mmmm, maters.

I picked up a bunch of tomatoes from the post office this week...Another joy of living in this small town. Anyone who has extra produce can leave it at the post office for other people to take! I have left a few zucchini so I feel okay taking a few maters! I have 7 or 8 zucchini plants so I've got plenty to share! Anyways, back to the maters! I love having stewed tomatoes on hand so I got to work. This time I decided to go the Italian route.

Blanching!

 

 

Yum! Walla walla sweets from our garden, garlic from my Momma's garden, oregano, parsley and basil!

 

 

Only 4 jars this go around! Totally worth it for the homegrown tomato taste...nothing better! Hopefully the generous soul who is dropping off the tomatoes continues to do so...and hopefully I get to them before anyone else! LOL!!!

 

 Progress so far, still need to paint the trim.

 

I'm horrible at picking paint colors....The sample swath always looks good but, until you paint a whole wall you really have no idea how its going to look. Mark came home late and didn't say anything about it...So not sure what he thinks...I think it will come together once the trim is painted and the floor is in. But, if it doesn't the good thing about paint is you can always paint over it!!

 

Wrong end Waylon. Goofball.



This weeks projects!

At bountiful baskets this week we got something new, in fact I didn't even know these existed. Champagne grapes.

 

 

 They look so cute and tiny but they were kinda a pain in the rear. Jackson was the only kid who would eat them. Anna proceeded to squish every single one I gave her and Waylon wouldn't even touch them. Apparently he likes his grapes to be normal. So it was a rather large container and I knew Jackson wouldn't be eating them all by his lonesome. So I decided to try some fruit leather. I also had a mix of mango and oranges frozen in the freezer so we got some variety!

Plucked!

Cooked and strained!

 

 Grape puree

 

 Mango - orange puree!

 

The yield, a bit of grape juice and fruit leather!

 

The boys won't try them...but Anna likes them!!

 

 

My other project this week is a face lift to the laundry room. My super wonderful Aunt Debbie hand-me-downed us a new back door for our home. You never realize how crappy something is until you get a new one! It's a major improvement at the least! Anyways, this new door sparked the realization that yikes, this mud/laundry room could really use some improving. Mark said to me one day, "We should paint in here and put in a new floor."...JUMP...I love it when he is on board with projects...on board as in he doesn't mind if I change stuff! So the kids and I ran to Home Depot on a mission to add some life to the room. The boys helped me pick the paint color by saying yes or no to the options I gave them! (; We ended up with a Martha Stewart color...can't go wrong with Martha right? So here is my progress thus far.

 

Before shots...I did a bit of scraping on the loose paint.

 

 The new door

 

 It's important that I work on projects by myself because it would irritate anyone else...I don't clean before....I just continually move messes around until I am all done then I put things away. The fly strip, so gross.

 

 

Finally decided I needed to take the door down and strip it. Another project entirely. But, it's coming along! There are so many layers of paint on it I don't think I will make it to bare wood but maybe a happy compromise. Today's goal is to figure out what color I want to paint the trim. I have a few options of left overs in my basement, surely one of them will work! Once all the painting is done we are going to put in a real floor too, no more concrete! More pictures to follow!

 



The battle will never end.

 Where they are supposed to be sleeping.

 

Where they are actually sleeping....on the floor next to our bed lies Waylon...

And, Jackson on the couch. I guess I should just be greatful they are sleeping and that Anna hasn't figured out how to climb out of her crib....yet.



Cabin fun!!

The kids and I took off on Wednesday and made the well worth it 4.5 hour journey (which turned into about 6.5 but we wont go into that) to my Dad's cabin west of Yakima. This place was always a second home to us growing up and I have tons of very fond memories. It is such a joy to be able to bring my own kids here as well! My Mom, Step-Dad and Grandma MaryAnne came over and spent the day with us on Thursday. Somehow I missed taking any pictures of this day, shame on me! About the time they were leaving Mark rolled in and we had a nice evening with just the 5 of us! We spent the next few days enjoying the water and deck with our family. My Dad and his GF Jan were there along with my Brother, his wife Becca, and their son Colton. It was nice to get away!

Good morning boys!

 



 Waylon couldn't wait to get in the slop sink for a bath!!

 

Okay Grandpa, the kids are too big to all bathe in the slop sink! Time for a real bathtub!

 

 They sure do love it though!

 

 Nap time! LOL, poor Anna was so tired she zonked out on the floor!

 

Sippy cup induced coma!

 

 Enjoying the sunshine and cold beer!

 

 Becca and Colton!

 

 Grandpa time!

 

Playing in the river!

 

The boys enjoying Grandma Jan's gluten free ice cream!

 



 Probably the only time the pool had clean water in it!

Anna sure loves her Daddy!

 

 The best way to eat zucchini!! Well done Jan, they were delicious even gluten free!

 

 Cousin play time! 

 

Cheese!!!

 

 Colton, enjoying some dirt time!!

 

The scene....

 

 Jackson - 4, Waylon - 2, Anna - 13 months, Colton - 15 months!

 

 

 It was hard to leave this behind!!! Oh and of course we miss all the family too!

 



Sunny August day

I was going to try to document our whole day today. I thought it would be fun, then I forgot about 1/3 of the way through. So...there goes that idea! I started with a picture of breakfast, it just looked to pretty not to take a picture of it.

Scrambled eggs, spinach and tomato's! Mark would be sure to turn his nose up to this. Well actually all the kids did too...

After breakfast we took our friend Rosemary up to Moscow to her Doc appt. The kids and I ran to Safeway scored a great clearance deal on K-cups! Wahoo... Then went back for Rosemary and headed to Micky D's for some lunch. Of course Jackson tried and true all he wanted was chocolate milk and Waylon a few chicken nuggets! These kids are easy!

We got home and had some fun in the sun playing in the pool and with the hose! Jackson loves having the hose on. He's big on making waterfalls anywhere he can, inevitably he ends up doing something he shouldn't like spraying his brother and sister which ceases the hose fun.

A few pool shots...Anna is our water baby she just loves it!!

Waylon, he will play for a little while then he decides its time to relax!!

Our good friends Nate and Megan ended up coming for an impromptu dinner of salmon burgers, caramelized walla walla sweet onions from our garden, some melon, and tater tots (for the kids of course!). The kids all had fun playing together, we missed Cooper who is down in Boise hanging with the Grandparents! Looking forward to the days when Jackson and Waylon get to go stay with their Grandparents for a week at a time!

Lastly we had some fun eating some snap peas from the garden the kids all love these! Its fun to watch them! Anna will chew through the pod to get to the peas, the boys are skilled at getting the peas out and tossing the pods to the chickens! Jackson gets confused and tries to shuck his green beans too. Ha ha, sorry kid, nothing good inside of those!

 I love this Hollyhock, its the prettiest cream and pink color.

 My favorite rose!

The pumpkin patch and the corn!