Before and After

She's been waiting a long time for this. Do you see? Here are the before and after shots:

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Thanksgiving at Our Home

We had a rare treasure - a Thanksgiving all by ourselves. As much as we love having people over for Thanksgiving or going someplace else, it's an especially nice treat to work together as a family to prepare our special meal. The children helped with meal preparations and decorations and that is always a precious time together.

Our decorations always start with these little figurines I made probably in 1992:

Next, we have our favorite menu items - not necessarily ones that I had growing up, but ones collected from the various places we have lived during our 20+ years of marriage. Here's our favorite sweet potato casserole from my friend Martha in Georgia:

Dh always does the bird and stuffing and there are always little "helpers" gathered around testing samples.

Hugs are always a pleasant interruption. The pies can wait one more minute in the oven.

What it looks like at our dinner table minus baby and 19-yr old picture taker.

And we topped it off with pies. This year we had pumpkin and pecan pies. The pecan pie was especially good. I revised my favorite recipe by adding just a bit of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I think we have a new favorite.


We have much to be thankful for. Thank you, God for all your blessings to us! We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

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Pullover

I started this pullover last week: Child's Placket-Neck Pullover. It is from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I just googled to make sure I had the title right and look what I found Corrections for Child's Placket-Neck Pullover

Whew - I'm glad I hadn't gone too far in this project. The corrected version has me casting on 123 stitches and the other version has 122 for the 1-2 yr size. That's an easy "fix". I am making this for my brother's first baby using Blue Moon Worsted Wear 100% Superwash Merino, colorway Bronze. This yarn is wonderful to work with and I love the colorway. I purchased it at Farmhouse Knits in Beaverton.

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Stocking Ornament

Finished this felted Christmas stocking using red Galway yarn. It seemed to be missing something, so gold star nailheads were added. I found the pattern on eBay.

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Sometimes motherhood is just not fun

Last week, dh and I were taking a nap when our 9-yr old woke us up saying that PJ was hurt. We have a child's gate at the bottom of our stairs. When PJ is sleeping, sometimes we use a bungee cord to keep it open (because it's a challenge to open). The door was closed and the bungee cord was just hanging and PJ crawled over to it. He's at the stage where everything goes in the mouth and he put the end of the bungee cord into his mouth . . . . and . . it . as in the hook, yes, the hook. . got. . . stuck, . . .very. . . stuck . . inside. . . .his. . . cheek (yes, like a hook caught in a fish). I'm shivering just thinking about it. When we got there, my 19-yr old had finally gotten it out, but it nearly went through his cheek. He would not let me look in his mouth. I pried his mouth open and could only see one place where it was punctured, but the following day, I found a gouge and the roof of his mouth was pretty raw, too. I watched him like a hawk for the next couple days to make sure there was no infection. You can see the bruise on his left cheek - the bruise is coming from the inside of his mouth. Poor baby. Bungee cord is no more. I am too old for this . . . really!

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Flop #1 and Flop #2

I got this cute bonnet pattern from a book I checked out at the library. I'm kicking myself for not remembering the title. Anyway, this was a quick knit, but I don't like it. The garter stitch ribbing on the bottom does not work well. It should have been written to knit with smaller needles on that part or pick up less stitches. I was hoping to make my baby's head fit into it, but it really looks funny on him. I think I will actually rip out the whole thing. Ho-hum.

Flop #2: I thought I'd make PJ a helmet because he has been pulling hats off his head. I have a vintage pattern and made Size 4. My baby is 9 months, yes he was born quite large (13 pounds), but still, one would think Size 4 would fit. It didn't - it was way too small. F.R.O.G!

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Birthday Girl

Pearly just celebrated her 12th birthday. Here she is with new presents which happened to be pink.

And here is little brother teasing her about her PINK presents. Brothers! Life would be pretty boring without teasing brothers.

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Busy Day

We had a gorgeous day today. Spent some time out in the front yard gardening and a few hours making more applesauce and pear sauce. Pearly had a volleyball tournament all day, so I quickly grabbed some yarn and pattern for brainless project - you know a project that you can start and stop easily when interrupted. Unfortunately, only this amount was accomplished because I was asked to be scorekeeper. Oh well!


