Blueberries!

The blueberry farm not far down the road from us has opened for the season so this past Sunday morning we trotted on over to pick some berries.  With my new found love of frozen blueberries with whip cream, I didn't have to think twice.  The Isidros (minus Tangie) joined us on our escapade.  At first, it was slim pickings (many berries weren't ripe yet) but eventually I came to an area with a lot more.  There is something just really enjoyable about picking berries although I would say this experience can't quite compare to picking wild raspberries up in Nova Scotia off our own property and for free.  Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed myself as did the kids who didn't complain or anything despite our being there for over an hour.  I thought each kid performed pretty much to their personality.  First we had Calleigh who picked for a little while but then got tired and scared off by bees (she has been freaked out by bees/wasps for weeks now since we had a small nest on our patio) and decided to hang out with Braelyn, chatting and what have you. She then picked a few more and found some giant berries she was proud of.  Next we had Aubree, my little worker bee, who was a very serious picker, picking the whole time and ended up with a half bucket full compared to the full bucket that Duncan and I both picked.  Not bad for a four year old!  Next was Brady who hung out next to me.  For the first fifteen minutes he diligently picked berries for his bucket but then decided it would be much more fun to just eat them.  So he picked and ate, moved on to eating what was in his bucket and then finally tried to eat some out of mine.  But seriously, every time, EVERY TIME, he was about to pick one, he would say "Is this one okay, Mom?"  Apparently he was very concerned he would get a green, unripened one.  And yes, he doesn't know his colors that well yet but to his credit, every time he asked, it was always a blue one.  Finally, we had Colby who Duncan had in the Bjorn the whole time.  He was perfectly well behaved but kept trying to grab all the berries off the branches so Duncan finally had to just start mushing the berries in his fingers and giving them to him.  Colby was quite pleased with this.  So there you have it.

Classic Brady face.

Those would soon be gone.

Her giant blueberry.  Or is her hand just small?

 Eventually Duncan's back could take it now more so we left thousand of berries behind and went to pay. We ended up with fifteen pounds of berries at $4 a pound.  Not bad for a little over an hour.  So what does one do with $60 of blueberries?  We froze about 2/3 of them and the rest we have been enjoying our our cereal, of course.  Or, if one is Allen Isidro, you make fancy salads and salad dressings.

As for the rest of the week...Monday was a home day for us per our usual and much to Calleigh's delight. Tuesday we just HAD to go to Target because the girls had to get something with Aubree's gift card from Adventurers.  We also stopped at Payless to look for sandals for the girls.  Aubree has pretty much the most confusing feet ever.  I guess it must be because they're thin or something but if you measure her foot, it comes out to an 11 or 11.5.  But yet she's wearing a size 9 Croc because a 10 is too big.  If you put her in a size 10 sandal, her toes are getting to the end but most of the time, it will at least fit properly around her ankle.  If you go to an 11 sandal, it's too loose around the ankle although the toes fit correctly.  She's inherited many shoes from Calleigh, obviously, but if the sandals have a regular clasp, rather than the Velcro, you can't get it tight enough.  This all drives me nuts!

Tuesday night we hopped over with the Begherms to Chik Filet for their family night which included Easter festivities complete with a mini petting zoo, egg hunt, and face painting.  They used to have the kids eat free deal every Tuesday night but stopped it last year so we rarely ever go unless they have some big event going on.  Of course, their menu is full of chicken, strangely enough, so it presents a challenge sometimes when ordering.  We used to ask for a grilled cheese (a hamburger bun with a piece of cheese) which they would just swap out of the kids meal for the chicken nuggets.  We would get all the kid's meal items for free...drink, fruit, and toy.  Well, now that we hardly ever go, apparently they are out of practice with this request because when I asked for it, the lady seemed all confused and had to ask a manager if they could do a bun with cheese.  Come on.  Could it get any easier than that?  She found out they could but then she had to ring it up all separately which makes it comes out way more expensive then the kid's meal.  I politely expressed my frustration with this concept but to no avail.  Sometimes it is a real pain to be a vegetarian.  I dream of going into a restaurant one day such as this and they just swap out the real chicken for Morningstar chicken. If only it were that simple!

He still only gets his arm painted.  And always a shark.  Can you see him holding his left hand steady with his right hand?  He stays SO still.  Who says toddlers can't stay focused?

What's up with that face, Brady?

 Wednesday morning we went to the consignment store to find some summer 3T pajamas for Brady. Apparently Camden never wore 3T pajamas in the summer because all he passed down were cold weather ones. But then, after this past winter up there, I can see where a kid could perhaps go through a whole size and never need clothes for a different season.  I found about six or seven pairs of pajamas and Brady was just thrilled. This is good and bad.  I'm glad he liked them but unfortunately he also is starting to display displeasure with some of this clothes.  For example, the handsome shirts.  You may recall that these are the button up shirts that he often wears to church...the name being derived from us saying he looks handsome. He doesn't like to wear these and he'll put up a fuss if I try to put one on him.  Each morning over the past few weeks, he's been picking out his own clothes and bringing them downstairs during breakfast.  As you can imagine, they mostly don't match.  But you know that saying that even a broken clock is right twice a day?  Well, about once a week by pure chance, I'm sure, it ends up matching.  At first, he would want me to get him dressed but he's now starting to take his pajamas off by himself and put his outfit on.  I think this is something they asked about when he turned two, if he was interested in doing it.  So maybe he's a little behind on that front but at least he's doing it before hitting three!  But yeah, don't know if I'm completely thrilled with the interest in clothes.  I thought I was leaving this all behind by having a boy.

