"I Want to Eat Fish"

Our kids like fish--a fact I find to be rather amazing considering neither my husband nor myself like fish at all. So naturally, I don't cook fish. We'd never had fish for dinner--until recently. Bixente started insisting out of nowhere, "Bixente wants to eat fish Mom." Seriously, where did he get the idea you even could eat fish? Then we go to the grocery store and he sees a fillet of salmon, just raw like the one in the picture and again says "I want to eat fish!" Okay. Well, it is healthy after all, I figured I should at least give it a try. So, I bought 4 fillets. I had no idea how to cook them, so I just grilled 2 and put lemon pepper on them. He and Sebastien completely devoured the two fillets in record time. I've never had such a successful dinner, and Bixente is not a picky eater. So, our sons like fish. I guess Nat and I will just have to choke it down on occasion so they don't lose the taste for something so healthy.

A Child's Prayer

Bixente is such a sweet and funny kid. One day he asked me, "Mommy is Hallie Jo my sister?" Me: "No. She's your cousin." B: "Mommy, where's my sister? I want a sister." Me: "Oh, you do?"

B: "Ya! Please Mommy?" Well, what do you say to such cuteness? I said, "Well, baby, that's something you'll just have to ask Jesus for." He then immediately clasped his hands, closed his eyes and said "Heavenly Father . . . Another brother, another brother, another brother." Apparently he wants another sibling, but does he want a sister? Or does he want a brother? I couldn't tell for sure from that conversation. =) I'm sure some day he'll get his wish. I just thought it was a cute story.

My Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day didn't start out to be very promising. Nat had to work on Sunday for the first time ever and that had to be Mother's Day. He had to go into work at 6:00 a.m. So, I had to take the boys to church on my own and I've never seen Bixente throw such a fit. He was just very unhappy to wake up and find his Papa not home. We finally made it to church and the fits continued, but some nice people helped out and he finally calmed down and got happy. Nat arrived home within minutes of our return home from church with two dozen perfect roses! From that point on, the day was saved. He made lunch for us, everyone had a nap, then we went to this beautiful lake and did a little walk through the forest, let the kids play on the playground, and look at the turtles swimming in the lake. It turned out to be a beautiful day! I love being a mom--even if there are occasional tantrums. I love my sweetheart for making everything so nice, and I love my own Mom for making my wonderful life possible by giving me life.

Homemade Jam!

And finally, we turned one gallon of those fresh strawberries into homemade jam! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the actual making of the jam, but we had a great time. We made a party of it. Nicole showed me and another friend, Stacy, how to make it while the boys ran in and out alternating between playing and checking on the jam. And it turned out great!!! Look at those happy faces. Bixente LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the jam. Sebastien won't touch it!

Strawberry Picking

My friend Nicole and I took our boys strawberry picking! It was such fun. We took a ride on the ferry to get to the farm then we headed out with our baskets to start picking. We went early in the morning, but I still managed to get a sunburn (thankfully the boys didn't though.) It got up to 95 degrees that day! Picking strawberries with Bixente and Sebastien was a little harder than I'd imagined. For obvious reasons, the boys had never seen green strawberries before so they thought they were absolutely fascinating and I was hard pressed to keep them from completely filling our baskets with unripe berries. We did end up with 2 gallons of gorgeous, delicious, RED strawberries then Nicole treated us to homemade strawberry ice cream. It was heavenly! It was a great outing!

I LOVE Sebastien's expression in this one. Isn't he the cutest? He's such a strong little guy too carrying an entire gallon of strawberries in one hand all by himself!

Nicole and Luke picking. Luke did not wander or pick green strawberries. So, what's up with my boys?

Notice the juice dripping from Bixente's mouth and fingers. He couldn't resist trying a few strawberries rather than putting them in his basket. He just ran up and down the rows checking everything out.

Nicole kindly photographed me and the boys. There aren't very many pictures of me and them as I'm usually the photographer or the only one there with them. But this time I made it into the picture. Hooray!

Luke really, really wanted his picture taken with the tractor. And Bixente really, really wanted to climb on the tractor. But the sign they're standing in front of said "Keep off the farm equipment," but at least Luke got his picture!

Oh, So Tired!

Our little prince has been trying very hard to give up on afternoon naps. But that sometimes means I have a very, very tired boy in the evenings. I was making dinner one night when Bixente asked if he could have a bowl of strawberries and watch a movie. He'd been so good I let him watch the movie and when I came around the corner to get him for dinner this is what I found . . . a little boy completely out and not one strawberry eaten--though I'm sure from the picture you can see he had one in his hand that didn't quite make it to his mouth! I couldn't wake him up either! He was oh, so tired!!!

Smithsonian Zoo

Last month we took a quick overnight trip up to D.C. to visit my friend Tracy who was there for a convention. We met her at the Smithsonian Zoo. We figured it would be the easiest place to keep the boys entertained. It was fun, but didn't last long before it started to rain. So, we got Nat and the boys back to the hotel then Tracy and I headed downtown to see the monuments. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera to the monuments, and Tracy took some perfectly hideous pictures that I will not post! =)

The elephants were definitely the favorite attraction.