Happy Father's Day

Colin's Last Soccer Game

Colin had his last soccer game this weekend. He played so well and scored another goal! He has improved so much in just one season and we are so proud of him. He has really enjoyed soccer and we are so happy to see him getting out there, doing his best, and having so much fun. We're looking forward to him and possibly Eli playing this Fall.

 

 

 

 

Logan is 8 Months!

Logan has learned lots of new tricks this month. He started crawling,

 

learned how to sit on his own, 

has mastered pulling up, and is starting to cruise. 

 

We have finally weaned him of the swaddle and he now sleeps all on his own. Yesss!

His first tooth popped through and he is babbling more and more. He is definitely keeping us on our toes, but is so much fun!

 

Everything Strawberries

Last weekend the boys and I went to Whittaker's Berry Farm to pick strawberries. Yum! As per usual the boys had a blast and spent more time stuffing their faces than putting the berries into our box to take home.

 

As far as I'm concerned though, that's OK with me as long as it keeps them from running up and down the rows and trampling on all the plants! This year I felt really confident that I had a good plan to use up all the berries we picked and prevent a bunch from going to waste. As much as the kids and I love strawberries, we really can't eat 13 pounds of them before they start to rot and in year's past I've found myself staying up until late at night prepping the berries to freeze just to discover that the entire bottom is a juicy, gooey mess. This year, I set aside a decent amount for us to eat out of hand and put that container immediately into the fridge (no icky, juicy berries for us this year!). I then got to work on my baking. I started with 4 loaves of strawberry bread. I discovered a really yummy recipe last year and made a bunch this year so I could freeze them. Unfortunately my first batch wasn't cooked enough, despite my toothpick coming out clean, and I had to toss out 2 of my loaves. I was pretty bummed about that so I didn't take a picture. My other 2 loaves are still in the freezer and I'm hoping they turned out better. I then made a batch of strawberry freezer jam which turned out beautifully. We'll be enjoying that all year!

Next I made a strawberry-rhubarb buckle. One of my favorite summer desserts!

After that I was starting to prep the rest of the berries for freezing when Chris asked if he could experiment making strawberry juice. Sounds tasty, right?

Well, the strawberry juice wasn't all that great on its own, but it was awesome when we added it to orange juice and lemonade.

We might have to pick extra berries next year so we can juice them and freeze that! Until then, we'll just wait for our raspberries to ripen and maybe experiment on them.

Hello, Summer

Our summer vacation is off to a great start this year! We enjoyed a fun picnic at the park with the Toledo Parents Group.

 

 

 

We spent some time with Chris' family celebrating Chris and Eli's birthday along with all the other April and May birthdays. We then got to attend one of our nephew's soccer games. Go Alex!

 

 

 

 

 

Logan went on his first trip to the zoo (technically he went in December for Lights at the Zoo, but we didn't see any animals so I don't count that as his first trip). 

 

 

 

 

The whole fam took their first trip to Fort Meigs to learn a little more about the history of Perrysburg. After checking out the American camp we watched a musket demonstration. After the first shot our boys got a little worried...

 ...after the second shot, they high-tailed it outta there!

 

 

 

 

We attended our first parade of the summer. Happy Memorial Day!

 

 

  

 

 

Chris helping Eli cover his ears while the fire trucks drove by.

And when we're not running around we've just been enjoying the warm weather outside. 

We Have a Graduate!

A preschool graduate, that is. Colin graduated from preschool and is very excited to start Kindergarten in the Fall. His program and ceremony were very cute, complete with the kids walking across the stage and receiving a diploma. Colin was very serious during the ceremony and when we asked him about it afterward, he admitted to being very nervous performing in front of all the families. So, we didn't get very many smiles, but he did allow a few smirks. And despite him feeling nervous, we still saw a huge improvement in his participation from the first time he performed with his 3-year-old class.

We have been so happy with Colin's preschool and feel that it has really helped to prepare him for Kindergarten. Not only in terms of academics but in fostering a love for school and learning. We are so proud of his accomplishments and are excited for him to move on to big-boy school in the Fall.
Congratulations, buddy!