Just like Grandma's

Grandma with Ethan when he was about 6 months old! This blog made me realize I need more pictures of my grandma!

I don't think there is a stronger flavor association for me of my grandma than apricot jam. There are lots of other delicious things I could think of, but apricot jam spans all seasons. It makes a welcomed Christmas gift and is the perfect topping for her hot homemade rolls at every family gathering. So when the large apricot tree starting dropping fresh apricots in my yard, I thought I'd try my hand at apricot jam; and all on my own this time.

And from tree to jar, it was a four hour process! I climbed a ladder and shook various fruit laddened branches of this mammoth tree.

Ethan was on pick up duty and quickly gathered the dropped apricots into the buckets. We had 2 buckets full, which was more than we needed for jam alone. We ended up freezing 3 ziplocks full for crisps/crumbles when fruit is not available.

Elli was my quality control, taking bites out of a good portion of the apricots we used. Poor girl still has runny stool because of it.

As this was my first canning experience on my own, I quickly realized that this pot is not big enough for a double batch. It overflowed all over my stove top. I'll be looking for a bigger pot in the capitol next week!

As you may remember, Ethan loves to tell Grandma jokes and stories. So what fun to be able to work together making Grandma's apricot jam. And the last two mornings, it has even been chosen over the strawberry jam to add to our homemade yogurt!

Vision Needed!

We continue to plow ahead on home repairs. Each room is making progress, though I'm hitting a wall on our entry hallway. I thought I'd ask for your help.

I want this area to be welcoming as the door at the end of our hall is the large "guest room" (living room). For our national friends, we will quickly rush them into the formal room, seat them and then lay out the spread. For foreign friends however, the entryway has potential for the lingering hang time that we are so good at. :) Through the big windows I can sit with my girl friends and watch the kids swing and play in the sandbox. So here's the help I need . . .

1. What do I do for curtains. The morning sun is really intense and heats up the entire hallway. If I could block sun in the morning but enjoy the view the rest of the day, that would be ideal.
2. What do I do for linger time? I've found a small table that I could do with stools? If I did floor pillows I think my national friends would be confused?

Thanks for your help! I'm excited to do this together!

Byo Jang

A new friend from the states just arrived in our city this week. She brought with her some fun little packages from family back home. Grandma Vickie sent along a little wind up Kung Fu Panda toy. To my knowledge, Ethan has never seen Kung Fu panda though he loves playing with his winding toy. The thing that cracked me up, was the first thing out of his mouth after I showed him how it worked. Speaking for the Panda, Ethan said "Byo, Jang." This has now become the name of his panda toy. "Byo, Jang" translated means "Come, Fight." He's getting language figured out.

Life in Motion

The first picture is while we were waiting in the capitol. The second is this last week in our house.

These are two shots that capture what my little Elli is all about (and what wears me out by the end of the day). MOTION! Elli loves to move and go. There is no reason, in her mind, to sit still to do anything. She has recently started mastering her dance moves and even has her shoulder shake down. That's probably a move we will encourage her to use less and less the older she becomes. :) Wherever she's headed and whatever she's doing . . . she gives it her all. Sure love her.

The similarities

I just took this picture of Elli and it reminded me of one similar that my brother (with his mad photographer skills) took of Ethan. If I remember right, I think they would be about the same age. But I love to see their similarities; they both are long and thin with big eyes. There are differences of course as Elli has dark brown and Ethan has dark blue eyes. Ethan has Elli beat on the hair, for sure. I love these two little gifts! They bring such joy and delight to my heart. It is so sweet to see the ways in which they have been created uniquely and then the sweet similarities they carry that make us family.

We got him!

Our second night of trapping paid off! With a small sacrifice of our very special peanut butter, we caught our wall gnawing mouse. And he was a big one too; Austin said about 8 inches long. We've continued to set traps to make sure there aren't any friends or family member lingering in our walls, but have come up empty every night. We plan to put poison down his hole before we patch it back up.

What do you do with a dead mouse in a world where it's very critical you throw your trash away in the right places, way and time (after dark)? Our neighbor kids quickly enlightened us . . . you throw them on your roof for the cats to eat. So that is what we did. That's probably why we have mice, the fat cats are too lazy to hunt them themselves.

My birthday present

Before you doubt my dear hubby, he did get more for my birthday than just an appliance. But I have been anxiously awaiting this appliance, so it gets special blogging mention. We've been looking all over town comparing variations of this brand of stove. As it's really the only brand in town. This is the only fully gas one we have found. And since during the winter months we will be on a "regime" of power outages, I really wanted a gas oven option. We even tested to make sure my cookie sheets would fit in the stove before we bought it. :) The only bummer is that 2 pieces are missing; a plate for one of the burners and then a dial for the other. But we're no longer newbies at this whole CA living. Austin refused to pay the full price until the other pieces arrived. We'll see if they make the truck this week. Until then it's happy baking time!