Baseball, Swimming & Strawberry Pie

Will & cousin Chace enjoying some nutritious ball park food!

Grant is baseball's newest fan...well at least of playing in the rocks at the ball park.

The boys enjoying a swim with Sherri & DeAnn.

After a loooooong winter trapped inside, a trip to sunny Arizona was just what the doctor ordered (especially for mama)!! The boys have gone crazy down here and had the time of their lives. We've seen baseball games, played with cousins, been covered head to toe with sand from the sand box, gone swimming, and visited relatives and friends. Besides Will getting carsick and Grant's teething, it's been a great spring vacation for the 4 of us. My Grandma Porter took an afternoon to teach me how to make her famous Strawberry Pie. I couldn't resist but share with the rest of you....

Strawberry Pie

Crust: 5 C. flour 2 1/2 C. shortening
2 tsp. salt 2 T. sugar
Cut together with pastry cutter or fork.
1 egg 1 T. vinegar
Beat together with fork first, than add enough ice-water to make 1 C. liquid. Beat well with a fork.
Stir liquid into flour mixture until well blended and roll out on floured surface. (Roll fairly thin). This crust will make enough for 2 pie's (both bottom and top crusts). If making the following pie, bake just the bottom crust at 350 until golden brown. Let cool.

2 baskets of fresh strawberries, rinsed and halved or quartered.
Combine the following in saucepan:
1 C. sugar 3 T. corn starch
3 T. light corn syrup 1 C. water
1/4 tsp. salt 5 strawberries, mashed
Cook, stirring until clear and thickened. Remove from heat.
Add 3 T. strawberry jello. Cool.

Arrange 1 bottom layer of clean dry berries in the cooled crust. Drizzle half of the syrup over. Arrange 1 more layer of berries and drizzle remaining syrup on top. Refrigerate for an hour or more and cover with whipped topping right before serving.
This recipe is AMAZING. You will not regret making it. If you'd like, buy a pie crust to make it a bit easier!

A little angry...

So the past little while I've heard of a lot of people going private. I didn't understand why, until my good friend Tonya clued me in. She said she had watched Oprah that day about child predators and decided it was time to go private. Well... I do record Oprah and watch it occassionally, so I turned it on while I cleaned this morning. Seriously, how sick is our world becoming?? The scary thing is that it doesn't happen just to kids in big inner cities, or kids in severly low-income neighborhoods...its happening everywhere. While I believe the internet can be such a great tool, I am saddened (and a little angry) at how its misused. Doesn't there come a time when enough children have been assaulted that the government steps in and regulates the filth that's passed along? Isn't there a button the techies at Microsoft can click to turn off pornography all together? :) I optimistically hope that one day the internet will be a clean place for society to use. Understanding agency though, I will educate my children from when they are young and in the mean time...I too will be going private. I'll get everyone on my list invitations emailed out. Send me your email if you would like one and you are not on my list already!

A-tisket, a tasket...A green & yellow basket.

I faintly recalled this nursery rhyme from many years past. I thought it would be fun this Spring to make my own "green & yellow" baskets. Hopefully the little guys can use them for many delightful Easter egg hunts. Happy Easter everyone!

Help Wanted

So, I have always had a passion for writing. For years, I have been wanting to write a novel and this year I became brave enough to put the story on paper. It's coming along quite nicely, but I am stuck! This is where you come in.... I need a name for my little town. The book takes place in early 1900's...in my mind the town is a combination of Anne of Green Gables, Meet me in St. Louis, Pollyanna, and Stars Hollow.
If you can come up with the perfect name for me, I will send you some beautiful hand picked stationary. (I'm starting to collect stationary and am quite smitten.)
Thank you for your help!!