Pearly's team placed 2nd in the tournament, but more importantly, the kids did such a great job and showed great sportsmanship. The first tournament, they lost every game, so this was quite an improvement.

Every once in a while, PJ indulges me with some cuddling. A cuddly baby is a rare thing in our household. Only one other baby (out of 7) has been a cuddler, so everything stops when he's in the mood to cuddle. This is pure bliss I tell you!

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Pepper Jelly Update

Despite adding 5 cayenne peppers to increase the heat index from my first batch of pepper jelly, this batch still does not have the kick I want. Here's the recipe I used. Pepper Jelly

Next time, I will add some habenero peppers. Here's an interesting heat index chart for peppers. Habeneros are definitely the hottest pepper. Scoville Pepper Scale

I have been pondering why the jelly didn't have a "kick" when I increased the hot peppers. But thinking back, when I was about 9 month pregnant with our first baby, we went to a Chinese restaurant. There was something on my plate that looked like a shriveled up mushroom. I anxiously put it in my mouth ready to savor it when all of a sudden I thought my head would explode. My mom looked at me and saw my eyes watering and my face completely red. She later told me she thought I'd go into labor. That mushroom was a hot pepper of some kind. I tried water, rice, soy sauce, anything, but nothing was taking away the heat. Finally, the waitress suggested a teaspoon of white sugar. The sugar instantly cut the heat.

Now it makes sense why my pepper jelly isn't producing the strong heat effect I have wanted - the sugar is diminising its impact. Interestingly, when I use even 1/4 of the peppers for my salsa recipe, it's quite hot (there's hardly any sugar in the recipe) - in fact, much hotter than the pepper jelly.

Learn something new everyday.

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Pepper Jelly

My girlfriend made some pepper jelly last week and boy was I hooked. We put it on a whole wheat cracker with cream cheese. Here's the first batch I made on Saturday. I'm making more today as well as hopefully finishing up the last of the applesauce and pear sauce.

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Grapes

We're still busy harvesting the last of our garden produce and fruit. Last week we processed grapes. We got a few gallons of grape juice (pictured). We have 3 colors of grapes - white, pink, and Concord. I don't know if the white and pink are varieties of Concord or not (must make mental note to look that up). For the first time this year, we made grape jelly - actually 19-yr old made it. It was out of this world. Next year, we will focus our efforts on making jelly! It's very easy to make using our juicer.

Grape Juice


Grape Jelly

Sampling of white grapes

Here's the crazy thing - our grape vines decided to grow waaay high vertical - over 2 stories high in the trees next to our property line.

You can see my daughter standing on the roof of our trailer getting what she could. The grapes actually traveled a good 15 feet taller than that.

There were quite a few grapes that we couldn't reach. You can see the bowl/bucket of grapes on the ground (only a small fraction of harvested grapes) and our neighbors trees. The grapes grew nearly to the top of the tree in the middle of the picture.

Next year we will have to try to direct the grapevines to grow horizontally!

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Pumpkin Patch

Just got back from the pumpkin patch. It was HOT in October! Here's my favorite punkin.

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Looking down on my baby sleeping in his crib. . .

Can you sleep in that position? Forget that - can you even GET in that position? LOL

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Having Fun in the Fall

We've had an absolutely gorgeous week - weather in the low 80s. The kids have been having so much fun playing outside. It doesn't get better than this.

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Getting in the Mood

I have seriously been neglecting my knitting. There were a few projects that were put aside because of stumbling blocks - infant vest (better hurry up on that one with my baby growing so fast) and an infant girl sweater.

Pearly's volleyball season has just started, so I'll be able to take some knitting along to the games. I have been so itching to knit. I think socks are calling my name.

I recently found this sweater. I began knitting it probably 8 years ago using a 50s pattern book. The pattern suggested crocheting the button bands. I did not like that at all, so they were knit instead. I'm still not pleased with the tension on the buttonbands and the buttons are a little small for the button holes, so I may redo it, but it's nice to see a baby actually wearing something that was put in a basket for so many years. And - it still has growing room - yeah!



