Plums, Peaches and First Day of School

 Last week I was able to go down the street to pick some plums from a tree an elderly sister in our ward has in her back yard. For years now I've been getting plums from her tree to make plum jelly. The girls were excited to help me clean them and I guess that motivated me to get going on making more jelly sooner rather than later. 

This is the first time Curtis was able to help me. Most years he was gone or had school.

Nikki was disappointed that I used all of the plums that I had picked because she wanted to eat them fresh. Well, Sister Cable still had some plums on her tree and said I could take as many as I wanted. So I went back and picked pretty much the rest of them, except a few that were just too difficult to reach even with a ladder. Since I had more plums not only did I make more jelly but I also decided to try making fruit leather. Some of the fruit leather got over dried (cooked) so I ended up throwing out about half of it but was able to roll up the rest like fruit roll ups and have them for snacking. Charlotte loves them!

I had to cook the plums for a short time to soften them up after I cut them in halves and removed the seeds. Then let them cool down and into the food processor they went. My processor has a crack in it and I didn't use it for the longest time because of that but I needed it since I don't have a big blender so I put regular clear tape over the crack just for now and it worked!

The pans are lined with parchment paper. 

I dried them in the oven on the lowest temp possible which was 170. They told me to preheat it and then turn it off for an hour. Then repeat the process until they were dry. I rotated them a couple times. The pan on the very bottom dried very quickly so I took that one out way before the others. We were able to eat about 2/3 of that pan.

I tried to make fruit leather years ago with leftover plum juice and I don't think it turned out back then but thankfully I was able to get half of this batch to work. I looked up a recipe online that looked really simple, just very time consuming. I ended up making two quart size bags filled with roll ups and 19 jars of jelly, some of them smaller but most were pint size. Most of my jars have the regular size mouth. I used the lids I had leftover from last year but then couldn't find any more when I went to Walmart. I had to buy some wide mouth lids and use the few jars that I had with wide mouths. I did find that some of my regular half pint jars had a lid that looked like I could use (like it hadn't been used yet or at least didn't have a deep impression in it) so I used 2 or 3 of those. I just wish I had some homemade strawberry jam. That's my favorite. Maybe next year or if I find a good deal on strawberries. I would have to make freezer jam though since there seems to be a lid shortage.

Wednesday evening Curtis, Jack and I went out to pick peaches at the church orchard. Nikki had to work and Garrett watched the girls at home. It was the first day for people to begin picking so there were a lot of groups there, however we were the only ones from our ward. We started our row and worked for an hour to get 3 trees done. I posted on the Facebook page what we had done to hopefully motivate people to come out. The next morning I heard that the Relief Society President and at least her son (not sure if her husband went too) went out and did 4 more trees. I have no clue if anyone else has gone out since and I know the orchard was wanting them done by today I think. Hopefully somebody did. 

Thursday night Charlotte had a virtual open house (we had picked up her ipad on Tuesday) where she got to see her principal and teacher via an app called zoom. It's been a long weekend, especially on Sunday, getting caught up on school emails that started to pour in on Friday. I had planned to do it on Saturday but ran out of time so I spent most of Sunday going through emails and watching tutorial videos with the kids, etc. I felt a lot better but still felt a little unready for the 1st day of school the next day. 

Yesterday was the first day of school for the 4 oldest kids and online distance learning. Even though I woke up early to try and get things ready I was still rushing around when it came close to school start time. It wouldn't have been so bad if Charlotte and Alice hadn't tried to unclog a toilet without my help. I was in the bathroom I think when they couldn't find me to tell me it was clogged. After I got out and was going to get the hair brush and spray bottle to do their hair I saw the entire bathroom floor was covered in water. At first I thought it was Garrett who made the mess from taking a shower but then Charlotte told me that she and Alice unclogged the toilet because they couldn't find me. NOT what I needed on the morning of the first day of school but it was hard to be mad when they were trying to do something good. That being said I still had to rush to soak up the water with lot of towels then mop it up. Nikki was there to help get me towels and then got the mop bucket ready for me. I got most of it done but then decided I would have to finish rinsing out the bucket and mop later. I still needed to brush Charlotte's hair and figure out how to get her logged on to her first zoom meeting with her teacher. I was able to figure it out just in time. After the zoom meeting I gave her a little break and then she colored a picture of herself for an assignment. She also had to make a recording to go with the picture telling about herself. Then we had a nice long break until her library specials zoom meeting at 12:30. Charlotte, Alice and I went outside to get some air and recess time (after I finished cleaning up the mop and starting the washing machine).

