Canning

Last week, the kids and I went over to my parents' house to help my mom doing some canning. I brought carrots and celery and she had potatoes and onions.

The girls putting in the veggies.

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William putting in the celery and onions.

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William putting on the rings.

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Andrew helping with the rings.

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All ready to go into the canner.

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In the canner.

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Sarah and Grandma looking at the jars in the canner.

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Putting the lid on.

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10 pounds of pressure for 30 minutes!

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All done! We did 14 jars on day one.

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Clean up duty!

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On day two we did 7 more jars just like we did on day one, plus we did 14 more that we added ham besides the potatoes /carrots /onions /celery.

We also had these string beans that needed to be done!

William and I snapping the ends off.









Andrew helping run the frencher.

We could get 3 beans through at a time, but my hands were getting tired!

All done!

We had a small amount of yellow beans to do, too.

Mom was putting the beans into groups of 3 to make it faster putting them through the frencher. We were both getting pretty tired of canning!

Mom putting the beans into the jars. We got 4 quarts & 3 half pints (counting the 1 of yellow beans)

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William helping wash the dishes.

On the shelf at home!

Andrew is 11 Months Old!

Andrew was 11 months old yesterday, but I decided to wait to post about it until today since I had the post about Sarah's birthday yesterday, too!

Andrew thought it was great fun to grab the backdrop.


































William wanted to get his pictures taken, too.

Sarah's 6th Birthday

We had a mini birthday party for Sarah yesterday in conjunction with our city's weekly free concert in the park.





Her "circus" cake

Sarah got most of her presents at the family gathering on Father's Day, but she got a couple more.

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All the kids got bubbles!

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Well, Andrew didn't get bubbles!















Sarah's yearly pictures:


















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She just looks bored here!

















William was coping Sarah.












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Emily was watching the picture process.

Fair Week 2010

I entered 9 things in the fair this year. I basically just looked around the house to find things that I had made since last year.

This tatted sleigh was entered in "Christmas Decoration" and got 1st place

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Cookie Monster was entered under "Recycled Garment" and got 1st place.

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I brought some of the things I'd made for Easter.

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My skirt was entered under "Adult Garment" and got 2nd place. 1st place was a purse (you can see a little bit of it in the bottom right corner). A purse is a garment???

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Andy's shirt was entered under "Baby Garment" and got 1st place. I was a little surprised since 2nd place was a cute 3 piece dress set. But it didn't have finished seams and the lining wasn't attached.

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Sarah's skirt and blouse were entered under "Child Garment" and got 2nd. 1st was the Civil War dress hanging next to it. Having made a harder Civil War dress than that before, I can say there were more steps to making Sarah's outfit!

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I made a pair of mittens to go with my R2D2 hat since the category was "Hat or Scarf with Mittens". It got 1st place.

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Wool knit shorts for Andrew were entered under "Any other knit article" and got 1st place.

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My crocheted baby shoes were entered under "Any other crocheted item" and got 2nd. 1st was a pair of crocheted bears.

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I was thinking that my puppet would do the best and it did the worst! I only got "Participation" for it! I had to enter her under "Any other craft not listed" as under sewing, the "other" category says "Any other garment" and a puppet isn't a garment. But after seeing a purse entered as a garment, maybe I should have!




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I can't figure out how they thought my homemade puppet that I sewed with my own pattern was less worthy than the things who placed.....

1st place, a painted box with lace added along with a simple pillow and bag.

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2nd place, a poster describing a model hot air balloon. I could see if the actual balloon was there, but a poster?

3rd place, a woven belt

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4th place, a simple model airplane.

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I realize I'm a little biased, but I was disappointed that all the work I put in wasn't appreciated!

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We happened to go on "Children's Day" and got a bunch of cool free things and the girls played on the bouncy dragon.

And of course there were animals!

Andrew hugging a calf

sheep

I had never seen a two colored sheep before!

Must make an interesting fleece!

I have seen similiarly colored goats, though!

Sarah was petting the animals more than last year and Emily was petting them less! (although Emily wasn't feeling well that morning)

William was also more interested in the animals this year.

Andy was trying to get the goat closer so he could kiss it!

llamas and alpacas

horses

chickens

pigs

"Nice piggy"

William hugging a calf!

The rabbit barn was closed for their showing, so this is as close as we could get.