Other Happenings

I have been slacking on the blogging, but I am trying to stay with my goal of 10 posts a month.

Parker is doing good in school and seems to like it for the most part. He was sent home with a note last week saying that the teacher was having problems with some students in her afternoon class not obeying the rules. After calling and talking with his teacher, I found out that Parker has been disruptive in class letting out random screams being the coat closet. The teacher had told him that he couldn't do that, because it was disruptive to the other students and wanted us to reinforce it at home. Parker is a loud boy and I am sure it is hard for him to be quiet for 3 hours! Hopefully he is doing better, I will check in with the teacher later this week.

Paige says she loves preschool and always is excited to go on the days she does have school. But she has cried in class 2 times! 1 of which I had to go and pick her up because she wouldn't stop crying and the teachers couldn't figure out why. I think she was tired that day. Yesterday she cried a little bit when she was overwhelmed with the work and when she didn't have enough tickets to go to the treasure box. So I guess I need to work with her to not be so emotional over little things. It may be an eventful year. She is still little and some things are still hard for her, so she may just have to do what she thinks she can and call it good.

Paxten is getting big! He is squirmy and trying to move all over the place. He can roll from his back to his tummy. He can stand along the coffee table for quite a long time. I said to Matt the other day "I want another new baby, he is getting too big!" Matt looked at me and said, "No you don't, not right now." he was right, I don't, but I miss having a tiny baby that cuddles and sleeps! I love every stage, but Paxten has grown up faster than my other two. (It seems that way!)

We celebrated my mom's birthday on Sunday with a family get together. Matt made his famous ribs and wings for her, she loved them and loved not having to cook anything. We had fun spending time together and enjoyed what may be one of our last outdoor BBQ's. My mom was recently put in as the Relief Society President and has been very busy trying to figure out that calling. So I am excited to be working with her in the relief society and having her in class on Sundays.

Our ward Primary program was this last Sunday as well. Parker had a small part and did pretty good reciting it. He said. "We are blessed to be led by a living prophet." I worked and worked with him and I thought he had it memorized, but when the time came he still needed help at the microphone. Maybe it was nerves looking out into the congregation and he forgot what he was supposed to say. Nevertheless, the did a good job. I especially enjoyed the program because I actually got to sit and watch it and didn't have to write it, or help the kids. The first time in 5 years!! It was great!

I have done quite a bit of canning this month peaches, pears, pickles, and chili sauce. I also went and took advantage of the case lot sale. My shelves are full and I love that feeling!

Pears!!

I got my pears done last week. They took longer than I was anticipating and were a lot more labor intensive than the peaches the week before. But I managed to get them all done. 26 quarts of wonderful pears. So I am well on my way to having plenty of fruit to get us through the winter!!

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches

I have been feeling a little domestic in the canning department lately. I have done 9 pints of dilly beans, 8 quarts of pickles and I thought I would do peaches and pears. I got a really good deal on a 25 pound box of peaches for like $11 and the pears were $12. So I ordered two boxes of each and the day they arrived the peaches were ready to be canned. So I worked my little tail off for about 4 1/2 hours and managed to can 24 quarts of peaches. I was pretty proud of myself for accomplishing this all by myself, I have never done that big of a canning project by myself. I was exhausted by the time I was finished, but they sure look yummy and now every time I open a jar it will remind me off all the hard work. There is something about preserving your own food for your family, it really makes me feel that I am doing something good for them. My goal is pears this week!

Case Lot Sale!

I happen to get the Idaho State Journal and yesterday inside was the weekly Smith's ad. They are having a huge case lot sale and I went and got my share. I love it when that time of year comes around, when you can buy things in big cases and feel so good about updating and increasing food storage. I was really excited to go, but a little unexcited about taking my children with me. But I was determined to go that day because the sale said "while supplies last" and I didn't want to go at the end of the week and then them be out of all the things I wanted. So I braved the store with my kids and it was successful. Now I was curious about the prices and wondered if they were really a good deal. I am also a fan of winco and they usually have great prices on canned goods and meat and cheese all the time. So I took my list from Smith's and went to winco to compare prices. I was pretty shocked, most of the items on the case lot sale at Smith's were really good prices. Olives were less at Winco and so was pineapple. But the rest was less at Smith's. So after purchasing a cart full of stuff at winco that I wasn't going to get at Smith's I headed to the next store. By then Paige wanted nothing to do with being in the shopping cart, which made the Smith's trip pretty horrible...and embarrassing! I managed to push around a very full and very heavy cart with one hand and made it to the checkout. $190 later I had a van full of canned food and a smile on my face. Paige fell asleep on the way home, which allowed me to unload everything and unpack most of it into my storage room shelves. I have one of those Provident Living rotating shelves for cans, and it is completely full along with 5 cupboards!! I love going inside and seeing all that food and knowing that is something were to happen, we would be alright. So any of you that are out there thinking about getting your storage ready or need a few items, stop buy the store and stock up, you won't regret it!!