Friday, September 5, 2008

Moving on and lots more!

We have tried to pack in as much activity into the last part of this summer as possible! Both to keep me sane, and to enjoy the last bit of freedom. Things don't slow down for me when the kids go to school, at least not with my calling. This is what lots of primary presidency's refer to the crazy season. There is so much to be done the last quarter in primary! But I am not going to dwell on that much on this post because I get overwhelmed just thinking about it all!!! Anyway we are moving on... as in getting over the rough patch and getting into good things! The joys of being a mother and stay at home mom! There are lots of pictures on this post because I haven't really posted much lately other then gripping so I am getting "caught up."
This was last Saturday's project. Larry, the girls, and I went and picked apples while the boys were at a birthday party. Then we came home and canned apple sauce like crazy! at 10:00 p.m Saturday night I was mopping up the mess! I think the word mess is an understatement as to what happened to my kitchen during the process of doing apples. (Definitely the messiest fruit so far!) But ohhhhh sooo yummy! It is like apple pie in a jar! MMMMMM!
This is my project yesterday (the 4th) and tomorrows! They weren't all ripe so I have to finish them tomorrow!
Yeah the first day of school was the 2nd! Usually here they start with half days the first week and they have conferences all week in the afternoon. But this year they started with a bang, all day every day!!!! Sweet relief for me! That sounds awful I know, I love my boys but with two little girls at home it is so quiet, peaceful and ohhh so nice!!! (Now the question is, is it so nice we want anther one or so nice we should stop and get to the point where they are all in school sooner.... We shall see!)
Brock is in 1st grade and his best friend from last year is in his class again this year! He is happy about that! He has a new to our school teacher this year. So far I really like her. It was a new experience for me to walk in and think.... "she looks young!" No doubt younger then me! I guess I am hitting that age where I am the "old mom" at the school! (Not the oldest!!!! But I am not the youngest!!!) After all I will turn 30 before the end of this year! OUCH!
Ethan enjoying our traditional first day of school home made cookies. I love to have homemade cookies for my kids the first day of school. I do it more then just the first day but I try to be sure that we do that day! They love it. (So do I!!! Yumm!)
The day before school started (Labor Day) we decided to go to the Zoo. Brock won free tickets at the library this year so we have been looking forward to this! Hayden loves all animals and gets very excited to see them on TV, or in real life! She has a toy elephant that is her most favorite thing. She will sleep with it and carry it everywhere if I let her. On top of that the elephant at the Portland Zoo just had a baby! (days ago!) So we thought fun we will go see the baby! We knew it would be crowded but we figured it didn't matter what we did we would have the same problem. So off we went. We could see the baby but Hayden couldn't because he was asleep and the momma had covered him with sawdust. She has a hard time seeing things unless they move, or are really big. But she saw the big ones and was soooo excited! We are really trying to get her to say words other then NO, Don't, out, off, cheese, mom... I want her to say elephant, and her siblings names. But my kids just will not perform! None of them ever would! But she had a great time pointing at every animal!

I just thought this was funny how a giraffe bends over to eat off the ground!
This was last Friday's project. They were so yummy! I think I ended up with 49 quarts and then I did about 12 pints of jam!!! It tastes soooo good but for some reason didn't get very thick? I haven't made peach jam for years so I am not sure if there was a trick I forgot or not but it still is really good on pancakes!!! It is like fresh peaches!!!!

Before doing the applesauce last Saturday we had some old bread so we took it to feed to the ducks and geese. Again because Hayden loves animals we knew she would love this activity! She laughed a lot it was pretty funny!


Amelia's marshmallow face!The weekend before Labor Day we took the kids camping at Green Peter Lake. It was so much fun! We got there kind of late in the evening and all the camp sites are taken (of course!) But if you have ever been there there are lots of places you can just pull over on the side of the road and camp. They even have fire pits for you to use. So we figured we would just do this. And if you don't want TMI don't read the next few sentences! When we were pulling in Brock asked us "Where will we go to the bathroom?" I told him "On the trees." He paused and said.... "what if we need to poo?" I told him "well you go on the ground and berry it." He made the funniest face and paused and declared "THAT'S GROSS!" I can't say that I disagree but sometimes you do what you gotta doo doo! Anyway as soon as we got out of the truck Ethan started running around saying "We are like wild people!!!" Larry and I could help but laugh and figure we were better off not in a camp site where our rowdy kids could disturb other people!It worked out great and the kids had a blast. Unfortunately I let them eat as many smores as they wanted and they ate an entire bag of marshmallows and we had a heck of a time getting to sleep! But they all had fun!
Brock and his favorite food!
(Brock's middle name is Marshal and Ethan started calling him Brock Marshmallow a year or so ago and now it seems to be soooo fitting since he loves them soooo much!
Trying to get to sleep after pumping the kids full of sugar!!!
In the morning we cleaned up camp and went water skiing. Ethan really has become quite the skier! He goes for a long time and is trying to figure out how to cross the wake! He is like 10 years younger then I was when I learned how to water ski. Which still wouldn't have happened with out the wonderful Ditto Family! It was a nice weekend just with our family relaxing on the lake!

5 comments:

Rachel Berry said...

Holy canning woman! Your my hero. I'm beyond impressed, really. Sounds like you have had a busy summer. You would think that things slow down in the summer but I think it just get faster. It sure is nice to have the kids back in school. I am enjoying my quiet house.

Kelli said...

Wow it looks like you guys have had way too much fun!!!

Julia Shinkle said...

I just read your post about being a Mom! It is so funny that you posted that because I have been feeling much of the same things. This Mom thing is the toughest job I have ever had. There are so many things I would like to improve on as well. But you know what there are so many things that I do well. You are an awesome Mom Amanda and you do soooo much. You know your heart and so does Heavenly Father. I consider my kids such a blessing and a GIFT from Him and he trusts me to do right by them and He thought that I could do it. I find strength in that. You're a star sounds like you are doing better! I'm out!

Kim said...

Wow you have been one busy mama, all your canning looks delicious. Good luck with Primary, glad the boys are liking school.

Alli said...

You're such a domestic diva! You make me feel like domestic crap though - you know I spent 7 hours (not counting clean up time) trying to make applesauce, because we got free apples from my neighbor, but so many of them had bad parts. And guess how many quarts I ended up with........5! I was so dissappointed!