Maggie's surgery

After having a terrible stomach ache for two days (and a fever, and throwing up 20+ times, and fatigue, and no appetite...), I finally took Maggie to the ER this week where she was diagnosed with appendicitis!  My poor, poor girl had to have surgery!  She was so brave with her overnight hospital stay and is finally starting to feel a little better today.  I didn't realize that the recovery would be so awful for her (I thought it would be like 2 days--duh): she can't lift heavy things or exert herself for the next 3-4 weeks!  No recess when she returns to school, no P.E., no ballet class...  She has been a trooper.  And, I am so grateful for the sweet people in the world who donate items to hospitals to give to sick kids.  Maggie came home with all kinds of fun stuff: two fleece blankets, flannel jammy pants, a new pillowcase, a couple of new dolls, plus coloring supplies and play dough and other do-dads.  Early birthday presents!

It was tricky to get her diagnosed.  I was reading stuff online before I took her in, and it said appendicitis symptoms in kids can vary greatly, that there are lots of other things that can cause bad tummy aches, and that appendicitis is much more common in children over 10 than under 10.  She did seem to be able to localize the pain to her lower right abdomen, and I asked her several different times to make sure she was consistent in telling me where it hurt.  I didn't know if I was being overly cautious by taking her in to the ER; however, I had to be quite pushy as a parent to have the urgent care doctor (I took her to the Urgent Care next door to the hospital before taking her to the ER) and the ER nurse that checked her in to take me seriously!  The urgent care doctor was just certain it was just a stomach bug ("most stomach viruses last 7-10 days"--whatever) and I had to actually ask her to push on Maggie's stomach to have Maggie tell her where it hurt.  Then she was like, "Oh, the pain seems to be localized in the lower right abdomen!" and sent us over to the ER next door.

The ER nurse that first talked to us said, "Maggie, why are you here today?"  "My tummy hurts."  "Have you gone poop today?" "No."  "Did you go poop yesterday?"  "No."  Then she turns to me and says, "Maggie is probably just constipated."  WITHOUT ASKING ME ANY MORE QUESTIONS LIKE IF SHE HAD ANY OTHER SYMPTOMS!  Then I had to say, "No, Maggie has had a fever, been vomiting, and has had no appetite...oh, yeah, and if you push on her stomach she will tell you exactly where it hurts!!!!"  Well, I wasn't that rude and forceful.  Ha ha.  Then after several hours of other tests, including an ultrasound where her appendix was HUGE, she finally had her surgery.  I must admit that I felt vindicated, like my mother's instinct was correct!!!!

Here's to my sweet, brave girl.  I love you.

The No Good, Very Bad Week

Ok, we have actually had a lot of good things happen this week.  1) Alan just got a promotion at work and started his new position this week.  Yay!!  2) Jared started 2nd grade and LOVES it.  3) Maggie started preschool and LOVES it.  Pictures to come of the kids' 1st day of school.

However, as I was trying to go to bed last night, I was just so churned up about all the LOUSY things that have been happening this week.  All of the following have happened in the last three days:

1) Jared lost a library book, and I have probably spent two hours of my life looking for it with him, because I JUST KNOW IT'S IN HIS ROOM SOMEWHERE!
2) Maggie spilled milk ALL OVER our kitchen floor.  I know, not that big of a deal, but with the week I've had...
3) Evelyn figured out how to take the lid off of my Vaseline and got it all over her hands, hair, and my bedroom floor.  Evelyn has since had a bath, but my carpet is still all greasy.  At least it doesn't have a color.
4) Jared was doing some vacuuming for me and accidentally started sucking up a throw pillow from our couch.  It totally ruined the pillow by chewing out a big chunk of the material. We have only had this throw pillow for about a month and I had gone to THREE different stores to find two matching pillows!  Grr... Also, our vacuum stopped working and smelled all burned as a result of this incident.  I spent all day thinking that our vacuum was broken for good and that we were going to have to buy a new one.  (Turns out that it only needs a new belt or something, which Alan can replace for me.  Whew!)  It is usually quite helpful that Jared is big enough to vacuum a little bit, but we had to have another talk about why we have to be really careful not to run over soft toys or blankets or pillows.
5) I accidentally left a giant bag of frozen mixed berries in the back of my van for 2 days, and it melted ALL over.  I had bought them at Costco, so of course they were not in a grocery sack, so there is a big purple stain the size of a football on the carpet.  I have spent some time spotting it with carpet cleaner and pouring boiling water over it, and it has gotten a bit lighter, but I don't think it's going to get any better.  Not to mention the waste of the giant, expensive bag of berries...
6) Yesterday I was running late to Jared's soccer practice (not my fault) and backed our van into our other compact car that was parked on the driveway. (We are so good about not parking our cars on the driveway, so this has never happened before.)  That just HAD to happen to be the icing on the cake, didn't it?  Now our "new" van has a big dent under one of the taillights and a big scratch to go with it.  Our smaller car has a few little dents above one of the tires, and I also knocked the sideview mirror around (it is starting to fall off).  We probably won't get either car fixed because it is just aesthetic and won't really be worth the cost.  So now I have to be reminded of it whenever I see those dents.

I am usually such a calm person who feels like my life is under control, but I just can't believe the rotten luck I've had this week.  Seriously.  I feel like crying.  Maybe I will.  Do you ever have weeks like this????

Turrrrible week

Yeah. So, since this is my blog, sometimes I get to complain if I want to.

This week we were all sick--Evelyn, Maggie, Jared, me.  In that order.  Fevers, headaches, SORE THROATS. It was awful.  Evelyn also got this horrible, red, pimply rash all over her chin.  Last week I took her to the doctor (not my regular doctor) and he said it was probably just a food allergy.  But would that give her a fever? I asked.  Oh, you're right, probably not, he said.  I don't know, just watch what she eats.   I left the doctor that day wondering why I just paid him money to tell me nothing new ????

2 days later: Maggie and Jared get sick with fevers, headaches, and sore throats.  Jared misses three days of school this week.  (He was really miserable one day, and then he was bouncing off the walls the other days, driving me crazy.  Grrr.)

1 day later: I get sick.  I felt AWFUL. I really hope my kids didn't feel as yucky as I felt, but I'm sure they did.  I was a bit worried it was strep throat, so we alllllllll  piled in the van to go to the doctor (my regular doctor this time) so I could get a strep culture taken.  Negative.  Just a nasty virus we had to wait out.

By today we are all better.

Here's what made the week even worse: It was Maggie's birthday this week.  Not only did we NOT do anything on her actual birthday, but I had to postpone her little preschool birthday party until next week.  I feel so bad for her!

Oh, yeah, and if that's not bad enough, Alan was out of town on business this entire week.  I had no wonderful hubby to take care of me or the kids.  When I am sick, sometimes it just feels like too much to get the kids fed and put to bed.  You know that feeling? I wished soooooooo badly that Alan had been home to put the kids to bed while I crashed.  At the same time I am glad he was gone so he didn't catch it, too.  I'm am so glad we are all better, but now I have to catch up on days' worth of dishes and housework...Oh, joy. At least I get to see me sweet husband again in just a few hours!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fasting from Sweets

I still need to blog about the two little trips our family took this summer (Seattle and Bear Lake), but I wanted to publicly say that last week Alan and I started a fast from desserts and treats.  We have quit cold turkey!  This is not the first time we have done this, but I think it is good for us to do occasionally.  I also know that if we write our goals down we are more likely to follow through with them.  So wish us luck!

My Dad

Steven Curtis 1948-2013

Our wonderful husband, father, Papa, and hero passed away on January 5, 2013 after a courageous eight-year battle with cancer.  He valiantly inspired others and proved that this is still a day of miracles.  Steve was born in Salt Lake City on March 16, 1948 to Emerson and Alice Curtis.  He graduated from Highland High School and served an LDS mission to Northern Germany. He married his eternal sweetheart, Janice, in the Salt Lake Temple. He graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in electrical engineering and received a master's degree from Santa Clara University in California.  He spent the majority of his career designing medical imaging equipment and managing research and development departments.  He loved solving mathematical engineering problems and was granted many patents.

Steve was a man of absolute integrity.  He had sound judgment and great wisdom. He possessed charity for all and so appreciated the love and prayers offered for him during his health struggles.  He left a legacy of love, service, humor, and devotion to his family. He endured to the end with steadfast faith in the Savior and a testimony of the gospel. He was without guile and was a true disciple of Christ.

Steve loved gardening and his beautiful flowers were legendary. He passed on his love of camping and hiking in the mountains and national parks to his family. He loved music and sang every chance he had in choirs, quartets, and duets with Jani and was an excellent choir director. He enjoyed traveling and saw much of the world.

