We have finished canning the peaches! (insert happy tune here)

Grand totals:

45 quarts of sliced peaches
25 pints of peach cobbler filling
16 half pints of peach-orange conserve
2 gal bags frozen sliced peaches
3 fresh peach cobblers
2 peach coffeecakes
dozens upon dozens of fresh eaten peaches--and a few more remaining

And an unlimited supply of fruit flies. No extra charge. (I was thinking about a genetics experiment we did in high school biology where we were breeding fruit flies. I really hope the teacher didn't pay for those little bugs.)

Canning this year was harder than years past. We actually had 8 jars crack after they were filled and put into the canner. What a mess!! On the flip side, I only had 2 jars that didn't seal, both the first night when we were doing the really ripe ones. I like canning slightly firmer peaches, rather than very ripe ones. When they process, they don't all float to the top and the jar looks more evenly full when sealed. Very pretty. :)

School "started" yesterday. Mary was up at 7 am working on her spelling book. That's about all she did all day. Nathan read in bed until it was time to go to a language group planning meeting, then came home and did math and spelling. At the group meeting, all the kids played while the moms hammered out the details of a weekly language group--one hour multi lingual, one hour Spanish instruction. Mary and Joseph would not leave my side until 30 mins before we were finished (it was a 2 1/2 hr meeting!) when they suddenly seemed to discover toys and other kids! I didn't see lil'Nathan, except as the occasional loud blur that zoomed by, for the entire meeting. One of the moms I'd just met didn't realize I had three kids!

On Thursday on of the local libraries is hosting Scottish Dance lessons for kids 3-18. Mary is excited, lil'Nathan was horrified. Was. Until a friend of his called and invited him to a sleepover that night. Salvation! Now we have two very happy kiddos. He has even given me "permission" to have rice for dinner that night and craisin-pecan oatmeal for breakfast the next morning, since he won't "be here to complain. Good idea, huh, Mom?"

And I was just approved for my own Associated Buyers account. Don't know how the big truck will get down our little street, but if the moving van could do it, they should be able to, right? Yay! Rice, nori, popcorn, cinnamon, shampoo, lavender oil... ahhh.