Elijah Ray turns 13!

Almost 13, that's something to smile about
What a handsome 6 year old
Elijah Ray and his Mommy Kris
Elijah & Caleb, looks like trouble to me
Elijah (6) & Hannah (4) at our wedding

Yes it's true, Elijah is turning 13 tomorrow. We will have 6 teenagers at home...HELP! I honestly don't know where the time has gone. It still seems like the age range should be 3 - 16, not 9 - 23. I must admit that there are a lot of times I have to remind myself of this fact. My children aren't as young as I think they are. Elijah is growing up to be quite a young man. He is helpful and hardworking when he's in the right mood. We celebrated Elijah's birthday early on Saturday night. He was thrilled to finally get the iPod he had been wanting for a looooong time.

CANNING

Apple Pie Filling~Makes wonderful Apple Crisp
Mikayla making sure all the sugar clumps are dissolved~FUN!
Spaghetti Sauce cooking
Wednesdays accomplishments, minus the apple sauce

About 2 weeks ago on Monday evening my friend Kristyn called and wondered if I would be interested in doing some canning if she got some tomatoes at the produce auction in Frytown. She also had a friend who had apples if I was interested. Of course I said "Sure, that would be great." Little did I know that when she got here Tuesday night she would have a truck full. There was close to 6 bushels of apples and 12 boxes of tomatoes and a 50 lb. bag of onions. My sister-in-law Peg joined us also. We spent Wednesday morning making apple sauce and apple pie filling to can. After a trip to Carroll for lunch and supplies we returned to make Salsa and Spaghetti Sauce. We were exhausted and our feet hurt when we finally called it a night at 2:30 AM. Unfortunately we only got half of the tomatoes used up. Kristyn and her family returned home Thursday and Peg and I spent Friday making more Salsa and Spaghetti Sauce. I wish I had better pictures to post, but we were so busy that we almost forgot to take any. It really was something to see, the amount of work going on all at one time. Organized Chaos is what I would call it. And by the time Peg & I finished up on Friday I can honestly say I was sick of the smell of Salsa & Spaghetti Sauce cooking. But I am THRILLED with all the yummy food we have to enjoy. Here are the totals: 60 Qt. Apple Sauce, 28 Qt. Apple Pie Filling, 47 Qt. Spaghetti Sauce and 60 Qt. Salsa. We were all happy with what we ended up with. It is amazing how much fun you can have working when you are doing it with friends. Thanks Kristyn for asking and be willing to make the trip. You are truly a special friend.