He delighted in the scriptures and was continually immersed in them. He had an extensive knowledge of the gospel and lived its principles with exactness. He served faithfully in many callings, but his favorite was teaching, where he constantly bore his testimony of the love, kindness, and mercy of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

He will be deeply missed by his wife Jani and their children and 14 grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, January 9th at 11:00 a.m.

Potty Training Advice

I have a lot to catch up on with this blog, but I haven't felt much like blogging lately (life pretty much stinks right now).

However, I did want to ask, "What is your favorite potty training method?"  I am going to start potty training the Magpie sometime in February (she will not quite be 3 years old yet), so I want some time to read up on good potty books.  When I potty trained Jared I used this book:

I felt like it was moderately successful, but (of course) it still took months for me to not always be stressed about Jared peeing his pants.  This method used a doll that peed to demonstrate what happens when the dolly pees in the potty and what happens when the dolly has an accident (the child will practice running to the toilet lots of times from the site of the accident and from other areas of the house.)  I liked how it focused on giving treats when the child's pants were dry, NOT when the child performed on the potty.  I will probably incorporate elements of this method again, but I am also up for other ideas.  So, let me know what YOU like to use!

Flooding, again...

Three months ago I posted how we had a minor flood in our basement due to a problem with a pipe in our neighbor's yard (only about 1/2 of one bedroom got wet, and we were able to dry out the carpet and mat quickly.)

Well, two days ago, imagine my surprise and horror when I went down in my basement to grab something and heard what sounded like a WATERFALL coming from the window of that very same bedroom!  It was so awful!  The whole carpet (and all the furniture we were storing in there) was drenched in gallons of water, plus the water seeped under the wall into the neighboring bedroom and down the hallway as well.  I called Alan first to ask him if he could come home from work and then he and I both made phone calls to neighbors to get some help.

We had about 7 or 8 people come to help clear out the water in the window well (it was 2/3 full--likely from a sprinkler problem in our own yard this time--we haven't had time to diagnose it yet, although the water outside is turned OFF) and also the rooms in the basement.  We ripped up the carpet completely in one bedroom and then got fans blowing in the other room and the hall.  People who came to help were so nice!  Seriously.  Several of them stayed several hours and one couple in my ward even left to bring back a couple of pizzas and some root beer.  Wow.

Yesterday, after talking to a couple of people that had dealt with floods I got all freaked out about mold in the drywall, so we decided we needed professional help.  We called our home insurance company and had them send out a restoration company, whom we are paying a LOT of money to use their big fans and de-humidifiers for three days.  They also sprayed some kind of anti-microbial cleaner under all the carpet that is still intact downstairs.  We are going to have to repaint the room ourselves, replace the carpet padding ourselves, and get our carpet re-installed (we saved it--it is currently draped over our big playground in our backyard.  I hope it doesn't rain soon.).  Furniture is scattered all over the basement and I sort of hate the chaos that our basement will be in for the next couple of months until we get this all sorted out.  As anyone else who has had flooding knows, it is totally lame.

I'm having kind of a lousy week.

A Summer of Firsts

This has been an amazing summer for me, full of many firsts.  

1.  It was our first experience with flooding in our basement.  Due to a broken sprinkler pipe in our neighbor's yard, one of our window wells filled up with water and leaked through the window sill, down the wall, and onto the carpet.  Luckily, Alan happened to be sleeping in that basement bedroom that night (he was feeling nauseous and didn't want to get me sick since I seem to catch everything.)  It happened again during the day while Alan was at work and I frantically called some neighbors.  My 7-month-pregnant neighbor Summer came to the rescue for me.  She knew of people on the street that had sump pumps, and she spent a couple hours vacuuming up the water in the carpet.  We spent the next 5 days airing out our carpet and carpet padding with fans before we were able to tack the carpet back down.

2. Alan and I ate at the Roof Restaurant for the first time.  For my parents' anniversary, they treated all of their children and spouses to dinner at the Roof to sort of thank us for the anniversary party that we surprised them with last summer.  I don't think I'll ever be able to afford to eat there again, but I swear my life will never be the same after eating there.  A-MAZING food. 

3. I had my first allergic reaction to a prescription: amoxicillin.  Who knew I was allergic to it?  I used to have it all the time as a kid.  I was prescribed it to take care of a sinus infection and broke out in a horrible rash that lasted about 5 days.  I seriously looked like I had the measles or something.  It was crazy.

4. Last night, Alan and I went with six other members of my family to see this for the first time:

Wow, it was amazing.  Now I understand what all the big hype is about it.  I couldn't fall asleep because I was re-playing it in my mind for forever.  We bought our tickets last December, so it's been fun to look forward to this for eight months.  Now I'm dying to see it again!

Preschool

Jared right before his first day of preschool

Better late than never, right??

Here is a post dedicated to Jared's first day of preschool. He's been going now for a few weeks, and he loves it! (I must admit that I am loving it, too, and am wishing it was three days a week instead of two... I didn't even cry on his first day.) He loves the endless crafts and keeps talking about a friend named MaKenna and how much he loves that name. Today he told me we need to name our next baby MaKenna. No, this is not an announcement.

Cute random picture of Maggie. I love her pigtail.

Jared sporting one of the endless handouts he brings home from Sunbeams on Sunday.

Resolutions

Alan and I discussed and wrote down some New Year's Resolutions at the beginning of this year. We've been pretty good about keeping most of them, something that doesn't usually happen! Anyway, among our list was to exercise a specific number of times each week and to try and eat less sweets (we usually try to only eat treats on weekends.)

Well, I read in a magazine article that a good way to motivate yourself to exercise is to pay yourself a dollar for every mile you run/jog/walk. (Apparently this helps if looking good and feeling good about yourself isn't sufficient motivation!) The money you make can then be used to buy whatever you want! Alan and I decided to do this for ourselves, but we decided a dollar was too much so we are paying ourselves 50 cents for every mile we jog or walk on our treadmill. Furthermore, we each get a quarter for every day that we don't have any sweets. The general idea is for each of us to earn $15 or so each month to spend on whatever. Truthfully, it will probably be spent on food: Alan will use his money to go out to lunch occasionally with his coworkers, and I will probably use my money to go out to lunch with friends or get some Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets just for the heck of it when I'm out and about. Ha ha, I guess that somewhat defeats the purpose of exercising! But it's nice to not feel guilty about spending unnecessary money if we've "earned" it.

Anyway, we've only started paying ourselves for exercising and eating right starting this month, so I'm not sure yet how successful it will be. But it's fun to see the money in my account growing!

How do you motivate yourself to eat right and exercise?

Fingerpainting

Yesterday during her naptime, Maggie discovered "fingerpainting." She spread the "fingerpaint" all over her sheets, blankets, and clothes. She also decided to see what the "fingerpaint" tasted like. I discovered the mess about 3 minutes before my neighbor arrived for me to tutor. Needless to say, Maggie will now ALWAYS wear a onesie underneath her clothes to prevent access to the "fingerpaint."

I think I got a few gray hairs yesterday.

[Somehow we managed to avoid any sort of "fingerpainting" episode when Jared was a baby. Lucky us.]

Mourning

Yesterday was one of those "Jonah Days," to cite Anne of Green Gables. Or maybe it's an idiom that already existed. Hmm...

Anyhow, I was feeling really sorry for myself yesterday afternoon. Here is what I was feeling sad about, in no particular order:

• Christmas. I miss it.
• Outdoor Christmas lights. Our house is one of two houses on our street with its lights still on. The other house had its lights up last year until March. Not kidding. I guess it's time to take ours down.
• My husband, who is working extra hours now that it's his "busy season." He works late, comes home to eat something, and then works a couple hours more from home before going to bed.
• Our Christmas tree. Last night I put away all the ornaments while Alan was in our basement working. Fun way to spend an evening.
  
• The friendship of a dear friend who just moved out of state. We said goodbye just a couple of days ago.
• The weather. Once Christmas is over, spring should come!
• The person in this world that I talk to most often on the phone (besides Alan) just left on vacation. I was really missing adult conversation.
• My happy baby hasn't been so happy lately. She decided to sprout FOUR teeth within three weeks and hasn't enjoyed the whole experience. That makes two of us.

I know I don't REALLY have much to complain about compared with many others right now, but for some reason yesterday just seemed extra hard. I think it's mostly the "after Christmas blues" and the fact that being a mom can be sooooooo tiring and redundant at times! I think I just need to take some more time for myself sans children. Girls night out, anyone?

Night-time potty training

When I started potty training Jared about 5 months ago, I was advised by several friends to ditch the diapers entirely during naptime (which I have done) and also during nighttime (which I have not). Jared rarely takes naps anymore, but when he does, I have found that if I let him wake up on his own then he will wet the bed. However, if I wake him up first, then we can make it to the potty in time.

I recently talked with two different friends that have 3-year-old boys who are potty trained at night. One friend says her boy just gets up by himself to go if he needs to; the other friend wakes up her boy once around 11:00 pm to go so that he can make it through the rest of the night.

So, a few days ago I decided to try underwear at night with Jared. I limit his drinks after dinner, make him go right before bed, and then wake him up around 11:00 to go again. We put a night light in his bathroom and talked about how he needs to get up first thing in the morning when he wakes up. We have now had four unsuccessful nights. He sleeps right through it, and wet pj's don't seem to bother him. I'm sick of doing laundry. I'm wondering whether I should stick with it for a while longer or if I should just go back to diapers. I've been reading online that boys often take longer to potty train at night, but I really don't want to have one of those boys that wears Pull-Ups at night until he's 7 or 8. Any advice?

A Maggie Post

Wow, it's amazing how fast time has gone by! In an attempt to maintain some privacy without making this blog private, I am choosing not to talk about certain things regarding Maggie's birth, including the exact day she was born or her full name. Let me just say, however, that things went extremely quickly with her birth. I was dilated to a 5 when I checked in to the hospital and went from a 6 to a 9 within 20 minutes. She was born when I had been there not even 3 hours (I only had to push through 2 contractions and was like, "What? She came out already?"). Things went pretty smoothly; however, she had poor color and a hard time breathing when she was born, so they had to whisk her away to the nursery to make sure she was all right. I didn't really get to hold her for the first three hours of her life, but I have since made up for it. :)

Jared's first time holding Maggie


Our first family picture. This was the best we could get Jared to look.

These past couple of weeks have been WAY better than I expected. Things were REALLY hard the first few weeks of Jared's life, so I was expecting them to be just as crazy again. However, other than a few glitches here and there (including jaundice and a bili blanket for Maggie for a few days and lots of wet underpants for Jared), things have been pretty good. Alan was home on paternity leave for a week, and my mom and mother-in-law have been around to help, too. We'll see how I feel when I am REALLY on my own.

My recovery feels like it's going much faster than with Jared, breastfeeding is TONS easier than it was with Jared, and Maggie also seems to be less maintenance than Jared was. She will let us put her down on bouncers, etc, instead of having to hold her all the time! Also, she has been pretty good about not being awake for hours at a time in the middle of the night. I hope she continues to do so!

Our little "glowworm." This is when Maggie had to be plugged into to wall for her jaundice. I'm not sure why it was called a bili blanket--it doesn't look like a blanket at all. From what I understand, the bili blanket is far less stressful than the bili bed that some of my friend's babies have had to lie on! At least we could still hold her!

So far Jared has been such a good big brother. He keeps on pointing out how cute his little sister's features are: "Look at her cute little nose! her cute little dimples! her cute little feet!" and always says "I love my baby sister!" It probably helps that Maggie "gave" Jared this awesome tent and tunnel set when she came home from the hospital:

Here is a picture from just a few days ago. I will try to find time to post more!

Thanks, Aunt Shawna, for the dress!

A Piece of This Week

A few days ago Jared had the stomach flu. Then, two nights ago, I had the stomach flu. Let me tell you, being 38 weeks preggy and barfing literally every 20 minutes all night long (well, until 4:30) do not mix. I kept thinking to myself, "The only thing that would make this worse is going into labor right now." And part of me was worried that all that retching would somehow induce labor. Yuck. Yesterday my body was so achy (especially my tummy muscles) that I felt like I had run a marathon. Not that I know what it feels like to run one or anything.

To top it all off, my sweet little Jared seems to still have some kind of stomach bug. He barfed once this morning, and he's been having "los trots" (Spanish for "the runs"--ha ha) about once an hour all day long today. Not fun for a kid still getting used to wearing underwear instead of diapers. I thought about putting him back in a diaper today, but I thought that he would find it insulting and put up a fuss. So instead, this loving mommy has cleaned out several pairs of messy underpants today. Yuck. Just thought I'd share a piece of my life with you.

Not an Egg-citing Confession

Confession: I am careless about eating raw eggs. Well, raw eggs that are in cookie dough, cake batter, etc. While I'm pregnant. Can you blame me?

Crazy or Smart?

When Alan and I were first married, I was just about to finish college and start working full time, and Alan was in school full time and working part time. Since we were both super busy, it was hard to find time to prepare dinners every night. My friend and neighbor Jennifer then saved the day by doing a presentation at a Relief Society activity on how to prepare and freeze tons of dinners all in one day. Hallelujah! Anyone who knows me well will remember how Alan and I did this every so often during those years that I taught high school. It was tons of work but well worth it!

Since I stopped working full time and have had more time to cook, I haven't really cooked freezer meals as much (although we did it right before Jared was born and also as soon as I found out I was pregnant 7 months ago--anticipating many days of morning sickness.)

Two days ago my INCREDIBLE husband and I devoted most of our day to cooking and freezing meals once again. (We also spent several hours prepping the night before--chopping vegetables and assembling things, etc.) We were completely wiped out by the afternoon, but we did it! And I'm sure in the next couple months after the baby is born, our stomachs will thank us daily! Our freezer is now stuffed to the brim--literally--with 35 or so delicious dinners waiting to be thawed, cooked, and eaten (not to mention that almost every meal has enough for Alan to take some to work for lunch as well!) Some of the items we made: lots of lasagna, 2 kinds of chicken enchiladas, lots of sweet and sour chicken (thanks, Billy Ashley, for the recipe!), chicken and pea soup, apple curry chicken, lots of saucy pasta with ham recipes, raspberry glazed chicken, cheesy hash browns with ham, sloppy joes, and I can't even remember what else!

This picture doesn't even begin to show the extent of our cooking!

Hello, deliciousness! (And thank you, thank you, Alan, for being the best to do this crazy thing with me!)

Potty Update

I have had a couple friends and family members email and ask me how the potty training is going so far. The first 4 or 5 days were emotionally EXHAUSTING for me, and I felt like I was on the verge of tears several times. I was using the book
which was recommended to me by a friend (it also happens to be the book my momma used with her kids!). I liked the most of the book's methods and its emphasis on eventually rewarding the child just for having dry pants and NOT for performing on the potty (at first Jared would squeeze out a few drops and then expect a treat!). However, the "practices" required after the kid has an accident can be exhausting for the parent (especially if your kid has several accidents right in a row.) As a side note, I also didn't like how the book never mentioned teaching your child to wash his or her hands as part of the potty routine. ANYWAY...

Things are getting better everyday. Jared still has an accident once in a while, and there are often several false alarms before he will finally go #2. I'm also still trying to figure out how to keep him dry during nap time. (He is still wearing diapers overnight.) But overall I am pleased with how he is doing. I just need to get daring enough to leave my house more often! Luckily it has been cold and snowy so Jared hasn't been asking to go to the park every day.

Doing his duty. I quickly realized that toys and books were distracting while he was sitting on the potty, so we don't use them there anymore.

Some of Jared's favorite treats hanging in the bathroom

Here are two bonus pictures:

Daddy and Jared cuddling in the morning

34 weeks! Apparently I haven't gained as much weight as I did when I was pregnant with Jared (and probably won't catch up in the next 6 weeks), although I feel so fat! It's probably since I haven't been retaining as much water like I did when I was pregnant with Jared during the summer time.

Vacation from Blogging, Sort of

This week I have started potty training Jared. Without going into too many details, I think that it has been moderately successful so far (he's not putting up a fight or anything!) but I'm sort of paranoid about letting him go farther than 20 feet away from the bathroom. Thus, I have not been on the computer much. In fact, our computer, a laptop, has been in our kitchen so that we can watch DVD's upstairs close to the bathroom instead of downstairs. I'll post pictures of cute Jared sitting on the John someday when I can get around to it.

It's crazy how detached I feel when I don't get on the computer at all during the day!

Wish me luck for the next few days. . .weeks. . .months. . .

Edit: I just noticed my baby ticker says 50 days left! Holy cow!! Where has the time gone???

I Did It!

With the generous help of one of my neighbors and new friends, Cindy, we made 50 pints of applesauce this week! It was definitely a two-person job. Whew! But it is so satisfying to have all those lovely jars (well, half of them--of course I gave some to Cindy) lined up in my food storage room and to know that the apples all came from my backyard!

First, slice and boil the apples

This is the lovely Kitchen-Aid attachment I borrowed from my mother-in-law. You put the soft apples at the top, and applesauce comes out one end and all the peels and seeds come out the other! Magic!!

Then you add sugar and cinnamon to the applesauce to make it taste even yummier!

After boiling the jars in a regular canner, this is what you get! Lovely, aren't they?

I still have tons of leftover apples. I am planning to make apple crisp this weekend, and then maybe I'll try drying some apples in my oven.