Garden and Canning

We have been very busy this summer with gardening. Our stake president asked that all of us grow a garden if possible. They plowed up part of the stake center field to allow people to plant if they didn't have a yard or the ability to plant anywhere else. We joined the Hazel Dell Elementary School Garden Club and had already picked out a plot behind the school. Our house backs up to the school so it is really close. We planted carrots, onions, sugar peas, basil and lots of pole beans. So far we have had over 8 quarts of beans from the plant and 6 onions have been ready. The girls like the carrots the best, they always pick one when we go to harvest or weed. I know we have been blessed because we followed the stake president's instructions.

At our Back to School Night Garden Party, the big topic was my bean plants. I had Master Gardeners ask me what I did to get such a beautiful plant. I laughed because all I did was mix some sand into the compost that was already there and plant the beans. As you can see from the picture it is bigger than Hadley.The other day I went out and picked over 4 quarts in one day. I have been freezing them to preserve them but they are really good.

We have also taken the opportunity to can fruit. Jenn and I decided we were going to can fruits this summer so we started with peaches and pears. We had lots of little helpers enjoying the fruits of our labor. We canned about 24 quarts of peaches and 24 quarts of pears for each of us. Then Jenn canned apple pie filling with a friend from her ward. I will do mine in a week or two. (Their recipe is terrific!) I couldn't stop eating it. :)

Our latest canning experience was tomatoes. We canned over 160 pounds of tomatoes. I canned 40 pounds of stewed tomatoes, which only yielded 16 quarts. We canned the rest into salsa. Jenn talked me into canning "Thick and Chunky" salsa instead of the ever easy blender salsa. And I am very grateful she did. I love it! We took several recipes and made Kann Salsa (stands for Katie and Jenn) We ended up with 71 quarts of salsa. So needless to say both of us are exhausted!

If you are interested in recipes just let me know and I would love to send them to you. So all together this summer we have canned over 300 pounds of fruit! By the way tomatoes are considered a fruit.

Playing in the Pool

Uncle Robert came over today and it was really hot. The girls decided that they were going to play in the pool. Uncle Robert thought that was a great idea until he realized that the girls play dirty when playing in the water. (Learned from Papa and Dave no doubt!)

I stayed safely behind the sliding glass door while Kim and Uncle Robert played with the hose.

Aunt Mindy & Alestair joined us later.

The girls just love being able to go out back and jump in the pool, especially when it is in the high 90's with no AC. Yikes it is HOT!

Alestair only had one diaper and needless to say it got really wet so he got to run around free for a while until Aunt Mindy decided that he needed some sort of diaper on. As you well know I don't have diapers in the house any longer... So we made one.

Yes, it does say Bon Appetite on the side of the dish towel we used for a cloth diaper.

We then added panties, or underwear if you are a boy. In my defense they at lease had blue on them. Uncle Robert wasn't happy to see his son in blue lace trimmed panties. We all had a great time, Thanks Robert and Mindy for stopping by.

Kim's Lost Tooth

So Kim has been losing teeth lately but she finally lost one of her big front teeth. It was barely hanging on and she was getting a cavity in it so I talked her into really putting some effort in getting it out. Dave came home from work and talked her into letting him tie a string around it, tieing it to the door knob and shutting the door. She was kind of scared but excited by the idea. Well believe it or not it WORKED! It didn't even hurt her. Her big tooth was visible under her baby tooth. Dave is happy to announce that he got to pull a tooth using the string to the door knob trick. Here is Kim with her front tooth gone.

Catching Up

We finally got the Internet again so we are playing a little catch up. So much has happened since I wrote last. Well for one the snow is gone. :) Now it is hot! It is supposed to be in the 100's again tomorrow. The girls are growing like weeds. Every time I turn around they are bigger. They say the cutest things. I just started typing and trying to decide where to begin and paused for a second and Hadley chimed in and said, "Okay Begin" like it was a speed quiz or game. Just a second ago Hadley went into Dave and said, "Dad, we are having fun without you." I had to smile. She gets upset if we have fun without her but she was upset that we were having fun without Dave.

