Yes, I realize that statements sounds rather dumb because of course boys, and girls, are inherently different.  However, if you listen to the modern world it is only because we have made them that way.  I’m here to say that as a mother of both sexes, that is ridiculous.

Our current society is so bent on blurring the lines of gender even so much as to equate the two genders to being equal or the same.  They are not the same. Let me repeat myself, they are NOT the same.  They are definitely equal in value, but that is about the end of the equality.

My first son was surrounded by female playmates.  He of course was the third child born to a family that already had two very GIRLY girls.  The girls would dress him up (much to dad’s dismay), play house with him and even include him in their Barbie play (we did get him a GI JOE action figure for this purpose).  However, he still preferred more aggressive, risk taking play.  He preferred to design a tower for Barbie to climb and knock over rather then idly arrange clothing or Barbie furniture.  He loved being physical from the time he could move and would climb up a tree and toss things to the ground just to see them fall.

My girls would play quietly for hours, my sons…they will play for hours but there is NOTHING quiet about it.  This was once again (as it is daily) evidenced to me yesterday as I took my two youngest boys to a local park.  When I was a child I have such fond memories of going to a park with my mother and feeding the ducks.  We would take popped corn or breadcrumbs and spend hours feeding the ducks.  I loved to look at the colors on the duck’s feathers and see just how close I could get the ducks to come to me.  When there were ducklings I always dreamed of getting just close enough to hold one.

Then there are the boys.  I took my youngest two to enjoy the same type of experience that I had and as we sat down to start crumbling bread to toss to the ducks I was a bit dismayed that my 3 y/o thought it was much more entertaining to try to “bop” the ducks on the heads with balls of dough rather then gently toss the crumbs to the ducks.  And, it was way more fun to him to run at the swarm of ducks to see them fly then to try to entice them to come closer.  The worst was that both boys discovered that as a team they could get all the ducks to fly into the water at once by running at them from opposite directions.  Ugh.  What is a peaceful mother to do?  I sat down with my 3 y/o to question him on this behavior and he simply told me that “its fun to see them fly mommy,” “I like to see them skid the water” (3 y/o speak for the way the ducks fly to the safety of the pond and then slip across the surface).  Yep, definitely different. 

The boys enjoyed feeding the ducks, but definitely not for the same reason I used to.  I wound up shaking my head with a bit of a chuckle.  They are definitely different.  My current favorite read right now? Bringing Up Boys  by Dr. James Dobson…if you haven’t read it, please do.  The first 4 pages will having you laughing out loud so hard you may likely snort, I did.

God blessed us with two girls, unfortunately for us, their birthdays fall within 6 days of one and other.  We haven't had big birthday celebrations for quite some time so this year we allowed it within reason.  What I mean by that is we gave each of our girls a budget that was to include their gift and they could choose if they wanted to spend the budget on a gift, or a party instead, they could.  All in all the girls did very well sticking to their budget, even looking at sale ads in the newspaper for menu ideas as they both wanted parties.

My eldest, turning 15 opted to have our church youth group over.  Her budget...she had $100 to work with.  She meticulously planned out her menu, shopped clearance at the dollar tree and borrowed outdoor games from a few friends of ours (remember that 4th of July party I always blog about?)  She made the potato salad herself, we went to GFS for the chicken tenderloins which we skewered, and mom made the cupcakes (ingredients in her budget of course).  We did relay games, yard games, and a cookout...I think it was a great success!

We stayed within the budget but provided a meal of BBQ chicken skewers, potato salad, chips, baked beans, a soda float bar and cupcakes...all for 30 hungry teens!

I personally loved watching the kids do life-sized Jenga, the clothesline marshmallow relay, and just having all around good clean fun.

Then it was little sister's turn.  My 12 year old daughter wanted a luau pool party.  She was very set on the idea of decorations so that is where the bulk of her party money went.  This was also a big year for her as when our daughters turn 12 they get a special night out with mom and dad and are given a purity ring to wear until they are ready to replace that ring with a wedding band.  This is something both of our girls were very excited to recieve and I think that it solidifies the importance of waiting until marriage as being a value we are trying to instill.

