A Taste of Summer

        Last summer we had a bumper crop of strawberries that are chillin' in the freezer.  We are enjoying all kinds of deliciousness with them like strawberry muffins, angel food cake topped with strawberries, and just plain strawberries.  As we get ready to fill our freezer with meat for the next year, we needed to make some room.   

      Yesterday two quarts of thawed out strawberries turned into four pints and one jelly jar of strawberry jam.  Instead of just crushing the berries I used the food processor to make quick work of it. 

    Next up was my favorite black raspberry jelly. Sadly one quart did not produce enough juice for even half a batch. What do you do when you are in a pinch?  Call Mom.  She didn't have any either, but a few red raspberries worked.  I could have just made jam, but the seeds are a little too much for my taste.     

     Now what would I do with the other half of the pectin box that was open?  There happened to be oranges sitting on the counter.  Why not try orange marmalade.   The next morning that was the jar we opened.  It passed the approval test by everyone, which is surprising because my husband only eats grape jelly from the store.

       What a colorful mixture we will have in the cupboard.

Christmas card

      Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....Evan's first Christmas song.  Ok so he didn't actually sing it, but each time he took a bell ornament off the tree, I would sing and he would shake the bells to the beat. 

      So you say there is a man in a red suit that comes down the chimney and delivers presents to good little girls and boys....

      I don't see anybody.

     Oh, wait maybe I see him.

    His belly was this big.

    

Christmas Day

 A much better family picture at Grandma Peggy's.

   

      Daddy and Evan listening to Santa read them a story.

       

Christmas morning

      Thanks Aunt Chris and Uncle David! With all my toys I could play with your farm place setting was my favorite. 

      Santa brought more farm animals to go with his barn and snow pants with boots. 

Christmas Eve

      Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa.  It is really challenging to get all three boys looking at the camera.

     Our best attempt at a family picture

   Checking out Evan's new barn from Grandpa and Grandma.

     There is a new sheriff, or two, in town. 

      Somebody needs to teach them their holsters go on their hips. 

      See Grandma, we will be angels with them.  We promise not to shoot each other.

Summer/Fall

MEMORIAL WEEKEND

      Uncle Craig took the little ones for a ride during our Memorial Day weekend bonfire.

        They had a great time exploring around in the timber, checking on the cows. 

     Evan got to join them for a short ride before dinner. 

THRESHERS WEEKEND

     Cale climbed the tree to build a tree swing for the boys by Grandma and Grandpa's camper during Threshers.

           It was a major hit all weekend.

     Meanwhile Evan enjoyed his first time on a horse. 

    Cowboy Evan

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

      2015 Grape Festival Pet Parade Float: Clowning Around Under the Big Top.  Evan refused to wear his clown nose.

      These cousins clowned around through the whole parade.  The bigger boys jumped in and out of the pool the whole time giving the crowd some entertainment.

      Meanwhile Evan enjoyed playing in the water even after the parade was done.  Good job on your second place finish.

     Later on Labor Day weekend Evan and Henry enjoyed being pushed around by Jim in their matching dump trucks.

 

MC HOMECOMING

      The next generation of Monmouth students.

 

FALL FUN

       Warm fall days were great for playing in the leaves. 

    Copper, Aunt Heather, and Dad joined in on the fun. 

 

Water line

      We have to watch Evan closely now.  While helping with the water line Evan climbed on the Kabota all my himself.   Not sure how his short little legs managed to climb all the way up. 

       I have a feeling it is going to be hard to keep this boy off anything with a motor. 

Tooth Fairy Pillows

      This weekend I closed up shop on the tooth fairy pillow experience by handing out the last two to my nephews for their birthdays.

       Creating these little creatures was a lot of fun experimenting with various fabrics from the scrap bin. 

        These girlie ones were created with scraps of earlier baby quilts.  The pillows seemed like the perfect project to use them up on.  

      I experimented with a boy version of the tooth pillow, but the monster ones were the most popular. 

    Out of the 27 I created this one was one of my favorites.  I hope the little ones who got these enjoy them as much as I did making them for them.