Mother's Day Event

We went strawberry picking for the first time on Saturday. What a delicious experience to drive up to the farm, see all the dots of red all over the field and come home with almost 4 pounds of ripe strawberries! But, what's a girl to do with 4 lbs. of strawberries? I decided that we should attempt to make strawberry preserves to enjoy all year long. Here's how the process went down yesterday:

{Beautiful, ripe, red strawberries that melt in your mouth!}

{Kids enjoying the family jam making experience}

{Henry mashes the berries while Bradley carefully measures them}

{Who says you can't taste a few or a LOT of them at the same time!}

{So, the kids have had enough of this by now. Plus, cruel mom and dad won't let them near the boiling pot of red goodness. But, John hangs in to make sure we do this by the book so we don't die from botulism.}

{After 2 hours, the yummy, red goodness is finally ready for the jars!}

{Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!}

We had the preserves for breakfast this morning, and they are rich in color and taste. The kids loved eating them (of course) but I hope will grasp the fact that they went from strawberry patch to jelly jars and watched the whole process.

Bump alert: Did you notice anything in picture #6? Yep, that's right. We're adding #3 to the mix in early November! We're very excited, grateful and a bit terrified at the thought of being outnumbered! SURPRISE!