More canning!

I've been busy in the kitchen! Last night I canned 10 pints of garlic kosher dill pickles slices. Take a peek:


We hauled this in from the garden today:

So I guess I'll be making a couple of gallons of spaghetti sauce to can as well!

I have to tell you, I really LOVE country life! If I could quit my nursing job tomorrow and spend my days educating the kids and tending my home and garden, I would absolutely be in heaven! Makes me wish I had discovered horticulture before I went off to school to get my nursing license!

Nothing new to report on the homefront. We'll be schooling the kids through the summer due to the time we lost during the move. We spend our mornings doing lessons and our afternoons at the pool. Kyle is so tan that he looks like a little blonde haired, blue eyed Hispanic child! Doug is slowly gaining business here in town. He's got a new website: weddingsbydouglascreamer.com

Well, I better get busy on those tomatoes!!!

Check out my melons!

How's that for an eye catching title?
My melon patch has finally starting producing! So far, we have 18 watermelons growing! I planted two varieties, Congo, which produces huge 35 pound melons, and Sugar Baby, which has the highest sugar content and produces 10 pound fruits which are the perfect size for the fridge.
Doug teases me that he's going to get me a sign and I can sell watermelon out of the back of the minivan on the side of the road! I can see it now...me sitting in a lawn chair on the side of the road with the back door of the van propped up, kids playing by the roadside, and a sign that reads, "Homeschooling family needs to buy books - Please buy a watermelon!"
Congo:

Sugar Baby:


I'm also growing cantaloupes! I planted a variety called "Amish" that is from a company called "Saving Our Seeds" or S.O.S for short! This variety is over a hundred years old and is a TRUE cantaloupe (not muskmelon, as the "cantaloupes" in the store are!) The flesh has a very dense, but lite texture and it is very sweet! No more store bought "cantaloupes" for us anymore!

Cuts like buttah....

The good 'ol summer time!

It was a lazy summer day at the Creamer household today! After the usual grind of school work and chores, the boys headed out to the pool. I swear these kids are half fish! They'd happily spend the entire day at the pool and burn to a crisp.
Here are some fun pics of them in action:
I call this one "Bellyflop" (ouch!)


Here comes the "Cannonball"


And here's a thumbs-up for fun in the sun from JP!


Seems I was the only one productive today! I canned 12 pints of salsa! After all that canning, I was ready for a jump in the pool, but instead Danny and I laid down for a nap!

(...and yes, I know there are only 11 pints in the picture! We *had* to open one when the boys came back from swimming....quality control, you know!)

A picture is worth a thousand words....

Danny was playing with the older boys and then disappeared for a few minutes.
He came back wearing this:

Not sure if this get-up was for protection against his older brothers or if he wanted to start a new sport...BaseFootBall!

Digital Scrapbooking

I've always admired those moms who could put together amazing scrapbooks for their children! Each child had their whole life captured in colorful pages with witty and clever journaling. Mothers would spend hours and days gathering just the right papers, stickers and accents for these works of art....well, not me!
I have discoved digital scrapbooking, and I'm totally addicted! I can take a few photos, and with the help of PhotoShop and some free scrapbooking websites, I can build a page in minutes!

Here's a sampling of the boy's pages:




If you have PhotoShop (or something similar) you can assemble these pages in minutes, upload them to Walmart or CVS to print (I print mine out on 8X10 matte paper) and just slide them into my scrapbooks! It's easy, cheap (a little over two bucks to print per page) and it really is a lot of fun!





Here is are a few of the sites that offer free downloads of papers and embellishments:

http://shabbyprincess.com/

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/place/freebies.shtml

http://scrapbook-bytes.com/

Have fun!!!