Strawberries!

Earlier this month, we went as a family to Thompson Farms out in Damascus and took advantage of their first offering of u-pick strawberries. The kids did great and it took us only about an hour to pick the berries - we also ended up buying a flat of what they call "jam berries", which are slightly marred and cheaper and meant for making jam.

Here are Colin and Samuel with our loot:Later that night (after freezing berries and canning jam), I made shortcake (which Colin said was the best he ever ate!!). I love this picture of his grandma enjoying a piece:
Ok, Jude picked some, but ate a lot as well:

Sissy didn't pick any and just ate them the whole time.

She stole from our buckets to fill up her own:
Even though this picture is out of focus, I love that the kids hands all looked like this:

Sissy loved strawberry shortcake time. She had to don her tutu for the occasion =).
When Jude asked her for a bite of her shortcake, this is what she did (and I love her red chipped nail polish that Samuel painted on her):
Pretty!
50 lbs of berries - makes me tired just looking at them. I stemmed every single one.