Homemade Extravaganza

We have been Busy Bees as summer continues. We have two annual canning events, and one new project.

Every year for the last few years, we have made our own salsa. We have tried different recipes. Last fall I received a new water canning pan for my birthday, so we felt we could make a bigger batch of salsa. 17 pints this summer! It was two days of work (parent days - the time your kids will play well without you). We were exhausted, but it will be worth it to have salsa for most of a year. I think we almost have a recipe down.

We also had a great chokecherry crop this year. Added to last year's crop that we froze, there is lots of jelly and syrup to be made!

First harvest, just from the front end of one tree. Lots of berries are still green!

And our new adventure: brewing. We were sitting at dinner when Scott mentioned we should make our own beer for fun. I said we could look for home kits. That evening he brought up a kit he had bought last year. Because I had been pregnant, he just put it away and surprised me with it when we could both enjoy the beer!

It was pretty easy to set up. Just hoping it works out okay. Either way the boys have fun looking through the side with the flashlight. There is a root beer kit too, which I bet the kids would love. Can you say Root Beer Float? Yum!

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Cut Out the Middle Man

I t was snack time at the Christensen house and I decided to use up some leftover cream cheese and salsa and chips (just lying around -I promise!!) Jack, as it turns out is new to the world of dipping. I used some of his crunchies and dipped it in the salsa cheese mix. He seemed to enjoy the flavor of it. I went into the kitchen to fix us both a drink and when I came back out I realized that Jack decided he'd had enough of the middle man and went right into dipping with the tools God gave him! I laughed so hard I had to share it with you! No One's Around to Catch Me... E xcep t Mom and her camera... I guess he thought it was good bean dip! He ate the rest of the bowl!!

7 Weeks Old!

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go! Smile for Daddy! Baby, You Can Drive My Car Well, Little Jack is almost 8 weeks old now. He has been a busy boy, and we are starting to get into a more regular routine. I think it is good for all involved. We usually get up about when Daddy does at 5:00. Sometimes we get another nap after that first meal, but sometimes we don't. And that's OK. Our new nighttime routine involves bath-time at 7:00 (on bath days) so that he can eat and drift off to sleep and maybe give Mom and Dad an hour before their 9:00 bedtime. Jack can still usually go 4 hours at night. Sometimes we are unlucky and he gets up every 2 hours. This is rare now. Sometimes we are very lucky and he'll sleep 6 to 8 hours. Not too often, but it is a taste of things to come. He is getting really good at holding his head up. I think he gets bored on some days because you cannot just leave him in his bouncy seat - he cries and cries. He went into the doctor's last...

Second First: First day of School!

Well, the day finally came. It felt like we waited a long time, but the day arrived quickly nonetheless. The first day of school! Maybe it seemed to come so soon since the kids start school when they are 2 1/2 or 3 now. Guess there's more to learn than when I was a kid, LOL. It was more stressful than I thought to select a school. We visited a few local(ish) schools and finally settled on Holy Cross Lutheran Early Learning Center . It's only 15 minutes away, which is pretty close for where we live. We liked this preschool mainly because of the small size of the classes. And when we took Jack for a tour he seemed the most comfortable. So I guess in the end the choice was pretty simple - I just over worry about things most of the time. So he goes Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:00 - 12:00. It's an adjustment for all of us, but so far so good. Ready to Leave That was Jack all ready to go on the first day. Eventually he'll grow into that backpack. B...

Five Boys Happy Home

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