Blackberry Pickin'

Jason found a HUMONGOUS blackberry bush close to our house, so on saturday we walked to it and picked enough for a blackberry cobbler.

Don't they look yummy!

Does mommy look a tad pale? Gabriel gave me his cold and I was feeling pretty yucky, but being out in the sunshine really made me feel better.

RECIPE FOR GLUTEN/DAIRY FREE BLACKBERRY COBBLER/CRISP

About 3 CUPS of Fresh Blackberries

Sprinkle 1 Cup of Sugar on top of the Berries

In a separate Bowl Mix

1 or 2 Cups of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Bread mix

1 Cup of Brown Sugar

1 Stick of Dairy Free Butter Softened

About a Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Sprinkle the "Crumbly" Flour Mix on top

of berries. And Bake until Crisp.

Serve HOT... MMMmmm!!

It was DELICIOUS!!

Summer Reading

Okay you will have to excuse the kids messy hair and messy shirts. I should have done this on another day. We took this picture on Friday of back to school week, when they were both home sick. But I couldn't leave out the picture of their summer reading chain. We had a goal of 100 books and we ALMOST made it. Having read 79 books with 2 of them being chapter books and we are halfway through a third. So even though we didn't quite make our lofty goal I think we did really well. And the boys were soooo proud!

First Day of School

Well this year everyone was headed off to school. Even Abby sort of...

Noah started on Thursday the 10th. He is in Kindergarten this year!
Gabriel didn't start until the following Monday because he came down with a cold the day before school started, poor kid.
And this is Abby on that Wednesday her first day of daycare :)

Triple Feature at the Drive in

This weekend they had three movies at the drive in. Two kids movies, Up and G-force, and an adult movie last, The Proposal. I am telling you movie theatres are for adults, if you want to take your family to a movie find a drive-in. It makes for a great family night. You have to get there early enough to get a good spot, so we usually get there around 6. This last time was the best because we finally got smart about it. We emptied out the back seat and put a foam mattress and a bunch of pillows and blankets. I brought a bag of books and games for us to play before the movie. And a ball for the kids to kick around and get all their wiggles out. I WISH they had a family set up like this every weekend. By the end of the first movie the kids were pretty wiped and the second movie did them in. When it was time for the adult movie we tucked the kids in to "bed" and turned the car around. The kids slept in the back while Jason and I watched The Proposal. The only thing that bad moment we had was when Abby woke up about 5 min. before the last movie ended. She was confused because she wasn't in her bed, and completely out of sorts. She screamed furiously until we left. But all in all it was a GREAT time!! (oh yea, and Gabriel was the photographer for the first picture. )

Farmer's Market Blooms

this last pic is of a band that was playing at the farmer's market last weekend. It was so neat, but I didn't catch the name of them. If anybody knows please send me a comment. The kids loved it and so did I, I would really like to have a CD.

Just being home!

I usually post pictures of us going places and doing special activities. But a lot of the time we just hang out at home and the kids play outside or in their playroom. Just recently the boys have gotten to know the neighbor boys on either side of our house and they love riding bikes and playing Nerf together. Although as always happens when you get a group of kids together... just gotta fit in. Well both of the neighbors have a collection of Nerf guns. Gabriel and Noah, who were perfectly happy with their lightsabers, now are INTENT on getting a Nerf gun of there own. That's okay they are learning a lesson about working for and saving up money because of it, and eventually they can go buy one for themselves.

Here are some pics of us just hanging out at home.

Backyard Campin'

Last Weekend Jason set up a tent in the backyard for a Boys Only Camp Out. It was such a special weekend for them. They helped daddy set the tent up as the sunset. I prepared a box of games for them to play with in the tent. They played lightsabers in the dark, Uno by candlelight, and of course daddy had to scare them with a ghost story. Even Ferdy got in on the fun when Daddy dragged his big pillow and GREAT BIG bone into the tent. The next day they played all day in the tent and spent another night camping with Daddy. I am sure there will be more backyard camp outs to come. And just wait when Abby gets a little older we will have a Girls Only Camp Out. Girls can be campers to you know!

Slippin' and Slidin'

A couple of weeks ago daddy brought home some cheap summer fun!! Who can resist a slip and slide! The boys had a blast. And even though she didn't like actually sliding, as you can see, Abby really enjoyed splashing in the water too.

Summer Reading at the Library

What fun Summer Reading was at the library here. The boys went to workshops and story times all summer, and they set a personal goal for reading. When they finished they got to pick out a paperback book at the library... for KEEPS!! I was very impressed at the selection too. I was expecting "cereal box" books but there were some really great ones. I was hoping they would pick out a couple of Magic Treehouse books for our growing collection.... or maybe even some Eric Carle books, there were so many to choose from. But no, there were two (thankfully... TWO) Star Wars books on the rack. So unfortunately Magic Treehouse didn't stand a chance, oh well!

I thought I would post some pictures of a few of the activities we went to. And for other moms and daddies, I really encourage you to check out the library if you are looking for activities for the kids. Who can beat it... a FREE hour of educational entertainment for your kids that doesn't have them glued to a television screen. The library ROCKS!!

And here are my little guys ROCKIN' with Dino O'Dell. Sorry my picture isn't better, little Abby was rockin' in my arms!! This guy was awesome with the kids. He had 20 or more kids completely engaged, singin' and dancin' along with him. I plan to buy one of his cd's for the boys. The songs were so fun... "Peanut Butter Pond", "5 little monsters under the bed", and "Hi, My name is Zar". Here is his website in case anybody is interested http://www.dinoodell.com/



This is Crazy Hat Day. They heard all kinds of stories about hats and then were let loose on heaps of "this and that" art supplies and told to make whatever creation they would like for their head. Noah made a crown... he IS my little prince you know!! And Gabriel made an alien mask/hat with really BIG TEETH. They then of course wore them while we picked out our books for the week and all the way home!!



And the last couple of pictures I have are of a workshop called, "Do you Digeridoo?" It was all about musical instruments. After reading the book, Do you Digeridoo?, they were able to check out all kinds of instruments from around the world. They then made there own guitar with a shoebox and rubberbands. Lastly they joined Abby and I with the kids instruments. It was a very noisy workshop but so much fun.

The Lord's Prayer

At Vacation Bible School this year the theme was Prayer safari. The focus was learning how to talk to God. And the bible memory challenge was of course The Lord's Prayer. This is the first time Gabriel has memorized a verse and I am SO PROUD of him. All week the kid's were told that if they could get up on stage one night (with the group) and say the Lord's Prayer together that at the end they would receive a trophy. Gabriel was all worked up about this trophy! He was sooo excited and he practiced and practiced. I happen to run into the director of VBS the last night and talked to her about Gabriel and how proud he was that he had learned the prayer and he was going to get a trophy. Well at the end of the night she surprised us by asking Gabriel to say it by himself in front of everyone. And he was WONDERFUL!! It was his shining moment, everyone was patting him on the back and I don't think I have ever seen him smile soooo big. He ran up to me afterwards and said, "mommy I did sooooo great!!" I didn't know she was going to do that so I didn't have my camera but when we came home I had him say it for me with trophy in hand.