"Can it!"

This was my first year canning all on my own. Up until now I canned peaches with my mother-in-law and grape juice with my grandma. But for various reasons, this fall I was on my own - my first solo attempt at what could quickly become a terrible mess. As if I need more messes around here!

So, after very little preparation, I dove right in. That's my usual M.O. for the unknown. I spend tons of time preparing for the familiar, but when I don't know how to do something I just wing it. So I skimmed over the canning instructions in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and then went and picked a bushel and a half of peaches. There would be no way to eat all of those before they went bad (though I made a valiant effort), so now it was can or die, buried under a mountain of peaches

Thankfully, my friend Jenny came over for round one of canning - I say thankfully because we did it during the afternoon and of course, both kids took bad naps and I spent almost the whole time trying to get them back to sleep while Jenny did all the work. It was fantastic.

I learned my lesson and did the rest of the peaches at night after the kids went to bed. So now there are 17 quarts and 9 pints of peaches sitting in the pantry.

Then came the grapes. I am able to get the grapes for free from Benjy's mom and dad, and it has become one of my favorite fall traditions. Normally I pick the grapes, cart them (and all the accompanying spiders and earwigs) to my grandma's house, wash and sort them, and then watch grandma do all the important work of actually steaming and canning the grapes. Oh, and I get a fabulous lunch which she somehow whips up in 15 minutes out of what appears to be thin air. And then grandpa serves at least 3 courses of desserts, just in case I didn't get full.

Well, this year grandma was not able to be up and around and doing all the work for me. So the grapes and spiders and earwigs came to my house, but the fabulous lunch did not. Neither did the 3 courses of desserts, so I had to just make do by eating 3 times as much of the dessert I had on hand. Not the same, let me tell you!

Grapes are a little easier to juice and can than peaches. Hence, I canned over 60 quarts of juice altogether. In one week!

First batch

Steaming the grapes

The final product

It went really well, except for the very last bit of juice. It wasn't quite enough to fill a jar, so I got what I could and then covered it with plastic wrap to drink the next morning. As I was transferring the jar to the fridge, it just slipped out of my hands. I was able to catch the jar before it smashed on the ground, but the juice went cascading down the shelves of the fridge, splattering against the wall and all over the floor. The kitchen was instantly remodeled with gorgeous shades of purple. Unfortunately, all my kitchen towels and rugs are red, white, and blue - not a good match. Of course, this happened right as we were about to walk out the door on a Friday night, heading to drop off the kids at grandma's so we could go on a date. We still got to go on the date, and now I'm a little less uptight about Annie's spills.

It's all done now and I have a full pantry shelf to show for all the work - and if you've seen my pantry, you will be properly impressed.

Traditions

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

That's right, I am not ashamed to admit I'm already listening to Christmas music. I used to make myself wait until after Thanksgiving, and then I would feel so disappointed because the Christmas season went by way too fast. So Christmas season now starts in October for me. Oh, who am I kidding! I was already buying Christmas presents in February. But the real feeling of excitement starts with all the fall traditions.

Last week we went to Linder Farm's pumpkin patch. Twice. On the same day. And it was so fun that I think we'll do it that way from now on - go once in the morning and then go back in the evening.

So in the morning, the kids and I went with our friends from the Tuesday morning playgroup we go to. It was a beautifully sunny day and we had the place almost completely to ourselves, thanks to the advice to come after 11:00. We got a mini lesson on growing pumkins, got to pet the ponies, took a hay-ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick a pumpkin, and then the kids got to play in the corn bin and the hay bale maze.

Annie and her best friend (other than me),
Boston

"I'll take this one! You carry it, mom."

Annie and friends, Dora and Kaylyn

On the hayride - Riley LOVED it!!

You might be a redneck if your kid's playpen is a tractor tire.

When it was time to go, Annie almost had a meltdown. Thankfully, I was able to comfort her by saying we were coming back that night. It also didn't hurt that we were going to Grandma Cook's house for naps. Crisis averted.

So back we came that night (after Happy Meals at McDonald's) and this time with daddy and all our "flammy." Annie got to ride the barrel train with cousin Ally and run through the maze with Sierra. She was even brave enough to enjoy the swing merry-go-round this year, although the first 30 seconds were rocky. Riely was content to play in the tractor tires.


Handsome guys!



The corn bin, possibly Annie's favorite.

Once she started to enjoy it.

Annie belted out "The Farmer in the Dell"
at the top of her lungs - poor Ally!

At the end of the hayride.

Annie made it through the whole maze
with the help of her cousins.

It was dark by the time we left, and Annie pointed out the "beautiful red stars" (lights on electricity towers). She then proceeded to sing about 14 jumbled verses of "Away in a Manger." Which put Riley right to sleep.

Now you see it, now you don't...

I had to switch out the kids' clothes last week and I suddenly realized - another summer has vanished into thin air. I see its tracks everywhere - swimsuit tan lines on my daughter's back, my husband's tennis shoes green from mowing the lawn, tomatos and zuchinni piling up on the counter faster than we can eat them... But yesterday morning I put Annie in shorts and flip-flops and set off for the morning in the bright sunshine - and she froze!

What happened?! I can't believe summer is already over! Did July and August even happen this year, or did we just skip straight to October?

So time flies when you're having fun, but apparently it rockets when you're having kids. Which is too bad, because with Annie at 2 and Riley at 10 months, if there was ever a time I could slow things down it would be now.

I guess July did come around this year because I've got pictures to prove it. So here are some highlights from the summer:

Ready for the pool!

Learning to stand on his own at 8 months.

Feeding the giraffes at Zoo Boise (more fun
for mommy than for Annie).

With the cousins.

Weekends at the cabin.

Lunch breaks at the park with Benjy.

At the Canyon County Fair with Grandma Beck.

So now summer is over and it's time for fall. We're off to the pumpkin patch today. In WARM CLOTHES!!

Taking the plunge!

For the person who's never even so much as sent a text message in her life, this seems a little ridiculous. A blog? Really?!?

But I'm sinking deeper and deeper under piles of unrecorded memories that will be lost if I keep waiting until I have time to scrapbook them. Like Annie telling me "I love you so much, mom. You're my best friend ever" every time she's sitting on the potty. Bathroom time must be introspection time for toddlers - the only time they're sitting still.

So a blog it is. And it will work because there will be daily accountability - in the form of my sister hounding me to post.

So Serena, this one is for you!