Pinatas, peppers, tomatoes, and you name it

The title is a good summary, although I will elaborate a bit. I made another and canned another batch of tomato sauce last week and we discovered that our garlic is nice and big in the garden as well, so we were able to make the sauce using only veggies from our garden. In some of the other pics, you will see Koria with a mask on and a bee pinata behind her. I was the "Mystery Reader" for their kindergarten class this last Wednesday and I decided to read the first book in the "Skippyjon Jones" series, about a siamese cat who thinks he's a chiuaua and speaks with a spanish accent as he enters his closet where he pretends to be the great sword fighter, El Skippito. He has a gang of imaginary friends, named Los Chimichangos, who would be my friends too, if I lived in his world. He takes on the Great Bumblebeeto (really a bee pinata) with his sword because he's been stealing all of the beans from Los Chimichangos. When he pops his belly, all kinds of beans spew out. I decided to make the Great Bumblebeeto myself, then stuff him with bags of jelly beans for the kids and a couple other treats too. Then I helped them make El Skippito masks out of felt to wear while they attacked the pinata chiuaua style. Sorry about the spelling on chiuaua. It turned out great, and NOTHING beats getting to read a book with a thick Spanish accent. Am I right, or am I right? I highly recommend the book for all of you, and the other books in Skippyjon Jones' adventures. "Lost in Spice" is another great one. Let's see ... what other pics did I put in this entry ... oh yeah, the sunrises have been spectacular the past few weeks. This was just one example.

More flowers

Just some more flowers from the garden. I took these the same night that I took the pictures of us while we were outside playing.

Early Fall Nights

We've been enjoying the beautiful early fall weather and have tried to go outside to play after dinner when we have had the chance. Here's just a few pictures of us out in the yard at night. Layne really likes walking down the long driveway in her walker, and the rest do just about anything you can imagine. It's great to be able to go outside again without fear of massive mosquito attacks.

Some more reasons ...

...why I don't keep up on the blog more regularly.

Here's Layne working on her leg muscle strength. She is getting stronger all the time. I usually have to stand or sit by her and force her to use her leg muscles instead of just leaning on the couch. Her beads serve as a good motivator to stand up.

We had a neighbor who just had a baby and the R.S. asked me to take them in a meal. Because we had another neighbor who gave us a couple dozen eggs from their chickens, I made cream puffs for dessert and gave them to a few people. There's a reason that I don't make them very often, and I was reminded of that later on.

This is one of three sinks that I've had to fix a leak in over the past three weeks. This on is the kitchen sink. I was trying to use the garbage disposal when it jammed, and after working with it for a while and trying to unclog it, I realized that tomato peels were the source of the problem ... a little too late. Before I knew it, one of the rings that secures the pipes together burst open under the pressure of the clog, and both water and old veggie peels sprayed everywhere. I had quite a flood to clean up. Then I managed to undo the pipes, clear out the problem, put it all back together, and get dinner to the neighbors when Jared got home from work. Oh well. I needed to clean out under the sink anyway.

Here are both Koria and Kimball in timeout. I really can't remember what they were there for, but I do remember how mad I was. Whatever it was, it must have been serious, because I made them sit on their beds. That only happens when I'm afraid I may cause bodily harm.

It's on nights like this that I often here this quote from the kids, "Mom, I why don't you just take some time to yourself." I think they've picked it up from Jared, who usually pulls out that phrase when he can see that my body and brain can no longer function in tandom. By the way, all of these shots were taken last Monday. FHE was not on patience.

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, and Cantaloup

The title says it all: we're up to our ears in tomatoes and cantaloup right now. I've made four batches of homemade tomato (each takes about 10 hours from start to finish) sauce so far. I need to check the garden again today for more. They taste great.

First Day of Kindergarten

Here's a couple pictures of Koria andKimball on their first day of Kindergarten. Their teacher is Mrs. Mills and they go to school from 8:15 to 11:15, every day but Wednesday. On Wednesdays, they only go from 8:15 to 9:45 and I also go with them from 8 to 9 to help in their classroom. I cried the first couple of days of school. Just seems like they are growing up too fast on me. I think I'm more worried about all the things that they will be exposed to out in the world, but I'm reminded of a Father in Heaven who knowingly, lovingly, and encouragingly sent us to this world so that we could learn, "through our own experience" to become like Him.

Reminds me of Proverbs 3:5-6, which reads, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all they ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths."

I have often prayed that God would take my life in His hand to make more out of it than I could myself. I do not doubt His love for me, or that He knows the end from the beginning. That is one of the greatest comforts to me, to know that despite what I may view as a challenge in my life or a circumstance that has not been ideal or as I would have designed, He has been the architect. One of our Savior's titles is in fact, "the Master Architect." He was a carpenter by trade, after all. The Lord, the Master Builder, molds and shaped, builds and rebuilds, as He sees necessary to make us fit for a kingdom.

And yeah, this is all a bit much to relate when we are speaking about two 5-year-0lds headed out to kindergarten, but it's the beginning, none the less, of a lifetime of hammering and bending that's sometimes rather painful. Thank goodness there's joy, and jelly beans, and recess along the way.

Luke didn't want to let them go. He wanders around the house in search of them, sucking his thumb, and holding his blanket. Then he giggles when they get back in the car for the short ride home. Layne? She's just happy to have some time to herself I think. I'm a mix of the two. As the month has progressed, more of the latter. I like being down to just one set of twins for a couple hours a day. It gives me some time to breath ... at least a bit more slowly. Then 11:15 hits and it's mass chaos again in the Black house.

In Galaxy Not So Far Away

A few weeks ago, I entered our bedroom to find this scene. Kimball had decided to play "Star Wars" on our bed and headboard. My favorite part was the figures scaling "The Proclamation to the World." Princess Leia sitting in a pool of seashells was a close second.

Randomness

Like I said, when you are trying to catch up on a month's worth of time, you group events and days. Here's a mixture of some pics from the last few weeks. I got creative with Layne's hair the day of the benefits fair that Jared helps run for the school district employees, then made Koria and Kimball their own plan of salvation packets to cut out and color for a family home evening. Koria had asked what it was, so we had a great lesson on it in August. And there's the mega stroller that is a huge part of my sanity. I took the kids on a walk/bike ride down to the mailbox. Koria and Kimball took turns riding Kor's bike with the training wheels as they aren't quite ready to ride without (almost though -- Koria rides up and down the driveway without!). They told me that it was something close to torture to make them ride that far for that long .... try pushing a double stroller!

Flowers from the yard

As I mentioned in the last post, the hail storm wiped out a lot of the beautiful flowers that were in bloom, but the last few weeks, they have rebounded and here's just a small sampling of the flowers in bloom around our yard right now. This early fall weather has been beautiful and it's great to have a yard willed with flowers to enjoy as well. Guess I get that from you, Mom!

After the Hail Storm

It's been a while. Sorry. I will catch up a little bit at a time. Here's some pics of the garden after a massive hail storm that we had ... come think of it, I don't know that I've posted pics of the storm itself. I'll check. Anyway, our garden was beaten to a pulp. It has started to bounce back, but there was a lot of damage done. You will be able to see some of the hail stone marks on the pumpkins. They were pretty big in size. All the flowers were wasted too. The leaves from the vine plants were flattened, exposing all of the fruit and veggies below. Guess it was a remind of who ultimately is in charge.