Alice spilled a bunch of lemonade at lunch time and I'm just thinking "Another mess?!!". But that's okay because we got it cleaned up. Thankfully the 3 oldest kids have been able to get onto all their class meetings without my help and without problems! Garrett has been there to help Jack when needed.

Charlotte is set up in our bedroom. We needed a quiet place with the fewest distractions.

Nikki was in her room yesterday but today she's trying out the office with the boys, using my office desk.

We brought in our fold up table to set the boys up on in the office.

Alice was doing Starfall, an educational website so Charlotte joined her on her break.

Got my signs printed out finally and got some pictures. Alice will be doing preschool this year. A friend of ours is doing a small group and invited her to join. We decided it would be good for her to have something like this for her with all the other kids doing school at home. She's excited.

Nikki wanted to make her own sign design. The problem was that she wanted a black back ground and used up our black ink. She still wanted to use it even though it ran out of ink.

If it looks like Charlotte's teeth are a little dark it's because she had just finished eating some plum fruit leather, ha ha!

After school was done my friend Whitney needed a ride out to her boss's place to pick up more work to do. She's been sanding boxes that he has made for people to buy for their animal's ashes when they die. He must sell a lot because she's been doing it for 3 months now. She needed a ride because her car is not working and she's waiting for car parts to be delivered. Anyway, this guy has goats and horses. I found this out when I took her out their the first time last week. So I thought the girls might like a little field trip to see the animals and of course they did! I didn't get pictures of them with the horses but I did when they were feeding the goats some green weeds.

Our Niece Gets Married

Last Friday was the day our niece Ashlyn got married. She is one of Casey's daughters. Because of Covid-19 we were not able to attend the ceremony at the temple but the adults were invited to a luncheon at Asiagos in Boise. It was nice because we were actually first inside the building and picked our table before others. We were able to get all of Curtis's family at a table except for Casey and Amber who sat with the bride and groom of course. There were 9 of us at the table. I didn't get a picture though. 

We then drove home and waited around for an hour or so before heading to Boise again for the reception with all of the family. It was held at Quinn's Pond. We are not good at getting pictures with our nieces and nephews at their weddings, etc. so this time we made sure we got a picture with them. However, the sun was very bright and in our eyes. I tried to take pictures without my glasses and my eyes were closed in both shots so I decided I better just put my glasses back on.

After being there for over an hour my kids were getting antsy so I took them over to a playground that was on the other side of the pond. Curtis stayed at the reception to see if he could help with clean up afterwards. This playground was a bit different from most playgrounds. We discovered two slides made out of cement.  The way to get back up was to climb the rocks. I didn't see any stairs. All of the kids enjoyed those, even Nikki.

The reception was going longer than Curtis thought and he decided he needed to leave since he needed to work part of Saturday because of a deadline. So we left for home. Alice decided she wanted to wear her mask in the van. 

I was plenty full from the appetizers and cake served at the reception but everyone else including Curtis wanted to get some fast food. We were almost home and last second decided to go get food at Del Taco from the dollar menu. I was the only one who didn't order anything. Not only was I full but I wasn't feeling very good either. While at the park I had a little case of diarrhea and on the way home I started to feel acid indigestion. The acid indigestion didn't go away until the next afternoon. Because of it I didn't eat breakfast until 10am. I was surprised because Curtis, Jack, Shauna and I went to play tennis at 7:30am on Saturday over at the park by Lincoln Pool and I had plenty of energy for it.

The rest of Saturday was kind of slow since Curtis was working in the office. I decided to sort out our crayons and colored pencils to get ready for distance learning school again. It was something to do while watching more Little House on the Prairie. Things didn't get exciting until we found out about Neptune being found.

Lost and Found then Lost Again

I have been a little lazy with blogging this week because Garrett and I have been binge watching Little House on the Prairie. I already loved that show and now he's addicted also. We watched the pilot episode and then the first episode of season 1 but after I received season 3 and 5 in the mail we skipped ahead to season 3 to make sure the discs were working good. The last time I ordered them about 10 years ago or so, those two seasons had problems with the discs and I had to send them back....twice! So I got refunded and decided to wait. I'm glad I did because these newer ones have subtitle abilities where as the old ones don't. Garrett and Curtis watch everything with subtitles if they can because of their hearing so we have gotten used to it. We have also learned things about some shows that we didn't realize they said so it's actually nice to have when watching movies.

