They're Here!!!

What a blessing it is to have my Grandparents here to visit. They came in on Tuesday and get to stay through Austin and Lewis's birthday, and Austin's party. Needless to say we are totally loving having them here.
Grandpa was concerned for our grass that is dying as we kill all the weeds. So the kids decided that they wanted to play outside as we watered it. The idea was for them to ride bikes but it quickly ended up a water game. It was a blast to watch them totally enjoy the water!!!

Gotcha!
They really all played nice together, it was so wonderful!

Don't be Blue

I have a bug; a baking bug that I can only satisfy with challenging new recipes (to the point that I joined a recipe group called "Daring Bakers") and anything made in muffin tins. I fell head over heels for a picture that someone posted of these muffins (all cute sitting on a newspaper, just begging "eat me!"). Well needless to say I didn't read their whole post telling about how they had substituted for the yogurt and honey. I think that they would be absolutely perfect if made correctly but for now we are having a great time smothering in butter and honey. So I thought that you would like to see my muffins and the correct recipe. Enjoy!!

Blueberry Cornbread: from The New Moosewood Cookbook

Ingredients:

Butter or margarine, for the pan

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk or yogurt (I used vanilla yogurt)

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar or honey

3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Directions:Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square pan (or a 9- or 10-inch cast-iron skillet) with butter or margarine.Combine the dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Combine the wet ingredients (including sugar or honey) separately. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing just enough to thoroughly combine. Fold in the fresh blueberries. Spread into the prepared pan.Bake for 20 minutes, or until the center is firm to the touch and a knife inserted comes out clean. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Batter Up!

Uncle Doug got here Monday and today we all decided to go to the park to hit baseballs. Yesterday we bought a tee for the balls so that the kiddos can hit too.

Katie really loved hitting the ball and did well.

Where is the tee??? The ball is still there...

Austin had good form but still only hit about half the time.

Ashley kept killing the tee, and Doug had to keep putting it back together.

Die Ball!!!

I even hit the ball too. Notice the pile of balls at my feet, they are the balls that I missed.

Proof that I can hit the ball.

Going...Going...

Gone? Not really, I totally beaned Ashley. She cried for a long time but there are no marks and all is well.

Apparently there is an unspoken rule that you have to shag balls if you hit (I got out of it since I was team photographer) I think that Katie loved shagging the balls more than hitting them.

After licking our wounds we had a great afternoon!!

Pictures at the Creek

Summer Portraits

I know that I am always taking pictures of the kiddos but I like to try to get a good portrait of the kiddos every summer. Enjoy!!!

Hydrangea Memories

Hydrangeas are blooming all over and they are the neatest looking flowers. They really make Lewis think of when he lived in the Azores last summer. He says that they grew everywhere. These are not from my yard but our friends across the street, I just had to sneak over and take the picture for Lewis. Happy Summer!!!

Fireworks in DC

I always thought that it would be neat to go and see the fireworks in DC. So Lewis thought that we could go to the Air Force Memorial and sit there to watch the fireworks. It was stormy all afternoon and the air is thick and there is another storm coming in. The fireworks start and then after the first this is what we see...
The air is so thick that the smoke sits right in front of the fireworks. It is soon so thick that we can't even see anything. It was a bust and the kiddos were sad but we will try again next year.