Berry Picking

It was a school day and it was warm and sunny with blue sky. So some friends and I, with our younger children, drove out to Westmoreland Berry Farm to pick some strawberries. This farm is almost an hour away from us and along the Rappahannock River on the way to the Chesapeake Bay - part of the Northern Neck of Virginia. (HERE are some fun facts about the farm.)

We were getting there at the peak of strawberry season and boy were we excited to go pick our own fruit. I haven't gone berry picking since I was a child myself so I thought it would be neat to get my children involved in something fun and rewarding. I would have pulled Aubrey out of school to join us but I felt she was better staying at school to take her yearly SOL tests and not get behind. BUT, her and I will be making jam together so she will not be excluded from this fun experience! :) And I have a feeling this won't be the last time we visit the farm - the harvest schedule shows that raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, peaches, apples and pumpkins will all be available to pick in the coming months.

{Andrew, my friend's son, and Jocelyn}

{Berries at the farm for sale}

{The goat walk}

{All of the kids on the wagon. I love this one of Andrew - when we said to say "cheese" he said "eeeeeese" with a HUGE smile and eyes squinted!}

{My darling helpers and I before our FIRST strawberry picking adventure together!}

{I think this was about the time she informed me she needed to use the restroom. We were obviously on the farm now without one in sight so we walked a bit down the road away from the food so she could squat and pee. I guess we can add that to our day of adventures I suppose! :)}

{Took a picture of the stages of a strawberry}

{She helped carry the basket until it was too heavy. She did great picking only the red ones!}

{Was picking berries with a sleepy and hungry little boy easy? Nope! And he was hot and sweaty which led to more whining - but he was a trooper (and cute in the berry patch) and we all had a BLAST!}

{Us strawberry picking}

{My friend Annette}

{My friend Heather and her son}

{Andrew wandering around :)}

{Here's our 8 quart basket when we were done picking. To pick your own, it was $2.20/lb - so total, it came to $23 and some odd cents. It would have been $4.75/quart if we had bought them already picked. So about $38+ Soooo glad we picked our own!}

{Don't these look SO GOOD? :) Yum!}

{Lunch time!}

{Jocelyn LOVES animals and goats are no exception. She was a little disappointed there weren't any other animals but I had to explain to her that this was NOT the zoo!}

{Swinging is an all time favorite of theirs!}

{View of the farm from the snack bar/eating area}

{Andrew's animal vocabulary is still pretty minimal. Kitty and Doggy are it! So when he saw the goats, he yelled, "kitty, kitty"!!! Not quite, buddy! hahaha}

{Group photo before leaving the farm. Left to Right: Me, Jocelyn, Heather, Heather's son, Andrew and Annette.}

{"See you next time!"}

{On our way back home, we took a quick driving tour of Colonial Beach. This area divides Maryland and Virginia.} 

*Pictures of jam making coming soon!*

May Menu #3

Monday (17) ~ chicken alfredo, texas toast, veggie
Tuesday (18) ~ grilled hamburgers, salad
Wednesday (19) ~ take-out pizza
Thursday (20) ~ stuffed shells, veggie, bread & butter
Friday (21) ~ rotisserie chicken, homemade mac n cheese, rolls, salad
Saturday (22) ~ homemade pizza
Sunday (23) ~ breakfast for dinner: french toast, eggs, bacon

Curb Appeal

Since the day we moved in, now three and a half years ago, we knew that we had many projects to tackle with our home - especially the yard! These bushes in front of our dining room window bloom pretty pink flowers every spring, but they are a major pain to maintain and they hide our window much of the time. So it was time to pay some much needed attention to our front yard. It has been a work in progress for the past few weekends, let me tell you.

John started the project by cutting the bushes out and then digging out all three stubs. Sounds easy to do, right? Those bushes were planted in the clay soil pretty well!!

Then the mulch was laid out.

And finally, we have some pretty flowers planted and mulch finally spread out all the way across.

Next, we need to kill the weeds that have taken over the grass area completely and either throw down some sod or grass seed and then edge the flower garden with rocks.

So far, I think everything has turned out really nice and looks a TON better than before! A big hand to my hubby for all of his awesome hard work! :) I hope to be able to dig in more with our backyard projects.

Speaking of which, backyard projects coming soon!

Spotsylvania Hospital Open House

Our family took advantage of taking a tour for the general public of the new local area hospital (Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center) before it opens up in June. This hospital will offer 126 private rooms, 24-Hour Emergency/ Urgent Care Services, Cardiac Care, Women's and Children's Healthcare Services, Rehabilitation, Surgical Services, Imaging Center and Orthopedic Services.

