first pickling

I'm reminiscing back to when the weather was above 40. I miss it. Regardless, we're moving right along to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Time never slows around here. But back when the weather was warmer, I pickled my first batch of pickles. ALL BY MYSELF. My crazy neighbor harvested a good load of pickles for me, but I finally did this process alone. I was pretty smitten with myself when all was said and done. Sadly, this is about all I did with regard to the garden this year. I'm failing. Sorry, crazy neighbor.  :(

Because said crazy neighbor is The Best Neighbor Eva, she brought me some goodies to help me make it through my first independent pickling session. And the best pickling kit ever. I'm so thankful to have her! If I remember correctly, the whole process took me 3 hours, not too bad.

the amazing kit

let the process begin - prepping

'helper'

ready for stuffing

{insert official name of this process}  ;)

Pickles were never so beautiful until this day. *Proud moment!* ;)

After the pickling was done, I ran some errands and came home to a lovely note from my crazy neighbor. She's too kind. After talking with her later, I found out 'we' canned 90+ pints of pickles… of which 8 were the batch I did... uhhh… good job, Courtney? Glad I could contribute ;)

Christmas celebrations

I was very much looking forward to Christmas this year (as usual), but sadly the celebrations were shadowed by Miss Meg being in the hospital the entire week of Christmas (more to come on that). We did get a couple celebrations in before she got sick though. Usually we cram all Christmas celebrations in one night... Christmas Eve. This year we decided to move Dave's family Christmas to the Sunday before Christmas... the eve of Christmas Eve. :) I think it worked out perfect. No sleeping kids. Able to enjoy the night more. My guess is we'll do it this way from now on.

Every year we also try to visit my Grandpa and Grandma Z (dad's parents) as Grandpa doesn't like to leave Grandma very much. I didn't take very many photos to share while there but we sure love visiting with them and intend to visit more often this year for sure!

the eve of Christmas Eve celebration...

excuse my baby belly... ugh... new year resolution perhaps

 Renee and L (courtesy of Casey) just love this photo of them for some reason

Our annual Christmas Eve celebration is with my dad's family. We look forward to this every year as well. This year was much more relaxing because we didn't have to hurry off. Very much enjoyed the games this year as well. Keep up the excellent work, Pam! LOVE it!

it's safe to say everyone enjoyed making snowmen out of the GREAT uncles ;)

prepping

Sadly, I didn't get many photos from Christmas Day. We got up bright and early for church, came home to open gifts, and then my mind was on baby Meg the rest of the day. I don't remember much of that day. It was a slight blur. I do know the kids had a very good Christmas and that's all that matters. :)

stockings before church

surprised faces

  the aftermath

and this was right before she got sick...

hard to believe she was SO happy and then crashed. poor girl! ...next post, I promise...

cellar to be proud of

We have this crazy, wonderful neighbor who just keeps bringing over all these canned goods. She cannot be stopped. ;) In all reality, we are so very grateful for her ambition. At this point, I'm not sure our re-payment of children running loose at all times of the day is enough! I know she appreciates our cellar just as much as we do. Muchas gracias vecino!

Steam Show 2010

Every year we look forward to the Steam Show in Edgar. This year was no different. Good food, good company, and lots of flea marketing.

A couple photos of the flea market. After a couple isles of endless clutter goodies, everything looks the same. I spied those 2 adorable kindergarten chairs and had to have them. They're waiting patiently in the living room now for a desk at the old new house.

Then there were these dolls waving us good-bye Sunday night. For the sake of sleeping soundly at night, none of these dolls came home with us.

Lia and Tayt made friends with a gentleman next to the Smith Brothers booth, and he and his wife were making ropes. By the end of the weekend, all my children had made their own ropes. This huge thing he called a monkey fist. Very neat looking deal-a-ma-bob. :)

And last but not least, the kids always remember the pony rides.