PAC

Yup, it was unanimous, I am PAC chair again (...still?) Either way I don't mind, I enjoy the position for the most part, I am good at delegating and organizing everyone, plus I love to know what's going on. What I don't like about the job is being the figure head of PAC and dealing with the School Board, luckily no controversy  has arisen, yet!

I've spent all morning doing PAC stuff: writing letters/emails, making coupons and lists, sorting through supplies for harvest lunch and snack shack, dropping off stuff at the school, talking with principal, more writing emails... now I can take a break and watch the noon news hour. Then I'll check to see if I have reply's to the e-mails and if all is good I  won't have much PAC stuff to do for the rest of the week but that's only if I'm lucky!

New Topic: It's Fall!!
And boy oh boy, Mother Nature sure knows how to switch seasons. We had a huge wind storm on Sunday, power was out for most of the day,  lots of damage throughout town, minor destruction here though. Today it's Cold and Wet! Yup, it's fall.

Blerrg, didn't even get a half hour break, just answered a call from the school... and so it continues.

Happy Autumn everyone!

Busy little kitchen

My kitchen has been filled with many wonderful smells and tastes this past month. I've only been canning for a few years now but I can honestly say I enjoy it and love trying new recipes. This was the first year I tried my hand at making jam, it's a bit more work than pickling but the results are wonderful. I didn't have great results using the store bought pectin so I'm mainly trying recipes without it, it takes more heat and stirring but oh so worth it! Can't wait for next summer to try it all over again.
So far I have made: Dill pickles, pickled beets, pickled garlic and carrots; Canned peaches and blush peaches; Blackberry jam, Raspberry jam, 3 berry jam, Strawberry & Balsamic jam, Plum & Apple Jam, and Apple jelly.

Anna scrubbing cucumbers

Jars packed and waiting for the canner

Jars coming out of their "bath"

All done! Now to wait 6 weeks for full pickle taste!

Pickled beets and pickles

Some jars of peaches and berry jam

My Parents came for a visit this past week and generously brought me peaches, plums, apples and boxes and boxes of canning supplies! I'm set for life now! Ivy and I were ohh-ing and ahh-ing over all the cute jars, we'll have lots of fun filling them with homemade goodness!

Back to School

Well, it's that time again. This year it was a little different than the past few years.
The morning of the first day of school, the girls were excited and I was nervous. Why was I nervous? I'm not quite sure, it could be because of the uncertainty towards Anna's diet or just my unwillingness to accept that my children are growing up! How did they get from being tiny little cuddle monkies who needed me for everything to grade school kids who can reach the tap in the bathroom and ride a school bus and read their own bedtime books... but that feeling didn't last long.
As soon as Ivy entered the school, she turned around and grabbed my hand, buried her face into my side and would not let me take Anna into her classroom. I was flabbergasted, I was expecting Anna to have a melt down, (she didn't want to return to school "I want summer all the time Mom!") but not Ivy, not my big grade 3-er, not the girl who begged for summer school and was dancing in the school supply isle.
We dropped off Anna's backpack and supplies in her room, then we went over to Ivy's classroom, Ivy clung to me the whole time. She would not look nor talk to anyone. Once in the room, Ivy looked around, I pointed out her friends and we found an empty desk. She put on a brave face, fought back the tears and settled in. I escaped into the hall to find Lucus (one of the boys I babysit) bawling his eyes out. I quickly hugged him and dried his tears and took him and Anna back into the other room to find his Mom. I turned him over to Tracy and then Anna and I sorted through Anna's supplies got her settled. Then we hear more criing, this time it's a friend of Anna's, her Mom had left and she broke down. I asked Anna how she was and if I could go to the gym to wait for the assembly. Anna was fine, she wondered off to play. I quietly peeked in on Ivy, she looked sullen and was distracted with her teacher.
As I sat in the gym, I felt relieved. My kids are normal, I did not need to feel nervous. This is the forth time we have done this, we are pros!
The first week of school was great, we all adjusted fine. It's good to be back to routines.

Here are a few shots of the girls on their first day of school!

Second part of Summer

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of Summer vacation. How can a lazy summer be so full and busy? I'm going to miss all this free time but all good things must come to an end...
The only thing I wish we did more of was to travel/camp. Too bad Mike's been so busy with work and working on our basement, seems like he's hardly been around.

Ivy spent many a days with her friend Seren, here all three girls are dressed up and showing off toy hamsters.

THE QUILT
All summer, on Tuesdays, the girls had library book clubs. One of the topics at Anna's was quilting and she took a great interest in the book, which turned into guilting me into making her a quilt. I didn't have a pattern nor plan, I just started cutting triangles.

All the material was from my scrap bags.

And sewn on my trusty old sewing machine from the 60's

Close up of stitching triangles.

Anna is holding up a triangle "rope"

The girls were put to work cutting apart the "rope"

After ironing the triangle pairs open, I laid out several designs

We chose a layout we liked and started pining and sewing.

Part of the quilt top (laid on another quilt).

The quilt is not finished, Anna lost interest so it got added to the pile of unfinished projects that I hope to get to when the girls are at school.

The girls got a hold of my camera and snapped off these shots of their Doll standing on a table leg...

I cut the girls hair, Anna really suits short hair!

Ivy's cut is cute too but it's hard to tell in this photo, she has been working with Mike in the basement and she is in need of a bath!

Playdoh! It's fun for all ages!

Mike is showing the girls some new techniques!

This summer has been filled with tons of stuff that the camera didn't capture: Camping with my little bro and his family, an overnight camping/birthday party for a friends son, Ivy's first sleepover with a friend, gardening, yard work, fence building, evening visits with neighbors and friends... it goes on and on!

Well, time to put away the laptop and bring out the school supplies, hopefully I bought enough.
Good bye summer vacation, it's been fun!