Childcraft

Did anyone else grow up with a Childcraft Set? I loved the stories in these books. They go from nursery rhymes to short stories. My parents let me have the set that we had growing up. I'm really looking forward to reintroducing myself to the stories as I read them to Cora someday soon.

It's amazing how reading back through some of these stories take me right back through my childhood. Stories like these hold up over the years.

Fond memories ... good feelings.

Back to School

My youngest child (on right) is finishing up on his college career this semester. Yeah! He will graduate in December with a Computer Engineering major and a Computer Science minor. He came home this weekend after working all summer as an intern and starts school on Monday. No break for him! He has already received a job offer from his internship company, so he is taking some deep breaths now and looking forward to his last semester and the future.

We are very excited for him and are very proud of him and all his hard work at school and at his company. It's hard to believe we are already at this place in our lives -- last child graduating college ... but it is a very good feeling.

Politics

Did you watch the Saddleback Debate? It was during the Olympics, so some people may have not tuned in. Rick Warren from Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California invited both candidates to come and answer questions that he prepared from e-mails he received and his staff and congregation. Each candidate took a turn sitting on the stage with Rev. Warren and answering the same questions posed to them in front of the same audience.

I really enjoyed the format and this show really helped me feel more comfortable about what the candidates believe and their stance on certain issues. Some stations have been reshowing in the late night. If you missed it, you might catch it on a rebroadcast. It is worth your time to watch. The different media outlets are rehashing it bit by bit ... but it would be much better for you to just watch it for yourself and not every one's interpretation.

My Baby

Happy Birthday Kate! - Love You -

The day you were born was one of the best days of my life! (tearing up!).

Weekend Fun!

Looking forward to the weekend! We have a family reunion (my side of the family). My husband's family has family reunions every year for two sides of his family but my family has one about every 10 years! I helped coordinate this event and hope that many show up so we can reconnect with each other.

After the reunion, I am taking home my sweet granddaughter with me to babysit for a few days while her mom and dad go to Memphis. I can't wait! We are going to have soooo much fun! She is 7 months old now and is sitting up and reaching for everything. She is a lot of fun. I have a babybed for her now and many toys that I will get out for her to play with. She will also go to church with me on Sunday ... so proud grandma gets to show her off! This is her first overnight visit with me without mom or dad. Who knows what trouble we can get into!

Olympics

Love the Olympics! USA is doing fabulous. Swimming with Michael Phelps as been fantastic. The relay win was a thriller (check out story on CNN). Beach volleyball, gymnastics, men and women's basketball, and women's swimming has been exciting to watch. I'm very excited about the 41 year old woman swimmer for USA, Dara Torres. What a story!

I've been changing channels back and forth trying to catch all the different events. The Olympics are showing on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, and USA (that's all I've seen so far anyway). Go Team USA!

Week's Events

I've gotten a little bit behind on blogging. Fairly eventful week so far. Last weekend I was busy helping get flowers ready for a friend's wedding. I hope to have pictures soon.

I managed to work in a little bit of garage sales and found this really cute purse. It has really nice pocket areas inside and out and also will carry quite a bit. Love it!

We've been picking blackberries as fast as we can since the 2nd week of July. I've made a blackberry crumble and just this week made a blackberry cobbler. My husband wanted the cobbler and we ended up taking it to a birthday party last night and it was very popular. Not very much left.

Here is the recipe:

Blackberry Cobbler

2 1/2 qt fresh blackberries, washed

3 c sugar

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1/4 to 1/2 c flour

Make pie crust for 2-3 pies. Mix berries, sugar, juice and flour well. Let set until the berries form their own juice.

Line a cake pan with pie crust. Pour in berry mixture. Cut remaining pie crust into strips and crisscross on top of cobbler. Drop slices of butter in lattice squares. Bake at 425 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Very popular. Found the recipe on Cooks.com

Our garden this year has done just so-so. A little bit of corn, some squash and now a few tomatoes. The rain just flooded out our garden. Our fruit did fabulous, but the veggies, not so good. Can't have everything!

I'm on the countdown for babysitting my granddaughter. Two more days! I'm traveling to her and watching her while her mom and dad have an evening out. Can't wait.

Family Blogs

More and more of our family have created blogs and this is a great way to stay in touch with each other. Check out these blogs:

Continue the Conversation - my daughter and SIL both post on this one

MBC KidsHeart - my brother and SIL post about their preparations and current mission trip to Africa

FinallyBaby! - my niece blogs about her pregnancy

Aubslife - my niece blogs about her recent mission trip to Africa

A Saint Sleeps Not on a Soft Bed - this is my SIL's sister (I know not really a relative--but close!) and she and her new husband is blogging about their experiences as a new couple

I also keep up with all of the above people on Facebook. I'm pretty new on Facebook but I am enjoying figuring it out and adding friends to my internet community. I love the internet! I very seldom watch the news on the TV or read an actual newspaper -- I read all of my news online (Fox, MSNBC, CNN, ABCNews, CBSNews, USAToday and our local state papers).

I've reconnected with past classmates and childhood friends and that has been really great. I'm still searching for some past friends and hope I can find them somewhere on the net. The world is definitely getting smaller for me through technology.