Raspberry Jam

This morning while Rick took one of our kids out for some one-on-one “parent child time” canoeing at the park, I got up and got to work making raspberry jam.  Some years it’s strawberry or blackberry or sometimes a mix of berries but this year for a change we have fresh raspberries.  I washed my jars last night and had gone to the store for lemons and pectin last week so I was set.  The Ball Blue Book is my favorite canning “Bible”.

As I got the berries ready to wash I quickly realized that among several helpers, one was more excited about this venture and planned to be the “most helpful”.

 

She poked her nose around everything but after there was no more water involved things got boring for Miss Sandy and she took off with the kids.  They are nearly always exciting for her.

Jam has to be one of the easiest and quickest things to make and preserve.  And Nathan agrees from his lick of my wooden spoon at the end that it is sweet and delicious right out of the jar without any further preparation.  4 quarts of berries yielded about 20 cups of wonderful, sticky jam for fresh breads at dinner with hot homemade soup this winter and peanut butter sandwiches to cart off to school with the kids; both reminders that summer, with all its freedom, is just a few bends away down the road again.

Fruit Farm – Friday August 13th

We decided to escape the smog alert of the city today and brave the heat outdoors at our favorite fruit farm.  This was a nice way for Rick to enjoy his last day of summer with his family.  We slathered on the sunscreen and donned sun hats.  We got there in the morning so as to avoid the upper 90’s predicted for the afternoon temperature. 

There were tons of raspberries to be picked as we marched out to the field.

The sun warmed berries were very sweet to the taste.  Nathan was uninterested in eating any.  He picked them out of the baskets and tried placing them back on the bushes.  Mostly he stayed close by and picked some tall weeds which my kids affectionately refer to as “Tickle Trees”.  He had a good time.

We brought lots of drinking water in our cooler.

We all picked a basket and helped to fill a few more.

The berries were dark, warm and ripe.  There was plenty of dirt for the kids to find in the field.

Nathan enjoyed wandering a little bit but kept us within his sight.  He turned around on his own if he felt he was venturing to far from familiar faces.

There were lots of bugs to look at, as well.  A pretty big cicada flew out of the raspberries surprising Haley causing her to spill her basket of berries, which she had to try to recover.

 

The bushes were heavy with fruit against a beautiful blue sky. 

We picked nine pints altogether… some for eating… some for homemade jam. 

Aren’t they beautiful berries?

Cider doughnuts!  Our favorite!  We had to get some and the lady in the store threw in a few extra for the kids to have immediately and said thanks to them for braving the intense heat and humidity.  By noon it was already over 90 degrees and we were enduring the humidity level.

Two cute little brothers enjoy being together.

Sun hats and rosy cheeks.

Check out the bunnies!  Tristan is a good big brother to both Kaitlyn and Nathan.

 

Who is inside the farmyard there?

 

A goat… who got a little too close a little too suddenly!

 

Nathan got scared of the goat but his big brother protected him and tried to show him that the goat was nice and liked to be pet.  Nathan was not sold.

A horse came walking out to be with the goats and to check us out.

Then there was the chicken that Kaitlyn decided to chase.  He hid in the trees and bushes cockadoodling  the entire time Kaitlyn sat on the haystack.

The boys try to make friends with the goats AGAIN!

Kaitlyn has a wonderful imagination… all while that rooster sits somewhere behind her cockadoodling still.

The kids can’t leave without spending a few minutes on the swings.  Today they don’t have to share with anyone else.  In a few weeks this farmyard will be exploding with people coming for apple picking season.  They will have to share the swings and take turns then.

Relaxing and beautiful, being out in nature is probably one of the nicest ways to spend a summer day.  Next week we will begin the re-adjustment period of everyone going back to work and school.

A Happy Anniversary!

On Monday August 9th, Rick and I celebrated our 16th Wedding Anniversary!  We remembered a very cool and breezy day in Canada that was ours in 1994 and commented that August in Ontario, Canada is NOT August in southern Ohio.  We remembered how excited we were to begin our lives together back then and realized that we have both grown and changed a lot since then, feeling thankful that life usually adds to you just a few new opportunities for growth at one time… and they do add up.  The life we have now was not anything we could have successfully handled back  then,  we are pretty sure.

After reluctantly saying goodbye to my sister, brother-in-law, and nephews with a rough plan to possibly get together for a day again in a couple months,  we put our younger children down for naps and left our oldest one in charge.  Rick and I went out for a late lunch/early dinner at The Cheesecake Factory; both of us ordering lunch portions of various seafood and chicken pastas after an appetizer of buffalo chicken wraps.  The meal had a flair to it that reminded us of being north and of the dinner we shared on the day we married.  We then shared a piece of their “anniversary” cheesecake… so delicious!

Returning home just before evening we spent a mostly nice Family Council/Family Home Evening with the kids, though a few of them were pretty tired from slumber partying all weekend with each other and their cousin Greg, all in one room.  A game of ladderball out in the yard and some leftover birthday cake for treats, the kids were ready to collapse in their beds.

Once the house was cleaned up from toys, dishes and laundry baskets we shared a few quiet moments together in our candlelit dining area with a bottle of grape juice and some cards with some time to reflect on and look forward to shared adventures.  Isn’t life so full of surprises?

