Happy Thursday...I'm Strawberry Picking At 20 Weeks...Two Days Along

Happy Thursday friends! How are you? I'm officially 20 weeks and 2 days along. I'm feeling great.

Yesterday was the day I decided to hit the strawberry fields and bring home some fresh strawberries. I brought our 15 year-old Darling Rose along for the adventure. When we arrived, we discovered that the owners of the strawberry patch (patch is an understatement for the huge strawberry fields they have), was giving away free kittens.

If you know me, you will know that I absolutely love little kitties. Unfortunately, we don't take any home. No pets at this house. Five kids is enough responsibility.

But they had three kitties available.

If I had a choice, this little gal would be it. I love the white on the nose, white on the underbelly and paws.

Though this one was cute too.

This is what we were to put our strawberries in.

As you can see, this is quite an operation.

We hop on the back of this tractor and they drive us out to our spot.

Instead of a ride to the pumpkin patch, it's a ride to the strawberry patch.

We must have bumped along for at least half a mile or more before we arrived at our destination.

It was around 6:00 p.m. last night.

Here's our spot.

It took me about five minutes to remember just one of the reasons why my dad is a "master strawberry picker".

He always brings a little stool to sit on while picking so that his back doesn't get sore because of all the bending and stooping to get to the strawberry bushes.

My dad is very clever he is.

Even though we were just out for an hour,

I was tuckered out and sore.

But doesn't this look pretty?

Nothing compares to fresh strawberries just picked.

They actually have a little shine to them.

A sign of perfection perhaps?

I'll have to ask my dad.

Well, here's my loot.

An hour's worth of picking.

And the loot combined.

Now for the million dollar question...

How many pounds do you think we picked?

I'll give you a day to guess.

Then, I'll tell you tomorrow.

But after all that hard work picking in what felt like 90 degree weather, we had to spend another hour stemming, and washing the berries. I decided to freeze the berries in the bag and then put the rest in a huge bowl so that my family could eat berries to their hearts content for the next two days.

Now for a wonderful low calorie treat:

4 oz of strawberries:36

1 tsp of sugar:15

2 tbl of light whipped cream:15

total:66 calories

This is how I have been letting the kids fix their strawberries. I let them eat as much as they want. They love it.

If strawberries are still being picked next week, I'm contemplating getting my mom to come over and teach me how to make strawberry jam.

If my dad is the "master strawberry picker"....then my mom is the "master strawberry jam maker". Yes, it works very well for them.

I love, love strawberry jam, but never buy it at the store because grape jelly is cheaper.

I would love to learn how to make jam.

The only problem, though, is that then I would be tempted to eat it.

But I suppose I could put a little on my 30 calorie lefse as a nice treat.

Anyway, tomorrow is Fantasy Food Friday, and this week's food fantasy is actually a bit healthy but still very much one of my major food fantasies.

Hope you all enjoy the day!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama