Friday I took the day off but I took Baylor to school for half a day. I needed the time to work on the boxes of kitchenalia I brought home from Molly's and the boxes of my kitchenalia out in the garage. And clean up the house for the Aunt's meeting on Saturday. I worked my butt off and thankfully it was not a hot day. My cousin DiAnn came over to get some cleaning supplies and some kitchenalia from the garage. She was not able to make it on Saturday and wanted to get her yearly fill of cleaning products. We had a quick visit because I had to pick up Baylor before 1:00.
Unfortunately it was a rainy day and my original plan to take him strawberry picking was dashed. We still went to Oak Grove for more berries and ice cream. The neighbor brought us two quarts of berries on Thursday night. We sat in the living room watching TV while I capped the berries.
These tiny berries were red all the way through and so strawberry tasty. The berries we bought were not quite as red but it was a pretty overcast week.
My dear Molly taught me how to make jam years ago. I went crazy with it a few years but I don't eat a lot of toast or jammy things and I was just giving it away. Then I had a baby and all that stuff went into storage. I have canned a few tomatoes since he was born but we have not tackled jam until today. I started him with the potato masher to break up the berries. He gave it his best effort but he did was not able to make much progress.
So we brought out the chopper and went to town with it.
Until we had four cups of mashed strawberries.
Baylor poured it into the pan.
And added the sugar.
I took over because the idea of stirring for several minutes was totally not his thing. I added the pectin and he came to help with the canning.
He was pretty brave putting the lids and rings on the jars.
He even screwed one down.
Can for 10 minutes and cool. Shazam, our first Strawberry Jam Session.
At bath time this is what I saw while walking past the room. He said he was keeping the water over him to keep him warm. I asked him to go back in so I could take a photo of it and Lori told me not to put in on FB. So it is here.
Saturday was the Aunt's Meeting. I ran around like a crazy person hiding things, I mean cleaning the house. If it were not for visitors I would never clean up. I am not dirty, just cluttery. When Mom arrived Baylor helped her to peel the apples for the fried apples. He is pretty good with the peeler and even peeled a potato earlier this week.
The Aunt's meeting was fun and we had a wonderful time. We ate and talked until after 2:00. Rachel took the boys swimming in the very cold water and they did not stay long. After everyone cleaned out the shelves of toilet bowl cleaner and dish washer tabs, and took some kitchenalia Heather and the kids stayed until after 5:00. Heather, Dad and I put up the canopy on the deck and they held the ladder while I cleaned the gutters on the back of house. They were so clogged with tree material and algae. The water just flooded down the drain when I dug it out. I also dug up several plants in my gardens for Heather to plant at her house. Many of the plants I originally dug from our grandparents. I shared red raspberries but we need to wait for the black raspberries until next spring. We planned a few day trips with the kids which I am really looking forward too. I made dinner for when Lori arrived home and we had a nice evening.
Sunday morning we had a slow start to the morning. It was an odd day that we did not have anywhere to go and nothing planned to do. We ended up doing a little of a lot of things and nothing too much. We made smoothies for breakfast and they turned out to the best smoothy we have ever made. They even had spinach in them and were so good. When we made it outside, my first job was to clean up the rest of the enamelware. Lori would freak if I left it here in her garage. I put a photo on FB and asked if anyone wanted any. Tamela came and took two boxes worth and Jen claimed the yellow stock pot. The rest is back in boxes and I will be working on finding a buyer for it. I just don't have room to keep it all and do not have a need for the several pieces of the same item. It was surprisingly easier to give away than I thought it would be. I have been pretty attached to it for many years and so was Molly. I did keep special pieces and unique pieces.
I had told Baylor that after I cleaned up the garage we were going to have a water balloon fight. He told me several times how excited he was for the water balloon fight but he was also very impatient for it to begin. After I had everything packed up and put away we sat on the stairs and filled balloon after balloon after balloon after balloon. It took a long time to fill enough balloons for both of us.
I made myself the best target I could be but he could not throw them hard enough to burst on me. He threw them at my feet and around me. We loved it so much we did it again!
After that we changed and had a nice little lunch of jammy bread and cantaloupe.
We then did some weeding and gardening until my face was red from the heat. We took a refreshing dip in the pool. It was still pretty cold but we had fun. Then we changed and made lemon poppy seed ice cream. He loved it so much I caught him digging it out of the ice cream maker eating it while it was freezing. He ate the whole bowl of semi frozen ice cream because he did not want to wait any longer.
And we put in the fountain this year. But we decided on no fish because of the trouble with the cats eating them. He was just happy to have more water to play in. I was doing some laundry and went outside to find him throwing mud around the patio. It was bath time for sure and he had his fourth clothing change. We watched TV, ate more melon and waited for Lori to get home. He passed out on the couch around 8:00. It was a wonderful weekend!
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