Berry Sweet

Our Fun Family Fourth of July was berry sweet!  Hubs and I took the boys strawberry picking to a nearby farm that we've been wanting to visit for years.  It was the first time for all of us, so we weren't sure how it was going to go, but it was a success! 

Mama and her berry sweet boys

Our little berry farmers

N actually picked some for the basket, M ate more than he contributed, and we all picked about 6 quarts of berries in less than a half hour.  The boys had a blast and so did we!  On the other hand, I had 6 quarts of berries when we got home yesterday, so I spend a good portion of the afternoon hulling, cleaning, freezing, and baking.  I'm glad I did because I found SEVERAL half-eaten berries in there that would have spoiled the whole batch.  I tried my hand at Strawberry Mousse Pie with Graham Cracker Crust. 

To eat or not to eat, that is the question

Here's the dessert in question!

It tasted as good as it looks, but to be accurate, I should call it Strawberry Mousse Pudding because it didn't set!  Our sons and guests were gracious recipients and gobbled up the mess, leaving behind no evidence that I created such a debacle.  My Food Network dreams have been dashed.  I'm lowering my expectations to putting myself through Culinary Home School.  (Ha!  If it hadn't been done already, maybe I would blog about that!) 

We are making some new friends in our new town, a couple who will be our new pastors when Canvas Church is launched in September.  They've got little ones and out of state families just like us, so we celebrated the Fourth together in our backyard, family-style.

Hubs and PJ showing the kiddies how to do sparklers

N FREAKED when we lit a couple of fireworks!

He did, however, enjoy the marshmallows...several times!

We grilled, the kiddies played in the shark pool (and no one peed), for the first time ever, we built a campfire at 6:00 so the kids could see it (and I could nearly die of a heart attack trying to keep them away from it) and have roasted marshmallows, and the daddies showed the kids how to do sparklers because even the oldest at 8 wouldn't touch them (thank goodness!) We lit a handful of fireworks that our neighbor brought over to show the kids, which was highly entertaining for all (except one)!  M and N barely made it through all of that and passed out at 8, but the older ones stayed up to watch the neighbor's and city's fireworks at 10.  We made some great memories singing our own patriotic songs in the middle of the road (because the trees were in the way otherwise!).  A great time was had by all. 

Handsome hubby practicing fire safety