Discussing anniversary gifts several weeks ago, we discovered that the official “LIST” of modern and traditional gifts ends at 15 years and jumps to every 5 or 10 year anniversaries after that.  So we were left to our own imaginations for the first time.  For us, we decided that 16 years meant “large appliance” anniversary and we bought ourselves a dishwasher; a true gift for us both and practically a member of the family after one week of usage!  It was almost enough.  However, I did spend money on a surprise gift… 2 composition books at $1.00 each.  We have realized that we used to write to each other all the time early on in our relationship often leaving post-its on the mirror or scraps of paper tucked into the car wipers and then there were the letters when we were separated by 500 miles.  We loved those notes we got from eachother!  So we each took the others notebook and wrote a letter in it.  It was nice to take the time to write and read and we hope to continue writing to each other in these books as we find it very difficult to have much time together for much of the year with the responsibilities we have and the general busy-ness of having five beautiful children.  This is a personal way to communicate even when the other person is busy and it’s not a scrap of paper that gets lost… and it’s practically free!  So our notebooks are nearby and we can write or read them whenever we want.  It was a nice way to end our evening and begin the next year of our adventures together. 

Fly Swatter

Look what I found!

There are no flies in my house… well, not for long anyway!

Newest Cub Scout

This boy was very excited to go to his first Cub Scout Meeting tonight.

He came home with his first assignment to learn the Cub Scout Promise and the law of the pack.

Very Special Birthday Boy!

Once in a while a child will look forward to having a birthday on a Sunday.  And that was the case for Tristan this year who had the very special occasion of turning 8 and getting baptized on his special day.  The festivities included a “slumber party” of sorts the night before with three siblings and his cousin, Greg who drove 500 miles with his Aunt Rachael, Uncle Isaac and cousin Porter just to be a part of Tristan’s special day.  Our little house was lots of fun and hopping with 11 people living in it and we still got to church on time even with only one bathroom. 

Before church after Tristan was dressed in his new white shirt we let Tristan open several very special gifts.  One was a “Captain Moroni” tie with a CTR tie tac.  Another present was a set of nice scriptures… a black Quad… and a blue CTR scripture bag with a red marking pencil and bookmark.  He also got the story book  called White Shirts.  And he got a baptism book to take with him later in the day so people could sign in at his baptism.  Tristan said he felt very excited.   

Around 5 p.m. after we’d had a birthday dinner of “Haystacks” at Tristan’s request, we headed back to church to prepare for the baptism.  We loaded the car with musical equipment and instruments and lots of food including: raspberry punch, vegi tray, fruited brownie pizza, pumpkin chocolate chip mini-muffins, just-the-best cookies, cream puffs, chocolate softies, and soft rainbow frosted sugar cookies, all homemade over the past few days by me before my out-of-town family guests arrived. 

Above is the table I set up right outside of the R.S. room with his baptism book, the story of the white shirts and Tristan’s very first “white shirt” from the day he was blessed as a sweet little one month old baby.

Here is Tristan with his Dad right before the baptism all dressed and ready in pure white.  He has a good understanding of the covenant he is about to make and is making this good choice with enthusiasm.  We got started promptly.  Our program included a prayer given by Tristan’s friend Joseph and a very good talk on baptism by his Uncle Isaac.  After the baptism and a short opportunity to bear testimonies our family performed a special musical number… Tristan’s favorite song called “Baptism”.  It had been a little too hard for our pianist, a 13 year old friend of Haley’s that Tristan had requested.  We happened to be talking about it last Wednesday at the lunch table and the idea just kind of grew and evolved until Rick decided to spend an hour at the computer after lunch and wrote an arrangement of the song that catered to the instruments and level of ability that our family members have.  I have a very musically talented husband.  Haley played Violin I, I played Violin II, Lindsay played a Violin III part and Tristan played a Cello part while Rick accompanied us.  We had fun learning our parts later that night and the following night.  The harmonization was exciting to the kids and fun.  I will say that I think it sounded better at home but it was still beautiful and very special because Tristan wanted that song so much.  Now we just have to get Kaitlyn and Nathan to find instruments and learn them.  We’ve got a couple years still, however, with them!  Our good friend Luis whom Tristan has loved since infancy was invited to visit and give a talk on the Holy Ghost followed by Tristan’s confirmation with special friends and family members who hold the priesthood gathered around him to participate.  There was a very special feeling and wonderful spirit felt in the room as he received this special gift and a special blessing meant just for him.  Somehow I ended up without pictures of the visiting or the food that we had afterwards.  I was pretty busy making punch and making sure my younger ones were being watched.

Nathan, complete with chocolate drool, helps to clean up the church after refreshments.

I kept Rachael busy after the baptism when the food was all cleaned up and I spent a few minutes visiting with my good friend Carolina.  Rachael took our matching babies for a few pictures as this is the last time they will see each other when they both fit these outfits.  We discovered last month during our visit that we both had good taste as well as similar taste and had purchased the exact same outfit for our boys.  AND more importantly we had both gotten a really good deal on these!  Aren’t they cute in blue?  She took one boy in her arms and walked the other boy by the hand and they almost looked like twins going out to get their pictures.

  

I’m so lucky to have a wonderful sister whom I love so much.  What do some people do without a sister?  And I get to have two sisters!

Uncle Isaac kept busy taking group shots with his camera outside of the church building.

Here are my five.

Here are my five with two of their cousins, Greg and Porter.

Here is a nice shot of my birthday boy, all clean and happy.

Tristan with his younger sister crouched next to him.

Here is our little family.

This turned into kind of a long day.  Finally it was time for presents.

Finally it was time for cake… my kids had stuffed themselves with food at the baptism and were more tired than hungry for cake by this point.

A homemade frosted chocolate chip cheesecake… mmmmmmmm!

We sang to Tristan at the tail end of the day as we presented him with his cake.  He made a special wish, blew out his candles and everyone was served.  We enjoyed cake and conversation outside on the deck by lamplight.  It was a very special day for one of our very special children.