Apple sauce

We have a lady in town who let's is pick her apples, we pay her in service by picking up all the rotten ones! We all helped and canned 75 quarts and dried 4 gallon bags!

Summer break week 4!

Saturday morning the three middle kids helped me make 2 batches of cherry jam. They were very helpful and had lots of fun!

Great day at the beach!


Friday afternoon we made a trip to the beach. It was cloudy but warm and no wind. So it was perfect. The kids had so much fun. Even Ruth enjoyed herself for a while!

The boys did a music camp this week and had lots of fun. This was the only picture that wasn't blurry! But I got lots of video. They spent 3 hours each day learning songs, playing instruments, and learning a play that they performed Friday for all the moms. The play was Peter Pan and very funny.

The girls enjoying the pool on one of our extra hot days this week!


This is what Ruth did while we played in the pool one afternoon. She had lots of fun!

 

ON top of all these activities Ethan also mowed Larry's parents grass (while the rest of us picked blue berries) and he mowed Larry's grandma's grass. Both on one of the hottest days of the week. But he was such a trooper and did a great job! We rushed home and jumped in the pool! Including me! Later we walked to Dairy Queen with some friends and got ice cream at 8:00 pm.

100 club!

Last summer I set a goal to fill every jar we own with home canned something! We just about made it. There were a few pints left... (which honestly I only use for jam, and relish and I made PLENTY of that!) So all my quarts were filled though. I was pretty stoked! Then this spring I looked in our garage, (6 months pregnant) and thought hmmmm look at all those empty jars. WHO ate all that food!?! Great now I am going to have to fill them up again and be pregnant while doing it!!! I was actually kind of sad. I decided it was good that we had emptied so many because that means we were using it and that was the purpose right? Right? Ok so I thought well I will just do the minimum to get us by for next year. Then we got started. Larry has been more help then I think is even fair for him but he has been amazing!!! Although at times I wanted to punch him when I would say bring home 3 boxes and he always came home with 4 or MORE!!! But when he would do most of the work and I was basically giving directions and helping I couldn't complain. So this year we have not only refilled our jars but ended up getting some out of a hidden storage in Larry's shop. And we bought a 3 boxes of 4 oz jars because we tried something new Jalapeno Jelly. Which is FABULOUS! So now I am just about to deliver a baby (I hope!!!) But really could be any day now, but tonight Larry and I surpassed my hopes from the beginning of the season and finished our 100th quart of spaghetti sauce!!! One sister from our ward said something in Relief Society about me canning 900 quarts while I am 9 months pregnant on Sunday and I have had at least 3 sisters since ask me about it. I kind of laugh and say no no it wasn't 900 jars this summer!!! Really I didn't can 900 quarts. I asked Larry where this sister might have gotten that number. (Thinking he said something while cleaning the church Saturday.) He said he told her that we have about 900 jars. So yes I probably do have 900 filled, but I didn't fill them all this year. But probably we filled more then 300. Thanks to my wonderful husband who helped a ton and would massage my feet when we were all done! The funny thing is that we aren't done. We still have some tomatoes in our garden to can and we have a neighbor tell us he was going to bring us some too. I keep hoping we can finish this up so we can clean up the mess, put stuff away so that I can finish my "nesting" but I am ready for the baby to get here so I guess I can wait and let Larry clean it up if the baby comes before we finish. Hoping for this weekend!

While Momma's away....

 

Thursday night I went to a book club meeting and while I was out Larry was finishing up one of our canning projects. He let the boys stay up a little while to "help" I hear they actually did some helping but when I went to down load my soccer pictures this afternoon this is what I found. Funny boys!!! At least I got an evening out, and made it home to watch the new episode of "The Office."

Strawberry Heaven!

So this morning I asked Larry if he was going to take the kids to pick strawberries for me so we could make some jam. I told him I didn't need a lot since I had done so much last year... Mental note and duh to me since I already know this about my husband.... Tell him to get half the amount you really want! I told him 2 flats is more then enough. I knew he was picking them so we don't have flats I just sent him with bowls and he wanted buckets for picking into also. I said the 2 bowls full would be plenty (they are giant metal bowls I use for canning). He came home with the two bowls heaping full and 3 buckets full. We made a few calls to see if anyone else wanted some because that was waaaay more then we needed. Luckily we have good friends who were willing to share our "burden" So what do you do when you add.....

1 wonderfully helpful husband

17 boxes of Pectin

34 TBSP of lemon juice

Lots and lots of strawberries!

About 34 cups of sugar

You get about 50 plus pints of the yummiest strawberry jam! Oh you will also need a few hours to mix these all together. But since I have such an amazing husband it took me half as long or less then it would have to do this by my self! He really is the most amazing canning partner I could ask for! Even if he does over do it when it comes to buying the fruit EVERY TIME! You would think that going with him would stop this event but it doesn't he even did it with peaches once while I was standing there telling him to STOP PICKING! Gotta love this man!!! At least he helps me take care of it all. We also froze several gallons whole so that we can use them for waffles latter on, or for strawberry lemon aid. There are several quarts frozen for later also for mixed berry jam. But now my feet hurt so it is time for my wonderful husband to rub them with lotion and paint my toe nails since I can't reach them anymore anyway! Oh and this evening when Amelia told my I should paint my toe nails again (they are pretty chipped and I was painting hers) I told her I couldn't reach them any more and she very sweetly said. "oh yeah cause your getting so fat." Thanks!

Still canning!

So here it is mid November and I am still canning! For me it is so worth the work to look in my garage and see my shelves filled with wonderful things to eat! This week it was Beef and Chili. My wonderful Brothers provided us with a half a beef last year and this year when we went to get it there was still some in our freezer so we decided (since there wasn't room for both) we would can it! I say we but I mean ME! So all week I have made several HUGE batches of Chili with what was left of our stew meat and then caned the few roasts that we had left plain. They will make yummy meals latter! It isn't the prettiest thing in a jar but to me one of the most useful. I can make a whole dinner from what is in there, not just a side or dessert! So it is totally worth it! My only complaint is that canning beef takes FOREVER! Not literally because actually it is much less work in the prep area. But they have to be in the pressure caner for 90 minutes plus who knows how long coming down from pressure before you can even touch them! Oh well my work is finally complete! (Until next year that is!)

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!

Two days after vacation!

So I have been home from vacation 2 whole days. Want to know what I have accomplished? Well I did about 15 loads of laundry (6 of them were sleeping bags!). We even got them folded tonight! Yesterday I went and picked 30 gallons of green beans and today, I canned them (not all of them!) But I did can 56 quarts! Yeah me! My house isn't all back together but give me a break today was Hayden's first day of potty training. She will catch on quickly I think. Right now sitting there is just the quickest way to get a few M&M's but she did have a successful poop already!!! I know to much Information! But it is just so exciting to me that she is even willing to try it! Although a little sad to because that just makes her a little girl instead of a baby. But you gotta strike when the iron is hot!

OH Jam!

This is a few pictures of what I have done the last 2 days!
What do you get when you take a freezer full of berries (from last year)
then add

About 125 Lbs of Sugar (yes you heard me right 125 LBS. of SUGAR!)

Add a case of pectin
You get (=)

This is not showing ALL the jam we ended up with. My table got so full I started moving them out before I was done! But this is several years worth of jam for our family! Not only did we get all this VERY YUMMY jam but I also got, 6 blisters from it boiling onto my skin, two sore feet, one stain on my carpet, 2 stained sinks (I can bleach those), a sticky floor, table, (ok the whole kitchen was sticky,) And one very tired mommy!!! But I will have yummy jam for a long time and that makes me happy and it is so worth it!