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I’m trying to fix the picture feature of our blog, so I needed a picture to test.  Here is one of my favorites from the last few weeks.  This is Savannah in a swing at Jameson Park, our new favorite hangout:

For Madeline, anyway!  Madeline decided that she wanted to be like Piggy and Ducky in No More Diapers for Ducky! by Bernette Ford.  It’s been a week now, and with very few accidents, Madeline is a potty-training champ!  Potty training was so much easier the second time around.  Was it a breeze because Madeline was a different child than Kayla?  Or perhaps could it be that the mommy had changed?  I suspect it was largely due to the latter.    

I hope to live a paperless life by Christmas.  I’m a highly organized person by nature, but when it comes to paperwork, I’m hopeless!  With a high-quality scanner, I could convert my paper pile to an efficient electronic organization system and have fewer headaches—and waste less time searching for things.  

My driver license expired today, and needless to say, I didn’t get around to renewing by mail.  But instead of taking three kids to wait in line all day at the Secretary of State, Aaron came home on his lunch break so that I could go alone.  With a good book in hand, I’m certain I enjoyed my wait much more than the other 25 people in line.  Actually, it was kind of a refreshing trip.  It’s funny how having kids changes your perspective on nearly everything.  

It’s always been interesting to me to look at kids’ fears and to try to figure out their origination.  One of Madeline’s fears, however, has perplexed me.  For some reason, Madeline is afraid of strange hair styles.  She lost it today at church when she saw a guy with dreadlocks.  Good thing she didn’t see the international student who has a mohawk!  

As a mom, there are certain words you never want to hear.  Such as, “Mommy, I have a rock stuck in my nose!”  Luckily the “surgery” only involved a flashlight and a pair of tweezers.  It could have been worse!  Silly Madeline!  

Remember the quote about stopping to show your child a rainbow because a rainbow may not stick around for long?  Thursday evening’s weather produced the perfect ingredients for a rainbow.  As we drove to Meijer, the rain poured down while the sun was shining.  We were watching.  We were ready.  And then, there it was.  ”Kayla, look!” we called.  ”Madeline, do you see it?”  Unfortunately, from the back of the van, they just couldn’t get a good view.  As soon as we could, we pulled into a parking lot.  But within moments, the rainbow vanished.  So the wait continues.  One day we’ll get to show our girls a beautiful rainbow, but to this day, they still haven’t seen one.  

This year we started a new family tradition:  we went blueberry picking!  We visited Rhynard’s Blueberry Farm, just a short drive from Mt. Pleasant, and spent the morning filling pails with our favorite antioxidant-packed fruit.  The girls were great helpers, and surprisingly, they didn’t eat a single berry until we had paid for them and washed them in our kitchen sink.  Together our family picked 7 1/4 pounds—not counting the ones my mom picked.  Here a shot of the girls all geared up for picking:

An action shot of Kayla:

With all the blueberries, we enjoyed a variety of delicious foods.  Besides blueberries on cereal and blueberries with cream and sugar, we also made five batches of blueberry pancakes, blueberry popsicles and Bert’s Best Blueberry Bars (from Kayla’s Sesame Street cookbook).  The bars were outstanding!

And because 7 1/4 pounds of berries just wasn’t enough, Aaron and I went back the following Saturday to pick another 5 3/4 pounds.  The berries we couldn’t eat fresh are stored in the freezer to enjoy this winter.  We discovered a hand-picked berry is so much more fun to eat than the ones from the store—and at $1.40/lb., how can you beat that?