Anyway, this past Monday afternoon I was at home with the kids while Curtis and Nikki were both at work. Nikki had told Garrett that he could take Neptune (her budgie/parakeet) out of his cage sometimes to let him fly around and have some time out of his cage. Well, the other three kids (Jack, Charlotte and Alice) were playing in the back yard and I was hand washing dishes in the kitchen. Garrett decided to get Neptune out for a little bit but the other kids didn't know. The curtain was pulled aside to let sunshine in. All of a sudden the kids decided to come in through the sliding door and it was opened almost all the way. Neptune then seized his opportunity and flew out the door and up above the houses on the street behind our house. Garrett and I tried riding our bikes around to look for him in our neighborhood but with no luck. He was gone.

Later I decided to put his cage out on the picnic table by the door that he flew out, hoping that he might come back to the same door and see his cage as well. About a year ago our other bird Jupiter had flown out our front door but he came back within a half hour so we were hoping that Neptune would come back also. I also had Nikki send me some pictures of Neptune since I didn't have any and I made a post about it on Facebook and on a neighborhood website/app called Nextdoor about him being lost. We prayed that Heavenly Father would look after Neptune and bring him home.

We continually kept looking out the window to see if he was back in his cage but he never did come back. There was one night I had to bring the cage back inside because of strong winds and didn't get it back out until almost a day later. It wasn't until yesterday (Saturday) that a lady came to my door and told me that someone had found my bird on Nextdoor and had posted about it only 40 minutes ago or so. I think she had tried to send me a friend request on Facebook but I deleted it since I didn't know who she was. After talking to her I looked at my phone to find that post and saw that a friend of mine from church, Sarah Karl, texted me about the same thing! So now I really scrambled to see if I could find the post and I did! The lady who found the bird also sent me a message on messenger and we were able to get the info and get over to get him. Nikki, Garrett, Charlotte and Alice all came with me to go pick him up. He was found outside this person's home on the road about 2 miles away from our home.

We were able to get him onto Nikki's hand and feed him broccoli, one of his favorite things to eat, as we transferred him from the cat cage that the people were keeping him in to our travel size bird cage. It was so exciting to have him back and we just couldn't believe that he was still alive after 5 days of being gone! As soon as we got him into his cage at home he went straight for the bird seed dish and just ate non stop for about 10 min or so, barely lifting his head to look around. He was just concentrating on eating! Then we were able to get him to drink water as well. He even moved around his cage for a little while looking at all of his toys and things. He seemed like he was going to be alright.

Later that night he did seem to be sleeping a lot more but I figured that was normal after what he had been through and we thought he just needed lots of rest now. Well, this morning he didn't seem to be moving around very much and just seemed tired still. We hadn't heard him chirp at all since we brought him home but I thought that would come after we got him feeling better. We all went to church at 9 am and by the time we got home almost an hour later, Nikki found Neptune at the bottom of the cage and hardly moving, but still alive. His feathers had started to fluff up last night and that was a sign of distress and his feathers still looked that way. He slowly moved less and less. I sat there with Nikki and Neptune at the kitchen table just watching him and trying to offer him food and water. We even put him on a towel with one end on top of his body to keep him warm. He could hardly move and we couldn't get him to eat or drink. Finally after awhile Nikki picked him up and I suggested trying to give him water with the medicine syringe she had got out and trying to get it into his beak so he could swallow. I think that may have back fired because water came out his two little holes on top and then shortly after he stopped breathing. I know he would have passed away even if we hadn't done that though. It was just a matter of time.

Many tears were shed this morning as we watched him slowly slip away. After he stopped breathing Curtis went out and dug a hole next to the spot where Jupiter was buried back behind our playhouse. Nikki had kept the box that we brought Neptune home in from Petco. We place him in a small ziplock bag so that no animals would try to dig him up by smelling him and then put him in the box. Then Curtis, the three older kids, and I went outside to bury him. Of course it affected Nikki the most because he was her bird but I could tell that the boys were sad too. It's so hard to go through things like this with your kids. At this point I don't know if she'll want to get another bird. We had to give one away last year and then bury two and it takes a toll on your emotions.

After lunch Nikki asked if her friend Angie could come over so they could draw together. Of course I said yes and I think that has helped to get her mind off of losing Neptune...again. We will miss all the different chirping sounds he made and how he chirped when the water was on. We will also miss how he would land on everyone's head (well, those who had hair) and how he loved to play with his bells on his toys. Jupiter and Neptune were both cute in their own ways and we will miss both of them.

