Strawberries!

Strawberries may be Jaired's favorite food ever. I really like them a lot, too, of course. One of the things we made sure to do every year in Virginia Beach was go strawberry picking at least once. We were very excited to hear that our new house here in Missouri has a strawberry patch. It is only a few years old, and last year we pretty much just ate the berries as we picked them.



The patch was rather neglegted after strawberry season, partly because of not having what we needed to care for it. In the fall it did not get its protective mulch blanket because right when we should have put that down Nathaniel was born and I was with him in the hospital for three weeks.


The patch had also become somewhat overgrown so we were not sure what would happen this year. As the days began to warm up Jaired started checking the plants for blossoms daily. We watched with growing excitment as the blossoms withered and strawberries formed. Finally our first strawberry was ripe! It was a little one, but a ripe berry nonetheless!




As you can see, there are quite a lot of weeds needing to be cleared out. The rows are also just about nonexistent. Hopefully (cross fingers), we can get the patch cleaned up this summer.

Strawberries!

We have made pies and smoothies, and have frozen several quarts of strawberries. The patch is starting to slow down, but at its peak we picked about eight cups a day. Berry nice, if you ask me.

Nathaniel -- Eight Months

Nathaniel is eight months old today, and though he is not where Edmund was, in physical development, at the same age, he is in the normal eight month bracket for size and development.

Nathaniel is usually a very happy baby. He is quite energetic and vocal.

Nathaniel has taken to playing and rolling around in bed before falling asleep. I found him like this the other day.

Nathaniel can roll both ways and push himself around, backwards. Here he is, holding himself up. That face is his humming, "Mama, pick me up" face.

Go, Baby. Go!

Nathaniel is very good at using his walker now. He can manuver it pretty well, and zooms across the floor at a surprising rate.

Reading with Edmund

Getting pushed in the dolly stroller by Edmund. They both thought it great fun.

*Giggles*

And, just for good measure, Edmund, at the park.

Natural Disasters

Natural Disaster -- you think of Hurricane Katrina, an earthquake, BIG things right?

Well, last Friday, the 8th, we had a big storm. It rained, yes, but the big thing was the wind. It got up to 80mph at some points in time. And a tornado, not at our house, but touching down here and there about ten miles from us. Of course the power went out, at our house, and at the two law offices, one being 15 minutes away and the other 30. Altogether the storm was probably 2-3 hours long. Jaired and Pop driving home saw downed trees and power lines everywhere, but upon getting home there was almost no damage, some trees down, but no power lines broken or down. So we figured it wouldn't be long before the power came back on.

Saturday afternoon came and still no power. We called the power company and found out that initially about 10,000 people were out of power, but by the evening the number was down to 2500. Sunday, still no power and the power company was telling people it could be at least a week and to have a back up plan. Great, so what are we going to do?

Fortunately, both the offices had power again by Monday. Jaired brought water home with him in the evenings to supplement what we had stored during the storm. He has a full kitchen at his office so was able to take all the perishable food there and even took a tub of dirty dishes and washed them in his dishwasher. The hardest things about being out of power were the limited water supply and cooking. We have an electric stove. We cooked some both in our fireplace and outside on our firepit, Jaired's parents, who live just through the woods, have a gas stove, so we were also able to go over and cook at their house.

The power came on right before supper last night and it is definitely nice to be able to wash our hands and flush the toilet normally, not to mention shower and wash dishes and laundry. We really take our electricity for granted.

Pictures!

The new Jedi apprentice.

Reflections.

A new ball from Oma. Jaired loved (and still loves) playing with balls as a boy. His mom told him that she would buy lots of balls for his children, this is the beginning!

Edmund's baby