Strawberry Picking

I took the kids strawberry picking for the first time!  My friend Megan had told me about Woods Orchard Farm in Hampton (http://www.woodsorchards.com/) and I thought that it would be such a fun idea to take the kids and load up on strawberries.  We eat a lot of strawberries around here...

Nathan actually does not eat strawberries, I keep telling him that fruit is God's candy, but it does not work.  Apples are good enough for him.  Anyway, he did have a good time picking strawberries.  He went right to work and filled a small basket.   

Elizabeth on the other hand loves strawberries!

I think you get the picture!

Here is our loot. 

We picked a little over 11 pounds of strawberries.  It was only $2 per pound so it was well worth it.  We went home and made 6 pints of freezer jam, and a strawberry pie, and ate the rest!  That was Saturday, this is Monday and they are all gone... maybe another trip to pick strawberries is in order?

Mmm...dat good!

There's nothing like good corn on the cob!

Air Show!

This past weekend was the Air Show at NASA/Langley Air Force Base.  First time to take the kids to an Air Show - yes it was loud, but we had a blast!

Nathan and Elizabeth as pilots.

John and Nathan, our astronauts.

Here is one of the planes that Uncle Marty flies!  It is even based out of Tinker Air Force Base where Uncle Marty is currently stationed.  Some of the crew had recently flown with Uncle Marty - pretty cool!

Nathan all ready to go in Uncle Marty's plane.

Now every time a plane flies over our house Nathan and Liz yell out "Mommy! That plane was at the Air Show!"

My Mother's Day Weekend

What a wonderful Mother's Day weekend I had!  What a wonderful husband and kids!  I love you guys so much!  Saturday evening the four of us went to Busch Gardens for the first time this season.  We had a blast!  Elizabeth is bigger and can ride more of the rides this year - although she can not yet ride the Grover Roller Coaster, and she was devastated when she found out.  Elizabeth is definitely the dare devil of the two of them!  Here is a picture of John and the kids with Abby Cadabby in Elmo's World.

I thought this was a cute picture of the two kids.

Here they are in Dragon Land riding the Ladybugs.

And everyone's childhood favorite... the bi-planes!

Sunday morning was fun at church.  The pre-school classes came out both services to sing to the mothers.  Here are the kids during first service. 

I was so proud of Nathan!  He knew every word and motion to the songs and he sang and danced the whole time! 

This was Elizabeth's first time up on stage, and well... she loved it!

Here is a video of Elizabeth on stage.  Sorry, it does not have any sound and it's in slow motion (the lights were dim and I am still getting used to my new camera - my bad!) but check it out! I crack up every time I see it! Watch Elizabeth and then check out all the other kids around her!  What can I say?!

Spring 1710 Project

Time for Penninsula 1710 again! This this time we could not have asked for better weather!  Our project was fun too!  Two 1710's ago John was called up at about 10:00 at night asking him to go to this man's house and help finish up a project that had started out as a "simple" kitchen floor replacement and turned into a very big job.  John spent all night at this gentleman's house with several other men from church.  They worked until the wee hours of the morning to get a floor put in for this sweet elderly, blind man.  Ever since that night I had heard about what an interesting man this was.  John had also talked about how the man kept a horse even though he could not see. Well, I fianlly got the chance to meet this gentleman as we got to do a some things to help out not only Mr. Allen, but also his horse!

  

Here is our small group getting ready to do some work on the horse barn.

Teri and Brendan put some tar on the roof to stop some of the leaks.

John, the Lucas family and Mike fixed the fence.

Kirk, Jack and I replaced the door for the horse's side of the barn.

The other side of the horse barn got a new door thanks to the Hayes clan, and that side of the barn was turned into more of a shed so that Mr. Allen could keep his garden tiller and other tools in out of the weather.

It was so good to be able to do this project with our church small group.  Serving together helps bring us closer together and closer to God as we do what he commands. 

Luke 17:10 "...when you have done everything you were told to do, (you) should say, 'We are unworthy servants, we have only done our duty.' "

Face Painting and Pirates

The school that I used to work at, Yorktown Elementary School, has a carnival every spring.  It's small, but so much fun for the kids!  I enjoy taking the kids every year because not only do they get to go and have fun , but I also get to see people that I used to work with!  This year the kids got to play in a bounce house and watch a magic show.  They also got balloon hats (wish I had pictures of those, but I don't), and they got to have their faces painted!  Nathan had batman on his face and Elizabeth's was called "princess".

 

The same day as the carnival there was also a pirate thing in Yorktown.  We went to the carnival in the morning, took naps and got to go to see the pirate stuff after naptime. 

Elizabeth is a little small for the stocks.  Don't think they would keep her contained!

Nathan really got excited about playing tug of war with some of the pirates!

Here one of the pirates is showing Nathan how a gun works with the flint and all.  It's really neat to hear Nathan go home and tell Daddy all about it - it's amazing how much he listens and remembers!

Thank you so much to Mimi for the pirate hat and pirate hook! 

Congratulations Ben and Kim!

My brother Ben and his wife Kim added a beautiful baby girl to the family on February 23,2011. 

 Esme' Noel O'Leary

8 lbs 4 oz , 21 inches long

I can't wait to meet you beautiful girl!