Family Camping: Day 3

Our final day of camping was nice. This time after waking Charlotte early to go potty we were able to put her back in bed where she went back to sleep and so we could sleep longer as well. Alice said she didn't need to go and since she was wearing a pull up to be safe anyway we decided to let her keep sleeping. It was about 7:30 when Curtis and I got up and started packing up things in our tent. Nikki woke up around 8:00 and was ready for us to make breakfast of pancakes, bacon and cocoa or cider to drink. We weren't in a big hurry to leave since we didn't have to be out until 1:00 from our site but after breakfast we cleaned up and starting packing.

It was great the way the older kids really pitched in to help during this camping trip. From helping with meals to helping with dishes to helping with the girls to helping pack up our gear they did a great job and it made the camping trip that much better. Even Charlotte packed up her own suitcase and back pack without me telling her and brought it to the truck. I packed Alice's bags for her but she brought them out of the tent to the truck by herself, also without me telling her to. It was cute to see her with one backpack on her back, one being pulled on wheels with one hand and holding another smaller backpack in the other hand.

Cooking breakfast together. We were amazed at how evenly the pancakes cooked over the fire stove. I think they cooked more evenly than they do on our griddle at home.

All packed and ready to go home.

The name of our camp site.

Curtis was pretty excited that he was able to get up to 16.2 miles per gallon on this trip. It went down to 16.1 when I took the picture but he was pretty happy to get that high of a number on his truck.

On our way home.

Family Camping: Day 2

 Tuesday morning we woke up around 6 am to take the girls to go potty so they wouldn't have an accident. Unfortunately they never went back to sleep. We were at least able to lay in bed for another hour even though they were chatting away. We ate breakfast sandwiches that morning which consisted of English muffins, fried egg, sausage and cheese. They were yummy! This time we used the stand up fire stove there at the campsite because our grill was too small to cook more than one thing at a time. Well, we still used the gas grill for frying eggs and the fire stove we used for cooking the sausage and heating up the English muffins and water.

Playing some ladder ball after breakfast.

After cleaning up from breakfast we had to decide whether to go on a walk first or go ahead and head to the beach. Nikki was wise and told us we should go to the beach early to get a spot before other people come. So we packed up our stuff and drove across the lake to Boulder Creek Day use area, which is close to my grandparent's old cabin. There are a couple of beaches on this peninsula. There's the one by the boat ramp and then another on the opposite side. We went to the one on the opposite side. What an awesome sight to see such a big beach and only two kids were there when we arrived, a brother and sister about Garrett's and Jack's ages. They invited our boys to play marco polo. While they did that Nikki, Alice and I went on a beach walk to go see my grandparent's old cabin and beach area. I saw that the new owners have a new dock that is T shaped with a nice motor boat parked on one side and a canoe on the other. The sprinklers were going in the back yard so I didn't get a good look but it seems like the new owners are taking good care of the property.

After about an hour or so the two kids said they needed to leave. They were staying with their grandparents. We then had the entire beach to ourselves for about 3 hours. A little before we left a lady showed up with her two dogs. Then when we were packing up our truck after we were done we saw several more cars in the parking lot and people getting out and heading to the same beach. I'm so glad we listened to Nikki and went early. Who knows how many more people came after that. The weather was plenty warm even at 10:30 am when we arrived and was just beautiful the whole time. We had planned to eat hot dogs for lunch but ended up eating leftovers from breakfast and yesterday's dinner and whatever we had in our cooler. It was nice to just eat by the back of the truck and head back down to the beach. We left around 2:30.

After our day at the beach we went to Ice Cream Alley in McCall. They required masks and not all of us had one so I went around with the 3 youngest kids and waited out on the main street.

We were all getting pretty tired but still wanted to go to Ponderosa State Park and at least drive around to see the scenery. When we got to the highest point a few of us got out to look around while the others waited in the truck. It's such a beautiful place!

Then it was back to camp to cook up tin foil dinners because it just isn't camping if we don't have these for one of our dinners.

And then relaxing by the fire. I didn't get a picture but we did do a different type of s'more that was a little easier. We roasted marshmallows and then put it between two Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies. Not bad but I prefer the regular way better.

Charlotte had found this hair elastic in the lake while swimming. It was double banded and looked like a bracelet to her so that's what she decided it was. Unfortunately she lost her favorite pink goggles while swimming.

Enjoying our tin foil dinners.