Are we done yet?

 So  the kids and I decided to make a final trip out to the garden since ours in our backyard is pretty much done. As you can see, we harvested a ton of fruit and veggies and needless to say, there are still plenty more veggies to be harvested. I thought I would make one last push to prep these veggies to last us through the winter since my due date is coming up on us fast. Isaac and Elizabeth had a great time today digging up potatoes with my friend, Roger. I think he enjoyed it to. We all came back covered in dirt from the garden and raspberry juice from the raspberry patch. It was a great day and Roger asked if Jim and I would be willing to help him next year with the garden. I told him that Jim would be thrilled to help since Jim LOVES gardening. Of course, Isaac piped in and said that he would help too. This garden has been such a blessing to us and now I need to keep reminding myself of that this next week as I chopping, peeling, cutting, canning, and freezing all of this wonderful goodness.

Today we picked tomatoes, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, potatoes, banana peppers, brusselsprouts, cauliflower, pears, apples, raspberries (those we ate on the way home) and pumpkins.

How Can You NOT Love These Kids?

Elizabeth thought it was so funny to take he picture with her eyes closed. Goob!

34.5 weeks

I am 34.5 weeks pregnant and this pregnancy has gone by really fast. So fast, I only have a couple of "belly" pictures compared to my other two pregnancies. The kids are getting excited for William to make his debut as are Jim and I. A few more weeks and a family of 5 we will soon be.

I love that I can see my belly in the mirror.

How Sweet is the Fruit

I love this picture because it shows the grape juice coming out of Isaac's mouth.



I took the kids today to our friend's property to pick some veggies but mostly to pick some grapes and apples. Of course, the kids had a blast! As we walked up to the grape vines, their sweet smell instantly drew the kids and their sticky little fingers to them. It was only a matter of seconds before they were eating them off the vine. Once the grapes got boring to pick they meandered over to the raspberry patch and started eating them as well. By this time their face was purple and pink from all the juices. Lastly, they helped pick two huge buckets of apples. They were sad to go so I think once Jim and I do buy a home, we need to have some fruit trees/vines/patches for the kids to just sit in and eat.
I brought our goods home and canned 4 gallons of fresh grape juice and tomorrow I will start the slow process of making and then canning the fresh apple juice. I think with the left over meat of the apples, I will make un-sweetened applesauce that I can use for cooking since I already have a few gallons of canned sweetened applesauce. I just hope that we will be able to pick some more goodies at least 1 more time before this baby is born. I love watching the kids run around and eat the fresh fruit like they have died and gone to Heaven.


a

Eating raspberries


Look at what we picked!
Picking raspberries

So Big

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The other day the kids wanted to take some pictures before I took Isaac to school. It wasn't until I looked at the pictures that I realized how big my kids are getting, especially Isaac. They are eachother's best friends and worst enemies. I just thought I would capture a moment of friendship since they requested it.

Bountiful Harvest

I have been canning up a storm lately. In addition to our garden that Jim planted, I met a friend, Roger, (he is 72) that works an acre garden for one of his friends. Roger invited myself along with the family to come and harvest whatever we'd like from the garden. The kids had so much fun running through the corn stalks, picking broccoli, corn, green beans, peppers and tomatoes. They also like playing by the ginormous pumpkins. I don't think there is one vegetable that Roger didn't plant. We came back with a TON of fresh produce along with a huge bucket of fresh picked apples. While we were there we met the owner of the 7 acre property and he said that now since he met us, we are welcome to pick whatever we'd like and we also have access to all of his apple trees and grapes on the property. As Jim and I were picking apples, the kids were hunkered down in the grape vines picking and eating the fresh grapes as if they were candy.

With all of this fresh food, I have canned so far peaches, peach butter, applesauce, halved tomatoes, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, and chili. Today I am canning apple butter and I also think I will be doing some apple juice and apple pie filling in the next week or so. I am also planning on doing some pumpkin. In addition to canning I have froze some grated zucchini, a ton of corn kernels and a ton of green beans. We ate the broccoli and with our cabbage the size of Jim's head, I am going to make and freeze some cabbage rolls. I think between the canning and the freezer meals that I will be making to go in our deep freeze, i should be set and ready for winter.

The kids have enjoyed this process too. Isaac has been a huge help with peeling and de-seeding tomatoes.

First Day of School

Isaac started his first day of school on Sept 1st. In California, Isaac would have started Kindergarten but here in Wisconsin, you need to be 5 years old by Sept 1st. It is really exciting that Isaac gets to do a 4K program. It is basically pre-kindergarten with reading, math, writing, etc but only half day instead of a full day. Next year he will go for a full day in 5K. It is also nice because since it is mandatory through the district, that means one less year of paying for pre-school. His school is a 1/3 of a mile from our home and his teacher's name is Miss Angel. Isaac really seems to enjoy himself and Elizabeth seems to enjoy some time with-out Isaac around.