We Bought A Berry Patch!

We knew that the trees that ran along our backyard had berry bushes along them, but we didn't realize just how many berry bushes we now owned until they started to bloom last week. I'll try to explain it the best we can.

We have 8 acres of property. The front 3 acres or so is lawn and house, and the rest is trees. That leaves about 5 acres of woods, which we have now learned is surrounded on 2 complete sides by blackberry, red raspberry, and black raspberry bushes. We've been picking every 2 days and are in berry heaven. We had some friends over yesterday to pick with us, and here are some pictures. By the end of July I'll be a master at making berry syrup, berry jam, berry pie and everything else "berry." I should have my own Strawberry Shortcake name. Any suggestions? Frazzle-Berry? Dingle-Berry? Goof-Berry?

Here is Ben. He spent most of his time eatting instead of picking, but what fun would berry picking be if you didn't eat as many as you brought home?

This is our little friend Jessie. This picture explains where her berries kept going.

And I thought she kept eatting them!?

Ohio State University Football Cake

I think this may be my best cake yet. This cake was made yesterday for some dear friends of ours. The Candlands have a wedding on Saturday, so I made the cake for the rehearsal dinner. The bride and groom are HUGE Ohio State fans. This cake was so much fun to make, it really challenged my creativity. The cake topper is made of polymer clay molded around chopsticks (so I could easily stick them into the cake). After sculpting the clay, I baked it in the oven to harden, then painted them to look like they were all wearing football jerseys. Even the bride has a wedding dress "football jersey" on. The field goal posts were made by bending coat hangers, then dipping them in white chocolate. After they cooled, I carved away the excess white chocolate with a paring knife.

I also made "Buckeye" cake pops to go along with each slice, which are not pictured here. They're little round balls of cake, frozen, then stuck on a stick and rolled in melted chocolate and left to harden. I rolled them in dark chocolate first, then dipped the tops in light brown chocolate to make them look like buckeyes.

Here is a closer picture of the cake topper.

Kennedy Camping

Last weekend, we took the kids camping. I'd promised them the week before that if they went a week without watching TV, playing the computer or playing the Wii, we would take them camping with our friends, the Liddells. We had actually already planned on going camping with them, because it was the annual ward cubscout family campout, but I knew I would need something to motivate them to stick with the plan. Have a reward was really more for my own benefit, it sure cut down on the whining, and I also realized something...I LOVE NO TV!!! I've always used it to help me more than anything else, because I can get stuff done and know that the kids are busy and out of trouble. Now with the girls home for the summer, I didn't want them watching any TV during the day when we have such a beautiful yard to spend the summer in. It's been great, and we have just been swimming, playing, and READING!!! Yeah! I've been catching all of my children with books, all day long and I love it! TURN OFF YOUR TV'S AND ENJOY THE SUMMER!

Here are our pictures from camping-We had a great time and made many wonderful memories.

Joseph and his watermelon

Emily, Isabelle Liddell, Jenna

Jenna's 1st Grade Field Day

On June 2, Jenna's class at CW Shipley had Field Day. I went to help and watch the fun, and I'm so glad I did. Jenna had a great time, as you can see in the pictures. Her best friend, Isabelle, was always by her side-those two are inseparable.

Joseph's Preschool Graduation

I can hardly believe it-Joseph's going to kindergarten next year! He had a wonderful time in preschool and loved his teachers.

His preschool class put on a very nice presentation. Then we were all able to enjoy a luncheon for all of the families.

I had a lot of fun making the cake, and I think it turned out pretty well-it sure tasted good:-)

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the official start to summer, and

I LOVE SUMMER!

We were blessed with warm weather and sunny skies, so the pool was full of friends. We're especially glad that the Liddells came over, because Mark manned the grill and we ate like kings. No one can grill a chicken thigh like Mark Liddell!

This is a picture of Charlie Liddell, Ben's favorite little friend. As you can tell, he's not very comfortable in water, so we took extra measures to be sure he didn't sink.