Cherry-picking

This is what the Frank family has been up to lately... up to the tops of the cherry trees!  Our yard has several of these trees and they are all laden with beautiful red fruit.  They apparently are quite early this year -- perhaps the reward of a cold winter and fast warm-up in the spring. So we've been picking and picking and picking!

Colsen, in particular, is in love with this activity.  He tells me it's the very best thing he's ever done.  I asked him if he would rather go to Disney World or pick cherries;  he chose the cherries!  Every day, all day he's out there, either in the trees, or begging to be.

All of the boys have been picking (well, Milo tries),

... and Rayna has been a very faithful and persistent "pitter" inside.  

She has the red-stained hands to prove it, too!

(All of the kids have been walking around with splashes of red juice on their shirts and faces all week!)

We've been making all kinds of cherry recipes:  cherry squares, cherry bread, cherry sauce, cherry French toast, and I'm freezing some as well.  What an unexpected and tasty blessing these trees have provided.

We have way more fruit than we need, so we've been sharing bags of cherries with anyone we see.  Some of the neighbor kids have come over a few times and asked if they could climb up and harvest some as well -- of course we said yes.  (Strider thinks it's fun to have cute girls over.... when he reads this he's going to be furious with me and vigorously deny it, of course!)

If anyone wants some cherries, come on over!  (Or if you have any good cherry recipes that do not entail me making pie crust from scratch, I'd love to hear them.  :)  )