BERRIES!

It's been a berry-filled kind of summer, and we have absolutely LOVED it! 

Our neighbors grow blackberries where Cohen and I were invited to pick this morning. Cohen got one taste off the vine and he was hooked! I could barely keep them in my basket! We had just read a book we got from the library the other day called Blueberries for Sal, which he loves, so it's shaping up to be a very berry summer. :) 

A couple of weeks ago, we went strawberry picking with our dear friends, Matt and Kim. We loaded all three of the boys, four adults and one baby Hudson belly into their van and drove about 45 minutes to Stokes Berry Farm. 

Here's Cohen and Liam showing how much they love each other :) 

 This one is my absolute favorite picture they have ever taken (besides the one when they were infants holding hands, of course). Liam was quite the strawberry eater!

Here's that picture I was talking about! Liam is on the left and Cohen is on the right. It was their first 4th of July. 

We're making blackberry ice cream to surprise Daddy with when he gets home tonight, and the strawberries turned into this:

Quite delicious and a wonderful after-dinner treat! Here's the recipe I followed (courtesy of Mom's Strawberry Pie...gotta love Pinterest!)

Mom's Strawberry Pie 
If you use a 9 or 10-inch pie crust, simply increase the amount of strawberries. I think this pie is best chilled, so if you want it for dinner, make it in the morning, allow it to cool and stick it in the fridge.

8-inch pie crust
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup water 
2 cups crushed strawberries 
2 1/2 cups sliced strawberries (the smallest ones can be left whole)

Bake the pie crust (empty) for 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees or until it turns light brown.  Set aside.  Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan.  Add water and crushed strawberries and bring it to a boil over medium high to high heat, stirring often.  Once the filling is thick (when you take your spoon across the bottom of the pan it should take a few seconds for the filling to re-cover the exposed pan), remove it from the heat.

Lay the sliced strawberries in the bottom of the baked pie crust and then cover with the warm filling.  Let cool completely and then refrigerate until ready to serve. 
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