Not the greatest pic, but you get the idea of the sweater. And meet my 1st baby who loves his pacifier. Five of my babies were long-term finger/thumb suckers and one sucked a blanket. This little guy is hooked on his paci. I wish we could keep it to just sleeping time, but he seems to have such a strong sucking need. Don't ask me how many pacifiers we've bought now. I swear they have feet.

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Four Years Old

Bunny is growing up. We celebrated his 4th birthday recently. (Another friend was celebrating her birthday with us, too, so that's why the extra candle is in there.)

One of his gifts was this old wooden animal/farm family set. There are all kinds of cows, pigs, horses, trees, chickens, lambs, even a farmer and his family. I have no idea how old this it, but it is definitely old school and soooo much better than the typical plastic toys we find today. The whole set was . . . . . two bucks. Gotta love a deal like that! We are definitely going to keep this set around for future grandchildren. They just don't make stuff like this anymore, do they?

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Today's Agenda

I spent just a few minutes picking these in the garden this morning. Our goal was to grow enough tomatoes/peppers to make lots of salsa. This very large bowl is just the beginnings of what is left in the garden. We are going to be busy. (I don't know how the ingredients got hyperlinked and can't figure out how to take the underlines out on Blogger - sorry!)

Here's the recipe I use:
8 cups tomatoes, peeled,chopped and drained
2 1/2 cups onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups green peppers
1 cup jalapeno peppers, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons pepper
1/8 cup canning salt
1/3 cup sugar (I use less)
1/3 cup vinegar
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12-ounce) can tomato paste

Mix all together and bring to a slow boil for 10 min.
Seal in jars and cook in hot water bath for 10 min.

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Peppers, Purple Petunias, and Present

My mom gave me a belated birthday present she has been working on. She crocheted this beautiful doily. I love it! I don't know how to crochet much - and especially don't know how to read a pattern. She will be retiring in a few months and I am hoping that she will teach me how to crochet and I will teach her how to knit. I can't wait.

I thought this was pretty - purple Petunias among the peppers.

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Homeschool Day at the Amusement Park

Wow - it's a bit crazy around here. I've been working on projects for the house lately. I took a sheet of scrapbook paper in a shade that I liked to Lowe's and asked the sales clerk if she could match the color for me to paint in our living room. She told me that she had just put a gallon of paint in the "mis-tint" clearance section that was pretty close to the color. It took me only seconds to decide: $5 for a gallon or $28.95 a gallon? I took the paint to the register and the cashier gave me a receipt for $5 off a gallon of paint. I painted my living room for FREE. It's a gold color and gives it a nice updated look.

A week ago, the kids went to "Homeschool Day" at the local amusement park. We had a really nice time and I was able to get a picture of all seven children (which is getting more and more difficult these days).

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Brotherly Love

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Morning Glory

A couple of Christmas' ago, I read a sweet story to my youngest daughter about a young girl who was in an orphanage. Morning Glories played a special part in the story. When she and I were at the store picking out seeds for flowers, we immediately knew we must grow some. They just started blooming a couple weeks ago. I love this color!

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New Tote Bag

Boy, I've been horrible at blogging lately - all the summer activities have been keeping me hopping. A week or so ago, I finished this tote bag. I bought the fabric - a thick canvas print at a garage sale for $.25. The straps (not the right word - my brain is tired) probably cost $2.00. It has a zippered pocket on the outside and one in the inside. I made up the pattern using another bag I have for inspiration. It will be a nice knitting bag - - or maybe library bag - - or beach bag - - it's a versatile bag - lol.

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Pears

I took the first picture on June 16. Now look at all the pears. We had a great year for pears this year. I ate 3 today!

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Back Home for Good

We just got back from our last vacation of the summer - a family camp on Whidbey Island, Washington. We had a great time in the lake, playing volleyball, carpetball, pickle ball, handball, lots of organized games, great speaker, good food that mama didn't have to cook, no dishes, just fun.

PJ decided to pick this week to cut his first 2 teeth, so other than keeping mama up most nights, we had a great time, even though the weather was not that warm. We love family camp!!

Here's a picture of Bunny on the ferry ride going home. Now back to reality - pears are falling of the pear trees, tomatoes are ripening for salsa, must make pesto, pickles, and get ready for the new school year. Time sure has flown this summer!

