Small town fun!

 Today was the last day of VBS at the church right in the middle of our little town. Well, they sure know how to end a VBS! First because they achieved the goal of having 50 kids show up, they got to watch one of the leaders get his hair shaved off, then another leader allowed a kid form each class to throw a pie in her face all this was going on while they served up ice cream with blueberries and whip cream. However.....the ending was the best, the small town fire department drove 2 of their trucks up, parked at one end of the road and hosed the kids down for almost an hour as they ran around like crazy screaming in delight! My kids have never got to do this so they had no idea what to expect but they sure acted like they'd been doing it for years. It was so much fun to watch my kids enjoy this to the fullest of their hearts. They were shivering when done and tired, but wouldn't have traded it for anything else!

 In this pis above from left to right you can see Colby, Autumn, and Dakotah.

In this pic, my little Madi bug going silly!

Strawberries!

We planted strawberries this year but not enough to accomplish what I want to which is a nice supply of jam. I took my kids with me on Monday to a local farm to pick berries. I had never done this so I had no idea what to expect. We arrived an hour after they opened and it was already very busy. The farmers daughter handed us our flats and guided us out to our 2 rows for picking. After she left my kids and I went to town on picking every red berry that we could find and when all was said and done we left with 21lbs. of berries. They smelled so sweet and yummy!

 Colby was so diligent in his picking that he managed to find himself a heart shaped berry.

 We didn't manage to make it through our entire 2 rows but about 3/4 the way. Our boxes ran out of room! :)

 When we got home with our bounty, we started in on one flat, cutting, washing and slicing. It was a lot of berries and would have taken me forever to accomplish so I was quite happy that I could trust Colby now with a knife and he helped me cut them all up, both flats.

 Our second flat was cut, washed and then put in freezer bags for more jamming at a later date.

 Colby continued to help me as did the other children, but Colby stayed with me through the entire process. He helped mash after Madi was done with it, he helped me ladle it all into jars and he helped get the lids and rings out of the water.

 I love the color when it all starts to boil, such a deep red!

 The fruits of our labor, 9 pints of strawberry jam and one very happy husband which leaves me very happy and content. :) I also enjoyed how my son worked right along side me through the whole thing and how he felt some accomplishment as well. Such a good boy and a sweet time!