Sweet Berry Farms Field Trip

It's spring time in ATX. Naturally, this requires a visit to Sweet Berry Farms to hang with the goats, get some strawberries and not be stuck in a classroom. This little adventure was a chance for all the elementary aged Fortis Falcons to have a stellar learning experience together in a really fun place. If you don't know Sweet Berry Farms, you should really just take a little trip down to Austin to give it a visit- you'll be glad you did.

This is Farmer Jon (It's a totally cliche name, but it's true). He gave the munchkins the down low about life on the farm. This really boils down to a few simple rules: Don't let the goats eat your fingers, don't pee on the strawberries, and do run as much as you possible can.

 The first stop was to feed the goats. Noah thinks feeding animals is the greatest thing in the world. Aidan...not so much. He actually wouldn't feed the goats. But, he had a stroke of courage right before they headed off the next station. He grabbed the longest blade of grass he could find, held on the very end, stood as far away as he possibly could, and let the goat nibble on the end.

Since it's a school field trip, they have to learn something. No big deal though. The little genius's soaked up some basics on how plants grow. They got to create a little package of pumpkin seeds to to take home to plant. Aidan was super excited about it, but we left the pumpkin seeds in the van overnight and they dried up. We haven't told him yet, so don't bring it up if you see him.

Apparently, lady bugs are a big deal at the farm. This doesn't really have anything to do with lady bugs, other than it seemed necessary to take a stereotypical cute picture with the prop. It's evidence that stereotypes exist for the reason.

We did learn that lady bugs have a major role in keeping the plants at Sweet Berry Farms alive and thriving. So, the kids got to help make the world a little better place by releasing some lady bugs into the fields. They were given a lady bug and told to go turn it loose on a flower. It was a small miracle that Noah didn't put his lady bug up his nose. What did he get in return for his excellent behavior? The lady bug flew out of his hand and disappeared before he got it to a plant. The dude was crushed and has since sworn off following directions because when you follow directions your lady bug flies away.

A day at the farm isn't complete with out some time on the gun range. Here they got to take turns with a crazy contraption that mysteriously fired strawberries at a high rate of speed. They took turns letting loose with the heavy artillery to create a flag. They'll get to display the flag in their classroom as a reminder of their glorious victory.

This is the flag that resulted from the strawberry shooting chaos. It'll be proudly displayed in the classroom.

And finally, it's time to find out if the berries at Sweet Berry Farms are all they are cracked up to be. Our little ginger went bananas picking berries. She had to be drug out of the field as she continued clawing for more berries to fit in her overstuffed bucket. When we finally got her to calm down, we asked if she wanted to try the berries she picked. "No," she said, "I don't like to eat strawberries."

 Ryla has become BFF's with the little sister of one of Aidan's classmates. Once the girls got together, they wouldn't let any adults come near. This was a paparazzi style shot taken when the least expected it.

Spring Break 2015

Spring Break means a whirlwind trip to the great state of Kansas.  It's a good thing Nana and Papa are awesome, because I-35 is the worst. We were pretty bummed to miss out on time with Benjamin, Harrison, and Lauren (sick kids are never a good thing), but we were able to see a lot of Travis and his family!  

It's hard to tell from her smile, but Nana was pretty excited to have the munchkins invade her once peaceful home. She did have to go to work some, but it gave me a chance to hear the kids ask 1,000 times a day when she was going to be home

We always knew that Papa had some mad carpentry skills. It turns out he's also a chess guru. He tried to share some of his wisdom with Aidan- we'll see if it sticks.  That coupled with evening wagon rides to the pond and Papa taking them to play hide and seek at the church building was better than Christmas morning! Oh yeah, and he let Aidan shoot his pellet gun. No big deal.

We don't get to see our older cousins very often but when we do my kids our starstruck!  We missed out on seeing Ali, but cousin Taylor came to the rescue.  Ryla used to be infatuated with Taylor Swift, but not anymore. Taylor Sears is now Ryla's new hero. Both Taylor and Matt were so patient with the kids and played with them for two days straight!

 Of course seeing Travis and Kari is always fun!  I know, he's kind of old, but he's still funny.  Wish we lived closer!  He's a great stress reliever!!!!!

We made some great memories.  It made my heart happy that age gaps didn't stop these 5 from spending time together.  Counting down till the next trip!!

Greetings Tooth Fairy!

      Aidan lost his first tooth a couple of weeks ago.  He has been talking about his friends loosing teeth all year.  He gave us an update, at least once a week, at dinner regarding who in his class had lost a tooth.  His frustration about not having a wiggly tooth got intense in February.  I even got an email from his teacher letting me know that he started asking for prayer requests to get a wiggly tooth.  

      Well, about a week after that I picked him up from school and experienced the most precious moment with him that I can remember.  As soon as he got in the car he SCREAMED "Mommy, guess what?  I have a wiggly tooth!!!"  I have never seen him so happy!!!!!!!  We instantly pulled the car over so that we could FaceTime Dad and tell him.  

     We worked on his wiggly tooth for about a week and finally he let me pull it out.  Dad was very jealous.  The tooth fairy left a dollar.  He already has his second wiggly tooth and we are receiving our hourly updates!