Tomato Party at Lori's House

Somehow, my sister Lori made canning tomato juice sound really fun, so I headed over to her house Wednesday night and got to work. It wasn't too bad and we got a lot done, although it was a very long night, but we did manage to throw in some dinner. You can read about it all on Lori's blog, if you want more details. Lori was able to steal this new juice maker that her FIL bought and it worked great! Also, with a tip from our mom, keeping the jars hot in the oven, saved us a ton of time!This is a picture of Lori stuffing the tomatoes into the machine.This is how the tomato juice comes out of the machine and pours right into the pot we put on the stove to boil.Once the tomato juice has boiled, we pour it into the hot-from-the-oven jars, then place the salt and fresh-from-the-plant basil leaves, then wipe off the top of the jar, put the lids on, then hope and pray that they start to POP (or seal)!

The first night was such a success that we decided to have another night of tomato-juice fun and got a total of 55 jars complete! I also made sure I told Russ that he's going to have to hook me up with some "Russ-sauce" from this tomato concoction. We should be doing some peach canning soon and then next weekend is the spaghetti sauce festival at Lori's, so if anyone wants to volunteer to help with the canning or watching of the children... please call!

Thanks Bob!

While I posted many pictures from my New York vacation, I wasn't really able to have much time to write about the pictures. So, here's something I really wanted to make sure I mention.

When Natalie and I went to Mom and Bob's house, I was seriously joking* with Bob that I wanted homemade cobbler and homemade ice cream... and guess what he did? Oh, yeah!
He made some homemade ice cream and a blueberry crunch cake!

We were able to try some of the ice cream Friday afternoon before going to Shannon's graduation, but still had a ton left over for the Sabbath potluck, AND leftover's a little later, too!

So, this is just a little shout out to Bob: THANKS BOB!

*Seriously joking is the act of saying something in a joking tone, but REALLY meaning what is said... pretty clever, huh?

Shannon's graduation

My sister, Shannon graduated last week with an LPN degree (I think that's what it is... someone correct me, okay?)
It was a pretty long service but it was exciting to see her up on the stage with her daughter Madeline pinning her!

Natalie and Shannon

Shannon and me
Madeline and Shannon
One of my favorite photos!

It was time to go home...

Sunday morning rolled around way too fast and it was time to pack and get ready for the 11-ish hour drive home...
I asked Gracie if she wanted to help me pack and she agreed. Then I asked her if she would go with me. She said, ah-huh! So, I told her to get in my suitcase so I could take her with me. I think I could have pulled it off, too!

Once Hannah heard that Gracie was in my suitcase, ready to go with me, she too wanted to get in my suitcase and have me take a picture!
Gracie was so adorable, just watching me get my stuff packed... then she did something that was the cutest thing in the world! (Check out the next picture!)

For those of you that know me, know that when I get excited about things... as annoying as it is, I scrunch up my shoulders and rub my hands together... AND SO DOES GRACIE! I was so excited to see her do this! It was like I was staring at MINI-ME!!! Isn't she just adorable!

Pictures from grandma and grandpa's farm

I had so much fun the last few days, visiting with Mom and Bob, Shannon and Andy, Ryan and Lisa, and all the kids and animals in between! Here are a few pictures until I can get more time to write about it all. Madeline and Grace at Shannon's graduation.

Corn ready to eat!
Grace eating the corn.
Me and Grace, ready for Church.
Punkin' eating some corn... check out her tongue!
Close up of the ice cream beaters... I asked Tony if he wanted to lick the beaters (there was about a half gallon of ice cream on the beaters!)

The fort Natalie helped Madeline and Hannah build in the woods.
Matt holding one of the little kittens...
Grandma and Gracie.
Gracie.
Ryan: he didn't know I was taking the picture, but I wanted to get one and I knew that if I asked him to look, he'd stop smiling!

Bob and mom posing for Christmas card photos! It was so funny!
Tony and Donna: a spoof of Mom and Bob's photos!

Just thought this was a cute picture...

Good times in New York!

I came to New York to surprise Shannon for her graduation. It's been a great time so far, and I've been able to take some good pictures of the girls, Madeline, Hannah, and Gracie. I don't have much time to write right now, but here are a few pictures to hold my readers over.

This is Madeline at the McDonald's yesterday, while we were eating breakfast.
Madeline
Madeline
Gracie and Hannan at Mom's house
Gracie
Hannah

Gracie

County fair photos

Last night, Rachael called me, begging me to come out to the fair to help her with the kids (plus one the neighbor boy). After she told me she'd buy me a veggie corn dog, I was on my way!

(BTW: these pics are out of order because blogger won't let me move them right now, so I'll fix them later...) Here's Ben on a John Deere Tractor - the fair has a ton of John Deere's and then a lot of "other" tractor-like machines that are NOT JD. Ben was telling me that he knows all about John Deere tractors and diggers. I think I'm going to have to believe him, too!
Here he is, trying to figure out how to start this one.
I think he liked this one a lot. He even climbed up there himself!
Ben and I were in these little old cars, and the one in front of us stopped and wouldn't budge, so we got stuck behind them and eventually had three behind us! The guy, finally, just had us get out.
Here are the kids.
This is the most terrifying ride ever! Katya wanted me to go with... it was just terrible! I thought I was going to be sick, and freaked out... but didn't show it, so Katya didn't call me a baby! Ha-ha!
This is the fair from the view on the top of the Ferris wheel. It was awesome to see so much from up there!
Katya climbed up on this tractor machine, as if she were a mountain climber! A little later, there was a little boy that had climbed up on a tractor and this guy came over and started yelling and swearing at him to get off! And his dad was right there, but the guy was yelling at the kid! He was crying for almost 30 minutes! I saw and at the time was watching all five kids, while Rachael was getting Derrick some lemonade, so I did a "huddle" with the kids and told them not to look now, but there was a guy under the tent that was not very nice and that they should NOT climb on any more machines... so, of course, they all turn around to look, and then Kristen points over there and says, "that guy, right there?" YES! But don't point right at him!!!

Here is Katya after a harsh ride in the bumper cars.

We're waiting in line for a ride here. And the ride was one that you go inside and just lean against the wall, not strapped in, and then it spun us around so fast that you're practically stuck to the wall. It made me a little sick, too.
Katya, Rachael, and Kristen
Katya, Jack, and Ben eating ice cream.
This is Ben "driving" me in the old style car.

Ben and his favorite "Papaya"! (For some reason, papaya is his favorite word to say... when I ask him what he wants to do, he'll say "let's make a papaya!" When he means a pie or something like that. I think I will assume that since papaya is his favorite word, than I am his favorite Auntie!
This is Katya standing in front of that scary ride that goes around and around and then leaves you upside down many, many, too many times! It was terrible! And the guy didn't even check that our seat belts were fastened!
Me and Katya
Ben driving Rachael in the bumper cars.
Ben wanted me to go with him on this slide thing... It was also a little scary because we actually caught some wind, twice!

I did have a lot of fun, through all the terrifying rides... I think maybe I'm just not as brave as I used to be!