The hiatus is over

That was unexpected! We are still here without too much change. Canning season finished and we've already eaten all but one jar of homemade salsa. We opened a jar of my experimental German red cabbage and I was delighted with how yummy it was! Last weekend we also opened our first jar of brandied cherries to eat with homemade ice cream. They were delicious, although next year I'll add a bit more brandy :) My desire to become a two-dog family manifested itself when I drove to Helena, MT to adopt a 1-year old gun-shy English springer spaniel.  We named him Odie and he's kept me on my toes since day 1.  He and Drake get along great, he's great with the kids, and his energy level helps motivate us to get out and let him burn some of it off running on the hill behind our house.  In November Justin moved forward with opening a private practice, in addition to continuing to work at the Vet Center. It's been a slow start but he's in it for the long term so hopefully by this November he'll have a consistent set of clients. I took some time to think about what my professional future holds and concluded that I'd like to pursue becoming a doula. My training begins the first weekend in March with a two and a half day workshop. It's been almost a year since J's shoulder surgery. He's recovered completely and continues to test his abilities at the local boulding gym where he passionately practices his climbing skills with the expectation of tackling some serious rock faces this summer. The kids continue to enjoy preschool, climbing at the YMCA with J, going to gymnastics, riding the carousel, and playing at the Children's Museum.  That's the cliff-notes version of the last 5 months or so.  Now to the pictures :)

Odie

Parker's birthday

Parker's birthday party

One of our countless hikes this fall

A gorgeous fall in Missoula

Getting ready to trick-or-treat with friends.

Watching the Macy's parade on Thanksgiving (while Parker listens to Radiohead on J's ipod)

Deciding that it's worth sitting with Santa if that guarantees getting a princess dress for Christmas

Christmas tree hunting

Loving his new Christmas toys!

After our big snow

J's granddad fell and broke his femur while visiting us in early January.  He had to have surgery in Missoula and spent a week at our house recovering.  We enjoyed some special time that we otherwise wouldn't have had the chance together. 

 

Fun at the bowling alley with friends (and sporting our shaggy hair)

Mom got out the scissors and hacked away. 

P-p-p-p-p-p-p-projects

Shhhh...don't tell Justin but I may be in over my head with the projects I've taken on.  I snagged this wooden captain's bed with mattress for $35 last week to replace M's broken particle board one that we bought new almost a year ago.  I've actually already sanded, primed, and painted this bad boy but I'm going to attach the old ends of the kids' crib to be the headboard and foot board.  Sounds weird, I know but in my mind it will look awesome.  You'll just have to wait and see. 

I snagged this 3-piece old kids' kitchen set from the front yard of a person who was going to toss it.  I left them a note with my name and number on it and a day later I had inherited this laminate mess.  I've done a lot of work trying to assess whether it's worth my time (and money) to "refinish" it.  I'm hoping to keep the cost of re-doing it to under $25 (with the help of coupons from Michael's and Ace).  Quite a few pieces need to be replaced with plywood but with a recycling home store in town it shouldn't be too expensive, especially if I can learn how to use our neighbor's jigsaw and borrow a friend's circular saw.   

Not pictured are the new desk and chair for my sewing room.  And the dresser I'm taking the legs off of and turning into a dresser/window seat for our bedroom.  And all of the pear, apples, tomatoes, beets, etc. that I have to can.  But who's counting?  It's fall and this is the last hurrah before snuggling in to hibernate through winter. 

This apple didn't fall far

Parker has started imitating his dad...bike injuries may be genetic.  Unfortunately his helmet didn't have an attached face mask so P's lip and chin took the brunt of the impact.  In the bottom pic you can see that his front tooth didn't make it without some damage.  So glad that he's a trooper and things seem to be healing nicely (this happened Sunday evening).  

 

Bike accident

Tatts

We apparently have a tattoo artist in the making.  During their quiet time this week, Madeleine decided that Parker needed some ink.  He loved sporting it around the house and showing off his belly to the neighbors as they came home from work.  M took so much pride in her work that they did it all again the next day.  Crazy kids!

Preschool for two!

Madeleine and Parker had their first day of preschool today!  They'll be going half days on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  I'm excited we'll still be able to attend our Friday morning playgroup and it will be nice to ease our way into the school "week" by having Mondays together.  Both kids were very excited from the moment they woke up this morning and not a single tear was shed saying goodbye!  Such big kids.

A wrong equation

This

and this

equals

The great irony during canning season is that we rarely eat a homemade meal because all of my thought and energy is focused on preserving the foods that currently occupy the shelves and drawers in the fridge.  As of tonight, I have the following waiting for my attention: 1 head of green cabbage, 1 head of red cabbage, 5 large cucumbers, 1 gallon bag of sliced apricots, 1 qt. bag of gooseberries, 1 gallon bag of tomatillos, 4 pickling cucumbers, 4 zucchini, 1 qt. bag of shredded zucchini, 1 qt. bag of chopped cheddar cauliflower, 6 crookneck summer squash, and 1 gallon bag of beets.  On my kitchen counter there is a bin of apples, a bowl of tomatoes, the dehydrator currently drying apples, and 8 pints of canned German red cabbage are just starting to cool.  And Justin wonders why the laundry doesn't get put away!  I picked all of the produce in the above photos over the last two days and yet the kids ate mac and cheese for dinner tonight (J was out fishing until 10:30pm and ate leftover mac and cheese when he got home).  Granted, we do have leftover grilled eggplant, zucchini and squash in the fridge but it's buried underneath the cucumbers, I think.  The tops of the cupboards are starting to fill up with beautifully colored jars of raspberry jam, apricot syrup, and brandied cherries.  If all goes according to plan, I should have almost every color of the rainbow represented by the end of canning season.  Of course, we may also have a garbage can full of empty McDonald's cartons.

Fire in the hole

I currently have 16 half-pint jars of apricot syrup cooling on my counter but a few hours ago I had a small kitchen fire blazing in one of my drip pans.  Darn me for trying to double a recipe in a not-quite-big-enough pot!  Fortunately Justin kept his cool and turned the burner off while I was delicately balancing the still full pot of apricot syrup on the edge of the oven while trying to not get burned by the bubbling water bath next to me.  My response to the fire was to keep blowing it out whenever it flared up, all while digging through my cupboard for my baking soda.  I knew the fire extinguisher was under the sink but again, I wasn't about to let my picking/pitting/cooking go to waste.  Smart man that he is, Justin realized I was panicking and coolly turned the dial off.  He's awfully handy to have around in moments like this! 

I'm still pretty amped up by the apricot adventure.  I failed to add that I attempted this new canning recipe during the evening of one of the hottest days we've had this summer.  And there's a new forest fire that's close enough to add the smell of smoke in the air.  At least the house already smelled smokey when my fire started :)  So I'm sitting here late at night trying to calm down, cool the house off, and care for Mr. P who has a bad cold.  I think colds in summer should be illegal.  Not to mention it's almost impossible to hear his cries for help above the roaring fans we have in the windows.  I just can't win tonight.

This already sleepless night lends itself to helping me catch up on those elusive photos I keep bragging about.  JoAnn and George came for a full week about two weeks ago and at the end of every day we were wiped out!  The kids went to bed late and it felt like we were constantly on the go.  We had a lot of fun adventures with them in spite of not covering our whole to-do list.  Maybe next time!