"Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come."
Doctrine and Covenants 68:6

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Strawberry picking and storming the castle

April 2018

While the winter here in San Antonio is not terribly harsh, it was still quite rainy and April began to get beautiful again! Spring was amazing actually! And it really started to hinder our preschool progress. Haha! We began to do lots of exploring for our preschool and fewer table activities. We went to the zoo and found an iguana for "I" week.
Iguana for "I" week

While at the zoo, I found an animal that cheated the twin mom life. Sheesh, can it get any easier? After spending months pumping for three-plus hours a day, this shrew made me a tiny bit jealous. It's ok; I probably get more out of my relationship with my children than she will.
#twinmomlife

We studied hippos during "H" week a few days earlier and we learned that hippos use their tails to swish their poop all over the place. Now they are Abi's favorite animals. Haha! Thanks to this book (now a family favorite) and Youtube for providing that bit of knowledge and entertainment.
Hippos are her favorite

We found a sloth, Aunt GiGi!

Don't you just want to squeeze this girl?? I love her!
I love how snuggly this girl is!

This picture is an important measure of our lives at this moment. Hyrum and Audrianne are just tall enough to reach their fingers up and feel around for anything interesting. Nothing is safe anymore.
Look closely at this picture and you will see all three kids

Because I am crazy and want to fill my life with amazing experiences despite any possible limitations, I thought it would be fun to take my kids strawberry picking. Haha! Oh how we get wiser with age and experience. Hehe! In reality, that was a quixotic dream. Abi was very excited in the beginning but only helped for a brief time until a butterfly caught her attention and she chased it super far away, like two fields away. I couldn't even yell at her loud enough for her to hear. I had to leave my twins and the strawberries and retrieve her. And Hyrum and Audrianne eventually got bored of sitting in the stroller and watching and took up crying (I forgot to bring snacks - mom for the win).

I sped up my picking so I could take my noisy trio to perform somewhere else but I also had a goal of getting 18 pounds of strawberries because then you pay the bulk rate which made them the same price as the store because really, who drags their kids an hour to the country by themselves to do the work of picking and then pay more than Costco charges, I ask you???? Not me! So, 18 pounds it is! Well, the strawberry farmers gave me two buckets that they said would equal 18 pounds when full. I tried so hard to fill them because the last thing I wanted to do was end up with 17.7 pounds and have to pay more than if I had picked just a few more. In the end, I had accidentally picked 23 pounds of strawberries. Oh boy! And yes, my kids were so done by then and so was I. Haha!
Strawberry picking

We accidentally overpicked but the kids don't mind

Since our lovely children are now climbing on the chairs to get onto the kitchen table, I have started bungee cording the chairs to the table legs so the kids cannot pull them out and climb them. It works great. Except for this moment. Abi stretched the bungee cord from the top of her booster seat and down to the cross bar of the chair and then started hollering at me, "I'm stuck!" I finally realized that she really was stuck! She didn't get her finger out of the way in time and let the cord go with her finger caught between the cord and crossbar but she didn't have the strength in just one arm to set herself free. Look at those sad eyes!
"My thumb is stuck!"

Because we have 23 pounds of strawberries, we have them with every meal whether it matches or not. I also froze gallons of them for later use and made freezer jam and fruit leather.
Hawaiian haystacks! Delicious food!

Another Abi/Daddy camp out. I went to say good night...
Sleeping in the tent

...and then brought the twins to join the fun in the morning.
Good morning, family!

These kids love when we read to them

This castle has been a serious winner of a toy here! James invented a game where he catches a kid and lowers her into a tower, and while she crawls out, he catches another kid and lowers him into the other tower. The kids laugh and giggle the whole time!
Playing the castle game

Run away!

Down he goes!

It's getting more and more exhausting to carry two 25-pound babies up the stairs for bed along with bottles and binkies and stuffed animals. So now I just show them the milk and lure them up behind me. Works great! I see now how the story of the pied piper was conceptualized - by an exhausted mom with multiple kids who needed carried to bed.
Luring them to bed

Just a few of her favorite things

Funny faces!

I guess when Google Fiber comes in to a new area, then Google spreads the word by giving everyone a free t-shirt. You just have to go in and request it by finishing the sentence "Make the internet ____." So this is James's shirt he created. Nerd.
James's new shirt

Ready for bed

Sweet Abigail

He trained her to squawk and request a cracker. Love this duo!
Daddy has a pet parrot

Every now and then, she does something I don't expect and I can't get mad, because how do you get mad at this face? :) Haha!
And now she's Daniel Tiger!

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