The luau was fun, the girls played in the pool, had some relays, had an icecream sundae bar, bratwurst, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, and cake pops.  We had a cookout fire for smores when it started to get chilly. 

And her special dinner out with just mom and dad.  She said the restaurant was sooo fancy and she loved being treated like a princess!  We truly believe that it is so important to let a young lady know how she should be treated and why she should value herself.  She had a ball and the look on her face was priceless as she kept admiring her new bauble.  I hope that as she gets older she will keep in mind the importance and significance of that ring we gave to her.

I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing...and I mean nothing...better then a homemade blackberry pie from freshly picked berries and from scratch crust.  The only problem?  When you have a family of 7 and most pies serve 8, there is only 1 savory, delicous, amazing serving out of all that work!

When the wild blackberries first came on this season we could tell they would give us an abundance this year.  I am starting to believe that wild blackberries really flourish in wetter summers which usually do not bode well for my vegetable garden. Last year was a great garden year (weather wise) and the berries were not much to speak of, this year the opposite is true, but oooohhhh the berries!  We started picking when we would only come home with a precious cup or two, that is when we made the first pie of the season.  My children helped me pick and then begged for a pie that evening.  We made our first and devoured it.  The next day they begged for the same and I obliged, but by the third day I decided my waistline could no longer handle the deliciousness so we started to freeze some of the berries.

Though we have now had Blackberry milkshakes, smoothies, cobbler and jam, the pie remains my #1 favorite.  It might also be because when I make it I always think of my grandmother as the crust recipe comes from her and I always think back to being small and helping her in her kitchen.

I think my favorite part about this crust is that it is pretty forgiving.  If it is too wet, add more flour, if you roll it out and mess up, just crumple it up and do it again.  And if you have scraps?  My grandma ALWAYS made me cinnamon and sugared pie crust strips.  She would just roll out the scraps and cut them into strips then place on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and viola! (If you have never tried this...you are so missing out!)

I really don't use a tried and true "recipe" for the berry part.  I just get a saucepan and toss in the berries (about 3-4 cups) then add some sugar (depending on how sweet you want your berries 1/3 to 1 cup.  When the berries are hot I start mashing them with a fork and then when I have quite a bit of liqued I add approx 2 T of cornstarch to a few tablespoons of water (to make a runny mix) then thicken up the berries with that.  That is the basics of my pie "guts" then I just dump it in the crust and top it with more pie dough, bake at 400 for about 20-30 minutes.

Fool Proof Pie Crust (Grandma's recipe):

(Makes 4-5 crusts)
4 c. flour
1 T. sugar
1 3/4 Crisco
1/2 c. water
2 T. cider vinegar
1 egg (beaten)
1 tsp salt

Mix dry ingredients together and cut in Crisco until crumbly.  Mix together the beaten egg, water and vinegar.  Pour over flour and Crisco mixture and mix until moistened but able to be handled (if too sticky, just add a bit more flour).  Then start rolling out your crusts!

Okay, no judgement here as this is definately not one of my "prettiest" pies, but I assure you, it didn't matter when we gobbled it up!

I recently discovered the most beautiful field of sunshine not 4 miles from my home.   I saw an acquaintance post some of the most beautiful pictures she took in this sea of sunflowers and when I asked where they were taken, I was astonished to find out that I was so very close to this magnificence.

We did a drive by once and were amazed that the sunflowers faces follow the sun (hence the name, right?) so we timed our stop for when we thought the sunflowers would be “looking” in the right direction.  I was a bit concerned because I couldn’t clearly identify to whom the field belongs and had I been able to I certainly would have asked permission before taking photos there.  However, I was sure to be excruciatingly careful that we stepped in between the rows so as not to break or damage any of the beautiful flowers.

We all hopped out for a quick impromptu photo shoot with nothing more than my cell phone.  My daughter and I snapped the shots and we were in and out within 10 minutes…the results?  I think the sea is breathtaking!