Update

• It is great now that school has started again.  The schedule is so nice and the kids are actually more content now that they aren't busy and with each other 24/7.   We are busier than ever and our schedule is even mor crazy now that I have kids in 2 different schools + one preschool now.  All their schedules are different and it is definitely a challenge remembering everything I need to remember.  And I don't always remember everything.  A week ago I forgot (or never really knew actually) that it was my turn to bring treats to Ian's soccer game.  Worst. Mom. Ever.  I felt like scum.

• I have a couple of neighbors who have fruit trees and it has been a really good year for fruit. I have had tons of apples, pears and plums. That has been keeping me pretty busy. I got a bunch of apples a couple of weeks ago and had an applesauce heyday and did 28 quarts.  I have recently gotten my hands on plums and pears and have been drying them. It is much less work than the canning. I did make some apple pie filling the other day that turned out pretty good. That was only the second time I have done pie filling and it had been a really long time. It makes me happy to be beefing up my food storage and doing it for very little cost.  Even though my jars are almost all filled up I just can't resist accepting more fruit because it is FREE!!!  I just have a handful of pint jars left to fill up and I think I will probably make some jam as soon as my pears get ripe enough.

My kids love to help make applesauce.

The result of 5 hours of hard fruity labor.

• The other day Kent was outside doing something with the tile and he motioned me over to the window.  He mouthed something to me but I wasn't sure what he was saying. It looked like he said, "Whose bunny is that?"  I knew that couldn't be right so I walked over to the window and opened it to see what he was saying.  He repeated: "Whose bunny is that?  Do you know where it came from?"  It was the weirdest most random thing.  The little fluffy hairball was just sitting there eating our grass.  I called a few neighbors to see if it was theirs but nobody claimed it.  Kent got the camera and took pictures of it so I could put it on my blog.  Then the bunny hopped away and out the hole in the fence. (I am sure it had nothing to do with the fact that my kids all heard about the bunny and came running outside and were chasing it.) We saw the bunny again the next day in our garage just hanging out under our car.  If you are missing a bunny let me know.