mama llama loves blueberry pie

Since we had the day off yesterday, I wanted to do something fun.   We ended up going berry picking at Larriland Farm.  It was certainly hot out there, but holy moly, was it worth it.  The blueberries were AMAZING.  Huge, blue berries ripe for picking (and a lot of eating!).   They just rolled right off the branches.  I can definitely see why strawberries and raspberries cost more at the store - they're a lot more work to get (and a lot more delicate).   We ended up with half a pint of red & purple raspberries that we kept for eating the rest of the week, and a pint of blueberries that we used to bake a pie.

The above picture shows our berry loot at checkout.  That whole thing cost us $4!!!  That's a STEAL! Larriland is a real farm, and they have some very friendly (and hungry) goats & llamas who like to eat corn husks.  Emma kept calling them "mama llamas".   :) 

The above picture was Em's idea - she wanted to pose like a "Grand Ole Flag".   :)   In addition to berries, we bought cantelope, fresh, unpasteurized honey, juicy zucchinis and peaches, and we also picked our own wildflowers and fresh basil which we used to make fresh pesto for dinner. 

After cooling off at the pool in the afternoon, we used our fresh blueberries to bake a 4th of July pie.  The design was all her idea. We had some homemade ice cream in the freezer to go with it.  It was SOOOO good!!

tea for two

We have a lot of tea parties around here.  This time, it was in honor of Emma's very first introduction to the world of American Girl.

For her birthday, Gammie took her to the American Girl cafe in McLean, where she was treated like royalty. They had a very special date, and she ate up every minute of the experience.  She came home beaming with pride as a new mommy to the one and only Marie Grace.

She also came home with the remnants of her very own American Girl birthday cake, which played centerpiece during our tea party.  It was chilly outside, but it didn't stop us from clanking our silverware and reading Pinkalicious.  Marie Grace, you have found the right home!

Pinky's up!

fashion friday fail

so I had this brilliant post planned for my photo blog, where I was going to showcase outfit ideas for the photographer (since there are so many directed at the client).  I have been so inspired lately by the lovely Natalie and her blog, where she mixes the latest styles based on what's in her closet.  She has perfected the 'outfit pose' and I had visions that I would look just as cute, but alas, I have work to do.  I am putting together some great fall outfits thanks to these blogs and Pinterest.  Who know, I might even do a 30-for-30 remix.  Baby steps, folks, baby steps.  :)

Anyway, I thought about dragging out the tripod and the remote but then my little assistant wanted to help me and asked if she could take pictures.  "I want to be the tophograther!"  :)

I let her use my old camera and we got to work.  Needless to say, she owned it like a diva.  Telling me to pose, telling Parker to pose, and even taking pictures of random people around the lake.  I have about a hundred images of blur, but it was a fun exercise and she got really into it.  Who knows, there might be a new sherriff in town!

Even though I didn't get anything I can use for my blog, I did get a huge chuckle when I downloaded them onto my computer.  It's a little peek into a 4 year old's mind:

TGIF!  Stay warm this weekend!
XOX
Erika
PS - Oh, and in the true spirit of fashion remixes, here are the outfit details:  b&w striped t-shirt - H&M; green jacket - Target; white scarf - LLBean; blue skinny jeans - GAP; boots - Clark; sunglasses - Coach; earrings - no idea! :)

mushrooms

None of these pictures are technically perfect, in fact, few of them are even in focus. But I just couldn't delete them. The blur of her twirling and that big, gappy, buck-toothed grin complete the mental picture I had of her on this walk. It's parenting snapshot I want to remember forever - right down the blue piggy paint toenail polish. And then there's the flip flops 3 sizes too big that we HAD to buy last summer when she fell in love with them, and they were the only size left. And then there's the Dora bandaid she put on her right knee, "just in case I fall down". And the pink flower headband she slept in for 2 nights after our neighbor brought it back from their vacation in a pink bag, just for Emma.

Anyway, today's glee was provided by Opa. She had just come home from a Build-a-Bear and lunch date with him, and she had the! best! time! She named her bear, "Flower Daisy" and customized her from head to toe, including bows on every appendage. She was so proud, so excited, and wanted to show Miss Daisy off to the world.

We had a nice long walk that day. We stopped to look at just about everything. The sunlight was shining down over the lake like cream that afternoon, and it hit me how dark her freckles are getting, how long her ponytail is, how she still has those chubby baby cheeks and all the while, how grown up she is (and how much 3 year olds have a penchant for sticking out their tongues!)


This post has nothing to do with mushrooms, but we spotted some on our walk. Aren't they amazing? Don't you just want to crawl under one during a rain storm? I thought so.

Back to that sassy little girl, this pretty much sums her up:

easy like Sunday morning

Just my favorite little, doing her favorite activity, in her favorite spot.

word to your mom.

daffodils and a cane pole

I felt a little bit like a country song yesterday. Daddy's gone fishin', baby's pickin' flowers. You get the idea. It was just too nice out, and since we've been feeling cooped up this winter, we decided to break in Emma's fishing pole. A Barbie fishing pole. That she LOVES. She is so enthusiastic about everything, it's just so darn cute. She was thrilled to go fishing with her dad, so I offered to take pictures.

It must have been our lucky day, because Roger caught not one, but two fish. (cue the Dr. Seuss rhyme). Emma had a great start - casting and reeling, and even calling for the fish to come. But as all three-and-a-half-year-olds do, she lost interest, and found greater pleasure in the daffodils. The best part for me was breathing the warm fresh air, hearing the woodpeckers and seeing my family together, enjoying the outdoors.