Week of October 19 - 25

Look! We had a canning project again at the Skinner house! This is actually the only one of the year. I did tomatoes, but I did them on my own, which is fine since you usually only have a little bit at a time. Not so with fruit! Since I found out how much easier it is to can when I put my children to work, I will never go back to doing fruit on my own! They are terrific! We did six boxes of apples (all free from my neighbor) in four hours -- not counting set-up and clean-up. Mariah was at a party when this picture was taken, but when she got back, she helped, too. We even put the neighbor kids to work when they came over to play -- in a Tom Sawyerish type move. Tricky, huh? Canning applesauce is a MESS, so doing it in the backyard was heaven, too. The girls were great and never complained and did everything I asked of them. (Bizarre, huh??) At the end of the day, we canned 15 1/2 gallon bottles and 4 funky bottles that hold 7 cups each which would be the same as 37 quarts. It was a very productive day!

You know, canning in Utah has got to be a lot easier than anywhere else. First, I often get offered free fruit from others' trees or produce from their garden. Second, when I take on a project like this, I can go to my neighbors, who also can, and borrow more pots and canners and strainers, so I can easily set up the production-line you see in the picture. Where else can you live that your neighbors have those kinds of things??!!

Let's see. Everyone went to school this week, although Mariah has not felt well with headaches and a sore throat. The thought of missing school makes her very anxious, though, so she went even so!

The girls all spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house Friday night (except Beth) so Kevin and I got to go out to eat and watch a rented movie completely uninterrupted!

Megan and Sarah joined the new, after-school, school choir and even though they've only been doing it for two weeks and it only meets one day a week, they've been singing the songs together ever since. It is fun, especially since they are not typically my spontaneous singers.

Beth started saying, "No! No! No!" this week. I guess that's what I get for wishing she would start saying a new word -- any word! It's actually very handy for her especially when she's outside and we start bringing her in and she starts squirming and yelling, "No! No! No!" Nice. Actually, she started saying, "Owie," this week, too. She's still signing "down" for when she wants up and signs "eat" pretty regularly. I'm working on the sign for "milk." She also says, "Mom," and "what's that?" But that's all.

Overall, we're doing well. The days are glorious, even though they are getting cool. Take care!