We took the 12 o'clock tour that took us through the Maternity and Emergency Departments. Our group was nicknamed the stroller tour. I'm guessing I don't need to explain why! :) We were able to view a patient room that will be for both delivery and postpartum care (I had this kind of room back in Oregon when I had Jocelyn and I loved it...it was so nice!). This spacious room also has a bassinet that stays in the room unless there are complications - and the pediatrician's will come in to see the baby and talk to the patient directly. This hospital tour talked a lot about "doctors spending more time with their patients with higher technology playing a part in lowering the amount of time away from patient care." Next, we saw the nursery - where it will hold up to 10 babies. It also has a NICU down the hall. So all Women's Services are right there on that same floor.

During the tour, I ran into a nurse that I recognized - she was standing outside of the nursery doors while our guide spoke. I talked to her briefly while we continued on our tour and told her I remembered her taking care of Andrew and I when he was born at the other hospital almost 17 months ago. She too said she knew we looked familiar! Apparently, a bunch of staff from the other local hospital has transferred to this one. Better management is a huge part in why that's happening. I haven't had great experiences with 2 of my 3 children's birth at the other hospital, or the ER department for that matter. So I'm really excited for this new and closer-to-home hospital!

Some other things that were mentioned and displayed along the tour were:

*the big and spacious trauma rooms. John noted how huge they were. And I then added, "And let's hope this is the first AND last time we see one of those rooms too!"

*they have a helo pad at this hospital for emergencies.

*their goal is to have patients triaged within 10 minutes of arrival and see a doctor within 30 minutes of arrival.

{The front of Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center}

{Waiting for our tour of the hospital to start}

{John was really interested in these glass panels}

{A view from the other side of the hospital}

After our tour had ended, we walked out the Emergency area and enjoyed a free lunch with at least a thousand other community members that the hospital so generously hosted. They had chicken burgers, veggie burgers, hamburgers and hot dogs along with pasta salad, chips and fresh fruit.

They had local radio stations come out and play music. When we were there, B101.5 was playing and their bee mascot was there to entertain!

It even played peek-a-boo with Andrew, he started to cry. Something about these large costumes scare him. The soccer bird, the red robin bird and now the radio station bee. :)

They also had face paintings (we didn't do this due to the extremely LONG line of people waiting on ONE person to paint faces). They were cute though!

And they had representatives handing out children goodie bags with their logo on fun things like coloring books, crayons and a frisbee. The adult goodie bags were filled with a heart shaped stress ball, band aids, car coasters and their general service information sheet.

{Aubrey in line with us to turn in our raffle information in case we won one of the prizes.}

As we were leaving the event, we stopped at a firetruck that was on display. Jocelyn and Andrew got giddy with excitement and Jocelyn pretty much begged to get down from the stroller to take a look at everything. There were firemen standing outside of the truck to answer questions or let people look inside and it was then that Jocelyn wanted a turn at the wheel. I was shocked she wanted to even get inside the truck. Just a few months ago, there was a local firetruck that was parked out front of the library. They asked her if she wanted to get in and take a look around and she quickly said no. But for some reason, this was her day to try out something new!

While this was going on, I asked Aubrey if she wanted to try on the fireman's hat. She blushed and said, "No way Mom!" I tried convincing her - as the opportunity wouldn't likely come again, but she firmly stuck to her answer so I just shrugged it off and let it go. Would have been fun to get a picture of her wearing the hat though.

But this one will have to do! :)

I'm glad our family took this time to visit the new hospital and get involved in all of the fun.

And as most outings go, we had a blast!

Wall Art

As one of my family's new years traditions, I started making silhouettes. I took everyone's picture back in January, started assembling them in April (along with tracing the picture onto nice thick black card stock, cutting them out and then used spray adhesive to place them onto decorative paper...and last but not least, framing them!)

And then in May, I finally got around to hanging them!

I took my wall art to my trusty and handy husband to help me get them hung straight, and because well - I needed a taller person to get them up that high! :)

Andrew decided he'd give it a try...

but that wasn't working out so well with him on the ladder so he stayed to the side with his mommy!

And here is the finished look! (sorry for the glare from the window)

I LOVE how our family's silhouettes turned out and are now displayed on our wall. Now we just need to get a nice fresh coat of some paint splashed up there to add some color to the room and it will look complete. (Trust me, it's on the list of things to do! And hopefully I can get that done in the near future.)

I can't wait to make these every year so I can see the changes in my children as they grow - and have some pretty art on the wall too. :)