Apples and Tomatoes

We played a little catch up today.  I spent a lot of time in the kitchen.  Does anybody else have trouble getting back into the swing of things after being sick for a week or so?  Like A LOT of trouble.  I wish I was one of those people who woke up after a week of rest and was pumped and excited to get back to it!  Those people exist, right?  Can those people come to my house?  I'm going to take a nap...

Mister and I did some tomato picking together- in October.  I thought tomatoes were a summer crop.  I shared a picture of our haul over on Instagram.  If the weather holds out, I think we might get one more just like it in about a week.  

I think that maybe my favorite thing he does right now is rush up to the back door all dramatic and breathless to say "Jeska, I got a really big surprise for you," before showing me a mushroom or a tomato or a flower.  He won't always get so excited every time he finds something growing, and I want to remember when he did.

Toby's an excellent helper when it's time to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I guess if I were a more disciplined dog owner I probably wouldn't let him do this.

After lunch, the kids caught up on their correspondence.  

I love reading what Slim writes sometimes.  I think she's better at expressing herself on paper- I'm often impressed by the depth and honesty when I read her letters.  Other times, her letters are just adorable.  Today they sent notes and Christmas/birthday wishes to my mom, and thank-you notes to an Aunt who sent us an impromptu gift in the mail recently.  Dear told me she was going to write "really long essays" for her letters.  In her attempt to live up to her promise, she copied down her entire schedule for her upcoming basketball season in her letter to my mom.  She makes me laugh.

In between helping the kids with their letters, and supervising some art cabinet clean up, Chris and I got around to a few things we'd been postponing in the kitchen- the most time consuming of which was making applesauce.  We got a 20 pound box of apples at the farmers market, and turned about half of it into applesauce.

Homemade applesauce is really easy to make, and it tastes about one thousand times better than store bought.  We don't even eat applesauce except for in the fall when we make it at home.  The only really annoying part is peeling all of those apples.

I use this recipe, because I've tried it and I love it, and it's simple.  I don't think it's approved for canning, though, so if you're a canner you should check another source.  I've been told you can can applesauce (there's great writing for ya), but I've yet to look into it myself.  I just put my extra jars in the freezer.  From 8 pounds of apples I got 5 pint jars of applesauce.  I'll probably make another batch before the apples disappear for the season, but who knows if I'll have the time (or motivation). 

We're all feeling better, just in time for basketball season, pumpkin patch visiting, fall decorating, a birthday party, a Halloween Carnival, and a Halloween party.  Whew.

**This has been Day 13 of 31 Days of Enjoying My Kid.