Family Update: April Edition

Miranda is such a big girl now.  She takes her baths in the ever beloved ducky tub now, no more infant tub over the kitchen sink.  Whew.  She absolutely loves splashing around, although she's certainly not a fan of water in her face. 

We're full force into soccer - this is Annika's and Marissa's first season - Corban's 4th.  Annika has scored a couple of goals in games already and is really gaining skills and confidence quickly. 

She is a really good goalie and takes great pride in her abilities. 

I haven't gotten any good shots of Corban and Marissa yet - hopefully I will soon!

We got to go strawberry picking on a gorgeous day  - we picked 25 lbs of berries. 

I made freezer jam, ice-cream, puree for 3 more batches of ice cream, a cake, spinach strawberry salad, and froze several bags whole for making smoothies and oatmeal.  And we ate a lot plain.

Yum!

This was Ellia when we got there.  Nice and clean. 

Yeah, I had my hands full trying to get her to actually put berries in her basket.  See the red stained fingers?  Not to mention the face.  And you can't see the trail of juice down her (thankfully already) red shirt.  That girl had some fun in the strawberry patch. 

Annika did a little better than Ellia, but she was very strawberry stained by the time we finished as well.

Little story about this kid:

A few days ago we were sitting at dinner.  It had been one of those "no make-up" kind of days.

Annika says: "Mom, can you put on some lipstick and make your eyes pretty?

Corban instantly jumped to my defense and exclaimed, "Mom's eyes are already pretty!"

Annika loudly retorted, "Not pretty enough."

Sigh.

There's nothing like the honesty of a 4 year old. 

Corban was a diligent and fast picker.  He ended up helping Ellia fill her basket too.

Miranda and Ellia playing ball - well, Ellia is actually trying to make sure Miranda's legs are open enough for the ball to roll to her.  Obviously it was pretty funny to Miranda. 

We took the side off Ellia's crib.

A necessary step to growing up and independence, but something I regret at least once a day. 

Let's just say she is thoroughly enjoying her freedom. 

And training her to stay in bed during naptime and bed time is a little bit of a challenge.

The upside?

She loves having her siblings sit on the edge of the bed to read to her. 

So precious!

Marissa and I got to go to a Mother/Daughter Tea for the K-2nd graders from Wed. night classes at church. 

It was absolutely gorgeous and we had a lovely time. 

 This was one of the tables - isn't that amazing?  I wish I had the gift of decorating. 

 Here are some of the mini-cupcakes I made for the tea - they were really cute and a big hit with the little girls and their moms. 

 The mild temperatures have the kids playing outside for hours every day - and sometimes they even talk me into having picnics out in the yard.  Ellia and Annika chose the wagon for their lunch spot.

Miranda is now a full-fledged participant in the outside play  - the swing keeps her very happy. 

So that's our April in a nutshell.  Looking forward to seeing what happens in May!