There's a First for Everything

Tanner is beyond excited.

I am beyond nervous.

Our apartment is smack dab between the bus stop and the school.  We live less than 3 blocks from the elementary school.  The bus stop is two blocks in the opposite direction.   And for Tanner to ride the bus frees up a good 30 minutes in the morning...so I said, "sure!  Why not?" For him to ride the bus means I don't have to wake up a sleeping baby to go pick him up.  HEAVEN!

He absolutely loved it!

And I think I like the extra 30 minutes to get dishes done, laundry started, and the family room picked up (how in the world does it get trashed the hour before school starts?!).

The question begs, When will I let him walk to the stop by himself?  I'm thinking when he's about 18.  Or at least 10. LOL!

Delicious Winter Ahead

The boys woke up at 5:45 this morning, eager to start the day.  I wanted to sit and read my scriptures and have my own little quiet time, but they decided to bicker, fight, whine, groan, cry, grunt in protest and kick to the curb my fabulous idea.  So, I started in on the case of roma tomatoes I had 'leftover' from salsa on Saturday.  My adorable complaining tripping hazards finally got breakfast at 7:30, after I got the tomatoes in the canner to process. And it was all cleaned up with boys asleep before 12:30 this afternoon.

I'm just so stinking proud of myself!!!   And exhausted.  I don't know HOW in the world my mom did batch after batch after batch of this deliciousness.

done processing

Aren't they pretty?! 

Beautiful

We're going to have one delicious winter at our house!

Left to do:  Green Pepper Jelly (from the peppers grown in our garden)
and a case of pears and three cases of peaches, ordered, and awaiting arrival.  :)  

it's about TIME!

So...it's official! And it's about time.  

Since I've taught hundreds of ladies how to preserve their produce, but never done it myself, I figured there's no better time than NOW.

The Ex-Bonneville County Extension Agent (what does one call oneself who no longer exists?) has finally practiced what she preached.  With only 16 phone calls to my mamma, the REAL professional.

Besides flooding my kitchen, everything went off without a hitch!  Go Me!! (When the pressure-cooker is a-steamin', and the fan is a-whirrin', one should never fill the sink with hot water for jars, then sit down to rest in front of the computer for ten minutes...only to forget...because one cannot hear...the water running.  It only takes about 60 seconds to fill up my sink.  I had one side plugged with hot jars, and the other side filling with cold water for tomatoes, which was also plugged.  So if I was out of the room for ten minutes, there was about 10 sink-fulls of water...everywhere...what a mess.)  Lesson learned.  I told Ryan that from now on, I'm only allowed to 'do' one food at a time...no more doubling up on produce to can!  LOL!

10 quarts of Green Beans: (which are from our garden, and I bribed Tanner and Taylor to help me wash and snip for 2 hours this morning...they.were.troopers.)

many hands make light work

lightning-speed  bean-snapping

The best-darned bean snappers I could hire

I washed and snapped the ends.
Taylor and Tanner snapped the beans into thirds.
We had an exceptional math lesson on fractions.
We also learned about measurements and how big
one inch really is.  I ditched that when Tanner started
measuring every snapped bean against the example. 

Pretty beans, ready to be processed.
(I know...they're a little on the big side, but we just went for it.)

7 pints of Zesty Salsa: (including the hottest peppers EVER! from our garden and featuring delicious tomatoes from the farmer's market....)

I simply cannot wait to get the electric bill for this weekend.  The stove was on pretty much all day.  If it wasn't processing beans, it was cooking down salsa.  At one point, it was processing both beans AND salsa...

First Day of Kindergarten

I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't have taken him in myself, but my first-born is a Kindergarten-er!!!   WHEN did THAT happen?  HOW did THAT happen?

It really snuck (sneaked?) up on me, that's for sure!  We were ready last night, after Father's Blessings and family prayer, and 10 hours of sleep for the little boys.  Despite the fact that we forgot to set out clothes, (so I put his backpack and supplies and clothes out at 12:15 this morning,) we still had a yummy breakfast and got hair combed early enough to snap some pictures. 

Growing up we'd always stand on 'the rock' in the side yard for our "First Day of School Pictures"...and since we don't have a rock, we opted for the front steps.  Of course, Taylor and Kortlen had to be part of the excitement, too!

