look at that look and leg over the side.

After, our super happy girl!

Big Brother getting into the fun too!

 

Here she is all ready for bed for the first time in her big girl bed with all of her babies.  She likes to sleep with like a million babies.  It is hard to believe there is room for Evie sometimes. :)

 

Sweet Dreams little Evie!  We love you!

Activity Play Mat

Here are the big kids with Elaine on August 10th showing her how to work the Activity Mat.  I think they had more fun then she did showing her all the features.

Anniversary Date

Jim and I celebrated our 11 year Wedding Anniversary this year.  We got to go out on a special date with little Elaine.  My parents blessed us by staying with the big kids and treating them to a pizza dinner. Here we are right before we left.  

Then here we are on our date at B.J.'s. (thank you Kocher Family for the awesome gift card! :) ).  Elaine slept through the whole thing.  It was perfect!

Such a good little girl.  She gave her parents the perfect gift of sleep.

We even got to get in a little shopping at the end of the evening at the mall.  Good times!

Super Heroes to the Rescue

On Sunday, August 19 we got some super fun pictures of both the kids in their Super Jammies!  Here they are having a blast posing together.  Jim and I were encouraging them to pretend to fly.  They thought this was so silly.  Especially, Evie, here she is cracking up.