I Can Can, Can You?

Because I have a half-day Kindergartener, I've had to resort to late-night canning so I'm not interrupted halfway through the process. (As if I get enough sleep as it is.) This is part of the reason I've been so behind on my blogging. I can usually blog a little here and there in the evenings, but those have been pretty well filled up lately. I'm glad to have a little time this morning to catch up, so feel free to read here about Maggie's baptism, here about Dixon's blessing, here about Bishop Smith, here for Brady's visit and here for Bridget's preschool attempts. Now back to the canning post!


While my gardening results fell tragically short of my expectations this year, my canning outcomes were thankfully much better! For me, there's just nothing better than a home-bottled peach, so naturally that's where I started this year! Last year we only purchased 1/2 bushel, which resulted in a mere 12 quarts to last our family an entire year. I wised up and bought about 2 1/2 bushels, and paid about 60 cents/pound going through my co-op. I ended up with 62 quarts of halved and sliced peaches, and learned a couple of things along the way.

1. Use wide-mouthed bottles for halves because my gigantor hand won't fit through the small-mouthed opening to flip the peaches face down, and it's too much time & effort to try to flip the slippery things back over with tongs.
2. Do the canning in shifts so that the peaches don't get a chance to turn brown while patiently waiting to take their turn in the hot tub. Ready enough for one maybe two batches at a time.
   
3. Because I have a "one-butt" kitchen, I don't really have room for pots & pans everywhere. Instead of using up room and making a syrup on the stove, I dissolved sugar & water in a measuring cup, then poured it into each jar. I put them in the canner with warm water, instead of boiling so my jars wouldn't break, then started the timing once it reached a boil. Worked like a charm!
4. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use freestone peaches!

Next was time for the tomatoes Uncle Kim brought me from his garden. {That man produces tomatoes like the Kings produce babies!} This time, we only had enough for 7 pints of raw packed, diced tomatoes in their own juice, but I couldn't help but open one the other day and --heaven, I'm in heaven--they were good! I'm eagerly awaiting the next batch he promised to bring me next week. Bridget even got in on the action while the girls were in school, making her "recipe" of tomato skins, water and dish soap. Her favorite place to be is playing in the kitchen sink!
After tomatoes, it was time for the corn! Thankfully I had a couple of eager beavers helping me to shuck all 50 ears. Katie even said, "Hey Mom, this is just like opening presents!" I may have to reconsider Christmas gifts this year...
I ended up only canning 16 pints of the corn since I ran out of jars. That used up half the corn, so with the other half, I broke the cobs in two, blanched them and packed them into dinner-sized portions in ziplocs for the freezer. I'm going to love myself come February.
I still have a bushel of apples sitting on my kitchen floor waiting to be sliced and dehydrated, and possibly made into apple pie filling. Once the harvest is over and I'm finished preserving all my fruits & veggies for the year, I hope to start on canning my meats. Thankfully apples keep for a long time because this canner's starting to run out of steam.

B & T

So Uncle Brady & Torey finally made it down to see Dixon and they both fell in love with him! It was fun to visit with them for a while, and I think we may have made them a little baby hungry.

Circle in the "Sand"

I had an earlier post about wanting to do some sand writing with Bridget for preschool, and the other day I finally tried it. She spent the majority of the afternoon doing her "homework" and was thrilled to do it over and over and over and over again.

I would draw a shape or a letter on a piece of paper and she'd try to copy it by writing it in the sugar container. She concentrates like her mom--tongue and all! I was amazed at how good she got--especially with her B.

It's a hard letter to write, but she seemed to have mastered it! She also worked on her A...
and went a little freestyle with her picture of me...

and this one of a dragonfly.


Definitely a great activity for her. And me. I got a lot done that afternoon!

Dixon's Blessing

We decided that since most of our friends and family were already gathered for Maggie's baptism, that the smart thing to do would be to have Dixon blessed as well. Efficiency rules! So after Maggie was confirmed and before the closing prayer, Mike was able to give Dixon his name and blessing. Unfortunately, they didn't use a microphone and as soft-spoken as Mike is, it was difficult to hear any of it. At least the nightmare I had about it the night before was only a dream. In it, they were holding Dixon in the circle, dressed all in white and in the middle of the blessing he had a huge blowout, coloring his white outfit a lovely shade of poop. Meanwhile, all those in the circle started laughing hysterically, and they were unable to continue with the blessing. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only mother to have had that same dream. Thankfully, the blessing went off without a hitch, but as a precaution I didn't dress him in all white!


Unfortunately, Aunt Ju missed the baptism and blessing by a couple of days, but she got her Dixon/Max fill when she made a quick trip to Utah on her birthday. Dinner out with her and Mer was a blast--I wish we could do it more often. Love you girls, but we were definitely missing our other sister. Maybe next time, Em!

For then I'll be baptized, you see.

Again, I have a hard time believing that my little girl is eight. It wasn't that long ago that I was holding her in my arms for the first time. Then yesterday she was outside on the deck singing along to her boom box, pretending to be Hannah Montana and knowing every word on her CD. She's just not my little girl anymore.
While I'm realizing more and more how quickly time passes, I love the relationship Maggie and I are developing. Her capacity to understand is growing exponentially, and sometimes I'm in awe of how fully she comprehends things. For example, a few weeks ago she and I were driving to the church for her baptism interview with the Bishop. Our conversation went something like this:

Maggie: "What's an interview, Mom?"
Me: "It's when you visit with someone and they ask you questions."
Maggie: "Why do I have to have an interview to get baptized?"
Me: "Heavenly Father needs to know that you're worthy to be baptized and it's the Bishop's job to make sure you are."
Maggie: "So what will he ask me?"
Me: "He'll ask you things like, 'Do you read your scriptures and pray?' and "Why do you want to get baptized?' Why do you want to get baptized, Maggie?"

Here's where I was expecting Maggie to say something like, "Because I want to." "Because I'm eight." "Because Meagan and Bailei got baptized and now it's my turn." It was then that I was taught by my eight year old daughter. My eyes welled up with tears when she tenderly said, "Because I want to have the Holy Ghost with me ALL the time so he can help me make the right choices and I can feel all warm inside." She gets it! She really gets it, and I couldn't have been happier that her reason for wanting this baptism was right and pure.

Me: "I think that's just about the best answer I've ever heard."


The day of her baptism was a bit frantic, as we discovered that the font--that takes 3 hours to fill--had only started to be filled 30 minutes prior to our arrival at the Stake Center. Needless to say, she was baptized successfully by her dad in about 16 inches of water!
Thank you to Aunt Meredith and Grandma Barbara who gave wonderful talks on Baptism and Confirmation. To Uncle Tyler and Grandpa Paul who gave the prayers and were our witnesses. To Sister Workman who did a fabulous job of helping us fill a little time with her piano playing and leading the children in Primary songs while Maggie got dressed. And to all our friends and family who came and helped make Maggie feel so special on her big day. I can't wait to experience more milestones with Maggie, and I'm so hopeful that she will gain a great testimony of the power of the Holy Ghost in her life.

It's Time to Bloom!

Meg Duerksen Image via OhDeeDoh

Here's a fun giveaway from a brand new blog called BLOOM that I'm already loving! I just love the idea of a reading nook--especially the elevated window seat that the little boy is reading on.
I think I've found Mike's next project!