First day of school!

It is with great joy that I introduce to you the students of God Seekers Academy for the 2013-2014 school year . . .

 

Lael - age 12

Jaden - age 9

 

Noah - age 3

 I'm looking forward to a fabulous school year - and I am confident that it won't be boring!!



Strawberry picking . . . then and now!

We took a trip to our favorite berry-picking place yesterday - we've been going there for years to pick blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries . . . which was our goal for this trip.  (Of course, yesterday was probably the hottest day of the summer so far!  We got there when they opened at 9:00 - I'm so glad we didn't come later!)

 

I had the help of three amazing pickers!

Lael was my methodical picker . . . she chose a spot, picked all the berries in that area, then moved on to the next spot.

 This was Noah's first time picking berries. He had fun finding strawberries for a while, but then he decided that he'd rather be my "runner" - carrying my picked berries to the larger container so I could continue picking.

 (However, by the end of our time at the farm, he decided that the best job of all was that of "taste tester"!)

 Jaden was on the hunt for the biggest and best strawberries - and found some beautiful ones!

 

Just so you can see how long we've been coming here . . .

 

This was Jaden and Papa picking strawberries - back in June of 2010.

 Lael and Nana had fun filling their buckets too.

 We've definitely made the George Schmidt Berry Farm a favorite destination for whenever we have a craving for amazing produce!  

Although we can't live on a farm, at least we can visit one :)

Nine years ago . . .

Nine years ago today, we welcomed our first-born son . . .  after two months of bed rest for Mommy!

 We were so excited for his arrival - it felt like we waited extra-long for him after his sister's super-early arrival three years before!

 Jaden was born at 8:15 AM on May 14, 2004 - he weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and was 20 inches long.

 Because of the circumstances of Lael's birth and the fact that we couldn't hold her for over a month after she was born, I was extremely anxious to snuggle Jaden.  However, the hospital was super busy, and they didn't have a room ready for me.  So finally I asked if I could hold him in the hallway while we waited for our room . . . and they agreed!

 Lael was quite excited to meet her baby brother - but she didn't like the fact that Mommy and Brother had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days before coming home.

 Daddy and his boy

 Leaving the hospital

 Jaden - all ready to come home!

 It felt soooo wonderful to have our little family together at home!

 I had no idea when we welcomed this sweet baby boy into our family what was in store for us - all the giggling, dare-devil climbing, upside-down hanging, hole-digging, LEGO-building, computer game playing fun that a little boy would bring to my life.  But I wouldn't change a minute of it! 

Happy 9th birthday, Jaden!  I am so proud of the young man you are becoming and am so blessed to be your mom!

First EVER family bike ride!

Today was an absolutely GORGEOUS day here in Pennsylvania . . . the perfect day for our very first-ever-in-the-history-of-our-family bike ride!

 

Brent and the big kids go biking often . . . but Noah and I have been unable to join them because I have not had a bike.  In fact, I don't think I've ridden a bike for at least twenty-five years a looooong time!  Recently, however, I was blessed with a bike - and with the purchase of a bike trailer for Noah, we were ready for adventure!

 

It takes a while to get everyone geared up - helmets, pads . . .

 Even Noah had his helmet on!

 Jaden did some warming up in the parking lot . . .

 . . . while Lael chose to conserve her energy - and looked beautiful doing so!

 Noah had the easiest job of all - sit back and enjoy the ride!

 Daddy did a fantastic job of making sure that everyone's bikes were road-worthy!

 We rode on the Ironton Rail Trail - which has some amazing history to it - dating back to Civil War times!

 Halfway through, we took a break . . . the big kids had fun jumping from post to post with Daddy.

 And Noah and I were entertained watching them!

 

All in all, we biked 5.5 miles in just under an hour.  Not bad for my first time on a bike in a loooong time! (And that was the fastest trip for the kids doing a complete loop on the rail trail too!)

After the bike ride, Noah was ready to play!  (After all, he'd been sitting in his trailer for an hour!)  Fortunately, there was a little playground there with plenty to entertain a busy two-year-old . . .

  And of course, what park trip would be complete without a game of "everyone chase Daddy around until someone catches him"?

 And we had to spend some time by the creek . . . for now, just looking - but I know that come summertime, the kids will be asking to do some creek walking . . .

 The sound of the water rushing over the rocks is so restful.

 We kept looking for any sign of beavers around the dam, but they were hiding from us.

 Jaden asked me to close my eyes - then took my hand and led me to a patch of these beautiful little flowers by the water's edge.  We both admired them for a while.

Welcome, spring!

We're so glad you're finally here!

  We went apple picking with some of our co-op friends this week - anything is more fun when done with friends (and apple picking is fun to begin with)!

Jaden pushed the cart to the part of the orchard we would be picking in.

Noah definitely enjoyed his first trip to the apple orchard :)

Jaden inspecting the cart to see how much room we had left.

The final two apples for our baskets!

Lael shared the pushing job with Mom on the way back - being very careful not to spill any of our beautiful apples!  We picked two varieties - Jonagold (the ones closest to Lael) and Empire.

A lovely afternoon at the orchard!

I'm already thinking of all the tasty treats we will make!