Berrypatch Farms 2012

Picking berries with some of our favorite people at Berrypatch farms this July!

Fun and crazy week

Monday – walk with a friend from church, Christy, followed by a cut-throat game of Candyland.

Tuesday – trip to Vitamin Cottage and the library.

Wednesday – worm presentation at Evergreen Nature Center.

Thursday – Lindsey and Amanda came over and hung out with the boys from 9:30 to 11:30. Then we went on a spur of the moment trip to the library in the afternoon to find some new books and make a rain stick at the craft table.

Friday – playdate with Carm and Sam and a mom-only trip down the hill with Robin to find some affordable healthier snacks for Awana and our church Sunday school classes.

Here are some cute pictures from the week:

The fridge magnets are a favorite.

Here is Tate’s rain maker….he colored the lizard, we put a piece of crumpled tinfoil on inside to slow down the rice and then secured everything inside with a rubber band on each side.

Chase is testing the waters with a spoon with fried banana with yogurt – as you can see, the spoon was abandoned. He has a messy, but fun time of it.

Lots of time has been spent in the sandbox! Chase likes to venture out and around the box too, it is great to watch him pick up sticks and just enjoy being out of doors.

Next week our little baby turns 18 months, my Mom and Jerry arrive and Tate goes to Breckenridge to spend a night away with just Grandma and Papa! More updates later.

Summer fun

Tate loves to push Chase around, in anything. Speed is the object of the game. So we have these toy bins with wheels. I knew they weren’t made for “car rides” but, of course, boys will be boys. It was cute while it lasted (for about 10 minutes), then the wheels just broke right off. I would have to say, it was worth it! Look at how much fun Chase is having!

After this little car race around the deck, Tyler turned to me and said, “me doing things like this to my brother is what made him a cop….the need for speed!”

We are also scheduling some learning time into most every day. Chase started blanket time a few weeks ago. I set out a blanket, give him some toys and put on the timer. He is up to 6 minutes. Tate really liked blanket time when he was a little guy, just like Chase. It helped him learn to focus on just a few toys, figure out that things have an end (timer) and to stay where mommy says to stay.

Once I took Tate to the dentist and put him on blanket time while I had a cleaning and everyone was so impressed! They still mention it every once in awhile when I go in. It really centered Tate during the day and gave him a little chill out time. So now it is Chase’s turn to learn and he sure is catching on fast! Usually I have him do it near me in the kitchen while I am cleaning or cooking. He often wants to stay on longer after the timer goes off. Here I caught him signing doggy (Gizmo was coming up beside him).

Chase is big enough now that he rumbles with Daddy and Tate on the floor. Here is their “double airplane,” they all just giggle and giggle.

VBS Week

This past week was a blur at VBS – Vacation Bible School. Each morning for about 3 hours Tate played and learned Bible lessons and scripture through skits, games, songs and crafts. The volunteers for VBS are so gracious to give of themselves, it is a crazy week with tons of kids and over-the-top activity (I know, I worked the 2s room once….emphasis on once). Today was the last day, so they had an assembly where the parents came to watch them sing and dance. Tate even had his face painted like a zebra (the theme of the week was Safari), he was so excited!

It is thrilling to watch Tate grow and mature! Last year he really couldn’t tell me much about what he learned or what he did, but this year he rattled off tons of details and wanted to listen to the songs on the fun VBS CD over and over. My cutie, sweet big boy! Great week! I am a fan of VBS. Now I am looking forward to Tate starting AWANA next fall. He is ready. How did my little guy get to be so big so fast!?

Train Museum

Friday we met Julia and the boys at the Train Museum in Golden. They had a blast! There wasn’t much they couldn’t do or touch. It was so nice not to have to corral them or keep them off of things that were off-limits.