How to make strawberry jam!

Just for you, Casey!

Homemade strawberry freezer jam is one of my favorite things to eat. Seriously. It's WAY better than Smucker's and certainly better than that all fruit yuckfest we feed Theo (sorry, buddy). Eat this and you will never eat store bought again! It's easy, trust me.

Ok, here we go.

First, wash and hull your strawberries. I had 4 cups CRUSHED to work with, roughly 4 pints.

You need two boxes of this to make 5 jars of jam. The directions are inside the box. Be SURE you are using the "quick and easy" side. You shouldn't be cooking any fruit here.

Use a potato masher to mush up all your strawberries. You could use a food processor, but who wants to wash that? Not me.

It should look like this when you are done. You are NOT looking for puree. This is jam, people. It should be like me - a little chunky.

Next you add 4 cups of sugar and two cups of mashed strawberries. Stir well, preferably with a wooden spoon. Just seems more pioneerish, right? I had to do this during nap time because my boy loves him a wooden spoon. Let this stand for 10 minutes.

Next, you will boil 3/4 cup of water with a box of the pectin. Boil for a minute and stir it the WHOLE time. Don't drop any boiling pectin on your foot while trying to take a picture. Not that I would know why this is not a good idea or anything. Just sayin'. Stir it into the sugar/strawberry mix and stir it up for three minutes, making sure all the sugar is dissolved. Or, until your arm gets tired, which I am sure was less than 3 minutes in my case.

Ladle ever so neatly into Mason jars (standard size). Or, make a giant mess and just rinse them off afterwards. Your choice. Leave a 1/2 inch at the top for expansion.

And, there you have it. Strawberry jam! Let it set up at room temp for 24 hours. Then put in fridge for up to 3 weeks or in freezer for a year. THAW IN FRIDGE. Use liberally. I find it is best on cheap, white, gluten filled, GMO'd, ABC'd, EFG'd, HFCS filled bread, myself. Hey, we can't all be perfect.

Let's talk about what else you can learn from this picture - our house is a wreck and we eat Dunkin' Donuts. What can I say? We have a toddler, 4 jobs between us, absolutely no help with Theo and I am in the pregnancy of doom. Sometimes you need a damn donut or five.

Gone pickin'.

What a difference a year makes! We took baby T strawberry picking again this year. Only this year, instead of a barely sitting up little baby happily riding in the Pikkolo on my chest, we took a running, shouting toddler who was more interested in playing with his playgroup friends than picking strawberries.

The farm had a TON of excellent strawberries and I can't wait to make jam. I did it last year and had enough that we are just finishing our last jar of last year's stash. I should get to it Friday and will do a little how-to blog. It's easy, delicious and you will never eat store bought again. Well, that's if we have any strawberries left by then! See the rest of the pictures by clicking the Flickr widget above.

Things you never thought you'd say ...

... until you had kids!

1. "I can't feed you if you're dancing."

2. "No, I don't think the dog wants to wear your shoes."

3. "Why is your shoe in the pot?" (the kind you cook in)

4. (As said in response to your spouse who can't find the remote) "Did you look in the George Foreman?"

5. "Please take Mr. Monkey out of your heiney, I don't think he likes it."

Add yours!

17 months and 13 weeks.

Theo

17 months old! He's such a sweet and fun little boy. He lives to be outside and will frequently bring you his shoes and run to the back door. I got him a sandbox and he has been warming up to it. He can be cautious with new things, so he didn't take to it right away, but has played in it some today. His newest word is "ow!" and he holds his head when he says it. Very funny! He has also become quite a little hoarder. We are always, always looking for his shoes because he hides them. The other day we tore the house apart and finally found them under a basket of socks in the cabinet part of his dresser. It makes me laugh because I never see him do it but I can just see his little wheels turning thinking, "this looks like a good spot!" They have also been found in my clothes hamper on laundry day and in the seat part of the little push toy his Aunt Sammy got him for his birthday.

He loves going to the park, grocery shopping and to Home Depot to wander around (thanks, Jen, for that suggestion!). He is obsessed with airplanes in the sky and Susan recently discovered that RDU has an observation deck and park where you can watch planes take off. She is very excited to take him and I know he will love it. He also loves splashing in the water and I still need to get him a water table. For now, he's happy just with a bucket of water to play in outside.

We had a fun Easter in Richmond and it was a great day for Easter on Parade. He was happy to ride in his stroller checking things out, but I did let him walk a little at the end. He LOVED that. He also very much enjoyed Gramma and Papa's screened in porch since to him, it seemed like he was allowed to "outside" at will. I love it, too! The Easter Bunny brought him some bubbles, a Mr. Potato Head, crayons and a book. I'm so glad it's the candy free bunny that visits our house!

He is now able to identify a few body parts. He can show you his head, teeth, hand, belly and foot. He always looks so proud and claps for himself when he gets them right.

We are looking forward to the summer and taking him swimming. He and Susan are going to start swimming lessons at the Y soon so that he can get reacquainted with the pool. He loved it last year! For now, we are just enjoying the not too hot days and spending as much time outside as we can.

Mickey

I have made it to 13 weeks, and let me tell you, it's been uphill the whole way. I am still dealing with neverending nausea which is making it hard to do much of anything. The medication didn't seem to really make a difference, which was disappointing. I keep hoping to turn a corner very soon. We had the NT scan at just before 12 weeks where we also meet with a geneticist and she took some blood. Everything checked out perfect and I am at a 1/2700 (or something) risk for Down Syndrome or the other Trisomy disorders. The baby was flipping around like a nut on the ultrasound and they said it looked very active. There are some good pictures on the Flickr stream if you click above the post. I also had my first appointment with the midwives which was not too exciting. They couldn't find the heartbeat and I think expected me to flip, but I know it's hard to find. I had just seen the baby on u/s the day before so I knew everything was fine. I came home and was able to find it with our doppler, so I think the baby was just hiding. I have another appointment on the 27th and then they said I can space the visits to every 6 weeks since it's my second baby. Yay! As much as I like seeing them, it's kind of a drive. On May 28th, we have our BIG anatomy scan where we will find out if it's a girl or a boy. My mom will be here for that since we are all leaving for Charleston the next day. We can't wait!

Those are all the updates on the kiddies. Keep good thoughts for the nausea to end - I hate how much time it's taking away from Theo. Luckily, he's a happy guy and his other mom is giving him lots of extra loving and attention. Hopefully we will be back to normal soon!

You've got mail!

Theo got his very own mail the other day! Now, he does actually get mail often from his Gran and Grandad and special Aunt Gin, but this was official mail. Preschool mail, addressed to him and everything. We opened the packet full of information about his upcoming school year, forms to fill out, etc. I must admit, I sniffled. He's just turning into such a little boy! Before we know it, this school mail will be college related. AHH!

Also wanted to say a "thanks" for all the nice comments and emails about the breastfeeding post. I tried to respond to everyone, but as I am still in the pregnancy from hell, lifting my head from the pillow is generally my day's major accomplishment. I really enjoyed reading how touched you were and what was most special is that most of you were some of my best help in the beginning! So, thank you for caring and marking the occasion with me.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the park today. Our weather is BEAUTIFUL, so I took a trusty plastic bag (which thankfully, I didn't need to use) and rallied up some energy to let Theo enjoy the outdoors. He seems to have finally let go of his slide obsession, which is nice. He was into the swings and climbing today. This boy LOVES to be outside!