Happy Birthday to my "little sis"

It would have been more fun to find the "oldies" to post, but would have required too much "digging" so...
Here's just a sample of just the last 5 years great memories we've had.
Happy birthday Luanne, & wishing you the very best year ever!!
Here's hoping we'll have many more memories to celebrate!
'03
Down on the farm
'04
Great laughs....OH! yeah!
'05
Working fun
'06
walking down memory lane--isn't it time for another sister's day?

'07
Meal time memories- Breakfasts, lunches & birthday partys
"08
Happy birthday to a classy sister! *Hugs*

Miss Jessi--Flashback

Just a normal day in a girls life~~ "Which shoes do you think goes best with my outfit?"
While we were all watching/helping Jeanne get ready for her wedding, some of us had kicked our shoes off, & Jessi made good use of her time trying them on!

Our company this week

WHY can't they just all behave so I can get ONE good picture of them ALL?? Even the threat of putting them on my blog doesn't help!!







We're delighted to have Jana & Darla together for a couple weeks while both their co-workers are away at other conventions.

Just today

*I'm making bread

*I have more grapes on simmering for jelly

*I have a table covered with pears that need canned

*The workers are here for 2 days~~one being our daughter Jana because her co-worker went on
to another conv. This is the first time J. has been in her "home field" (even tho it's just for a couple weeks)

*Middle school & grade school kids are out of school tomorrow & Friday for parent/teacher conferences, but not the HS. WHY can't they schedule all the schools in the district the same days off so families could go/do something TOGETHER?

*We're having beautiful fall days. Could we just please have them until AT LEAST the end of Oct? The end of Nov. would be even better! I love fall. It's my favorite time of year except for the fact that winter comes after it.

*My sister G.K. is going to be at BW Missouri. Conv. If you see her there, tell her hi :*)....she doesn't read my blog unless she HAS to!! :*) However, she's addicted to P.W.'s. blog & reads it all the time. You can see how I rate. I can't help it I don't have as exciting a life as P.W....or am not as good a writer!!

*My "little" sister is heading to LV/ NV for the weekend to see her kids/grandaughter. So if you see her, Ditto to the above except she's not addicted to P.W.'s blog :*) It's her birthday on the 30th this month, so tell her happy early birthday too!

*My older boys & Relyssa plan to go to B.C. KS conv. this weekend, you can tell them hi if you're there & see them....It's good for them to know you read my blog & check up on them too! LOL!
(The boys don't read my blog either, but Lyss does some....mostly to see if I have any pictures or videos she can "steal" for her facebook page!!)

*This blog/writer has been such an inspiration & encouragement besides beautiful photography. However I was afraid the news wasn't going to be good, so cried when I read the up-dates last
night.

*I need to post my photo results for this project

*Thinking of all you who are heading to conventions today.

*I must get to work before the fruit flies take over my house :*(

*OH YES! I love, LOVE the new blog links that let you know when people's blogs are updated! I don't spend near as much time "hopping" to see if anyone has posted something new!!

Cake -- part 2 and another party

Well, we survived another birthday party! I think I've mentioned before that since both my sister's & I live in close proximity, along with a married with children niece, we have LOTS of birthdays to celebrate! It's often hard to find a date that works for (give up on ALL) settle on the majority of us. That's the reason these birthdays get stretched out, and kind of run into each other! (As you can see by my list up above, I have a nephew with a birthday tomorrow...) We had settled on Sun. eve supper (tomorrow) but then our workers announced they will have Sun. Gosple meetings, starting tomorrow eve. Scratch that plan. Re-schedule for tonight.
We had a great time. Luanne & I did a taco salad supper, easy to make a huge batch of. and not much work. Add watermellon & grapes, along with cake & ice cream, a warm late summer evening with our family & friends, what more could you want?
Oh, so you really just wanted to see pictures of the cake eh?

Well, for my first attempt I think it turned out pretty well. Made some mistakes, nothing serious, learned some things, TO do, and NOT to do, far from "perfect" but the girls liked it and it tasted good, so that's all that really mattered, right? That I got lots of compliments was a bonus, although maybe everyone was just being nice!
It really was fun, I think I'm hooked. Can't wait to do the next one!! Oh yes, I also canned 3 batches of grape jelly today, and although I ended up leaving for the party with a few dirty dishes & the remains of the gum-paste misc. on my counter, I managed to keep my kitchen reasonably clean during the process. YEA!! Now that really is an accomplishment :*) Unfortunately my hands didn't fare so well, they are several shades & blotchy with red frosting dye!

Here's a couple more of the "twins" birthday party pictures. Yes, they both got "chucks" for their birthday!

Cake-- Part 1

I have been increasing intrigued with the cake making thing. Now all my dear family, I can hear you snickering behind my back already! For the rest of you, yes I confess, I've never "liked" to make birthday cakes. I really have never even liked to EAT cake. And frosting, yuck for the most part. Yes, under stress, and I do mean STRESS, I've made my kids birthday cakes. Some even were pretty cute if I do say so. Usually I take anyone's offer to make one for me, or I buy one. Stress-FREE, right?
Well, I've spent the last several years being terrifically impressed with Lynisha's cakes she's made, here, here, here, here and my favorite, both in creativity & taste! So after "helping" (I know, it was only watching, tasting frosting, which by the way was so good I couldn't stay out of it..., and then spreading frosting on cakes) Lynisha on Jeanne & Floyd's cakes, I decided I had to try it for myself.
So, drum roll here please......I'm making a birthday cake for Rebecca & Meshayla's brithday party tomorrow. I'm using Lynisha's cake, filling & frosting recipes/instruction, so surely that means it will work, RIGHT?
All right, so a little more background here. Another reason I hesitate on this one, is that I can't stand a mess while I'm cooking. When I was growing up, the way I learned to do things in the Kitchen was get all of the ingredients out ahead of time, make the stuff, then deal with the huge mess. put all the stuff away, clean up the counters & deal with the mound of dirty dishes you made. I can't stand that, so the idea of making a cake, filling & frosting then decorating was/is a little intimidating to me to say the least. The last thing I want is the kitchen wrecked "just for a cake"
But, I did decide that surely If I've learned to cook large meals, & bake bread without ending up with total chaos, then somehow I can do the same things with a cake right?
So #1. Start with a clean kitchen! Check, did that.
The last months I've tried to quit doing quite so much multi-tasking. It stresses my brain. However for this operation it's a necessity if you don't want to spend time cleaning up afterwards. It's a no-brainer. Clean as you go.
I just took the cakes out of the oven, they look great, the filling is in the fridge cooling, my counters & stove are clean, dishes done & sink shined. So far so good.
Now, Do you suppose I can figure out how to do that while I'm making jelly?????
Stay tuned for Part 2.........

What I did yesterday

8 batches of Pear jam. Grape, Apricot, Elderberry & Blackberry/raspberry to do yet, I WANT peaches! Hope I can still find some.
Too bad this was to late for our "all in a row" photo challenge posting!