More babies growing...

Mia, Grant, and Liam started preschool today...

Grant

Liam

Had to have a funny face pose!

They did great at drop off. Anxious to hear how the first day went. So very quiet in the house with just little Kate!

Fun Pics

Mia and her "kids." She asked me to take her picture with her "kids" on her lap. Looks like she has about as much lap space as I do when all the kids want to be held! Funny to me that she says they are her kids because she tells me almost everyday that she doesn't ever want to have kids or get married because she wants to live with me forever (must remember this one during the teenage years). Mia and the twins are frequently telling Matt and I that they love us "this much" with their hands out wide. It totally squeezes your heart. She told me this morning that she loved my face and hair and that's why she wants to live with me forever. Hilarious!

Mia and the twins playing "train" while Jackson is at school. Mia and the little boys have bonded since Jackson started school. The three of them start next Tuesday and I think they are all really looking forward to it.

Jackson helping load the dishwasher (momma loves that!) Jackson and Mia are really starting to grow up. Jackson has figured out how to do so many things. He is such a smart kid. I think he can control the TV remote and computer better than some adults can! We read as homework everyday after school, but Matt and I have been asking him to read the books. He really does such a great job. I cannot believe how many words he recognizes and remembers from time to time. He loves school. I really like it that he has some of the same kids in his kindergarten class as in his preschool and Sunday school. We went to our church picnic a few Sundays ago and Jackson and Mia both had friends there that they were excited to see from school. One little girl in Jackson's class has a sister in Mia's class so they were all playing together. At the picnic, Jackson ran over to his friend and grabbed her hand then brought her over for us to meet introducing her as "Charlotte from my school." So cute that he thought to introduce us! I love it that even though we are in a bigger town, we are able to have our own little community with church and school. Although I am a little sad that they are growing so fast, I am really enjoying seeing their personalities develop and seeing what kind of people they are going to be. Fun to see them grow!

Toothless Grin

Jackson lost his first tooth last night right before I got home from work. He was crunching on ice which helped loosen it up and he ended up pulling it out. He was pretty upset at first, but was excited to show me and Nana when we got home. I would say that the tooth fairy brought him a gift, but he totally did NOT want the tooth fairy to visit and refused to put his tooth under his pillow. Too funny!

Big baby Kate

She can hold her own bottle...

She can sit pretty all by herself...

And...watch out! She is on the move and starting to scoot everywhere!

Pat-a-cake with Mamaw

Nothing tastes like homemade

Every year we have had a garden, we say we are going to can/preserve some of the veggies we grow. So far, we have never had the chance to actually follow through. This year, however Matt was insistent that we have a go at canning homemade tomato sauce. It was labor-intensive, but really rewarding (and very delicious!) We both really enjoyed doing it and decided that it should become an annual event. I think having all the kids help when they get older will also be fun. They can each have a "station" and help with blanching, peeling, squeezing, etc. I am looking forward to trying again. We ended up using a spaghetti seasoning packet this time, but decided we would follow the Ball blue book recipe next time. We learned a lot about the water bath canner since we don't have a pressure canner. One thing we discovered is that you can't really use a water bath canner with a glass top oven because there are mechanisms built in to the oven which make it impossible to heat up (not to mention the bottom of the pot is not flat which makes heating difficult). We improvised by using the gas burner on our grill and it worked beautifully!




We processed about 20 pounds of tomatoes and ended up with 7 pint-size jars plus a little extra to eat the next day. We added some sausage and ground beef and it was sooo yummy!



Feeling adventurous, I decided to break out the ice cream maker we got as a wedding present almost 8 years ago (sorry to whomever gifted that to us!) and made homemade vanilla ice cream. My Grandpa Warren always made homemade ice cream growing up and I have a lot of great memories of him cranking the handle for what seemed like forever to a kid, but we ended up with such yummy results! This one was electric and much easier, but still had a learning curve. Matt and I finally got the right amount of ice to salt to make a very delicious homemade vanilla ice cream. The kids loved it even though they did not get to see it being made because I didn't realize the mix had to chill in the fridge for 2 hours before you could put it in the freezer (oops!) Truthfully, as long as they could enjoy the results they didn't miss too much! This picture of Grant says it all!

I think it has his seal of approval!

Matt and I were up until around 1:30am making tomato sauce and ice cream, but it was something really fun to together and rewarding to see what you can do on your own. We will definitely be doing both again!

6 1/2 months??

Where does the time go?