Bugged: I just jumped on the internet to look at the new trailer for New Moon, which by the way is fabulous, and noticed that it the movie doesn't even come out until November 20th. What? I totally had it in my head that it was showing November 2nd so basically I have to wait 18 more days on top of the 33 I was already planning on?!? ARG! I am so bugged. Guess I'll have to add some more loops to my paper chain.
So Proud: Daynan scored a goal at his freezing cold soccer game today. Go Daynan!!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
To Can or Not to Can
Rob is always giving me a bad time that I don't can. In fact it has become a hot topic in a joking way between the two of us. It's not that I don't agree with him; I want to learn how to can. It's just that things always go very wrong around the house when I get busy doing something that doesn't involve wiping noses, serving snacks, or some other child-centered activity. I try telling this to Rob and he just doesn't believe me.
Well the other day Rob brought home a box of peaches and they were super yummy, but we just couldn't eat them fast enough and they were starting to go bad. We didn't want to waste them so Rob and I tried to think of what we could do with them. The obvious thing to do would be to can them but seeing as I don't know how to do that, that option was out. Then I remembered my sister-in-law made some peach jam last year and it was delish. I had made strawberry jam before and it really wasn't that bad so I suggested it to Rob and he thought it was a great idea. I told him my only concern was with the amount of peaches we had left we would get a lot of jam. He didn't believe me. Oh well, I thought, if we're going to make jam, let's REALLY make jam.
STEP ONE: PREPARE SUPPLIES
Ran to the store and got everything we needed . . . I thought.
STEP TWO: BLANCHING
Ya I had no idea how to do this so I called my trusted cooking advisors for help. Evidently I must be a real slow learner because it took explanations from my Aunt Teresa, my mother and me reading a selection out the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook before I felt like I knew enough to try it out. So embarrassing!
STEP THREE: JAMMING
Everyone at my house was either sleeping or happy when we started this step. Even Rob was helping happily!
Unfortunately this happiness did not last long. The first problem we ran into was we didn't do a good job of planning in step one. I knew the peaches would make a lot of jam, I just didn't think it would be this much! I ended up running to the store not once, not twice but four times for jars and pectin. Yes you heard me, FOUR!!
The second problem was my kids went from happy to this:
I'll be dreaming about jam tonight.
EPILOGUE:
After we were all done with the jam I asked Rob if he could now see why I don't dothis very often. He said yes. But he still thinks I should learn how to can.
Well the other day Rob brought home a box of peaches and they were super yummy, but we just couldn't eat them fast enough and they were starting to go bad. We didn't want to waste them so Rob and I tried to think of what we could do with them. The obvious thing to do would be to can them but seeing as I don't know how to do that, that option was out. Then I remembered my sister-in-law made some peach jam last year and it was delish. I had made strawberry jam before and it really wasn't that bad so I suggested it to Rob and he thought it was a great idea. I told him my only concern was with the amount of peaches we had left we would get a lot of jam. He didn't believe me. Oh well, I thought, if we're going to make jam, let's REALLY make jam.
STEP ONE: PREPARE SUPPLIES
Ran to the store and got everything we needed . . . I thought.
STEP TWO: BLANCHING
Ya I had no idea how to do this so I called my trusted cooking advisors for help. Evidently I must be a real slow learner because it took explanations from my Aunt Teresa, my mother and me reading a selection out the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook before I felt like I knew enough to try it out. So embarrassing!
STEP THREE: JAMMING
Everyone at my house was either sleeping or happy when we started this step. Even Rob was helping happily!
Unfortunately this happiness did not last long. The first problem we ran into was we didn't do a good job of planning in step one. I knew the peaches would make a lot of jam, I just didn't think it would be this much! I ended up running to the store not once, not twice but four times for jars and pectin. Yes you heard me, FOUR!! The second problem was my kids went from happy to this:
Poor Kids. It's so hard to not have all of mommy's attention :(
Well to make a long story short, after cleaning up many mommy is busy so look what I can get into messes, saying "no . . .No . . .NNNOOO" to children making those messes more times than I care to admit, and trying to keep everyone calm by ensuring them Mommy and Daddy will be done soon . . . we were finally done. And what did we have to show for our 7 hours of hard jamming labor? 49 jars of luscious peach jam.
