Blueberry goodness

Me and some friends went out to the blueberry farm the other day and had so much fun! I mean, who knew picking blueberries with a cute little bucket would be so much fun! Although, driving there, I totally thought I was lost and any minute some creeper would jump out from the windy back roads! haha But the minute our car hit the old dirt road to the farm I felt I was in some country song...I turned up the music, rolled down my window and pretended just for a minute that I lived in some old Victorian house and I was driving to my ranch where I would be keeping my horses and vegetable garden (hahaha and I wonder where Annabella gets her imagination!)

The kids LOVED picking...Annabella was meant to live in the country...(side note: Annabella was on the phone with her Papa yesterday, my dad, and she told him, "Papa, for my birthday present I want to go to the mountains!!" Thats my girl!!!)

So here is Malachi picking blueberries?? oh wait, hes a little confused and picking the leaves instead! haha

He very quickly gets tired of that..and this is where I find him! hahaha You gotta love Malachi!!! :)

Annabella, on the other hand, is VERY enthusiastically picking every berry she can get her little hand on!!! :)

Team work!!

Where was Ezekiel during this time?? OHH yeah...just chilling in the stroller and every now and then Malachi would feed him some blueberries and he was good to go!

Now after the whole picking experience, Annabella could hardly wait to get home to make a blueberry pie! I'm talking she was going nuts, she just raved and raved about these blueberries and couldn't wait to get some warm yummy pie in her mouth....

Blueberries covered in yummy sugar and cinnamon....check!

Annabella's wonderful pinching ability for the edge of the crust (great job I might add hehe)

A little decoration for the top...

And BAM...you got yourself a YUMMY pie!!! :) or so I thought...

In conclusion:

Annabella-- took ONE bite of it and spit it out and declared.."I DO NOT like blueberries!!!"...WHAT??!! You DON'T like blueberries??? NOW you tell me! hahahaha!

Malachi-- refused to even touch it...

And EVEN Ezekiel--(who will eat dirt for goodness sake) took a bite and then seconds later opened his mouth and little the blueberry bits fall from his mouth! haha

In my defense, I think it tasted awesome and am convinced my children have some taste bud defect! haha...

Long story short...I ate almost an entire pie this week; I mean, I couldn't let it go to waste! :)

Nana,GG,and Grandpa fun!

My kids, like I'm sure most children, are pretty much obsessed with their grandparents! I mean, it doesn't matter if Malachi is in the middle of kicking and screaming, raising his arm, ready to throw something; (I mean...."hypothetically" hahaha) if I I tell him that Nana and Grandpa are coming over, the world is complete!!! This time GG (their Great Grandma) was coming to...truly now, all is well with the world!

Now, unfortunately these days my house looks more like an animal exhibit at a zoo than a pretty lil house, so I had MUCH cleaning to be done....in the midst of scrubbing floors and putting the two big kids to work; this is where I find Ezekiel...

Malachi had taken out chocolate chips when I wasn't looking and Ezekiel found them in a corner(hiding them like a little squirrel) chowing down! haha

He was quite enjoying himself!!! haha

Malachi snuggling with his "GG", and feeling "Lamby"(of course), Precious!!!! :)

Annabella and Malachi took turns trying on Nana's glasses on...what goof balls! :)

cuddles!

The boy lives on being tickled!! (creepy, I know! haha)

In conclusion:

Nothing beats great Grandparents!!! :)

Unbelief

As you can see there is a pot to his right and to his left. Malachi and Ezekiel were fighting over the pan on his right (ya know, the one he's clinging too!) I told Malachi to pick up the other pan. He wouldn't. He screamed, he shouted..."NOO..I want this pan!!!" I told him, "just pick it up Malachi and obey me first!" I had every intention on letting him keep his pan, and him giving the pan he didn't want to Ezekiel. But I wanted him to obey me first! He refused..."Just trust me!" I yelled!

I sit and scream at them for the 100th time saying "Don't you understand what I'm saying?! Ive only told you a million times!!! Just trust me!!!" Oh and then the Lord every so gently whispers..."Mary, you are just like them! I just want you to listen to me and trust me! I only have what is best for you! I LOVE you!!! I am always patient, always kind, full of love and tenderness...showing compassion at all times...consistent in my discipline but it ALWAYS flows out of a heart that's compelled by unconditional love...be like ME!" Oh then my heart breaks!...Oh how I am so reminded every moment how incredibly lacking I am!!

