What do you do in the summertime?

One morning a friend emailed me about strawberry season, and her favorite patches to pick strawberries. I'm so glad she did because I would have missed the two week window here for good strawberry pickin'. I decided to bravely take all three chitlins to the patch and try to have a little summer fun. The whole time I was picking/keeping kids in line, I was laughing to myself about this blogpost I read a while back. http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2010/03/14/132-picking-their-own-fruit/

I forgot my camera so all I got was a cute shot of Sadie enjoying the fruits of her labor. At one point my kids were a little unruly and an employee politely reminded me that for the safety of the fruit, children must remain within an arms reach of you at all times. We didn't last too much longer after our little reminder. Have you ever tried to keep 3 children at arms length while on your hands and knees digging through patches of strawberries? It's pretty much impossible.

Despite our wild strawberry picking antics, we were able to bring home quite a bundle of strawberries to make 5 batches of freezer jam. Yum!

PS- a little shout out to Certo pectin. It turns out that everyone had the same plan I did, so my favorite pectin was all sold out. I had to use this out of necessity, and I'm so happy I did!! No stove top is needed for this type of pectin. All you do is mix the ingredients for a few minutes and let it sit overnight. No more sitting by the stove stirring and stirring and getting overheated! Love, Love, Love it!

Jackson's acting debut

Last year Nana took Jackson to Seussical the Musical. He was instantly smitten. He came home dreaming of being on stage and becoming famous. When this years Maple Grove summer activity book came out and I saw they offered a Seussical Jr. performance camp, I knew Jackson had to take part in the fun. Jackson worked hard as he practiced 3 hours a day for 2 weeks to become the best Wickersham Brother this side of the Mississippi. The day of the musical finally came, and Jackson was a ball of nerves. Luckily, he didn't forget any of his lines and did great! I was happy to find out the first day of practice that a friend had signed up as well and so we had someone to carpool with. This is Joy and Jackson after the performance.

I didn't bring my camcorder, but managed to get a clip of our little monkey on my camera. Try to contain yourself as you watch this bad boy on the stage. Please hold your applause until the end.

1/2 the run, just as fun. Or so they say....

I did it! Saturday I ran the 1/2 Marathon I've been training for!! If I wasn't so sore, I would be doing back flips right about now.

Friday afternoon Maile and I drove up to Duluth to pick up our racing packets and do some carb loading. We were happy to meet up with Carey, Jacey and Camie who were also there for all the running fun. (Carey and Jacey were double the fun - 26.2 miles of fun to be exact) We had all signed up for the spaghetti dinner so we got to get our grub on together.

Maile and I drove up sans family, so we pretended that our girlfriends families came to cheer us on!

I won't bore you with the AWFUL details of our lodging experience, but lets just say Maile and I got a less than stellar night of sleep. This is us all bright eyed and bushy tailed just before dropping off our sweat bags.

We had to park and catch a bus to the start line. The drive seemed like it went on and on and left Maile and I super nervous. As we arrived and I saw the sea of people I was pretty overwhelmed. We were lucky enough to again run into Camie who was also with her friend Catherine.

After waiting for almost an hour, the race began and there was no turning back! It took almost 2 minutes to cross the start line and a couple miles before the massive amounts of runners started to break up enough to get a good pace going.

Catherine ended up running with us because she had about the same goal time as both Maile and myself. This proved to be so helpful because she kept us on pace with her wonderful garmin watch.

The weather was ideal. It was in the 60's, overcast and the last couple miles there was a light mist....loved it!

It's all kind of a blur, but somewhere in the middle we lost Maile. Catherine and I stayed together until about mile 11. Once we got into the city, I got this major rush of adrenaline and picked up my pace quite a bit. The crowds in the city cheering everyone on gave me just the boost I needed to finish strong.

My official finishing time was 2 hours, 5 minutes on the button, which is about a 9:30 a mile pace. I had two goals going into the race: #1-finish without walking and #2 try to get a 2:10 finish. I was happy to meet goal #1, and beat goal #2!

Here's Maile, Camie and I postrace. We look a little beat up, but estatic to be finished!

Also, congrats to Jacey and Carey for being rockstars.....they ran the full marathon and killed it.

Love you Pops

Where do I begin? My Dad is awesome. He is a character. His laugh is contagious. He has too many "fishing" stories to remember. He is the original "claw." He can nap anywhere. He likes a good joke. He irons.

