What I’ve Been Up To (Instead of Blogging)

Man! It has been so busy around here! I thought I’d share a few pictures in lieu of a real blog post. So that you can see I’m not just being lazy.

Harvest from the garden . . .

Onions curing in the sun!

Last year was lousy for squash, but we got a good haul this year!

And look at all these PUMPKINS! (And some spaghetti squash). These excite me to no end because we grew them from seeds I saved from a couple of heirloom pumpkins (red Cinderella and and gray Jarrahdale) I bought last year. I’d never saved seeds before. There’s something thrilling about watching two pumpkins turn into twenty. And look how gorgeous they are! They have thick, delicious flesh, too, which will be turned into pies and muffins throughout the winter.

Please note: I think some people are under the impression that I am doing this stuff all by myself. FAR FROM TRUE. I garden with my mom at her house. She’s been gardening for decades and has lots of excellent land to do it on. During spring and early summer, I go over there once a week to help plant, sow, weed, hoe, and pick a few things to take home. During the late summer and fall, I go over there two or three times a week to help harvest and preserve. It’s usually when we butcher, too. Last year we did hogs, because that’s what my parents raised; this year they raised meat chickens. I have to go back next week to do the last ten with my mom.

At our own home, we raise four hens for eggs and an herb garden. That’s it.

Anyway, we did all this canning this week:

Diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and salsa. My mom’s been doing additional canning like a madwomen in the evenings when my sister and I are not there. She’s insane, and also awesome. We still want to put in another day or two.

Anyway, all this work is made a bit more taxing due to all this extra weight I’m carrying:

Yeepers! I still have three months to go! How huge am I going to get?! I’ve been huffing and puffing for weeks already, and my hips are starting to get achy. I was about this size at nine months when I gave birth to Lydia, so . . . this is uncharted territory for me. (Ben conveniently cropped out my badonkadonk, so you can’t see how much weight I have gained in the lower region of my body.)

And for fun, on the weekend the three of us went to see WALK OFF THE EARTH in concert!! (I went a little crazy talking about the band here.) They were playing at a venue less than an hour away, and we’re all huge fans, including Lydia. She knows all the members’ names and likes to imitate Sarah in Material Girl and drum on the hood of the van like the guys in Gang of Rhythm.

It was an outdoor concert, and we had a hard time finding a babysitter, and we really though Lydia would enjoy it. So we took a risk in taking her. It went great! She was a little overwhelmed by the volume and lights. This is how her face looked throughout most of it:

And when they sent huge balloons out into the crowd, she cried because she couldn’t have one. Until someone handed her one! Then she was thrilled. It made her night.

So things have been busy, but good. So, so good. I’m overwhelmed with the blessings in my life right now. I hope you are doing well, too!