Summer Activity: Blueberry Picking

I've had to show major restraint on Instagram lately because I want to post all the pictures of my daughter. This has been such a fun age (for the most part), and I want to capture it in its entirety and soak up every moment of it.

This week while I was on Facebook, I saw a friend liked one of our favorite local spots, Thunderbird Berry Farm. So, being the shameless individual that I am, I texted her and asked her to invite us when she and her kids decided to go since AG and I hadn't been this year.

Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long...


Ripe for the pickin'

Stopping for a sample

So proud of her bounty

Look how cute they are! So what if AG picked some greenberries and pinkberries, too? She had lots of fun with good friends. (And the greenberries reminded me of crabapples I used to eat straight from the tree when I was kid!) 

Like any outdoor activity, if you're going berry picking this summer, make sure to bring plenty of water (I failed at this) and slather on the sunscreen. 

If we can find a berry farm within driving distance of Tulsa, Oklahoma, I'm sure there's one close to you, too!

What are your favorite out-of-the-box activities for summer?

Celebrating the Get-Up-And-Go

I just celebrated a three day weekend with the kiddos. This is a wonderful break from the get-up-and-go that seems to invade every moment of my week. Get up and go to work, get up and go home, get up and go to the softball game, get up and go do laundry, get up and go and to church, get up and go write, get up and .... sorry ... I almost got carried away there.

It was a pleasant weekend, this July 4th, to watch my son hold and swirl his first sparkler. Daddy gave it to him. Mommy imagined all sorts of horrific things happening. Like it exploding and my son ending up in the burn unit. Not sure how a sparkler would explode, but yeah, there goes my writer's imagination. Instead, he waved it with a starry-eyed gaze on his face, no smile, and a well spoken "oh." when it burned out. That's my boy.

Of course he had to wear his raincoat to ward of mosquitoes and gnats. And then wild leaping launch into my lap when Daddy set off the screaming firework bomb made it all worth it.

My arms were full this Fourth of July. Full of celebrating the get-up-and-go hug my family moments. The get up and go love on my kids.

Have gotten up and went lately? To the important things in life?

Happy Birthday, America!

Happy Independence Day from the mamas at Naptime Novelists!
(PS: Does it get any more American than this picture?)

Hope your day is filled with laughter, the smell of barbecue, fireworks, 

and something that tastes half as good as this pie I made a few years ago. 

Have fun + be safe!

Confessions: Wuthering Heights

My laundry piles have reached new heights. The Wuthering sort that leave you morbid and blah for the next week. Piles of clean that don't get out away that get mixed with piles of dirty and suddenly I've doubled my laundry.

My secret: Mom's coming back!

My confession: I'm 37 and my mom still does my laundry

Yes. It's true. Just cause I work full time I've yet to enjoy the luxury of a maid. Yep. That'll never happen. So the chores are there when I leave for work and there when I come home. Except on Mondays. 

My mom watches the kids on Mondays. She calls it "Nanny time". I called "God inspired".

She's been in the process of a move with my dad from their home of thirty years to a new place of respite. So I've been without my Monday missionary for SIX WEEKS. It got so bad with the laundry that my husband went to walmart to buy new underwear. Yes he knows how to do laundry but he works too. So he gets a pass. 

But this week? She returns. En force. To do my laundry and dump all the clean clothes in piles on my bed. It's usually half sorted when I get home. 

Hi. My name is Jaime. My mom folds my underwear. Deal with it. ;)

More true confessions to come ...  There's no shame for those of us who have doting moms. Zero. Shame.