Pickin' Time

I wanted the kids to do soo many things this summer.

Some things just hasn't happened.

But we have picked blackberries!

There was a few reasons I wanted to do this with the kids.

Child labor, being one. Seriously, pickin' blackberries was made for kids.

: )

But for reals, I remember pickin' berries growing up and I want my kids to experience this too.

Also, I love me some blackberry cobbler!

They got the hang pretty quick.

"No, L, not the red ones. Only the darkest ones."

Look at how hard they are working!

Even little sis was doing her share.

Sadly, this only lasted for ten minutes and twenty berries.

After that they were gone, swinging and running around.

I couldn't blame them, I was tired of pickin berries too.

But if I wanted my cobbler I had to keep at it.

Finally, my bucket was full enough so I decided to get some shots of the kids on the swing.

Aren't they so cute!

We are soo thankful that Grandaddy Herman has blackberry bushes!

My babies might not be the best pickers, but they sure did like eating the berries!

Yum Diggity Dog

Day 36

Today we introduced the kids to one of our favorite restaurants, Olive Garden. For the longest time, we weren't sure we wanted to share this sacred place. It for whatever reason became the go to place for our date nights away from the kids. I know that sounds cruel, but let me explain. When you go from having everything to your self and living a life of selfish ease, going to giving everything of yourself/stuff is difficult. This was the one place we didn't take them...the one place that was just ours. We decided that it was time to introduce them to the endless goodness of salad and breadsticks! : )

But wait you are saying....I thought you guys were poor? YES, you are correct. Actually, we are but my years in college scraping by on DO JO donuts or on Aldi groceries for a month has really helped on saving while still enjoying. For whatever reason... Scott and I have always shared an entree at Olive Garden. They give you soo much and it always worked for us. Well, I knew we couldn't spend much more than we normally do. I also knew the kids wouldn't eat too much so I asked the waitress if the kids could eat on our salads or if we needed to purchase extra salad. She said no big deal, and I was like HECK YEAH! So no joke the four of us ate on breadsticks, salad, appetizer and ONE entree. And we were all full when we left. This may sound silly or even kind of petty. But when you want to eat somewhere fun with your family and don't have much funds...what is a girl to do?

What are ways you guys have found to save money or get good deals while out?

Snow Day

Day 11: I got my wish! The Man was out of school and so was The Boy! : ) That makes for one happy mamma! We didn't have to do anything that day but BE TOGETHER!

So I declared snow days in our home A HOLIDAY!

We made a BIG yummy breakfast * blueberry muffins, eggs, and hashbrowns

: )

Then we went out and played in the snow. (or more like fell in the snow for the kids).

They were hysterical because all they wanted to do was roll around in the snow. Good thing I took a half hour to bundle them all up!

L almost surprised Scott with a snowball. But my man is too quick for that little whippersnapper! Let's say their was lots of wrestling and snow war!

Then we ALL took a BIG "rest" as L calls it. They napped a blessedly long time and we snuggled up to watch Little House. It's my most favorite past time.

We played and colored and played some more.

Then Scott made some homemade pizza. Working at Great Harvest paid off in more ways than one. He was always a good cook, but now he knows how to make yummy bread!

Seriously, my favorite pizza these days!

Anyone up for a Pizza Party at the Bluff house?

My favorite part of this day is having The Man home with us all day long!

Already slippin....

HA HA! Note to self when you publish something for anyone in the world to read, know that it will be really hard to do! : ) Yesterday was a rough day. Because of our renovations for our master suite, Scott and I have our clothes in with the kids' closets. Obviously, that was a NUTTY idea and all of our clothes have been everywhere. Well, as we were trying to get the kids ready for church yesterday morning, I was having some major trouble. I had Scott hunting for L's nice shoes and I was bent over (in my back pain) digging through piles of clean clothes for tights for N. I was needless to say grumpy by the time we left. I was hurting, feeling like a failure for letting our clothes get out of hand and wanting to go back to bed to start the day over. The sermon was good and got me out of my funk! But then as I was laying in bed last night, I realized I never posted my picture for the day. So here is yesterday's and today's!

Day 2: The only picture that I took that turned out good was what I made for dinner. It is soo yummy, Swiss Chicken. Here is the recipe. It is yummy!!!

Day 3: Today's pic is because it was the Man's first day of Student Teaching. His last and final semester until his degree is completed! YEAH! He looks so handsome and teacherly ( ha) I had to take a picture of him!

Go- to- Nanny's Strawberry Jello Salad

This was the day after my crafting/tv night.

I had to make something for a family dinner and I always go to my Nanny's Strawberry Jello Salad. It makes me think of family meals from when I was a kid myself. Running through her tiny kitchen and crammed into the 8x8 dining area to eat ALL together!

And the best part is that it is SOOO EASY to make!

Who doesn't love fresh strawberries...it makes EVERYTHING yummy.

This sat in my kitchen sink for ummm...two days! Yep, just keeping it real.

I love crafting, but HATE cleaning up all the mess it makes.

Anyways, back to the salad.

Doesn't it look yummy?

Here is the recipe:

Make Lg. box of strawberry jello...after adding the 2 c. of cold water pour in fresh cut strawberries. Then throw in some marshmellows. Put in fridge to let it sit. Put on cool whip topping before serving.

There was a time after my Nanny got older and stopped cooking. We didn't have this salad for a while. I made my Moma help me figure out what was in it and how we had it. I've been making it for just about everything for the past 3 years!

What are your favorite family recipes?

Blueberries...

We had a fun day with some of our friends picking blue berries at their home and taking this years pictures of their family! It was such a blast (as it usually is hanging with them). The colors of this lovely summer night (it was soo HOT we waited until 7 pm to do pics).

Here are soo many of my favs!

they even sent us home with a bowl full of these!

We are so blessed with these friends!

What the Pioneer Woman gets me into....

I love to eat meat! Love it! But I really don't like handling it before it's cooked. Especially chicken...it just grosses me out. But I read this recipe on the Pioneer Woman's website that looked cool and easy.

Baking a WHOLE chicken...with herbs.

I mean look at this thing...it is U-G-L-Y ...it ain't got no alibi...It's ugly!!!

But a coating in herbs and oil makes it look a little better.

Don't forget to cut up some apples and onions to stuff in it's booty! Yes, I really had to put my hand up in there!

All while following directions from The Man's MAC...he loves when I bring it in the kitchen among liquids and mess....not really. : )

So I'm sure we can all agree that it WAS ugly, but look at it now.

yummy golden deliciousness!

Check out other recipes at

www.thepioneerwoman.com