Blueberry Picking

The closest U-pick blueberry patch to us finally opened up for the season! We have been dying to go blueberry picking, so we decided to go for family home evening last week. Anthony and I both got a five gallon bucket and James got a small pail. They told us that there were a lot of big ripe blueberries in the back field, so we took a little tractor ride to the other side of the farm. Bonus excitement for James!

Ready to get down to business! We explained to James about only picking the dark blue ones. Every once in awhile he would realize he picked a pink or white one and he would laugh and exclaim, "I didn't mean to do thaaaat!"

 Even though I was carrying 15 pounds of baby, I still managed to pick the most blueberries! I was a woman on a mission!

 James likes to take my sunglasses when it is bright out. He had two pairs of his own, but has lost both pairs at parks in the last month or so. Look at all of the blueberries he picked!

 We had so much fun that we decided to go again that Friday with Mimi and Papa! That morning I told James we were going blueberry picking with Anthony's parents in the evening. When I asked him if he wanted to go to the park or something in the morning, he said he wanted to go "nowhere" and wait for Mimi and Papa :)

 James was the champion blueberry picker this time! He filled his bucket so quickly that he had to dump it out a few times into our buckets. We didn't mind!

Now we need to find a way to use all of these delicious blueberries!

End of Spring 2014 Soccer Season

A few weeks ago James had his last soccer game of the season. Soccer has become such a normal part of our routine, that it is hard to believe that it is over!

Here is our little athlete's official picture:

James got to play about half of the time and he was ready to play more!

 James actually got to kick the ball! He hardly ever gets close enough to do that and he was so excited that he ran off the field to come tell us about it. It was so cute! He was so excited he couldn't even get the words out :)

At the end of the year soccer party, James' coach gave all the kids, a prize, a trophy, and a nickname. James' nickname was "Wanderer" because he was always running off of the field! :)

 Holding up his trophy and yelling "Giants!"

This was his coach's first year of coaching such young kids and he said even though it was the hardest type of coaching he has had to do so far, he is really excited to do it again in the fall. We are going to try to keep the entire team together for fall soccer, so we get to do this all over again in a few months :) Go Giants!

Summer Days

We have been having a lot of fun this summer! So far there have been visits to the splash park, the beach, fun with family, summer thunderstorms (which means puddle splashing afterwards!), soccer games, and family outings for ice cream :)

One rainy day we spent some time splashing in puddles and then went to play at the indoor playground at Burger King.

 While James played on the slides and in the tunnels, I sat with Rett and stared at his beautiful, chubby face :) I tried to get a good picture of his curls, but it just doesn't do them justice:

One afternoon I pulled out a large inflatable pool that I bought on clearance last summer and filled it up in our backyard. James loves it! Rett, not so much :( I think the water was too cold for him, poor thing. James likes to take his water guns and shoot at lizards and put out imaginary fires, "surf" on his boogie board, and make his cars crash and fall into the water.

 Rett played happily in the shade, gumming his toys and (I discovered later) eating dirt (!). There was a few minutes of crying when James squirted him with the water. Boys.

The mama cat took her kittens out of our yard and over to the neighbor's backyard, I'm sure in part to the fact that James would do things like this: put all the kittens in the shopping cart and racing them around the porch. I don't blame her for finding a more peaceful spot :)

 Rett doesn't seem to nurse well at bedtime so we have started giving him a bottle before bed. I figured out a way to feed him while getting James situated for bed at the same time. It has been such a lifesaver when I am trying to get them ready at the same time by myself. Not to mention it is so cute to watch him sleep eat!

Rett loves swinging at the park, and James has discovered that he likes to help push him.

 After taking a walk to the farmer's market, we sat down for a little picnic. I tried to get a picture of James climbing on a really neat tree, but he didn't want me to take a picture so he started to shoot his "guns" at me. At least Rett didn't mind me taking a picture :)

Easter Fun

Easter this year was pretty low key. After experiencing the insanity that is a public egg hunt last year, we decided to skip them and just do the church party and our own egg hunt. We had so much fun at our ward Easter get together! Anthony had to work, but my mom was in town so she got to go with us.

James immediately discovered the little bags of jelly beans on each plate. He wanted to eat them right away!! Then all the other people at our table wanted to give their bag to him. I think he ended up with 5 bags of jelly beans!

James had so much fun at the egg hunt! He got a lot of eggs and after a few minutes they had a second round for the kids that came a little late. It was hard for James to resist the eggs they were putting down for the others. He would see them and grab them and then make a face when I told him to put it back :)

Easter Sunday we had a great day at church and after we came home, Anthony's parents came over and we opened Easter baskets. I didn't know how Rett would react to his basket, but he dug right in along with James:

After James emptied his basket of goodies, we went into the backyard to fill it back up with hidden easter eggs! James would get so excited when he would see another one and would run over screaming, "Anoder one!!"

That evening we had family home evening and I decided to do my lesson I prepared for sharing time. I found an idea for resurrection eggs on this website and it was a hit with the primary kids! They had so much fun hiding and finding the eggs, that I thought James would love it as a way to talk about the Savior's life, death, and resurrection. As we went through the eggs, James would close his eyes and one of us would hide an egg around the room. Then he would jump up and try to find it (he is not the best at this, so it took alot of hints :). After he brought the egg back to me we would open it up and talk about the scripture and symbol inside. When we got to the egg with the small nail to represent the nails in Christ's hands and feet, James got a concerned look and said, "Jesus died? It's sad?". So sweet.