Strawberry Picking 2010

I unintentionally started a thing where I take a picture of the kids on the front step before we set off on certain adventures. They were cute the other day because when we walked out the door, I said "Hey guys, I wana get a picture of you guys sitting on the step before we go." Right on cue, they BOTH went right to the step and sat down:
We headed off for Gurosik's Farm to do some strawberry picking (if you remember, we did this last year too). Once we arrived, we saw a few friends immediately. Madeline was very excited to see them and kept saying, "I want to hold baby Holland, I want to hold Baby Holland." So here she is holding a not-so-much-a-baby-anymore Holland:

While we waited our turn for our group to head out to the fields, the kids hung out and I snapped a "few" pictures. Here's Madeline with her bff, Mariah:

Ethan wanted in on the picture too:

We tried to get several of or kids together for a photo opp. Some of my other friends got some really good shots, but the only one I ended up with is one where Madeline's dress is falling off and Ethan is pouring dirt on Holland's head!

...but then he goes and looks so cute and all is forgotten:

Checking out the farm:

She didn't even see it coming:

Although Ethan looks very sweet here, he probably had just hit her and was saying sorry. He's in a big "hit and hug" stage right now. I think he just loves to giving lovin' so much, that sometimes he feels like he needs an excuse to do so...so he hits (how's that work for an excuse??):

We finally made it out to the fields. We had a very large group that came, so the rows we were assigned were quite packed with people. The picture you see below is basically what Ethan did the entire time. I would stop to pick some strawberries and he would stop next to me and just hang out with his basket and watch. He never picked any (except one small green one that he hung onto the entire time), just liked to put the ones that I picked into the basket.

Madeline couldn't wait to start picking. And she knew just how to do it, "twist and pull" she'll say, and "just the red ones, the green ones aren't ready yet." Television taught her those things...every time I think I need to cut back on TV time, she goes and shows me something she's learned from it.

Look Mommy!!!

My friend, Christine, was kind enough to snap a few shots of me and my kids (so glad you get to join us for the summer Christine!!!! Thanks again!!). These pictures are actually from our second time down the rows. The first time through, we were behind a row of 20 or more people, therefore we ended up with very few strawberries and needed to go through a row again to fill our two gallons. Originally I thought it'd be best if we did two, because then Madeline could have a basket and I could help Ethan do one. But as you can see, Mommy did most of the two...and my quads were killing me for days because of it! Anyway, here we are after the crowds died down, doing some more picking:

Madeline and Ethan just hung out very close to Mommy and watched :)

Notice Ethan's hands? They are full of green and red strawberries, dirt and rocks.

When we got close to the end of that last row, we came upon a huge mess of mud!!! Not just a little, but a swamp! Ethan started going crazy, sliding everywhere, screaming and grabbing on to me. Madeline was getting a little upset and didn't know what to do. Mommy was holding two baskets of strawberries and trying to keep Ethan from falling in the mud. Ethan wanted me to pick him up but my hands were full with the baskets and there was no where for me to put them without putting them in the mud. Most of the people had already left the fields so I had a moment where I felt very trapped. I finally convinced Madeline to take a few steps to get back out of the mud and I convinced her to hold a basket for a second. Then I picked up Ethan with his mud-filled shoes, socks and legs...which then made mommy covered in mud. I slid my way back out of the mud. We then had to walk all the way back down the row to cross over into another one. As I'm typing this, it doesn't sounds like a big deal, but I was so physically exhausted, I didn't think we were ever going to make it out of the strawberries! It was fun though :)

We definitely needed to sit down for a breather after that!

Then we paid for our strawberries and headed home.

The aftermath of strawberry picking this year (it actually was a lot worse, but we joined some friends for lunch after the picking, and much of the mud dried up and fell off):

But it was so worth it:

One of Madeline's favorite things about strawberry picking was the part we did at home. She helped Daddy and I rinse them, cut them and put them in bags in the freezer. We'll use many of them for the smoothies we like to make :) They are the best strawberries!!