Staying Busy!

A friend passed on this adorable little ballet outfit to Annie, which is worn at least twice a day. She LOVES it! She continues to ask to take a ballet class. I explained that we just don't have the money for that right now (while paying $4 for gas!!!), but maybe she could ask for that for her birthday. She was THRILLED when Grandma said yes to that gift suggestion... Emily loves talking on the phone. I've started calling my nieces in Utah (who have unlimited long distance). They will call back and just talk to her while she carries the phone around the house. If they sing then she will join in, but she is just happy to be "BIG!"
We dog sat for a friend last night - Reese. The kids all love him. Ben pretends Reese is a pet horse. It's quite comical! Emily likes to lay on her tummy and be nose-to-nose with him. I wish I could have captured with the camera all that I was seeing with my eyes!
This is ONE plant that is thriving in our sad and dead garden. I thought it was a squash or zucchini plant, but then I saw the following...

Now I think - watermelon or cantaloupe??? I can't remember what I planted there (I was so sure I wouldn't forget!) but I assume watermelons look the same while small and large? If so, we are going to have a TON of watermelon - assuming that these hundreds of flowers get pollinated. We are having some issues with lack of bees around here. I've been self-pollinating the tomatoes and have finally had some success. This afternoon I took to this plant with a Q-tip, so hopefully something will happen soon!!!
Tell me if this isn't the most handsome boy you have seen in a LONG time!
This is the other new-found love that has been taking up so much of my time - cooked JAM!!! I love it! I found some strawberries on sale at Kroger for $1.25 a pound, so I bought 8, made freezer jam and froze a few. Then a friend bought a ton of peaches and taught me how to make cooked jam (((far superior in my opinion - of course, I don't really like eating regular peaches anyway...))) So, I have 8 jars of that (well - minus the two I shared with my mom and sister) in the pantry. I decided I needed more strawberries, so I went Monday and got 8 more to freeze. However, by Tuesday morning we had already eaten two full containers! I needed more and it was the last day of the sale! So I went back Tuesday afternoon to only find the organic strawberries - on sale for $1.25! Yippee!!! This time I bought 16 containers and happened to see blackberries 4 for $5 (same price!!!). Had I remembered how much I LOVE blackberries, I would have bought more than four.

Anyway, I canned this jam yesterday (strawberry and strawberry/blackberry) and made ten Ziploc bags of frozen berries to eat through the fall and winter for smoothies (I did this last year with strawberries and peaches - YUMMY!). Now I just need to find a place in my pantry for these jars.

And for the jars I intend to do next week. Sprouts has just opened down the street from my mom and one of the opening sales is peaches and nectarines for 39 CENTS a pound. You can bet I am going to buy as many of those as I possibly can!!! And them I am going to learn to can peaches... YUMMY!

Andy and I talked this afternoon about Christmas gifts (we like to do food for his co-workers and people in his calling with him - Rudy's BBQ sauce, homemade salsa, Popcorn Papa, etc). I thought we could give people a jar of peach and strawberry jam and then a loaf of homemade bread. HOWEVER - I really don't think I can part with this jam. I would have to dedicate a whole day to making them more jam because I need enough to last through next summer so I don't have to buy that kind in the store with high fructose corn syrup! :)