Strawberry Pickin'

Living in a somewhat rural area has its advantages.  Our little town is surrounded and filled with farms.  When we are on the back deck, we can actually hear cows mooing from a nearby farm! 

Our friends decided to meet up at a little strawberry farm near our house so the kids could pick strawberries.  Even though we went in the morning, the sun was blazing and the humidity was unbearable!  Despite all that, the kids had so much fun.

Alex and Amelia both grasped the concept of picking the strawberries quickly.  However, Alex soon realized it was more worth his while to eat the strawberries rather than place them in the basket.  Once his little belly was full of strawberries, he continued to pick them, only to squish each one in his hand.  Once the poor strawberry was squished to his liking, he threw it on the ground.  In the end, he left a trail half-eaten and squished strawberries for us to find our way back!

Amelia loved picking the strawberries, but nobody could touch her basket.  She had to have control of the basket at all times, ha ha.  She got a little freaked out when she got strawberry juice on her fingers, but other than that she did awesome. 

When Alex kept eating strawberries and Amelia kept telling him they needed to be washed and needed to go into the basket.  This frustrated her very much.  Also, Amelia kept asking about picking pancakes.  I'm not sure why she would think that!  She seemed confused when I told her there were no pancakes on the farm.  Toddlers are so silly!

After our visit to the farm, we went to our favorite park for a picnic and some playtime.  It was such a gorgeous day.

The strawberries were absolutely delicious!  We ended up with about five pounds, but it only lasted 2 days at our house.  They were so yummy and the kids had so much fun that we are going back to the farm next week. 



Yup, Alex ran off quite a few times!

 

Team work

 

"Akee, that's not a strawberry!"

 

The kids and their best buddy, Nolan

SQUISH!

SQUISH!

The farmhouse



 

They taste as good as they look!

 

We had a picnic afterwards at Liberty Park.  Here are the kids in their favorite play area which Amelia calls "the tunnels."  I think they just like it because I'm too tall to get in there. 

"Mommy, we're relaxing"

The kids ran off into Amelia's room while I was cleaning up breakfast.  It was too quiet (usually I hear screaming or giggling) and I was sure they were getting into trouble.  When I walked in, this is what I saw.  Amelia and Alex were just laying on the floor as calm as can be.  I think they were both still tired!  This is a rare moment in the Lehman household...

 

Hello Sunshine!

We have been spending so much time outside these past few weeks.  We have been taking daily wagon walks around the neighborhood, playing in the yard, getting wet, going to the playground, and just running around!  We even hosted a cook out for the lab at our house.

The water table is always a hit with the kids, but their absolute favorite thing to do is just run!  Amelia will say, "I want to run! I want to run!  I want to run!" 

Our house sits on about an acre of land, but only less than half of it is fenced in.  Although they enjoy running in our fenced backyard, what they always request is to run out beyond the fence.   

 

Water table

Reading outside

The area beyond the fence

(kind of sounds like a Game of Thrones reference, ha ha)

Diva Backpack

I was getting the kids ready to go to "school" (hourly care).  I looked over and saw Amelia packing, no, jamming a bunch of items into her backpack. 

What does Amelia think she needs for school?
Pink feather boa, Tinkerbell fairy wings, Hello Kitty cell phone, and Hello kitty sunglasses

Dr. McMimi

Jimmy started letting Amelia watch Dr. McStuffins a few weeks ago and now she's really into pretending to be a doctor.  I'm usually very weary about letting the kids watch TV, but it's a cute show and now Amelia's favorite. 

 

 

 

Alex bumped his head and started crying.  Dr. Mimi immediately got her doctor kit and went to work. 

Early one morning, Amelia could tell I wasn't feeling well.  I told her I was just very tired.  She gave me a check up using her doctor kit. Afterwards, she got me some "tea," told me to drink it, and said it would make me feel better.  I love this girl! 

Chalkboard Wall

I don't remember if I've posted about this yet, but here's our new chalkboard wall.  Jimmy also primed the wall with magnetic paint, so the kids can also use magnets on it too.  It is located in the kitchen, so it's a great distraction for the kids before and after meals.

Family Shoes

The boys' Converses were bought at the same time.

Amelia pointed this out a few weeks ago.  I didn't even realize we had similar shoes.  She's so observant.

 

Jimmy noticed this last week.

It's All a Blur

Blurry Camera Phone Pics...

Alex is balancing on one foot while standing on his truck.  He's a little daredevil!

My little man and I

The roles have reversed

Crazy under bite face!

Shades upside down

"I feel sad. I'm gonna need a Rhianna jam on the TV."
Amelia was talking about Rhianna's music video, Stay.

"Mommy, this Stegosaurus is eating Alex, raaarrrr!"

Resolution Update

I'm proud to report that my resolutions are pretty much on track! 

Click here to read my January blog post

#1 Find a babysitter-  This is probably the only resolution I haven't made any serious progress on.  I have been utilizing the hourly care (drop off) program at Fort Campbell a few times a week.  However, we have yet to find an evening babysitter.  I really need to work on this!!

#2 Schedule more me time-  Switching gyms has been such a positive change for me.  I love my classes (Step, Abs, and Pilates/Yoga) and am so happy I now have the opportunity to go three times a week.  I feel stronger and it's a great stress reliever for me.  I have even met a few new gym buddies. 

#3 More girls' nights- I have been able to go out at least once a month with friends, yay!

#4 Go to the spa/salon every eight weeks- I've actually been going to the salon every 6 weeks, whoo hoo!  I finally found a good stylist in our area.  I do have to work on getting to the spa more often because I love facials.

#5 Put myself out there- Honestly, this is something I struggle with all the time.  I was getting really frustrated because I met a few people here in Clarksville who have been not so nice to me.  In my adult life, this has never happened before!  Thankfully, I was able to recover from that and kept pushing forward.  I am ever so grateful that I've also met some really awesome people.  I am finally starting to feel like I have some real, genuine friends. 

I feel so much happier than I did just a few months ago.  I am so glad that I took an active role into trying to make changes in my life for the better.  The future is looking good... amazing husband, hilarious kids, and now one happy momma.  What more could you ask for? 

Missing Daddy

Jimmy has been in Boston all week for a Blood Banking conference.  He hasn't been away from the kids for this long in a while.  Amelia is at the age where she realizes that daddy is gone.  She keeps asking me when he will be home from work.  It's been tough for me to explain to her that he'll be back in a few days.  Since Jimmy gives the kids baths and puts the kids to bed, that is when Amelia asks about him the most.

 

Thankfully, we have been able to use our phones to Facetime and Amelia is also at the point where she can talk to him on the phone.  Alex even gets excited to see Jimmy on Facetime. We are looking forward to seeing Jimmy at the end of the week!

 

We miss you