I spent the day yesterday canning the remainder of my apples...24 half pints of apple butter oughtta do us for the winter. I only purchased half a bushel because I was unsure of the yield it would bring...but now I regret not getting a whole bushel, I would really like to can some quarts of apple pie filling. So perhaps I shall.

 

I love lining my pantry shelves with my home canned items. Scarcely few things feel more rewarding! Seeing my glittering jars of preserves, jams, fruits, vegetables and meats makes me feel like an industrious pioneer woman. Besides sewing, this is definitely one of the most valuable skills my mother has taught me.

 

Yesterday I felt unwell and was unable to do my usual volunteering in Isabella's classroom, but my heart threatened implosion when I picked her up. Yesterday was library day...the children listen to a story, and then are allowed to choose one book to keep for two weeks. Isabella was overjoyed to find a classic edition of Little Bear...our most favorite book to read since she was a baby...and also our favorite show to watch together. She was sitting at her desk very intently studying each page and reciting the stories from memory.

 

After homework, we listened/read our book on tape that Lovie got for her last year...somehow the cd had been lost in our move, but we were pretty excited to find it the other night tucked away in a box of...socks?! (I'm sure I had my reasons) Isabella adores read-along books...but they are hard to find these days! Definitely going to be scoping out Amazon for some more of these.



 

Before bed, she put her Grow-A-Spooky-Witch in a glass of water...The witch is still on the counter and hasn't grown a single centimeter :(

 

10 things that I love, love, LOVE!

1. I love watching my little girl's bakpack bouncing up and down while she's trotting merrily into school in the morning.

 

 

2. I love that she is already an accelerated reader (the only one in Kindergarten so far!) and has an insatiable need to read, just like her momma! I'm so proud.

 

 

3. I love that she has started calling David 'Papa-Dave' Kind of like the pizza...but better and much sweeter :)

 

 

4. I love that David has started hinting around about babies...and how it sure would be nice to have one around...

 

 

5. I love making and canning apple butter out of the apples that David and I procured on our romantic date this weekend at the apple orchard we found whilst out aimlessly driving around together...That was a serious run-on sentence.

 

6. I love the sweet little things David does for "his girls" as he calls Isabella and me :)

 

7. I love being called "his girls"

 

8. I love our silly hound dog, Polly-Nomial, and how she follows me everywhere I go, stays at my heels in the kitchen and sleeps at my feet while I'm at the sewing machine.

 

9. I love the autumn themed quilt I am finishing right now...I love that my little family will use this quilt for years to come...to cover up with while watching tv, drag with us on hay-rides...perhaps I'll even lay a gurgling little baby on it some day.

 

10. I love daydreaming about my growing family, and what my children will become, and how David and I will someday sit and reminisce about how when they were young, shed a tear or two and hold hands....I just said 'and' a lot.

 

I love more than ten things.

 

I love having the opportunity to volunteer at Isabella's school, to give back, and to watch her interacting with her peers. I treasure these years!

 

And lastly, I love these random photos from my cell phone. Polly-Nomial waking me up in the morning with her cold, wet snout...Poll-Nomial's dangly dog jowels that I love to play with...Isabella doing her homework...Isabella and I mugging for the camera...and apparently Isabella using my phone to take pictures of herself.

 

 

Sometimes I wish I could press pause for a moment...