We Say Oink!

This is Ben on his Not-So-Happy Birthday with our guinea pig, Sonic. Ben has swine flu for his birthday. He just wanted to sleep and snuggle his piggy. We have a very friendly guinea pig. He loves to be held. Spencer is sharing the swine flu experience with Ben. Carter is on the tail end of it, and Brian had it last week. I don't care what anyone says, it's not anything like the regular flu. Do whatever you can to avoid it! The people who say it's no big deal haven't had it! Just when you think it's gone and the fever has been gone for 24 hours it comes back to bite you with a vengeance too. So, here's your fair warning. BEWARE! By the way, most of the underlying causes they say are causing the H1N1 deaths are pneumonia. Which ironically enough is caused by the swine flu. So, now I'll step off my soap box and go comfort my oinking family.

Learning to Can

I remember so well, when I was about their ages, being in my grandma's kitchen. I remember canning peaches, pears, tomatoes, apples, green beans, deer meat, chili, salsa, and more! I have found that since I have become a mom myself I kind of like to do a little canning on my own too. Only now I have helpers! We had a bunch of apples. It was time to do something with them before the went to waste. So, I got the food mill out and boiled down the apples. Tyler's job was to make sure the apples fed down into the food mill. Carter had to turn the handle to grind the apples. Lauren used a spatula to scrape the sauce down into the pan. Then Spencer filled the jars. I thought of my grandma and my mom a lot this evening. Amidst all the sentimental thoughts, I felt like my grandma would be very happy to see her great-grandchildren learning a family tradition. I am very grateful to my mother for letting us do jobs in the kitchen when we were young so that we would have an appreciation for canning.