July 2010

Just thought we'd share some of the excitement we've been experiencing this past week with interested parties. Any questions, you know how to reach us!

Apples

Applesauce, apple butter, apple pie or crisp, dried apples. Does anyone know anything else to do with apples? Seriously, in a previous post, I talked about picking the apples and showed some pictures of the apples that I'd brought home. Over the past week, I have slowly chipped away on them (13 boxes total). After Monday last week however, I decided that I could not get overly ambitious for the day and that I could not work on apples every day. So far, I have canned 154 quarts of apple sauce. I have given away 3 dozen of those. I have also made up about 2 dozen quarts of apple pie/crisp filling, and those are in baggies in the freezer. I have canned 5 pints of apple butter, and have more cooking down right now. And I have made a few baggies full of dried apples. And I still have a little over two boxes left.

image from preparedpantry.com

Last week, I picked up one of these little machines. It is such a lifesaver. I really don't want to go back to the old way of preparing apples for crisps or pies.

Anyways, here are a few pictures of the process. Dave would bring a box of apples in from the garage. Antonin would help us carry the apples all over the house. Mostly, he was trying to bring them to us. We pop them into a sink of sudsy water, wash them, rinse them, eighth them, cut off the ends, and plop them into pots. The apples cooked down, and then we processed them through the sauce maker. The sauce was mixed to get an even consistency, loaded into jars, and placed in the boiling water-bath canner. Once finished, they were set out on towels and allowed to cool. Applesauce destined to become apple butter would go into the crock pots to be cooked down.
Antonin, of course, found many other ways to help. Often he would attempt to take a bite out of the apples before handing them to us. Once, when he'd managed to get a good bite out, he tried to fix the apple by putting the piece back where it came from. He would carry around various kitchen utensils and other things. He would throw away the leaves. And his new favorite chair became the cooled jars of applesauce.
Hopefully I'll be able to finish working with the rest of them tomorrow.

Sleeping

It's been so long since I've posted any pictures of Antonin sleeping. It's actually been a very long time since I've been able to take any pictures of him sleeping, since he always seems to wake up if I go into his room. But not Sabbath morning. We've been putting him down for a nap before we leave for church (our Sabbath School doesn't start until 10:45, so we've got plenty of time). I went in to get him dressed for church, rummaged around for his clothes, took pictures of him, made noise, etc, and he slept right through. He didn't wake up until I picked him up, and even then, he just wanted to snuggle down and go back to sleep. His schedule has been really off lately, and I'm not sure that I want to get him back on a good one when we're just going to be leaving in 2 1/2 weeks. Actually, I don't think I'll be able to get him back on a schedule with all the appointments and such that we've got scheduled for the next couple of weeks. We'll have to figure it all out once we get to Grandma & Grandpa Hamstra's.

Blessings

We have been so incredibly blessed as we've lived here in Michigan! Not only has our home been generously provided for us (thank you Jim and Renae) but much of our fresh food has been given to us as well. Today, Antonin and I spent the afternoon in an apple orchard. We were able to pick as many golden delicious apples as we wanted, all for free. And we've been told that we can still go back and get more, if we don't already have enough. This kind and generous local farmer has already blessed us with more tomatoes than we could possibly need. And two weeks ago, he gave a group of us over 2500 lbs of beautiful bartlett pears that he couldn't sell. He's given us peaches and grapes and last year he even gave us several bushels of honeycrisp apples.

In the past week, I've canned about 7 dozen quarts of pears, made a couple of pear crisps, and frozen some pears for future crisps. Sunday will be an applesauce making day. Some friends will be coming over and hopefully we'll make a big dent in the apples. I have a feeling that I'll be doing a lot of work with apples over the next week.

What about you? In what ways has God blessed you in the past few weeks?Isn't he just the cutest with his messy hair! He's been one of our biggest blessings here in Michigan!

Still Blooming!

It's November 11. Most of the trees around here have shed their leaves. Most of the plants have turned brown and lost their leaves. There are very few flowers left around. But, my knockout rose bush is still displaying a full bush of beautiful red roses. Love that rose!


Today is a day when we remember the people who have died protecting us. We honor those who have fought and died, as well as those who have fought and come home. Have you sat down with a service man or woman lately and listened to their stories? Have you ever sat down and talked with someone who has lived through a war? When I was in grade 10, the Canadian Government sponsored a program that encouraged highschool students to interact with men and women who had experienced WWII. I was able to interview and speak with a woman from Great Britain who lost her first husband during that time. She said she had been a part of the Women's Royal Army Corps and talked some about her experiences. I also spoke at length with my grandfather, who was in the RCAF and had trained service men from the allied forces in morse code, and then was sent to England in early 1945. I am very grateful for what all these men and women have done. Take the time to speak with someone today.

A Big Helper Boy

Some great pictures of Antonin helping Daddy clean up the leaves in the back yard. He's become a big helper. He figured out the best way to help Daddy and then went to work.

The Great Room

My favorite blog, Want What you Have, is hosting a linking party on pictures of our homes and I wanted to join. I have already posted some pictures of my living room, but this post will give a little better picture of the room as a whole. My room is the entryway, living room and dining room combined. After some trial and error in furniture placement, this is what we've come up with at present. Of course, with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, things are going to change again. Over Thanksgiving break, we will finally get around to finishing the painting of these rooms. It doesn't show in pictures, but the walls are definitely in need of a second coat. After that, I really want to get around to putting up the pictures that have been collecting around the place.

The only pieces of brand new furniture in our living room are the coffee table (which we bought at a ridiculously reduced price), the small china cabinet to the left of the fireplace (also bought at a serious discount) and the TV cabinet. (That was full price, but it was something we needed with a little guy on the loose and we saved up for it.) The remainder of the furniture was either given to us or purchased second hand. I also made the curtains in both the dining room and living room.

Here is what we see as we enter the house. To the left is a hallway to our boy's room, the guest room and a shared bathroom. The dining room is to the right.

This is a closer picture of the fireplace and TV. We can get to the breakfast nook through the doorway on the left. On the right is a hallway that leads to the kitchen, the doorway to the basement, the master suite, the laundry room and garage.
Here is the best picture of my dining room that I have. I haven't actually taken any pictures of it without people in it. There are also some other pictures that shows the relation of the dining room to the living room and entryway.
And finally, here is a picture of the front entrance.

A Weekend Without Daddy

Daddy went on a retreat with some of the youth from our church this weekend, so Antonin and I were on our own for a couple of days. We went shopping, and I bought this fabulous new skirt. We also went to Sabbath School and church. But Antonin did not have a very good weekend. He was very tired and cranky pretty much the whole time. Last night was especially tough, because he had a very fitful sleep and was up quite a bit. Daddy got home this afternoon and Antonin was very excited. But, he had a lot of things to say first, and some of it probably wasn't very nice. After we picked Daddy up, we went to a flu clinic and Antonin got his H1N1 shot. Antonin did awesome! He didn't make a sound and just watched them with that needle. To top it all off, we had pizza for supper! It was Antonin's first pizza, and he loved it! He especially liked the mushrooms and picked them all off, stuffing as many in his mouth as he possibly could.