This and that.

Just wanted to say hi. We've been crazy busy...on vacation...celebrating my little sister's wedding (pictures to come)...spending time with best friends and family...seeing a bear cub walking the streets in the neighborhood...catching summer colds...and staying up late too many nights in a row! Love the summer, don't you?

Hope you're enjoying June as much as we are...right now, I'm enjoying a late night rain in a still and quiet house in the mountains. Does it get much better than that?

Lady Bug Hunters

Lately, we've been enjoying lots of wildlife around our house! I came home with Madeleine from my brother's graduation in NC to find this:

my sweet children and husband in the fields behind our house, hunting ladybugs. They had a plastic baby food container with holes to catch them and were VERY serious about finding them.

Ah-ha! They seem to be everywhere...it's hard to look around without seeing a little speck of red and black!
I was impressed with how gentle the kiddos were with them!

And a little surprised that they didn't mind the little bugs crawling all over their arms...but I guess they know nice bugs from the mean ones!

Even our own "ladybug" wanted in on the hunt! She really thinks she's five too!

And the other wildlife? Let's see, turtles, pheasants, birds galore (Madeleine's obsessed with birds!), and a precious stray kitten, who we thankfully found a home for--and not ours!!!

Quick Summer Drink

I love sangria (especially the white sangria from Carabbas...mmm!) We're on the quest for a white sangria recipe that comes close to the one there...but in the meantime, stumbled across this frozen version that's SO yummy!

Frozen White Sangria

1/2 peach, chopped and frozen
1/2 plum, chopped and frozen
3 strawberries, chopped and frozen
1 Tbsp. frozen orange juice concentrate
3 Tbsp. superfine sugar
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tbsp. brandy
1 1/2 cups ice cubes

1. Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Serves 2.

(We didn't have plums available and it was still great.)

Special days...

Happy Birthday Mimi!!!

We all love you SO much and are blessed to have you in our lives!

(picture taken last year from her birthday celebration with us!)

For Katy.

Make a Wish.

(I know these are a bit overexposed...but I love the dreamlike quality it adds to the pictures, so I didn't edit them.)

Oh, about the title. Katy's favorite flower is the dandelion. :) Have you EVER seen dandelions that big before? Wow. They're all over the fields around our house...and so big that you can count them from inside.

New Looks and Snickers

So, what do you think of the new look? I was so excited when I learned that I had won a giveaway for a blog design by Kelly of Fabulous K! She was SO easy to work with and very accomodating to this detail and symmetry-loving girl! I am so very pleased with how it all turned out!

It's been awhile since I've shared a recipe...sorry for slacking! But this should make up for it! I made this yesterday as an anniversary dessert, and it is delish. I think it will be even better tonight, since it didn't get all the chill time it deserved yesterday!

Caramel-Chocolate Mud Cheesecake (who can resist a title like that?!?)

Ingredients:

1 single refrigerated piecrust (or homemade 9" crust)
6 (2.07 oz) Snickers candy bars, diced
1 1/2 lbs. cream cheese, softened (3 8-oz. packages)
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter, warmed slightly
1/2 cup caramel topping
1/4 cup chopped semisweet chocolate, melted

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Press piecrust into bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan and place pan on prepared baking sheet.

2. Bake until very light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Scatter candy bar pieces over baked crust.

3. In a mixer bowl, blend cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and flour until smooth. Blend in sour cream and whipping cream and then add both types of chocolate chips. Using a spatula, swirl in the peanut butter and caramel topping.

4. Pour batter over candy bar pieces in pan. Place pan on prepared baking sheet and bake 55 to 70 minutes or until center is set. Cool and then chill at least 8 hours or overnight before serving.

5. Drizzle warm melted chocolate over top of cake before serving (or up to 2 hours ahead.)

Eight years ago...

This girl...

and this boy...

became one.

I love you Brent.

The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Hadleigh

A story in pictures:







(She didn't know we were watching from inside until the end. That fourth picture's my favorite. I think Marcella would be quite pleased. Only the tea party and a kite were missing!)

"...but at sunset or at the hour of salut..."

"One moment longer", whispered solitude and the summer moon, "stay with us:
all is truly quiet now; for another quarter of an hour your presence will not be missed:
the day's heat and bustle have tired you; enjoy these precious minutes."
--Charlotte Bronte

Last night,

this little girl
and this little girl (who's growing up so quickly...you can't see that she has put six clips in her hair!)
joined me outside for a glorious evening in the backyard. It was just before seven o'clock...the sun was making it's descent, and we could see the faint moon as it waited patiently for evening to begin. But we enjoyed that last hour of the warmth of the sun. A few stolen moments that I will treasure up in my heart.

We spread a blanket on the ground, brought out a stack of books, a few balls, and various "necessary" items (Hadleigh kept dashing inside to bring "just one more thing".) We went swinging, watched Madeleine run after balls, and read books. We watched birds, played games, and sang songs. We colored the patio with chalk, played hopscotch, and told stories. I listened to the calls of the geese...and I actually had a few quiet moments to myself...to watch my girls play together in the grass and read a little bit of my magazine...though I didn't get to my book.

It was one of those evenings that you dream about. Perfectly delightful.

(And my boys were enjoying the evening out on the golf course. Enjoyable evening for all!)

It has been raining

All. Day. Long.

And I love it!!! A nice, slow, steady rain with a brief mid-day thunderstorm.

(My all-time favorite rainy day picture...oh, she was so little then...)