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Got Blackberries?

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Weird Tree Growth

Here's an interesting tree spotted at the coast. I think it looks pretty cool.

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We're all wrapped around his little finger

I've done this mom "thing" for a while now. My babies have all thrived on routines and this baby is no different. We have a problem, however. With 2 recent camping trips, little PJ has gotten out of his routine. Of course we couldn't let him crawl around in the dirt while camping, so he was held a good bit of the time. Now that we are back at home, he thinks that he should be held all the time. He also thinks that the only way he can sleep is in someone's lap or sucking mama's breast. I actually don't mind it so much except that he seems to be such a fussy baby now. Before, when we had the routine, he would be content to play on the floor for a while, content to be in his exersaucer. Now, if he's not in someone's arms, he is usually fussy. After a few minutes of fussing, 8-yr old brother came to the rescue. He looks pretty happy now, huh?

8-yr old just put him in his crib and now he's crying again ::::sigh::::

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Jetty Repair

While we were at the Oregon coast, we went to the South jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River. The jetty is going through a major repair operation. We saw HUGE 20-ton boulders lifted and then placed into trucks to fix the jetty. Here is a great picture of the project I found. South Jetty

This has got to be a dream job for some adult "boys". The men I was with were sure interested.

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Camping Again

We just got back from another camping trip - 9 days at the Oregon coast. We had a great time with grandparents as well as friends from church. The only negative was that it was chilly pretty much the whole time. Normally we are able to wear shorts at least part of the day. This trip, we all pretty much stayed in our jeans or sweats. Only one day of rain, so that was not bad, either!

Here's one of my favorite pics taken at the coast of PJ. This was by the jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River. I'll be posting more pictures later.

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Twenty-One Years

Dh and I celebrated our 21st anniversary last week. Here's a neat shot my daughter got of us at the coast after our hike (hence the wild hair - lol). It's nice having someone old enough to take pictures. Most of our married life we have pictures of one parent with the children, but very few of us alone together.

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Today's Lunch

The garden is producing a large amount of squash now. In fact, some have overgrown and it is time to "bless" some friends with some I think. My children will enjoy dropping it off at the doorstep, knocking on the door, and then running. My kind of fun. Here was today's lunch: Sauteed patty pan and crooked neck squash with Walla Walla onion and garlic, topped with grated cheddar cheese. Yum. I just found this recipe for patty pan squash. I personally like to eat mine when they are smaller, but this recipe looks great for overgrown size. Patty Pan recipe

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Hiking

The whole family went hiking at Neahkahnie Mountain at the Oregon coast. This was my first hike with the family and of course it was PJ's first hike, too. It was gorgeous. The top was very steep and actually a bit scary thinking about my little children up there. Surprisingly, our 3-yr old kept up with everyone and even meandered around trees making it harder on himself. Our 6-yr old needed to take a few stops. On the way back down, I spotted what looked like a green ball in the greenery. Upon closer look, it was part of a plant of some kind. I took a picture of it and a picture of the leaf that is attached to the vine with the "ball". Does anyone know what this is?

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Cherries

I normally don't put up cherries, but my friend came across a good deal on organic cherries (2nds). They were 20-lb cases for $20, so I ordered 3 cases. I froze half and canned the other half to put on yogurt throughout the year. And this little cherry pitter saved the day ($14.99). However, the little gasket already is mangled and there is only one replacement (with no place to order more).

I wonder if I can get plain rubber at the hardware store so I can cut my own gasket to match?

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Another Year

We celebrated my forty-somethingth birthday today. Dh made his wonderful lasagna (I've told him that I cannot compete with perfection). It was out of this world. My parents and sister-in-law came over. And more raspberry pie for dessert. My parents gave me a gift certificate for a day of pampering at a spa. Whoa - having a hard time wrapping my head around such royal treatment.

Oh, and on Saturday night, my 16-yr old son prepared fried chicken and had help with the mashed potatoes and gravy. All of this good cooking is definitely going to require a heavy dose of gym activity this week. Boy, am I spoiled.

I love the picture of PJ touching Grandpa's beard and Orange boy looking on.

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