Yesterday was to be my book club meeting with my neighborhood ladies.  I forgot to mention the meeting last month which went very nicely.  The lady who was hosting the meeting last night got to pick the book we were reading this past month which was "The All Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion" by Fannie Flagg.  It's about a 60-year old lady who finds out she was updated as an infant.  And boy, was she whiny.  I quickly determined that I didn't care for the book but I plowed ahead so I could contribute to the meeting.  On Tuesday morning, Duncan told me that there was a 5k race on Thursday evening at Lake Eola (downtown Orlando) and that a bunch of people from work were going to be in it.  A babysitter did not work out so alas, I wasn't able to go to the meeting.  On the one hand, this was a little bit of a relief because then I didn't have to finish the book.  On the other hand, it also meant that I had read 2/3 of a book that I didn't like for nothing!  Ironically the meeting was in the house pretty much across the street from mine so I sat outside as the ladies arrived and was able to make a few comments on the book before they went in.  And really, the more I thought about it, I suppose I would feel bad for saying I didn't like the book or else the lady picking it might feel bad.  How does that work in book clubs anyway since I'm sure there are many times when people don't like books?  Not sure what book club etiquette dictates.  As the ladies went inside, I told them I would be at the next meeting...until I thought about it for a second and realized I had just texted my mom that in four weeks we would be together.  Oops.  Yup, my mom is coming for the weekend next month and will be arriving at 7 pm on book club night.  Oh well.  You're worth it Mom!

At the playground while Daddy is at the 5k.

Every parent thinks their kid is adorable, right?  So you will indulge me when you see that I've posted a bunch of the same picture just because seeing Brady's different faces makes me smile.

Due to some crummy weather and it being Good Friday/Easter weekend, there weren't many yard sales today although I still found a few things.  We did, however, make another stop at a consignment store as I'm only the lookout for some sandals for Brady this time.  Since I've posted about several bad experiences I've had at the Once Upon a Child on East Colonial in Orlando, I thought it would be fitting to post a positive experience I had at one, albeit at a different location in Altamonte Springs.  As a refresher, a few years ago I got annoyed because my purchase came to like $29.93 and the lady wouldn't give me a third stamp on my customer appreciation card.  You get a stamp for every $10 and when you get 20 stamps, you get 15% off a future purchase.  Today, my total came to $26 something.  The cashier, who I believe must be the owner, let me pick an Easter egg out that happened to have a coupon for 10% my purchase.  So now it was $23 something.  She started a new card for me and as she stamps it she says "$10, $20, and up to $30" as she gives me three stamps.  I said "Oh, so you gave me three stamps even though it only came to $23?" She says "Yes, I always round up."  I proceeded to tell her my bad experience at the other store and she couldn't believe it.  She said "Why would they do that?  It doesn't make any sense.  It's a customer appreciation card. You should make the extra effort for customers to feel appreciated.  Besides, you have to have 20 stamps to get 15% off.  It's not that much!!"  Yes, lady, it does seem like common sense that some people just don't get.

Also went to Costco today...and ran into Allen and the kids.

I thought for sure I would be reporting that Colby was crawling but he's just not quite there yet.  He is moving and getting from point A to B but I wouldn't precisely label it crawling.  Next week!  His food repertoire is expanding however with first bits of ice cream, macaroni, strawberries, blueberries, and watermelon.  All but the first he's had in baby food form or sucked on through a strainer but now I'm giving them to him as the real thing, cut up very small, of course.  So far, no problems.  He loves everything.  I'm feeding him meals for breakfast and supper with little snacks at lunchtime.  We're still nursing five times a day but the three sessions besides first thing in the morning and in the evenings, are very quick...often less than 10 minutes.  I need to look and see at my nursing history to see when a session can be dropped.  It would be nice to wear a dress to church that doesn't have to be nursing friendly.

His eye is on the prize...ice cream!

Checking out, or should I say, pulling out books at the library.

We finally got his name up.  When Duncan first hung the letters up, he stepped back and realized he had spelled COBLY.  Oops.  Obviously he fixed it.

Finally, I'll wrap up with a quote.  Let me preface this by saying it is involves Aubree being in time out and as I gave her the timeout, it occurred to me that I couldn't remember the last time she was in a time out. Calleigh and Brady have been in them plenty of times but it's clearly been a LONG time since Aubree was in one.  I always thought the middle children were the ones more to act out so they could get attention (at least, that's how it was with my siblings!) but that is definitely not the case in this family...although I guess we have two middle children so Brady could be a different story.  Anyway, Aubree was in timeout because in the morning I had discovered she had left a cup with water in it on her bedroom floor which had subsequently spilled all over the carpet.  This wasn't the first time this had happened so I told her if it happened again, she would be in time out.  A few hours later, she does the same thing downstairs and of course, that cup gets spilled too. So off she goes into my bedroom for a short respite, tears flowing.
Me: "Aubree, I told you that if you did that again you would be in time out."
Aubree: "But I forgot!"
Me: "Well, hopefully you will remember next time since you've had this time out.
Aubree: "But that's not fair.  I didn't remember that rule so you're cheating!"
Me: "Please sit on that chair and think about it."
I close the bedroom door but I can hear her wailing in there from the living room.  Brady seems to be very upset at Aubree being upset so he says he wants to go in there and see her.  I kept telling him no but finally he runs over to the door and lets himself in.  He comes out a few seconds later.
Me: "Brady, I told you not to go in there.  Aubree is in time out and we don't talk to people in time out."
Brady: "I saw Aubree and I support her."

Support her?  Where does he get this stuff from??

Have a Happy Sabbath!