Strawberries!

I bought a container of strawberries today.  I actually found one where all the berries actually looked good (none were fuzzy or squishy looking) and smelled good.  Last time I bought strawberries I didn't get to them soon enough and they'd spoiled by the time I pulled them out of the fridge, so I cut them up as an afternoon snack after Patrick woke up.

Erin loves strawberries and immediately dug right in.

But Patrick wasn't too sure.  First he had to smell it for a second, then licked it a couple times (on the uncut side...lol), and then gnawed a little.

But once he got a taste of the flavor the whole thing went in.

Then Erin wanted me to take a picture of Bunny.  And then had to let Bunny try a strawberry.

Soon they'd emptied my bowl so I had to cut up the rest of the carton.  Too bad Matt didn't get any, they were yummy.  But I only got a couple myself.

Coloring

Patrick keeps surprising me with more grown-up things.  I don't know why it's so much harder for me that he's growing up so fast than it was with Erin.  Probably because when Erin was this age I was already 5 months pregnant with Patrick.

He's recently started actually coloring, rather than just eating the crayons.

Erin loves her computer game.  Here's she's coloring the whole screen black, and telling me about how good a job she's doing.

I love these giggles!

friend and rainbows

Thursday night, Aubrey and her family spent the night on their way home from a 3 week vacation.  It was a short visit, but it was very good to see them.  I didn't get many pictures though!

That afternoon it rained, and we got the most spectacular rainbow.  Erin was super excited about it.

Good thing Erin has two strollers...

...because when she plays with one, Patrick can play with the other.  ((Or actually, when Patrick plays with one, I can convince her to play with the other ))

And here's one from yesterday morning.  They were watching a bunny down on the grass.  Erin was SO excited!

When it's hot...

...you go play in water.  So that's what we did today.  I admit, I took a 2 hour nap this afternoon while Patrick was napping, because it wore me out too!

Patrick loved being in the spray and got good and wet.

Erin just ran around in circles.  She doesn't really like water spraying on her.

Erin was starting to get overheated so we moved to the lay river part so she could wade in the water.  And I waded, too, leaving my camera in the dry area, so I didn't get any pictures of that, sorry!

Always getting bigger

I decided I was tired of Patrick's big, stained, falling-apart high chair, so I got him a big-boy booster seat.  He actually loves it.  I think he likes not being separated from the rest of the family like he was, and it's a little bit easier for him to get down on his own too.

He looks so grown up.  It almost makes me want to cry.

Dinner at the park

We were invited to a barbeque in the park on Monday evening, and the kids loved playing!

Park Playdate

My ward's weekly park playdates have resumed, and it was so great to get out of the apartment!

Musings on freedom

I've been thinking about freedom a lot lately (wonder why?) and what it truly is and means to me.  I've spoken to many, many people lately who seem to think that "freedom" means "able to do whatever I want without consequences."  It's really frustrating, speaking to these people online, trying to get them to realize that that idea is truly and wholly false.

Freedom isn't free.  And I'm not referencing wars and lives lost in that statement, although I am so grateful to every person past and present who has fought, and in many cases died, to preserve the freedoms of our country and our safety.  What I'm meaning here, is the personal price we pay ourselves.

Freedom is the ability to act in one's own best interest.  The personal price for this ability is responsibility.  Responsibility to accept the consequences our actions produce, responsibility to work for our own needs, responsibility to give up those things we want when it would bring harm to someone else.  The only way we can truly not be inhibited when we chose to live out our lives is to control our lives, to not act on every impulse and/or desire.  To control our reactions (emotional and otherwise) when someone else's agency to act interferes with our plans and/or hurts us.

True freedom is the ability to act and not be acted upon.

So that's what I'm working toward.  I admit I do a fair share of reacting rather than acting. I allow circumstances to dictate in many occasions rather than stepping up and taking control of myself and my life.  But I'm working on it.  I hope that one day, I can truly be free.

the power of Sesame Street

And Patrick has turned into Linus