Birthday Celebrations

I know, it's taking me a while to get things going around here - after all, how long should it take to upload a few photos, right? Well, tough. It always takes longer than it should. But I promise to get my act in gear sooner or later...

Anyway - Big Stinkin' Water Fight

'Cause that's the way we do birthdays

Crock Pot Peach Jam

Very delicious, and nigh on impossible to find in the stores. So make your own!

Fresh Peach Jam

(from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook)

You'll need:

About 2 pounds slightly underripe peaches (7 to 8 large)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

One 1.75 or 2 ounce box powdered pectin (optional)

3 to 4 cups sugar, to taste

1. Peel the peaches by dipping them into a pan of boiling water to loosen the skin, then immediately cool them by holding under cold water. The skins will slip off. Remove the pits. In a large bowl, coarsely crush by hand with a potato masher or pulse a few times in a food processor; you'll have about 5 cups of pulp. combine the peaches and lemon juice in the slow cooker; sprinkle with the pectin, if using (I didn't bother). Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Stir in the sugar. Cover and cook on LOW for 2 1/2 hours, stirring twice.

3. Remove the lid, turn the cooker to HIGH, and cook 2 to 3 hours longer, until the jam achieves the desired consistency. Ladle the warm jam in to clean glass jars & let stand until cool.

To sterilize your jars, either run the jars and lids through the dishwasher or wash in hot, soapy water and heat in a coolish oven (about 300F) for 10 min.

So good, and so easy...

And I forgot to mention yesterday - those cheap boxes of seconds come from Lohr's Farm stand off Snake Lane in Churchville. Go stock up!

Getting ready

There's been a lot of "readying" around here, for various reasons...

Cake, for the big boy's birthday

Harvesting the Roma tomatoes (again - this time for brushetta)
Peach Jam, for whenever (and for the locals, got a massive box of 'seconds' peaches for ten bucks. Can't beat it.)

A sleep sack for the new babe in progress

Eleanor's Christmas sweater (you mean you can't tell??)

We had such a lovely celebratory weekend. Anniversary dinner at Chipparelli's (where Toby finds he doesn't really care for Marsala or breaded chicken the hard way), followed by watching a true master of bocce ball in Little Italy. The new 3 year old, loved his gifts, his cake and his family. This birthday passed the true test of a successful celebration: on the way home from ice cream, he fell asleep in the car and was out for the night. Result.

Expect some birthday photos and a couple of recipes this week.

Mmm, Mmm, Good

First, Abigail's dress - turned out really nice, in spite of a little whoopsy. Still at the rate she grows, it'll be Anna's dress by summer's end. I foresee several more on the horizon, once my machine starts behaving itself again.

Second, d-o-n-u-t-s. Yummy.

I had a craving (as I do) for donuts, and didn't want to spend a fortune at Dunkin Donuts. So I found this rather helpful little sight, and found donut-making to be right up my alley. In fact, it's such a cute little site, I think I shall be going back there again...

They come highly recommended.

5 March

That's the date, just received this morning. Now I just need to get a new calender to write it down...

For those who are concerned (Shelley), please don't be. Toby is sure to remind me that this was how it was with the other babies, so it's sure to pass soon. Your encouragements and prayers are much appreciated, though!

And just to prove that I do get out of the bed occasionally, we went to the Bel Air Farm Fair on Friday. We went with another family from church, which made it even more fun - good friends to play with, more eyes to watch the goings on and a bit of extra energy to go the distance. As it tends to be with these things, we were generally too busy doing to take many pictures, but rest assured, we all had a marvellous time (even when the rain came).

Plus, I was finally able to finish Abigail's dress. No pictures yet, but they'll come soon. The sewing machine managed to make it to the end admirably, just to give up at the start of a new project, so I don't really know when the next project will be attended to. Watch this space...

Just to make up for the shocking lack of visual aids, here's one of the Big Three, post-pool frolicking:

What cuties.

Quiet

It's been a bit quiet these past few days and weeks, mainly because I've been quiet. Stuff is going on around me, and when I feel up to it, I take part, maybe even a photo or two. But mostly, I'm sitting reading or lying in bed. My children have been such blessings to me, too - they help each other out, save most of the bickering until I'm feeling able to deal, make the occasional breakfast or lunch (Abigail's becoming rather proficient in the kitchen), and even pitching in with some extra chores. Wow.

Our camping trip with the Wilsons a couple weeks ago was awesome. We had a brilliant time together, going for walks, playing at the beach, hanging 'round the campfire and paddling in the canoe. Girls who showed no previous interest in boating became converts - result! There was no rain and few bug bites this time round, but it was colder the we expected and we didn't see any bears. We did meet a raccoon, though, so all was not lost...

Look closely enough, and you'll see the paw prints, trying to get to our food

Abigail has now lost both front teeth, and oddly enough, she can still whistle!

I haven't been doing a lot of "making" recently - I either haven't felt up to it or I've been rather uninspired by my current projects. I've been working on this dress for Abi for ages, not because it's hard - quite straightforward, really - but I haven't really been able to get to it. It's going to look so cute when it's done. I've also been doing some charity knitting - one way to work through Grandmom's yarn. A few scarves for this charity, and when I get bored with that, I'll get started on this little ditty for the new babe.

Right now, though, I'll settle for when I feel more human...

And in case anyone is interested:

Pickles are evil

2 slices of pizza are good

3 slices of pizza are very bad

Corn chips are bad

Ginger ale is beautiful

Cheese and cucumber on crackers is divine

Summer lovin'

Such lovely little faces...

The Kindness of God is...

...blessing a most imperfect mother with the opportunity to raise a new child for His glory and my delight (due March).

...keeping me humble with a head cold, lest I become proud and self-sufficient.

...giving me four children to cheer and bless me, in everything from playing sweetly, bringing me food, and making me laugh.

God is good.

Some photos coming soon...

Is this Christianity?

"When Paul says, 'If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink,' he does not mean 'Let's all become lechers.' He means there is a normal, simple, comfortable, ordinary life of human delights that we may enjoy iwth no troubling thoughts of heaven or hell or sin or holiness or God - if there is no resurrection from the dead. And what stunned me about this train of thought is that many of the professing Christians seems to aim at just this - and call it Christianity."

- John Piper, Desiring God

Homemade Bread

For anyone who prefers homemade bread, I highly recommend this recipe. I've been using it myself for some while now, and is the best I've come across. How kind of Anna to share...