We walked Tanner to school and found a surprise when we got there - the teacher we thought would be teaching took a retired teacher's place in the 1st grade, so we are now the students of Mrs. Holten.  She is really nice, new to the area, and I hope Tanner is on his best behavior for her!  She has 25 students in both her morning and afternoon classes!  That's a lot of 5 year old boys and girls...wow! 

**Thank heavens for my mom...who brought me boxes of Kleenex's when I was sick last month...I totally forgot to buy some as part of the school supplies!  Guess I'll just restock when I get to the store next time. 

I tell you, I was more nervous than he was!  "Would he be nice to the other kids?  Would he be a friend?  Would he raise his hand or just spurt everything out?  Would he wait his turn?  Would he cry when I left?  Would I cry when I left?"  He did great, and it didn't even phase him when I walked out the door.  

Lucky for me, I was able to step outside my comfort zone and become buddies with a few of the moms there...I'm really excited (the two I met also had boys) to know some of the parents, and we had a very nice visit waiting for our boys to come out the front doors after class.

He is so ready for this.  I am also ready for this.  I have a feeling it's going to be a GREAT year!!! 

I think that even Taylor is ready for this.  :) 

like i said...

I've been busy.  And likely won't be around.  In fact, you can probably count on it...

However, when I do decide to get back into this thing (hopefully before the end of another CRAZY week) there might just be a dozen posts.  I'm not even exaggerating.  Really.  Really, really!

I'm still reading your blogs (which is probably why I'm not updating...too busy doing that!  LOL!) so keep it up!

Abandoned.

My blog.

Not my children.

Though some of these days it'd be nice to get away from them, too.

I have another gazillion pictures from the last month...

...haven't even put them on the computer.

How's THAT for lame?  And abandonment?

______________________

if I had facebook, my status today would read: 

"Getting a new tooth tomorrow.  Beyond excited."  

About a hundred times.  

My tongue has a hole in it where this temporary has been sitting on it.  

Full Day

Today was full.  Ridiculously full.  And for the most part I loved it.  I only wish my boys were on the same page.  During each 'activity', they were pretty good, but in return, they were little monsters when we got home.  Me no likey their attitudes already.  (pictures to come)

Today we:
(9:00 am)   Went to JoAnn's Fabric to get in some fabric therapy for camera straps
(9:45 am)   Dropped off my silk dress and Ryan's suit to the cleaners
(10:00 am) Hurried home to go potty and get water bottles
(10:15 am) Walked to the county fair, where we had fun watching the animals and getting lunch (missed morning naps)
(12:30 pm) On the way home I thought I'd go to the zoo without anybody but my kiddos to tell me what to do (missed afternoon naps)
(2:55 pm)  Got home moments before Daddy and picked up our hurricane stricken apartment
(3:34 pm)  Went swimming as a family
(5:30 pm)  Went grocery shopping as a family
(6:15 pm)  Came home and had delicious BLT's
(8:15 pm)  And took a long two hours to wind down and fall asleep

I just now finished my Amy Butler "Birdie Sling" *with much rejoicing and mess on the floor* while watching 4 episodes of ABC's Expedition Impossible (very inspiring).

Now that it's 1 am, I need to hurry and clean up so tomorrow I can:
(8:30 am)   Go to the dental lab in Rigby to get my new tooth matched because my dentist forgot when I was in Pocatello
(9:30 am)   Pick Raspberries and play at Grandma Poulsen's
(12:00 pm) Hurry home for naps
(3:00 pm)   Get adjusted at the Chiropractor (more update on that later) as I've been undergoing extensive back-work and therapy this summer
(7:00 pm)  attend to my growing garden...poor thing has been neglected for the last two weeks
(whenever I feel like it) And make some invites for an unofficial family reunion in the coming weeks

Totally Worn Out

And I haven't even technically started.

Couponing.  It is stressing me out, and I don't even get the newspaper yet!  I am so overwhelmed by the whole prospect and how much time it's already consumed, that I don't think I can take much more.

Fabulessly Frugal, you're wearing me out.

I check reader a few times a day, and because there's always a GAZILLION new posts from you, I might have to break off this whole relationship.  It's a little much.