Grape Jelly

We've discovered wild grapes all around our neighborhood during the late summer months.  Malia was the great gatherer last summer, but the rest of the family got in on an outing or two.  These grapes have a wonderful flavor, but they're pretty tart; they're also small and have a seed.  So I cooked them and strained out all the juice.  It seemed too busy to make it into jelly right away, so we froze the juice.  February seemed the right time to pull it out and get busy.

Here's about half of the finished product.  I'm really not into canning, so I always hold my breath wondering if it's going to work.  It did!  And we made it using the "no sugar added" stuff from Rainbow.  Since the juice was so tart, I added 3/4 cup honey to every 4 cups of juice, and substituted one cup of the wild grape juice for one cup of grape juice from concentrate (still 100% juice).  Everyone likes it and I'm happy about having some jelly that's a bit healthier!

Valentine's Day Fun

Last year we made these cute little fellows out of Hershey's kisses, foam hearts, little pom poms, and movable eyes.

Levi made these butterflies for his co-op class, using construction paper, two sticks of gum, heart stickers, movable eyes, and pipe cleaners. 

This was a valentine for one of our girls using scraps of pretty paper and kisses.

We like homemade pizza, so this was our Valentine's Day edtion.

A few candles leftover from our wedding, our red tablecloth, a pretty placemat and flower....this was our centerpiece.

DJ had fun creating these little guys with sticks of gum and pipe cleaners.  I think he made one for each kid in his co-op class.

Kade turns 3 last October

Kade loved the whole fireman theme last October when he turned three (and he still does), so we made the cake with lots of little boy help.  Everyone ate some, but the best part was decorating and taking pictures, and of course, blowing out candles.  (He is a fireman, afterall).  The coat is size 24 months, and he continued to squeeze into it over and over again until Christmas when Kalai got him a new one.

We continue to give thanks for all our children, but I'm always mindfully aware of how fragile life is when I think of Kade's entrance into this world.  He is a challenge in so many ways as he learns that he must obey and follow someone other than himself.  He often leaves me scratching my head, trying to figure out what motivates him.  He hears my praise over his good deed and it's as if he says, "Rats, I really didn't mean to make her happy."  He has some very sweet moments, though, when he seriously relates his desire to follow Jesus.  He loves to laugh with his brothers, hide from mom, try funny words out, read firemen books over and over, and work hard with Daddy, whether it be shoveling snow, mowing the lawn, or moving furniture. He really is a little man.