Tuesday, June 30, 2009

blackberry cobbler


There are some desserts that should only be eaten at certain times of the year. Apple pie should be eaten in the early fall preferably right after a trip to the orchard, and always al a mode. Pumpkin pie can only be eaten in late fall surrounded by friends and family, unless you're sneaking downstairs for a yummy midnight snack, in which case cold pumpkin pie is the best choice. Strawberry Shortcake should only be made with the freshest, ripest strawberries you can find, and therefore can only be eaten in late spring during the picking season. And cobbler is made for eating on a back porch in the dead heat of summer with a cold scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Homemade vanilla ice cream is even better. Either way cobbler is a summer dessert. Made with fresh summer berries or fresh picked peaches, ummm there isn't much better than that! Around here we like blackberry cobbler the best. In fact, I'm pretty sure my husband could, and would, eat the entire dish in one sitting if the rest of us would let him. Here's to summer and some really good cobbler!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

On top of Crowder Mountain



We went for a little hike today. Yes it was 90 degrees but it felt good to get out of the house and spend some time together. We endured and I'm so glad that we did. We saw a worm as big as Steven's finger and several lizards. Plus we reached a new milestone; Chris is able to carry the girls up steep climbs. He carried Analiese for a bit and then he carried Sicily on his shoulders for quite a while. Tough guy! He's getting so big. He offered to carry me too. I declined, though I'm pretty sure he could have done it!



Saturday, June 27, 2009

Imagination

It's hot. Very hot. We've been going out early in the day to enjoy the summer sun, but by about noon the late June southern sun sends us sweating indoors. So we have to get creative. Chris is blessed with lots of boys to hang out with up and down our street. So he and his friends usually pick a house and hole up with video games, board games, or mass nerf gun fights. Since the girls are the only ones their age on the street, they are stuck at home; which could be boring if they didn't have such great imaginations. These are the times when I love that they are close in age and such great friends.

These are some of the pictures from their "fashion show" yesterday. I was the photographer and they were "stars". Analiese made sure that I understood what she meant. "Not stars in the sky, momma. Stars like eveybody knows who you are, ok?" Oh, my how I love these girls.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

summer, summer, summertime...





Our summertime fun is limited by a severe budget cut this year. Thankfully, children are easily entertained by streaming water and Popsicles.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Happy Birthday Analiese!

Oh, how she's grown:







My beautiful, sweet girl turned six today! Analiese is so special to us. She is sweet and loving with a whole lot of drama thrown in! She loves taking care of the world around her, planting flowers and taking care of animals. She loves to skip and twirl and sing. I love my sweet Analiese. I pray that God blesses her with a content spirit, a loving heart, and many more years to grow in beauty and grace.

Welcome to the "new" blog




Alright, so it's not new, really. But who am I kidding. A blog just for creative stuff. Ha! Like I can run two blogs and a facebook page. Our crazy life doesn't allow time for that. I do like this site better though. So I'm moving our family blog here. This site is a lot more fun to use than xanga. It was a little sad to say goodbye to hardgrave5. After all, it was like leaving behind a five year diary. I was able to copy and save it all to a disk so that if I'm ever in the mood for something nostalgic I can pull it out and remember that time in our lives. It was fun to look back. It made me realize how much our kids have grown in the last five years! And now you can continue to watch them grow here. I hope you'll still keep up with us. I love blogs! It's a little way to connect with the people we love.
So welcome and enjoy!
(In case you want a before shot go to www.xanga.com/hardgrave5)