Canning-I haven't blown anyone or anything up yet!

So far, in my canning adventures, I have canned green tomatoes, green beans, tomatoes, roasted tomato sauce, salsa, peach honey (it was going to be jam but turned into a more honey-like substance instead), peach jam, and blueberry jam. After all of this, you would think that I might have some clue about what I am doing-but not really. I still refer to my Ball Blue Book for everything. What I do know is that green beans are alot of work for the amount you get. I am totally against green beans anyways because, in my mind, by the time you boil them to death, there really isn't alot of nutritional valve. I am still working on how to make the jams lower in sugar. I think I need a canning book for diabetics or something. The first time I went to make the peach jam which turned into honey, the recipe called for 4 cups of peaches and 7!!!! cups of sugar. It was SWEET! Like the sweetest peach you have ever eaten. The blueberry jam I made today called for 7 cups of sugar but I only used 4. It turned out so good! We bought 60 pounds of peaches today at the Farmer's Market. I had meant to freeze peaches and make more peach jam but we got lost canning tomato sauce. Adam's garden has really taken off. He is quite the tomato grower!!! If you notice the picture, it is of our dining table that seats 8. That was from not picking tomatoes for 3 days. Since this photo, it has now been 3 more days and it has rained. I am almost afraid to see how many tomatoes he brings in for us tomorrow!

On Monday, the plan is to start Easton's Kindergarten. If we don't start Monday, we will definitely start one day next week. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I have most of the curriculum and made lists and lists on top of lists-even though I know, after about 2 days of doing what is on the list, we will find our own routine. He is so excited though. Tomorrow, after church, I told him we would go to Walmart and he could pick out his own folder. We bought some school supplies there the other night and the only thing he said he wanted was a pack of erasers. Maybe little boys don't get the same excitement from new school supplies that little girls do. I always loved getting all new stuff. He is excited to start his Math curriculum. We chose Saxon math and after reading it, I have been pretty impressed. I love that they do lots of hands on activities and I like it that their is a review everyday. I am a little unsure about how the reading stuff is going to go. We bought Abeka for K but Easton has been reading short books for a year so all of the Kindergarten stuff that I bought seems geared more to kids who cannot read at all. I think we are going to go ahead and let him read through all of the Kindergarten books and if he seems to do ok with them, we will buy first grade materials. As far as everything else, we have Bob Jones Bible Truths, Story of the World (for History), History of Little Pilgrims, some other history that had some neat activities, McRuffy Science, Explode the Code for handwriting, Hooked on Phonics for more reading, and I am getting ready to order Apologia Science because the McRuffy seems geared more for preschoolers. I will still use the McRuffy for the younger ones. For Literature, we are doing a mix of Five in a Row, On The Loose With Dr. Seuss, and a couple of other books that center a theme around a story. Yes, I am a bit of a curriculum collector and maybe even a curriculum snob. I like the idea of picking and choosing the best lessons for learning. Some books have really great information while others have much better hands on activities-which are a must to hold the kids attention. For Weston, we got Handwriting Without Tears. We have had lots of doctors tell us that after his surgery, he may have some fine motor issues and HWOT is the best handwriting curriculum for someone with issues. And, we will do the Letter of the Week stuff with Weston and the girls. I tried to get Weston to do it last year but he wanted nothing to do with it-which was fine. Now that he is a year older, he seems to be more interested in letters and learning to read like Easton. It amazes me that they have such different learning styles. Easton is so focused, hands on, and such a perfectionist. Weston, on the opposite end of the spectrum, could care less about learning anything that HE doesn't want to-which means if you aren't wanting to learn about dinosaurs, bugs, firetrucks, or John Deere's-his ears are turned off. I should also add that after I have worekd so hard to plan out the school year, teachers are horribly underpaid! I will update next week on how it is going and perhaps add a picture of Easton (now that I know how to add picts).