Tomatoes!

Well its that time of year... when my garden is overflowing with veggies! this really has to be one of my favorite seasons... I finally get to reap the rewards from planting/ weeding/ and watering the garden...

remember where we started?

And today...

I remember making sauces with my mother when I was a child... but we had TONS of tomatoes... I just had a bunch ... 

I quick called my grandma to go over the process... what I was suposta do I also wanted to know if there were any tricks ...
She gave me a great tip: put the tomatoes in Hot water then in Cold water and the skin falls off.. and it does! this meant that my little helpers could help me peal the tomatoes with out using a knife!.. this ment playing in water so they were in!

The first step:  get the skin off the tomatoes and get most of the water and seeds out...

 the skins were just falling off ...

Pealed and seeded and squished I put them in a strainer in the sink to get any extra water to drain out before cooking

The second step: add spices and simmer over heat....

...until tomatoes reduce in half...Yes I know my kitchen is messy.. I am not the neatest cook in the world...

The third step:  Once the sauce has reduced place it in canning jars

The fourth step: Put the lids on them and put them in the boiling water for 35 min. Making sure to have at least 1 inch of water covering the jars...  when finished let cool for 24 hours ... then remove outer lid and you are done

The second batch I made I just froze.. instead of putting in jars, let cool and put into plastic baggies and put in freezer I wanna see which way I like better...

WV Trip and Martin Wedding

My Cousin Brian got married this weekend!

I am very happy for Kaila and Brian... but honestly I didn't know her very well...

I overheard my grandparents talking about them... grandma was describing the last time Brian was at there house... He is crazy about her!.... He would do anything for her and give her anything she wanted... they were not talking to me.. or trying to "impress" anyone with their comments... they were just stating TRUTH ...a love so strong my grandparents were impressed... I LOVE that!

The wedding was in the hills of West Virginia.... It was a beautiful little church.. not their first choice (due to the rain the wedding was moved inside) BUT It was still wonderful... It may have been hot...humid...and not what they imaged... but I think it was perfect

I would like to say that we sat perfectly in the pews... Riley enjoyed the first song... he clapped and everything... much to his surprise it was not over after just one song...

 We spent a lot of time like this...

 and this...

We went to WV for the wedding... BUT I had never been there before so I felt the need to explore...

We started off close to "home" we hiked up into the woods behind the house and then down the driveway to the creek...

Then we headed out to see Sceneca Rocks...

I loved the views just driving down the road

 The view coming up to Seneca Rocks..

 The Rocks.. yep if I could find work I would live here...

 We were going to try and hike to the look out point... but 1.5 miles with 1,000 ft elevation change was not in the cards at 7:30 in the evening... better planning next time...

So we took pictures at the base of rocks....

(under the bridge we were on)

 

We saw LOTS of deer...

On our way home we stopped at Blackwater falls state park

 It was absolutely beautiful...despite the weather... there was a VERY nice wooden "boardwalk" that you walked down and you could see different points along the way a nice view of the falls

Momma and Her Men....

 

~ Momma

Go Ahead Get Lost... * Updated*

Do you ever get lost?

I do

Some times I will get lost in a moment a song... a memory and think how nice my world would be if it were just like "that"

Today I got lost again... I got lost in a song...Knee Deep by Zac Brown Band (LOVE)
I was just sitting at my computer and the song was on the radio in the other room...  one verse in and I was lost...

It got me to thinking about spending my afternoon on the beach instead of where I was...

 .....My mind started to wonder as it often does.. what if I could just go away for a minute... Pretend I don't live in it... only me and my husband, relaxing on a beach without a care in the world... I imagine my life would be much more interesting... It would be  ROMANTIC, SPONTANEOUS, RELAXING, AWESOME!...
To have not a worry in the world.. only if the tide will reach my chair...what a perfect thought...

But in the same breath I think about how boring it would be to sit on the beach and have no one running around and splashing in the water... I wouldn't have moments where my baby crawls into bed with me and wants me to read him a book... I wouldn't have these precious memories...

*changes made due to the government trying to pass the PIPA & SOPA laws*

It is fun to loose yourself in a moment in a "what if".... does the perfection that I imagine exist? most likely not... I know I am right where I am suposta be....

Get Bitten?

Anyone have a kiddo that bites!?
It turns out I do uggh!

Innocent looking inst he?

This is a horrible and terribly embarrassing thing when it happens!... I don't bite him! where did he learn this?

His favorite target... anyone that won't listen to him... Most times it is a younger sweeter little girl.. who is too young to listen to Riley's "babby no!"... It might be a slightly older boy.... or even his big brother... Right under his arm in his arm pit.. and almost drew blood!!!! OUCH!

The worst part is I AM RIGHT THERE!!!.. never more than 2 steps away but never close enough to stop it (or do I stop it more than I think I do).. anyhow... then I have to tell the parents and most times they are SUPER gracious... saying it happens... sometimes they are not...

This is really stressing me out! I hear people say it is "typical" and a "phase" and "yours isn't the only one" BUT HE IS MINE! the only one I care about at this particular moment...

Out of desperation I Googled how to get your child to stop biting today and found this article they had these steps:

1) Firmly say "No bite!" and remove the biting child offender from the situation.

2) Administer an appropriate consequence such as removal of the toy or a time-out for a biting child.

3) Lavish positive attention on the bitten toddler.

4) Use distraction between young kids and watch their interaction closely to avoid placing youngsters--especially one to be known to be a biting child--in a conflict situation.

5) Resist the temptation to bite a biting child back as a way to "show them" their wrongs. Use a positive approach instead. You don't want your toddler telling his teacher that he bites because that's what his parents do!

Well DUH! I did all of that!! (did you catch the last one!?! resist the temptation!) umm... I don't think that ever crossed my mind!!!

I searched again and you know what I found ANOTHER article warning parents NOT to bite their children! are there really parents out there who actually bite their children?

I decided Google was useless (like usual) and decided to put on a puppet show with Riley about animal friends getting bittern by their friends.. hahaha I know creative huh... He seemed to like it.. not sure if he got it but WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS! just better be tomorrow :)

-Momma

My Thankful Heart

My heart is filled with thanksgiving when I hear from my room Connor crawling into Riley's bed saying "Hi buddy! how did you sleep?" and Riley answering "there" (meaning he slept in his bed... not really answering Connor's question)

....When the two of them play together.. One looking out for the other...

Connor saying "Come on buddy"

"Get out buddy"

Connor was happy to pull Riley around from tee to tee on the "green"

....Riley looks out for Connor too... Any time I get Riley a snack he waits and asks for one for Connor... He also makes sure that Connor has a drink every time he does...

....The sounds of giggling in the play room while I am making dinner..two little boys having fun and enjoying each other...
I am so thankful God gave me these two little boys and that they have each other to grow up with!!!

Happy Birthday Riley

My "baby" boy turned 2 this past week...time is flying by!

On his actual birthday we celebrated by decorating the dining room and having corn on the cob for dinner...

 Standing on the table..tisk tisk tisk....But he was very excited bout his signs..

On Sunday afternoon we celebrated his birthday with a party. We invited our families only and it turned out to be a great time!

One of this things I love about celebrating birthdays is making my kiddo feel loved and when you invite family there is nothing but love coming from everyone at the party..couldn't ask for anything more! Thanks to all the grownups who came to the party!!!!

We did the usual kids things at the party:
Rode on 4 wheelers....

Played pin the nose on Elmo....

Ate ice-cream and Elmo shaped cake....

A small water balloon fight... and of course GIFTS!!!

Wishing my Riley a happy birthday and many more fun times to come!