Hand to Mouth and Matthew Joy

It's peak raspberry season at our house and the kids are literally out there several times a day stuffing their faces. It's insane. I joined them this morning (someone has to pick the high ones, right?) and ate berries until I started feeling sick, then I picked just as many for Matthew (who is a bottomless pit for fresh raspberries). It's been a dream come true! Pick, eat. Pick, eat. Pick some more, eat some more. Hand to mouth. Raspberries are more fragile than strawberries, so they don't transport well and they're harder to share...or so I tell myself ;) I would stop to take a picture of it, but feel compelled to pick delicious berries whenever I'm out there. You will simply have to content yourself with a random picture of three darling boys in a deck box:

In other news, I wanted to note here how happy Matthew makes all of us. He's awfully cheerful about the smallest things, which lightens the mood significantly:

• He raises his hands in the air and shouts, "Yay!" at the end of every prayer. Even in church.
• Bobby walked into the dining room with a bowl of watermelon and Matthew pointed at him with both hands exclaiming, "Meleeeeeeeeee!" Then when Bobby put some in front of him, he squealed and said, "Yah!"
• We offered him a bath and he did a happy dance on the spot singing, "Basssssss! Bassssss!"
• Every white car he sees is apparently Daddy's car. We hear a lot of giddy "Da-deeeeee! Da-deeeeee!" I wonder if Matthew really thinks that is Bobby driving around town all day. 
• He loves a good tickle fight. He's even started tickling other people. He's pretty good at it.
• He crouches a little and walks like an old man with a cane when he's being "sneaky."
• The kid tells jokes. Anything to get the other kids to laugh. He gets the biggest reaction when we're playing the "Can you say" game. "Massew, can you say 'W'?"..."bubuh-doo"..."Bwah ha ha haaaaaaaa!" After a couple rounds, Matthew will start spouting gibberish and the kids will fall out of their seats laughing. Those are some of my favorite moments. Ever.
• He pretends to eat things, just for the reaction, which is hilarious.
• He honors different family members by choosing their lap for family prayer, or asking them to hold him when he's sad. That makes so many people happy!
• Every slight decline in the landscape earns an enthusiastic, "Weeeeeeeeee!" from Matthew as he goes down. It could be a freeway overpass or a wheelchair ramp. Doesn't matter. He's excited.
• He's got this funny habit of saying, "Ta da!" when he finds something. I challenge you to add "ta-da!" to your daily vocabulary and NOT feel more cheerful. You can't.

Everyone loves Matthew. He's so dang happy.

So glad to have him.