Half Dozen Cousins

Alan, William, Alexander

Robby, Kaitlyn, Sarah

These are just the cousins on the McGiffin side of the family. My brothers are finally married and catching up with us in the kid's department. (The Rose cousin count still have the McGiffin's beat by far. My kids have 13 cousins on the Rose side of the family. )

Strawberry Jam

Kaitlyn and I made strawberry jam yesterday. The first time I ever made jam was with the Griffin's when I was pregnant with Kaitlyn. They took us out to a strawberry farm, and we picked them, then came back and made a big batch together. It was so much fun, that I decided to do it every year after that.

This year I didn't pick the strawberries like we usually do, because it costs more in gas to go all the way out to the farm than it does to buy them here in the grocery store.

So, we washed the strawberries, cut them, and put them in our huge pot. Then I got out the potato masher and let Kaitlyn go at it. She had a great time. We both got strawberry juice all over our clothes, but it was fun. An hour later, we had some yummy jam!

Planting the Garden...

Every spring I have high hopes for a garden that
we plan and plant. This year I have two garden spots because I wanted to be able to plant everything. My goal is to be able to grow enough food that I can can use some of it for food storage. I've really been thinking about the neccessity of food storage lately. I want to try to turn our tomatoes into tomato sauce and salsa. I want to be able to pickle our carrots, and can our green beans and peas. We'll see if it works this year. Last year it was so hot, and the drought was so bad, that I had to let the garden go because we weren't allowed to water anything.

Kaitlyn enjoys playing in the dirt as she "helps" me in the garden.

The sprinkler does double duty as it waters the garden, and provides a great place to play!!