What's Going On?

What have y'all been up to this summer? We have been taking it easy, doing math work in the morning, and reading some.

We have some friends that went on vacation for 3 wks. and asked us to pick their blueberries while they were gone! They just didn't want them to go to waste.

The first time we went, I took everyone. The bad news, was that when I went to get Joseph, the 4yo, out of the truck... he had no shoes on! This proved to be a blessing though. I just had Dani take him and Charlie to the trampoline while the other 3 kids and I trekked to the bushes [which are approx. 10-12ft. tall]. Therese and Sophia were pretty helpful. John Paul... not so much. He was fine, just not pickin'.

The second time we went, I took only Therese and Sophia.

It took us about an hour each visit to fill our 1.6 gal. tupperware container. Both times we filled our container - for a grand total of 3 gallons of blueberries! For those of you who have never been blueberry picking, it is very time consuming - picking every little berry one at a time, proves to be quite a chore ;)

There were SO many. I hated to leave them all just sitting there. But the girls were getting 'ready' to go. And I knew we should probably head back home so I could start dinner.

So far I made some jam, and blueberry muffins. This recipe was suggested to me by a friend and she posted it on facebook. I highly recommend it. And for those of you who use allrecipes.com you'll know by the rating that they are awesome. So if you're interested, surprise your family this week with these muffins. And if you don't have fresh or your grocery store is out, frozen would be fine too - just make sure they're totally thawed.

The berries which weren't eaten out of the bowl I just froze. I will definitely be making pies and more jam. But for now, they wait. Pancakes and muffins will be screaming for them :)

Oh and if you'd like a blueberry sauce for pancakes or cheesecake and such, this recipe is the bomb!

In other news, Dani took off to Ocean City, MD with Oma and Opa, to meet Paul's brother and his family. They rented a condo for the week. We would've all like to have joined them, but it wasn't in the financial cards for us this year.

Those of you who facebook know that I was counting down the days when I'd be missing my "right arm" [aka Dani]. How the run of my days was going to be so much different... so much more difficult, for me.

She left last Friday morning and surprisingly... we've done really well. I've come to realize that I rely on her much more than I actually need to. But when she's here, it's just easier to say "Dani could you......?" - I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but something I think I'll try to curb. And I will say that most of what she does is just part of being in a family. Large, or otherwise.

The other good news is that she is having a blast - getting to hang out with her cousin who is a year younger than she is. Sunday and Monday they'll go visit Washington D.C as well, since they're so close. Then Tuesday we leave for our drive up to OH to Karl's house [Paul's brother] to pick up Dani. We'll come back on Saturday.

In the meantime, my sister comes to visit!! She'll be here on July 20th [next Monday night]. We won't be able to see her until we get back from Ohio, because we leave Tues. morning. But the cool thing is that while we're in Ohio, she and my parents will fly to Houston to visit my our brother - whose wife is now expecting! Yay! So, they leave Wed. and come back Monday morning. Karen will be here for a good 3 weeks.... leaving, sadly, on my birthday. These next 3 yrs are going to be rather tough - moreso on her than me. She will be a postulate - the next step after the candidacy [if you click on the link that's Karen in the Candidacy photo, first person]. There will be no phone calls, emails, or her coming home. That's what we've been used to in this first year. But it's part of their formation and makes them grow closer to Christ, their ultimate Spouse! Truly beautiful.

Then, a few days after she leaves, we are headed for the beach! Yay! My dear brother Chris and his wife Nina got a beach house for the week and my parents and we are coming along to join them! So we'll be gone for a week with them and Chris' 2 daughters [ who I am so excited to see, it's been 2yrs since I've seen them... 2 yrs is a long time in the life of young girls, 14 and 11!]. I can't wait for us all to be together. It's going to be a blast. I'm just sorry that Kayla won't be joining us on our trip - college bound :(

So - that's what we've got going on here! Hope you and yours are doing well and enjoying your summer months. They go by so fast!