Annual Strawberry Picking

 As a summer tradition, we went to our local strawberry patch where we got to pick lots and lots of red ripe strawberries.  It is always a fun tradition for me and the kids!  This year, Kaylee was old enough to toddle around on her own a little bit, and I thought she'd love finding little red gems and popping them in her mouth, which she did!  However, the dirt was more exciting for her to sit in, dig in and every once in a while pop in a red strawberry covered in dirt into her mouth.... She was a filthy mess when we were done, but she had enjoyed every moment!  I would just plop her down in the dirt and go picking on my own while she played and dug in the dirt and leaves and found spiders and bugs with excitement!  The boys of course loved picking, and every year it seems to be a totally different experience when we go.  I always look back at last year, and remember how the boys' buckets were full of half eaten strawberries that were no longer edible by the time we got home.  This year though, they filled their buckets well, snatched a few for their bellies, but their contributions to our strawberry picking were great!!  It's fun to watch them grow up and mature and see them work hard in the fields!  What a fun day!!

 Here is our strawberry crop!  Yum yum!  A few days later we crushed them all up and made strawberry jam.  I messed up a little, so I decided to try cooking it, and I even lowered the sugar amount that it called for, which worried me, but I was trying to be healthy.  By cooking the jam and then canning it, it turned out to be the best strawberry jam I've ever made!  All my jars sealed even!  Super fun!  Now we have 6 or seven jars full of strawberry jam for us to use for the rest of the year.  Though its so yummy that it may not last that long!!