1st day of School

School finally started here in Oregon. The kids were very excited for the school year to begin. Cristine is now in her second year of preschool.

Michelle is in 1st grade.

Peter is in 3rd grade.

Abby is now in 5th grade.

Here are all the excited happy kids, waiting to meet their new teachers.

Just Peachy

Our first box of peaches didn't make it into jars, we ate them instead. Last Monday we picked several boxes. By Friday most were ready to can. Due to the mess the cherry juice made, I decided to try canning outside. I think this made the process easier in some ways, but harder in others. I kept forgetting things and had to run back inside for them. Hopefully next time I'll be better prepared. Next on the canning list: tomatoes, green beans, zucchini relish, Bartlett pears...

The sticky part.

The setup.

The end result. What do you think? Blue ribbon at the fair? I think the water was boiling a bit too hard, they seem to be floating more than my second batch.

My Attempt to Become Self Reliant

Every summer I tell Rick that "this" year I am actually going to start canning. With all the pears, peaches, cherries, tomatoes and other veggies we grow around here some may think I should already be elbow deep in fruit peels and sugar syrup. Instead, I find reasons and excuses as to why I avoid it. This year I am determined to bottle up some fruit, boy that sounds familiar doesn't it?

Growing up I watched my mom can a number of different things. It seemed that as the temperature in the kitchen went up, so did my mom's temperament, sorry mom! Maybe that is why I avoid it...

My mother-in-law, until the last few years, was a one woman canning machine. She would put up quarts of green beans, pickled garlic, tomatoes, the best canned peaches-ever and the most beautiful canned pears. Every year she would win stacks of ribbons from the county fair. She also won a few trophies for her amazing pears. Several times I asked if I could help her, hoping to pick up her secrets in the process, only to arrive at her house at the 6am we agreed upon to find that she had already finished up. She was unable to sleep and started to can in the wee house of the morning.

Friday, I decided to throw caution to the wind and make some cherry juice. I picked a couple bowls of cherries, washed them and then threw them into my juicer thing. A little while later I was rewarded with 4 beautiful bottles of deep red juice. Since it was still fairly early in the day and the house wasn't too hot, I decided to make a couple more bottles. Lets just say I shouldn't have tempted fate. While in the other room I started to hear a sizzling noise so I quickly dashed back into the kitchen and found the hose leading out of my juicer had detached. Cherry juice had sprayed all over the floor, rivers had run down the face of the oven and huge puddles were burning on the stove top. I quickly wiped it all up making a sticker mess and continued with my juicing. I ended up with 9 bottles of juice and a somewhat sticky-free floor. Will I attempt to actually can something? Maybe. A friend just dropped off a huge box of fresh peaches.

88 Birthday Wishes

Hana turned 88 this week. This is a big birthday according to Japanese custom. The person turning 88 is supposed to wear RED. (if anyone can explain the purpose and meaning behind this, please leave a comment) The money lei was a gift from her brother and sister in law. Tied to it is $88. Our kids thought that was really cool.

Rick's siblings all pitched in to help with the event, decorating tables, cleaning up the yard, prepping food, etc. Thank you for your help!

We had fun chatting and getting reacquainted with family members.

Happy Birthday Grammy K.

4th of July

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July weekend. We watched a parade, baked in the sun, waded in the river, ate yummy food and too much candy, then watched a fun firework show. How was your weekend?

Peter's Baptism

Peter's baptism actually happened a couple months ago. It was a small, sweet event. Sadly my Erin and Bridger and my parents were unable to make it.

Cross Your Fingers

LUCKY

Lately we have been quite lucky, so lucky that I've been thinking about going out and buying a lottery ticket just to prove it.

In January we found out that Abby and Peter won the Cavity Free Awards from their dentist. The secretary said that they have never had siblings win in the same month. Peter won a super cool penguin, Abby received a $25 gift certificate to our favorite local toy store.

A couple weeks ago we found out that Michelle won the monthly birthday drawing, from the same super cool toy store. She received a fun t-shirt and a $75 gift certificate. What a fun shopping trip that was! (Couldn't find the picture of her in the newspaper and the photo of a photo didn't turn out well)

Friday night was our school's carnival. After several tries at the Hostess Hop (cake walk) Cristine won a cupcake. During the raffle ticket drawing I held mine with anxious hands. Could I continue the tradition? Would my I make my family proud? Then I heard it...33153...my number. I won the Twilight Bo0k Series. Woo Hoo, then rats, I already own them. When I walked to the raffle table the lady behind me said that she had really hoped to win them. So we made a quick switch. Instead of vampires I got 2 cookbooks. Hello, Cupcake! and Katie Brown's Weekends. I haven't looked through the Weekend's book, but we've already used a couple ideas from the cupcake book.

Yesterday on the way to the Little League Opening Ceremony, Michelle picked me a 2 leaf clover. She said I was halfway lucky. She was right. The raffle tickets I'd bought for baseball were losers. Luck only lasts so long.