Strawberry Jam

I'm a little late getting this post up but I knew I would have a lot to say so I'm just now getting a minute to sit down and do it! Monday morning, my mother-in-law, Jaycelyn, Noah, and I went to Sunshine Farms in Clanton and picked strawberries, so that we could make strawberry jam. This was my first time to make jam and there was really nothing to it! Here are a few pics while we were picking strawberries...

Jaycelyn had the best time! Besides ruining her outfit and eating way more strawberries then she needed, she still did a good job for her first time.

She carried her bucket around and picked everything she saw. Even the green ones! haha

We finally got her to follow us and pick the ones we told her to pick.

Noah tried to pick a couple himself.

We picked 7 gallons of strawberries and made jam on Wednesday. We used about 5 gallons and made 45 jars of jam. We made one batch at a time and got 9 jars out of each batch. First we washed...

Then, we cut the stems out, sliced, and mashed...

Next, we measured 5 cups of strawberries and put them in a saucepan. We mixed one box of Sure-Jell with them and brought it to a rolling boil, added the sugar, brought it to a rolling boil again and then stirred constantly for 1 minute.

After it was done cooking, we filled the jars up, tightened the lids, and put them in 1-2 inches of boiling water. We did this to seal them instead of using a pressure cooker. They lightly boiled for about 10 minutes. After they boiled, we put them back in the box and put them in a dark area and covered them with a towel for 24 hours so they could seal.

After checking all of our jars, they all successfully sealed liked they were supposed to. I still have to get fabric to cover them (because I want to) and taste it!!

Mother's Day

So today is only my second Mother's Day thus far! God has blessed me with two beautiful healthy babies! Although, I don't yet know what it feels like to be a mother for more than half of my life. All I do know is that I have the best mother that I could ever ask for and more. My mom has always put her family before herself. Now that I'm a mother, I realize the sacrifices that my mom made for us all of these years. Me being the oldest (24), my sister (20), and my brother (16). My mother is not only a mother but my best friend. She is like my encyclopedia through life. I truly feel blessed to have such a loving mother that I know will be there for me through anything in this life. I also can say now that my mom is a wonderful grandmother. I think that grandparents have a special bond with their grandchildren that a parent cannot have with their kids until they are grown. I also want to say that since I have been married, I have also acquired an awesome mother-in-law. She is such a beautiful person inside and out. Her love shines through to anyone she meets and always puts everyone first. I think that she did the best job that she possibly could raising 3 boys on her own, and now two grandchildren. She has such a big heart and is always there when we need her! I guess what I'm trying to say is that we should all pay attention to how precious a mother is. Even if we don't have the best mother, we should be grateful to have one because one day when my mother is gone, I don't want it to be too late and realize how precious she was to me and how much I relied on her. No one will ever love us more than our mother does! I love you Mom, Thank you for loving me and I love you Liz, thank you for loving me like your own daughter!

The Last Few Days

We really haven't been up to much here lately, I've been working a lot this week but I thought I would share a few pics that I thought were cute from the past few days. These are at Chick Fil-A...

I Love This One...

She doesn't smile for long...

I bought a little volcano sprinkler that was on clearance about 4 years ago for my nephew but by the time summer came around he was really too old for it. It's been in the closet ever since and I never thought one day I would be getting it out for my daughter. She was having fun with it but on one side it has eyes and when they open it shoots water out of the top. Well she was scared to death of it so she started crying and saying, "hold you" and running away every time she saw it... lol (that's what she says when she wants you to hold her).

Come on, this thing is pretty scary if you ask me, for a 2 year old anyway!

Today the kids and I, my mom, sister, aunt, and grandma went to Olive Garden for lunch because my Grandma works on the weekends and we wouldn't see her for Mother's Day...

Me, my Aunt Carla, and sister Christian...

My sister Christian, my mom Tonya, and Me....

Me and my Angel...

My grandma and I....

Update on Noah

Just wanted to say real quick that Noah is feeling so much better today. He has been on the antibiotics for 2 days now and had Benedryl the last 2 nights before bed. It is confirmed, Benedryl works better than Zyrtec. He is breathing so much better, has very little congestion and I haven't heard him cough all day!