I'll be dreaming about jam tonight.EPILOGUE:
After we were all done with the jam I asked Rob if he could now see why I don't dothis very often. He said yes. But he still thinks I should learn how to can.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
A Much Needed Change of Scenery
Over Labor Day weekend we went with our cousins Matt, Andra, Jen, Bailey and Aiden to Bear Lake. Our Aunt Teresa joined us on Saturday for the boating fun and to help with the babies. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Because they took so long complaining about how cold it was and that they wanted to go to the beach, the girls got the wet suits. Hey, you snooze (or in this case complain) you lose! Notice the big smiles on Maggie and Bailey's faces (ha ha we got the wet suits!)
After some pretty intense coaxing and several direct threats, they decided to go for it. Hallelujah! We get them loaded on the tube, threw the boat in drive and started to go when we realized . . . Oh no . . . We forgot to hook the tube to the boat. Sorry boys!
We did have a few minor mishaps while the kids were on the tubes. Auntie Jen instructed the kids that when the boat starts pulling the tube they have to lift up on the handles or the tube will sink. Yikes! Well on more than one ocassion the handles didn't get pulled up on quite hard enough so the kids got to take a little swim. BRRRRR. No worries, though, Auntie Jen was there to rescue them!
This was the first time the babies had been on a boat and they did surprisingly well! They mostly just sat on laps and took in the scenery or slept. Teresa kept Bronson entertained by letting him play with her camera. And yes, Kristy, I warned her about what happenned to your camera so she kindly took it from him when we got to the beach. I'm happy to report that no cameras were ruined on this trip. Ya hoo!
When it got to be lunch time we decided to go see Andra's brother who has a cabin on the other side of the lake (lucky). He told us to look for a big red tractor and they were right by it. Apparently a lot of people who have cabins at Bear Lake also have big red tractors because there were a ton of big red tractors. We were getting concerned that we might not find them when Jen and Andra spotted them. Phew. This first picture is of Matt holding Bronson (who is fast asleep) and all the kids looking for the big red tractor. The second picture is of Brooke excited to finally get of the boat and play in the sand!
What can I say, the beach was awesome!
It was getting time to head back for dinner so we all piled in the boat and started to head back. Bailey and Daynan wanted to give tubing one last try. Look Mom; No Hands!
For the rest of us, though, it had been a full day!
This first picture was suppose to be just that, a picture, but somehow it ended up as a movie . . . oops! Andra's sister, Jen, had a boat and so that's where most of our time was spent.
The kids were way excited to go tubing, wait that's not true. Maggie and Bailey were excited to go tubing, but Daynan and Aiden were not. Side note, do these two look like they could be brothers or what?
Because they took so long complaining about how cold it was and that they wanted to go to the beach, the girls got the wet suits. Hey, you snooze (or in this case complain) you lose! Notice the big smiles on Maggie and Bailey's faces (ha ha we got the wet suits!)
After some pretty intense coaxing and several direct threats, they decided to go for it. Hallelujah! We get them loaded on the tube, threw the boat in drive and started to go when we realized . . . Oh no . . . We forgot to hook the tube to the boat. Sorry boys!
After a good laugh, we turned the boat around and hooked them on and were off for reals this time.
We did have a few minor mishaps while the kids were on the tubes. Auntie Jen instructed the kids that when the boat starts pulling the tube they have to lift up on the handles or the tube will sink. Yikes! Well on more than one ocassion the handles didn't get pulled up on quite hard enough so the kids got to take a little swim. BRRRRR. No worries, though, Auntie Jen was there to rescue them!This was the first time the babies had been on a boat and they did surprisingly well! They mostly just sat on laps and took in the scenery or slept. Teresa kept Bronson entertained by letting him play with her camera. And yes, Kristy, I warned her about what happenned to your camera so she kindly took it from him when we got to the beach. I'm happy to report that no cameras were ruined on this trip. Ya hoo! 
When it got to be lunch time we decided to go see Andra's brother who has a cabin on the other side of the lake (lucky). He told us to look for a big red tractor and they were right by it. Apparently a lot of people who have cabins at Bear Lake also have big red tractors because there were a ton of big red tractors. We were getting concerned that we might not find them when Jen and Andra spotted them. Phew. This first picture is of Matt holding Bronson (who is fast asleep) and all the kids looking for the big red tractor. The second picture is of Brooke excited to finally get of the boat and play in the sand!
What can I say, the beach was awesome!
It was getting time to head back for dinner so we all piled in the boat and started to head back. Bailey and Daynan wanted to give tubing one last try. Look Mom; No Hands!
For the rest of us, though, it had been a full day!
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