In our family, he is known for his one liners. Here's a few just off the top of my head:

1. I can't get this mattress off my back

2. It's better than poke in the ear with a sharp stick

3. It's a secret recipe

4. You don't want to make your mother mad at me do you?

5. Back when I was young and danced the Gator.

6. QUIET!!!!

One of my favorite memories of my Pops to this day is from back in grade school. We were taking one of our many weekend trips to Nogales Mexico. I was lucky enough to get to bring my friend Adrianne along. While traveling we were listening to Beck's I'm a Loser Baby song for the first time. One of the lyrics says "get crazy with the cheese whiz." Adrianne and I thought it to be pretty funny and repeated Ha Ha Ha Get crazy with the cheese whiz! My Dad quickly turned around and said in his I am highly annoyed voice "NOT IN MY CAR!!" Adrianne and I laugh about that till this day.

Happy Father's Day Dad. Thanks for being so rad.

I can't wait - a public plea

Dearest Darci,

Thank you a ton for taking Sadie's one year pics last week. You are just

too talented

for words! I know I agreed to be patient as you have many photo

sessions ahead of Sadie's to edit, but I have since changed

my mind. It was so thoughtful of you to send over a

few

sneak peaks,

but the problem is, it left me pining for more! Patience is no longer an option for me. They are so beautiful, that

I just can't wait to see the final prints. I can't wait I tell you!!

With all my love,

Jamie Lynn

If I were to Change the World

By: Jackson Parrish

I'd cancel:

1. Math

2.school

3.flu

4. tics

There would be

1.Robots

2.More popcorn shrimp

3.More buttered popcorn

You wouldn't have:

1. chicken patties

2. bad guys

3. snow

4. to do your homework

If I were in charge:

1. A piece of candy would be fruit

2. All PG13 movies would be G

3. A person who sometimes forgets to brush and flush.......

Would still be allowed to be in charge of the world.

Ode to Sadie

Here's a few little didies I made the other day. Little by little I'm turning my house into a shrine of Sadie. I can't help it, she's just too cute!

If you don't already know by now I am a big time copycat. I like to say I get "inspiration" from others to make me feel better, but really I'm just copying. This time was no exception. I saw some frames that my friend Kimberly made and was dying to make my own.

It's fairly easy, not time consuming, and doesn't require a sewing machine. (my 3 requirements when crafting) You simply modge podge paper over a frame, distress it a little, add an embellishment or two and voila you have a cutesy frame!

I had some leftover paper and decided to cover these paperclips to tie the room together a bit. I think they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.

Summer Preview

Us Midwestern Folk know that when sunny weather rolls around, you have to soak up every last second of it before it's gone. That's why we were extremely excited to finally get some proper deck furniture so we could clock in some extra outside time. We ate our first meal on it Sunday afternoon and it was heavenly. It consisted of cheese pizza straight from the grill, watermelon, limonatta, and topped it off with my favorite Minute-Maid Popsicles! Summer break officially starts this Saturday and I can't wait for more lunches out on the deck!

The monthly curse

After I had the pleasure of scooting my boys off to school I decided to take a little jog around the block to test out my knee. (I've been having knee problems for the last week and a 1/2...which is not good considering the fact that I'm suppose to be running a 1/2 marathon in a couple weeks!) As I was lacing up the old running shoes, Sadie discovered something that has been stashed away in the bathroom cupboard for quite some time thanks to being prego and nursing: Pads. They intrigued her. They were soft, smelled fresh, and made a squishy sound. There was no way on Earth she was going to let these amazing new toys out of her sight. So I was forced to run with her in the jogging stroller as she gripped two amazingly big pads ever so tightly. She must be wise beyond her years and understands that after you stop nursing, you should always have one on hand because you never know when Aunt Martha will pay a visit. Luck was on my side because my knee held up, I didn't see anyone I know, and I didn't have to use one of Sadie's new found toys today!

winner winner cupcake dinner

Moments like these must be captured. Now when anyone asks the first time she experienced nirvana she will have this to refer to. This girl is a quick one and it didn't take long for her to discover pure joy in the form of a cupcake.

Sadie opting for the two handed approach.

I bet she could use a cold glass of milk right about now.

Raise your hands if you love cupcakes!

Looks like she's officially mine.....she loves her chocolate as much as I do.