Kim on the other hand, is very smart and sassy. I am surprised that my little angel that could do no wrong says things that make me crazy. Yesterday we were practicing our Primary Program songs and she said to me with great enthusiasm, "Mom, (sigh) Singing just isn't my thing." I wanted to be mad since there was so much sass in her voice but it was hard. Dave just sat there and laughed.
We had a Butler Family Reunion that we went to for a day since I had to work and our car broke down. We had a great time. We played on the beach with Aunt Misty, Aunt Heather, Uncle Ryan, Emerson and Norah. The girls had a great time.
We have a friend that owns a car dealership and he has a Volkswagen Beetle. We play 'slug bug' all the time in the car and Hadley's nick name is 'The Bug' so taking a picture with Hadley in the "bug" was more than appropriate. She had a great time sitting in it especially in the driver's seat.
I will be updating my blog more often since I can from home now.

Christmas in the Northwest

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

So this is my pansy flower pot on my front porch. We got about a foot of snow over a week. December 2008 is the snowiest December in the history of weather in Portland. We went sledding several time and sliding around corners even more. During Christmas break we went bowling... Yes even with Kim's stitched finger. If you look closely you will see Kim's middle finger on her right had has a huge bandage on it. She rescued Emerson from a pair of really sharp scissors and got cut during the process. She had 3 stitches and was a super trooper during the entire process. Okay after going into shock and throwing up in Heather's kitchen sink as we tried every home remedies possible including super glue, we ended up in the hospital anyway. Because of the location we couldn't get any bandage to stay on. She also could have had tendons cut. Thankfully she just needed 3 stitches and a finger splint.

Grandpa Robins went with us bowling.

Lee came in to town with his wife Maki from Japan. It was great to see him and he got to dress up as Santa. The kids had a great time telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas and that they were good girls and boys.

Santa brought bikes for the girls. Unfortunately it was too snowy to ride, now it is raining. They have yet to ride them except around the house.

Everett and Mike joined us for Christmas. Dave and Mike didn't move very much from these positions. I was silly and gave Dave his new blanket as his first gift. I am not surprised that he didn't move much. His blanket is the size of a twin size quilt.

Jenn and I made Grandma Griffith's Chocolates. It took us about a week to make around 1700 chocolates and turtles. But it was great fun, I worked on the fondant as Jenn cleaned. I think I got the better end of the deal, but it was very tiring for both of us. Next year we are not going to wait until the first of December to start them. We are aiming for October and just freeze them. We might have to make several extra batches to make sure we have enough for Christmas. Boy were they good!

Fun things over the summer.

Heather and Ryan are in a Norweign Dance club and they got the girls involved. Now the girls do performances together. This is from when they performed at the Oregon State Fair. We had so much fun.

Did you know that the Funky Chicken Dance is Norweigen?

Kim doing the funky chicken.

Hadley and Norah doing the funky chicken.

They have since changed the name to "Children of Norway" since there is only one son of Norway.

So I found this pictures and I wanted to share them. Anna's birthday was a huge hit with Kim. Jenn took us up to Paul and Sandi's for the weekend. We went to the Pacific Science Center and saw the butterfly exhibit. A huge butterfly landed on Kim. She was a little scared but thought it was pretty cool later on. Everyone got a butterfly to land on them. Some larger than others but here are some great pictures. We also saw the Space Needle on a rare day where there weren't any clouds in the sky.

One of my favorite pictures that I took of a butterfly.

Dave got Kim a magnifier and she loved using it. She shared with Anna too.

A HUGE butterfly landed on Kim. She was pretty scared at first but once she relaxed she loved it. We had such a great time. Thanks Jenn, Anna, Paul and Sandi.

Halloween

We took the girls Trunk-or-Treating at the church this year. We all had a great time. All of the Butlers that are in the Vancouver area went to our ward activity. It really helps that Neil, Dannelle and I are all in the same ward. Heather and Ryan decided they wanted to join us and Grammie too. Here are some fun pictures.

Kim cleaning her pumpkin.Hadley investigating her pumpkin's insides. And of course I totally forgot the traditional completed pumpkin picture. We got the kit from Disney for the princesses. Hadley and Dad made Cinderella. Kim and I made Arura from Sleeping Beauty.
Kim wanted to be a bride. She used my veil and had to have a Star-Gazer Lily, which is what I had at our wedding.
Hadley was Cinderella AGAIN! She was Cinderella two years ago. We did her hair up which is hard to see but she loved it.

The girls together.

At our Halloween Party at church we had dancing and dinner. Okay so I am not sure if you can count chips, chili and cheese as dinner. But we all had a great time. Hadley, Kim and Norah were dancing like crazy.