Strawberry Picking

Every year, one of my favorite things to do is to pick strawberries. Growing up we would go to Holden Brothers Produce, plastic tubs in hand, and fill them up with fresh strawberries. I'm sure I ate a few before they made it to the tub. It was a tradition.

One of the things I have looked forward to is taking Kylie to pick strawberries for the first time. Since strawberry picking season in Wisconsin is almost up, I decided this morning to make haste to the strawberry patch, and see if I could pick enough to make some homemade jam, and save a few for putting on top of pound cake. It was a good plan, execution was a little lacking.

Taking a 13 month old who wants to walk ALL OVER THE PLACE to pick strawberries is only a good idea if Dad is coming too. I learned this the hard way. As Kylie and I made our way to the appointed row, she decided she'd rather visit with the other kids that were picking strawberries a few rows over. Before I knew it, she had walked over a few rows of strawberries to make it to her new "friends", and had taken a few falls in the strawberries along the way. Therefore, she had strawberry juice all over her bum, pants, and shoes. I ran to grab her before she got too far, picked her up, which proceeded to transfer the strawberry goo to my favorite jeans. What was supposed to be a wonderful, picturesque opportunity is now disasterous. I managed to feed her some goldfish while I grabbed as many strawberries as possible, and made my way to the car. Little one kicking and screaming the whole time. (I love that she's fiesty!!) Note to self: go on a day that Steve can come too. I did manage to take a couple pictures before the outfit was "decorated".

Despite the poor planning on my part, I'm glad that we got to go get our strawberries. They are beautiful and delicious, and I think despite her times of frustration, Kylie had fun. This experience taught me that I still have SO MUCH to learn as a parent, and I'm grateful that I have my little buddy Kylie with me to share in my successes and failures (such as today....)

Father's Day

This Father's Day, Kylie and I decided to surprise Steve with new pictures for his desk at work. The pictures he had on his desk were from when Kylie was two months old, and she looks so different now. So we hatched a plan. On Tuesday nights Steve has an activity with the youth at church (young men), so Kylie and I could get dolled up and sneak away for the photo session, and he wouldn't know about it. Our friend Kara, a professional photographer (you can see more of Kara's photography here), met Kylie and I underneath the overpass (doesn't that sound so mysterious??) in downtown Wauwatosa, and took some great shots of Kylie and I. Some of my favorites are below:

We picked out a collage frame, put our pictures in it, and presented it to Steve. He was pretty surprised, and I was quite pleased that I was finally able to get a gift for Steve that he didn't guess ahead of time. He always seems to figure out my surprises!

We hope Steve had a great Father's Day. He's such a dedicated Dad and thoughtful husband. We love you Steve!

P.S. A big thanks goes to Kara, for capturing our moments on film, and for being patient with us!

Kickstarting the Fitness

Running lately has been a challenge. I have my jogging stoller, that I love, but the weather has been cold and rainy lately, making running outdoors a little on the difficult side. I can't run indoors in our gym, because the treadmill is a little too interesting to someone who crawls all over the place now. What to do?

First things first, I needed new running shoes. So I picked up these beauties, and even got them on sale. The friendly sales guy gave me $5 off the purchase price (why he did that is a mystery to me, but I'll take it), and then I used my $10 off coupon from my entertainment book, and these babies were just the right price.

Next, I got a deal on a family membership at the Y. Three months for the whole family, only $177 dollars. Who could pass that up? Now I have zero excuses for not exercising, and I'm well on my way to running Crazy Legs next year. Hopefully..

After a Long Nap

Someone had some crazy hair (see the sides?). I love it. And I love that she is actually getting more hair now...