Tired.... but its a good tired...

I went saturday to purchase a bushel of peaches from a local farmer, they weren't quite ripe so they got put on the back burner and I canned up the tomatoes I had ready instead. I got 4 quarts. Nothing to sneeze at though, 4 quarts more than I had and the vines are full.
Sunday was a very busy day, I got up early and baked a cake, made a batch of icing and colored it and then worked up some roses to set to be placed on the cake later. We got everyone ready then went to church, after church we got a quick lunch and I came home to finish the cake. I think it turned out ok, not my best but it was a rush job as I didn't get home till 12:30 and I had to finish the cake and make 2 dishes to take to the cookout. And we had to be there by 2:00, admittedly we were about 1/2 hr late but it all worked out great as lots of other folks thought the party started at 3:00.

After the party was over I think we got home around 7:30, we went out to the garden to see if there were any more tomatoes ready, they have been trickling in slowly, and so we have been checking every day or so to make sure we don't miss any. Well what we found was a few tomatoes a couple cucumbers and a ton of weeds. So we went to pulling weeds and did so for about an hour. We all came in and got showers and got ready for bed.

Yesterday I decided the peaches were ripe enough to can so we get everything ready to work them up and then we got a call from my grandparents and asked if I would like some fresh green beans from their garden and I told them we would love some and so my gram said Pap had an errand to run and would bring them too me. I decided to keep Kara up a while longer before she went down for her nap so she could see her PapPap and we waited for him to arrive. It wasn't long at all before he pulled in and he brought more than just beans. He really blessed us with his generosity!!!

I sent him home with 6 big peaches, it was all he wanted and all I had to offer him, as I had nothing else ripe yet. I promised I would work up a few peppers as stuffed peppers for him and Gram, they love them.

Once Pap left I got the baby down for a nap and got busy. Later in the afternoon my good friend Emmy called and we arranged for her to come over so all the kids could swim and she helped me scald the last of the peaches and put them into jars. It wasn't long till it was 5:30 and she had to get her kids home and dinner started for her family and I kept plugging along vowing to finish the peaches that day. I did finish and took the last 4 jars off last night at 9:30. All in all I canned 25 quarts of peaches, did 4 loads of laundry, cleaned the bathroom and made breakfast, lunch and dinner and started snapping the green beans. I finally got to tired and gave up and went to bed at around 11:00 last night. Thankfully I guess the kids were just as tired as I was and they all slept through the night!!!

I was back up at 6:15 this morning, hubby's lunch is packed and the younger two are up and eating their breakfast, I've made the bed and tidied the bathroom  and my agenda today will be to work up the green beans, and If I get to it I'll work up the corn as well, in addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner, I hope to get a couple loads of laundry done as well.

Busy busy busy, and so tired but it is definately worth it!! Feeling blessed and thankful to be able to fill the jars and the shelves to get us through!!! I may not have money in the bank but food on the shelves is a great feeling!!!
I am headed off to get busy, what's going on at your homestead today??
Have a wonderful day!!
Dana

TGIF!!!

Ok so I promised some pictures, my work isn't the best but hey I'm learning right?? And I am having a great time!! The course is set up in 4 sections, each section has 4 classes. So I numbered the pics according to which class the goodies were made in, hope that helps and doesn't confuse anyone!!!

These are the cupcakes that I decorated from the 1.3 class, during this class we had to learn how to make the blue flowers you see and the pink flowers as well as how to properly ice and fill a cupcake. The one with balloons was a free handed one that we had to pick from a group of pictures and recreate. At the begging of my hubby, I used a copycat recipe for filling which was a Twinkie filling recipe. He loved them so I guess they were good!!!

 This cake is the first cake I decorated in the  1.2 class, we took the image from a piece of paper, learned how to transfer the image without the need of a special printer or edible image and then decorate the image that we chose. Fun and easier than I thought!!! Also its a 1 layer cake that we torted then filled, it's filled with dark chocolate pudding!! It was soooooo goooood!!! Glad I am able to send this stuff to work with the hubs!! I am already overweight and don't need any help gaining any more, lol. I'll do the practicing, his office can do the weight gaining :)

This pic is just for fun, I was getting lunch ready for the kids a bit ago and when I walked out in the livingroom this is what I found!! They created this all on their own with no help or hints or prodding!!!!!Its a breath of fresh air really, as they weren't bickering or fighting over toys etc., which they have been doing more than their fair share of I assure you!!!  And THE VERY BEST PART???? They are actually watching My Little Pony with their little sister, because that is what she wanted to watch!! So how awesome is that?? They built her a fort/tent and then watched a girly show with her because they are just awesome brothers!!  I ♥ MY KIDS!!!!

Ok so there are some pics for ya!! I have some garden pics too, I'll put them in another post later on!!!
Enjoy your day!! If it gets to be 100* today like yesterday, or if those severe thunderstorms they are calling for actually come in, you can find me in the tent with the kids, watching a movie!!! Enjoy your day!!!
Dana