First Day of School

First day of school. Summer with her friend Alyssa. Cutest second and third grader I know. :) It feels strange with her not around. She likes it and will do great I know it.

Huckleberries

Labor Day was spent picking huckleberries at Mt Spokane. It was a great day for it. The sun was out, the kids had fun, and we got a good batch of huckleberries. It was an amazing, awesome, great family day.

Conrad was picking rocks :)

Summer was a little sad, she fell and spilled her berries.

Happy again in her tree.

Thimbleberries are very yummy!

Scary or cute? I'm not sure. :)

Good kid picture.

Boys LOVED to pick their own.

Great family shot.

Purple hands equals good times. :)

Peach Cake Dessert

Here is another recipe I messed up. I added baking soda instead of powder, then added the baking powder also. So I've learned sometimes baking with kids is hard and baking late at night is not good. The bottom peach part turned out yummy. But the cake part was gross. Next time we thought a crumble top would be good.

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 to 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

5 medium fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

CAKE

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350*

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add peaches; toss to coat. Transfer to a greased 8-in square baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk.

Drop by spoonfuls onto peaches; spread evenly. Bake at 350* for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Serve warm.

It turned out pretty. Just not very great. While Summer and Eugene "helped", Conrad ate apples. He's not much into baking. Recipe from Taste of Home: The Busy Family Cookbook.



White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies

When Erica and I were Nashville living it up at MOPS convention she bought a white chocolate cherry cookie. It was really yummy so I added it to my baking wish list. Erica watched my boys on Thursday so I thought I would try to bake some as a thank you. Bummer they didn't really turn out. They had a good taste, but they stuck together. This is why, I read the cherries wrong and thought it said canned when it said candied. I know silly. :) So next time I'll do it right.

Ingredients

1 stick butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

1 cup chopped macadamia nuts (which I didn't do)

1/2 cup candied cherries

1 1/2 cups white chocolate chunks (used chips)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375* F

In a medium bowl, with electric mixer, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until just combined. Set aside.

Sift together flour, soda, and salt. Add milk to the butter mixture and then add the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Batter should be stiff.

In another bowl, combine nuts, cherries, and whit e chocolate. Then add to batter, stirring only to blend. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a greased cookies sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for approximately 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Recipe from www.foodnetwork.com

Summer's Hair

Summer got her hair cut yesterday for school and boy did she need it.

This is before. During the summer months it got pretty bad. We barely brushed it, her hair turns green in pools, and really I don't know how well she washes it. I think Whitney washed it the best in a long time.

On to the cutting, which was funny to watch. Summer leans to the side alot. She doesn't like the blow dryer and the straighter (which Whitney used to curl) scared her alittle.

   But it turned out beautiful and she wishes her hair would always look like this.

 If it wasn't so much work it might. But my goodness she is a cutie!!

       Summer took the last picture herself.



Date Night

Reggie and I went to dinner at Ferraro's on Wednesday. It's so nice to eat without kids around.

 :)

Birthday

My birthday was last week. I'm 31 and a week old now and feel great. The day of my birthday was filled with cranky children but the evening was great. Reggie and I walked to the park to see the play Much Ado About Nothing. We were and late and had to leave early cause we had to pick the kiddos up, but it still was so fun. I hope it's something the park does more often.

My mother-in-law Darlene surprised me with this cake when we picked the kids up. It was so sweet of her and the cake was very yummy.

To make my birthday feel longer, on Saturday the 5 of us went to the Harvest House in Greenbluff to pick peaches and have ice cream. We were too late to pick and were very bummed about that. And it was very hot, but us Oakes make the best of things. We still had ice cream, the kids got free guitars, we bought peaches, let the kids run around. Over all it was good, we do want to go back when we can pick our own fruit. But any family time is a good time. :)

Summer was sad about not picking and wouldn't smile, but I liked my smile. :)