Just Peachy!

I keep thinking that today is Friday.  But it's not.  It's only Wednesday (isn't it?  I don't know anymore.  I feel a little lost!)

Anyway, for some reason I woke up in the best mood this morning!  I was dancing in the sunrise!  Well, ok, not the sunrise, but not long after.  I was so full of energy and ready to get 'er done!

Sooooo....

Today, after I took Jimmy to work, I came back home and everyone was whining and crying about something.  Someone looked at someone wrong or someone wasn't sharing the blocks or Jesse knocked over someone's tower...on purpose!  But I was determined not to let that get me down and not to let that chase me out of the house like it usually does.

Usually if the kids are acting like that, I pile them all in the car of stroller and we go somewhere.  This house is so small, and in the summer it's so hot that after a while, we just get tired of being all on top of each other and at least in the car, they can't reach each other and if I turn the radio up loud enough it can kind of drown them out.

Plus, the AC in the Suburban is nice and cool.

Unlike in the house.

But no!  Not today!  No whinies were going to get me down!  So I told them get your shoes on, we're going outside.

But what are we going to DO outside!?!?!  

As if they don't play outside every day anyway.

I honestly don't care what you do outside, said I, just get your shoes on and out the door.  In fact, I said, I don't even care if you have shoes.  Just OUT!

And out we went.  (Jesse was sleeping, so it was do-able with the other 2.  Elizabeth was inside cleaning her room in anticipation of going on a long weekend get-away with Jordan)

So, I took Gabe and Jo, kicking and screaming all the way, out into the back yard where my mother-in-law and I proceeded to cut the brush off the fence on the driveway side of the house.  Then, I cut this ridiculous wire thing that has been rusting on the fence since we bought the house 14.5 years ago!  The mosquitoes were we were working were horrible, so Yolanda and I both had on pants, but Gabriel didn't, and, of course, he refused to listen to us tell him to play in the back with Jo on the swings, so his little legs got bitten so badly!  (But I know that he has no reaction to the bites, so I was not worried, and the little welts were gone by evening.)

Anyway, finally Jo and Gabriel started playing nicely together, so without warning I rewarded them with a Starburst that they had been wanting that for some reason had been hanging out in the fridge for quite some time now.  I am hoping that the praise and positive attention I gave them will help them be able to play better over time.  Hoping.  Against all hope, but still hoping.

Then, it was in the house to feed the baby and make lunch.

Then, Annie came over and I left the kids inside with Elizabeth and Annie while they finished lunch and Yolanda and I dug potatoes.  It was a sorry looking batch or taters we got out of our little plot this year.  Not nearly as many as last year.  I tried and different variety this year, so I will go back to the originals next year, for sure.

Then it was off to nap for Jo and Gabriel, and Jesse fell asleep, too.  Well, actually, Gabriel fell asleep, but Jo didn't and started screaming and crying that she was not tired and didn't want to sleep, so she woke everyone up again after about 10-15 minutes.

But, I was not to be deterred today!

I called a friend who has a pick-up and he came by and took some big toys out of the yard that I have been needing to donate for some time now.  Ok, for some years now.  Ok, like maybe 10 years or so.  But hey, they are those Little Tykes plastic toys, so they look the same as they did when someone gave them to me after their kids used them outside for 5 years or so.

Ahhh, but that's not it!

THEN, after dinner and assembly line bathing, the kids were playing with Jimmy and Elizabeth in the living room and Annie and Yolanda and I actually FINALLY got to can some peaches!

Here are the peaches, ready to be peeled.  They are so delicious!

(Here is Jesse.  He is delicious, too!)

Boiling water...and more water!  The one on the right is for processing, the back for sterilizing and the front  left for blanching.

I think that our peaches were not as ripe as they could have been.  They were really super sweet, but still a bit firm.  They didn't peel easily after blanching, so we had to actually cut the skin off.  Anyone have ideas on how to not have to do that again?

Anyway, here they are, sliced and heating up.

Filling the jars...

Processing...(I love the color refracting through the bubbling water.  Too cool.)

One finished product...

All of them together.  I hope they sealed well.  This is the first time  I have done peaches.
On the right is the peach juice that the peaches made when they were heating mixed with the left over hot apple juice that I used in the packing.  

Anyway, all together, I would say that it was a very productive day!

Getting Elizabeth's last school book in the mail today was just an added bonus!