Oh how many times God sooo desires to bless us! And WE are the ones holding on...kicking and screaming. We somehow think that the Lord just wants to take from us; that He doesn't have our best interest in mind. Well of course we would say, He is good, sovereign, and loving...but do we believe that???????

When it comes to Him taking everything? and leaving us with ONLY Him? Is He enough? Do we trust Him to provide all that our soul will ever need?? Do we believe that He takes BECAUSE He loves us????

OH Lord!! Give us eyes to see and ears to hear what your spirit is saying! Give us obedient hearts to OPEN UP OUR HANDS AND HEARTS and give to you all that is YOURS!!!! Give me faith to trust you...to Love you....to BELIEVE You!!!!!!!!

"Lord, I believe...help my unbelief!"

July 4th fun!

So what is July 4th without sparklers, fireworks,good friends and yummy food??? I don't even know! :) Well my kids had nooo idea what this amazing phenomena was about the whole sparkler kick there mom was on; and I was just dying to show them this amazingly wonderful American tradition. First things first....go to a fireworks stand on the side of a street and buy sparklers from a kinda creepy guy...check! :)

Next...Wait for the 4th of July!

Oh how they hate the waiting period! They would just stare at those sparklers and cry, "I want the fire sticks!!!!" haha...(if you can't already tell, were raising our own little generation of pyromaniacs! haha) Charlie refused to let them hold them...at first I thought, "babe, they can just hold them at least." And then I was reminded...hey, its our kids were talking about here..they could make fire out of tree branches, I definitely wouldn't be surprised if they could find some sort of way to light a sparkler! haha

Sparkler time!!!!! As you can see, Ezekiel wasn't joining us for the sparkler festivities! I decided an ER visit for a kid who ate a lit sparkler didn't sound like my idea of a good time; so we let a friend hold him inside while any fire was taking place! haha

At first he was a little hesitant but just give it a minute...

He was totally enthralled! Look at those eyes, haha

They could NOT wait to go see the fireworks too, of course, and were practically counting down the seconds till we could get out the door!!

Daddy and the boys looking at fireworks!(What is that face Ezekiel?? haha)

Now unfortunately I didn't get a picture of this...but it must be told! There was (awesome) country music playing; and while the fireworks were going on Annabella decided to give our group and everyone around us a show as she did a ballet production in the shadow of the light display...classic! :)

The Ladies!! :)

Those silly boys! :)

Yummy food!!

Delightful friends!

BOYS...you can't live with um, you can't live without um! :)

Ok, so I just KNOW people don't believe me when I tell them how NUTS my boys are!
I mean, are they charming? Hands down. Handsome? Of course! Sweet? Most of the time. But slightly insane??-ABSOLUTELY!! haha Don't get me wrong, I am CRAZY about those boys; but they sure are a lil nutty!! hehe

So here I go...proving to the masses that I have children that are just a wee bit off their rockers! haha..although, can I really blame them? :)

EXAMPLE ONE.....

What kind of kid literally bites the end off of a maker and enjoys every minute of it!? MINE! :)
I mean, I love him to pieces; but REALLY Ezekiel? Is that actually yummy???

I'm not even really sure he is convinced! haha

The PROOF! Yuck! haha

Ohh! And the next day, he did the same thing again!! Needless to say, Annabella's not allowed to play with markers anymore because apparently she has trouble "forgetting" and leaving them in Ezekiel's pack 'n' play...hmmm... haha

EXAMPLE TWO...

Ezekiel has another little, what shall I call it...compulsion. He is an avid dumpster diver. Yes, you heard me right. The boy is preparing himself for the worst! haha Annabella continually gets on him about it, "Now Ezekiel, you can't just play in the trash, thats sooo yucky!" haha...no worries, I normally stop him but this time I decided to sneak some pics so you too could watch in wonder at the boy who would rather eat out of our trash can than be given a snack!! :)

There he is, searching for yummy goodies...

As you can see, that lid is posing as the enemy...will it win??

Yayy! He has succeeded! Now, if he can just get the remainders of this OJ, all will be well! :)

EXAMPLE THREE...

There is nothing worse than..."partners in crime"! Oh yes, Ezekiel and Malachi have reached the age where they have decided to join forces and use their wits and insightful ideas for the greater good---to make mommy go crazy! :)

So this is how I found them...*sigh*...I mean, what are you gonna say?! haha

Ezekel lathering himself with diaper rash cream...he's into preventive care! :)

And of course, Malachi...the master mind (or maybe just the one tall enough to reach everything haha)

So there ya have it...my boys really are absolute zane-bugs; but when I think about it; would I really have it any other way???!!! :)