Splish splash.. we're not taking a bath

It's that time of year. The temps are above 82 constistantly and Memorial Day kicked off the unofficial start of summer. That means it's time for the pool. We practiced in a wading pool in the back yard, then off to the real pool. Let's just say we may have another swimmer in the family.

Our first canrnival

Ft Bragg has some carnival grounds on base and certain times of year they are open for business. So we went. Ethan experianced his first Merry-go-round ride and his first Dumbo ride.

Sound of Music

Mother's day weekend Pope AFB had a Concert on the Green. They had the Fayetteville Symphony come and preform at one of the parks on base. So we grabbed our blankets, took a few snacks and walked on over.

we CAN do it!

OK, so with all the strawberries we picked this is the conclusion that we came up with:

1. When you pick 18 lbs of berries you need 15 lbs of sugar and end up with 24 pints of jam.

2. When taking hubby with you in canning aisle... bright ideas happen, and you end up making pickles (see above picture)

3. What goes better with homemade jam? warm homemade bread... yummmy (recipe in older blog post)

4. My kitchen is way to small for the amount of canning we did. But it CAN be done!

The best part is all the jars sealed and the jam set and the pickels worked as well. The only down part: our house smelled like pickle juice for almost a week.

Strawberries... MMmmmmmm

I love this time of year, it screams SUMMER IS HERE!!. There is nothing like fresh picked strawberries (other than picking the peaches off Grandma's peach tree or the cherries out of the Taylor's back yard). Look how pretty 16 lbs of resh picked strawberries are (yep, we picked them ourselves).....Wishing for one of Grandpa Bandley's homemade strawberry pies ... Wishing I had paid more attention when Grandma Bandley was canning or making jam...I guess we get to figure it out by reading the directions. wish us luck, we are going to need it...



Maybe if we are here next year, Ethan can help pick his own bucket

The BEST toy ever.. and it's FREE!!

It's our FEET.. They make us laugh and squeel with delight. They can be taken everywhere you go. They make a good snack. We LOVE our FEET!!

Just playing around

Oh what a beautiful day!

What a wounderful time of year. The sun shines it's warm, ther is always a cool breeze and rarely a cloud in the sky... What more can you ask for?

Easter Baskets

Well it was Ethan's 1st Easter and on a sunny spring day (approx 70 degrees) what more can you ask for. The Ester Bunny did well..

You can't see in this picture but behind the Jungle Book he also goy Chity Chity Bang Bang

Rising to the occasion

Recently we had a RS class on bread making. We were given a simple receipe that only requires one rise... what book the sister got it out of I'm not sure but it is a yummy and easy receipe .. You cannot mess this one up. Even if you forget to add the oil and salt it still works (trust me :) )
1 TBS yeast
1/4 c warm water
1 c warm milk
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 c flour

Combine yeast, milk, water, and sugar and let sit for about 5 min . Then add Flour oil and salt . Knead for 5 min put into bread pan and let rise until double in size. Bake 350 for 30 min .. makes 1 loaf