These can be turned into.....
These! I am so excited! This is my new experiment this summer. I always try to can something new each year. I am really glad for these potatoes and all the stuff I can use them in! For instructions click on the link....
With school starting next week - I like to get a jumpstart on having things ready. Today I made a double batch of french bread - see recipe blog - and sliced it for sandwiches. I like to add some meat and cheese - put the sandwiches in sandwich bags and put in the freezer. This does look like a lot of sandwiches - but in all likely hood would be enough for 3 maybe 4 different lunches. There are 4 lunch takers again this year. Next year there will be 5 lunch takers.
This is the story of my day. It's been a long one. I am tired.
Our two oldest. Donovan and Christopher are almost as tall as me! It won't be long before they pass me by. :(
I love zinnias. This one is in the garden.
A bumblebee working hard in the pollen. 
I don't know what these are - they are on the back steps. They start out a deep purple, turn to this pretty orangeish/reddish then almost white. I like looking at them.
Another zinnia. This is in the little flower patch I made near the house.
This has also been a busy baking day. I did a double batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and a double batch of zucchini bread. Then I did a batch of banana bread. School starts next week and I like to have these already in little bags in the freezer. Then it's just grab and go in the mornings if I forget to make lunches the night before.
We turned in Nephi's burdensome wheelchair for a pair of these today! He was super wobbly on them at first but over the course of the past couple hours is almost a pro!
If Nephi wasn't Michael's best friend before - he is now! He likes to "steal" Nephi's crutches and pretend HIS leg is broken.
These +
Tuna fillets =
60 half pints and 1 pint canned tuna! Only 36 are pictured here. This was the first batch. The rest are in the canner when the picture was taken.
Making Peach Freezer Jam. Michael is my helper. Michael loves mixing. Well really he loves anything in the kitchen he can get his hands on. He is master egg fryer (his favorite breakfast by the way) and bread toaster. Yesterday though he did discover the having only 2 eggs for breakfast and nothing else leaves an empty tummy the rest of the morning.
Announcing Nephi the leg breaker! Actually he is sitting sort of on the chest yelling noises into a plastic tube that goes with his pirate ship. He even slept through the night last night. No noises - no nothing. Why couldn't he do that when Russell was gone? Inquiring minds (mine really) need to know!
Oh look. A little baby corn is growing. How cute is that! I love watching the garden plants change. It always amazes me that they know how to grow from a seed to be able to produce food for people/animals to eat. 
Our corn. It's tall enough to hide in now. (I will have to keep this in mind the next time we play outside hide and go seek. )
My little flower patch with a zucchini plant thrown in for good measure. Actually - I don't even know how the zucchini seed got there. It must have been in with the flower seeds. The seeds were leftover from when I was helping cub scouts make milk jug planters back in May. I bet the seeds got mixed up. That's okay though. It just makes everything more interesting - that's all.
33 quarts and 2 pints of peaches...... AND
7 pints of green beans today. 
Yesterday I went back to Fred Meyers as their blueberries were $3.98 for a 2 lb box. They were great quality so I bought 4 boxes. I canned all of them and I now have 40 half pints to add to our food storage for the next year! We only use these canned ones for blueberry muffins though. Which we like a lot.
Well - Nephi may have a broken leg but he certainly hasn't lost his throwing abilities. He got mad at Michael and threw a toy at his face giving Michael a split lip. Hmmmm. Some days I wish I had a room that was padded I could toss them in and throw away the key.
I have been saving strawberries we have grown most of the summer now. I kept them in the freezer. After seeing I had enough - I made.....
Strawberry freezer jam! Please pass the bread please!
Nephi is helping me shell peas. He loves doing this. Really. I promise.
I don't remember the variety of peas I bought but they all have a high yield like this!
Christopher likes to help too.
Nephi likes to eat the peas while he is shelling.
The end product. We did good today. Our freezer will be so pleased!
Now moving on to the beans. Get crackin' and start snappin'.
Nephi loves this job too. I had to go take care of something and he took care of the bean snapping for me.
I saw that! (Michael didn't help shell peas. He just likes to sneak in and eat them.)
The beans are all done. I canned 2 pints today and 2 pints on Monday. I realize that doesn't seem like anything - but you know what - all these little jars I do eventually add up. There are tons of blossoms out there on my beans so I am hopeful we will have a good crop.
I wonder how much stuff he could actually carry. Hmmm......
He's actually pretty darn fast getting around this way.
The magnetic pull to be with his brothers playing is just too great.............
Right in the center is Nathaniel - my nephew in the bumper cars.
Michael is on the same ride wearing orange.
Nephi is a lot disappointed he can't go on any ride.
This is the first time Nephi ever had cotton candy. Does he lead a deprived life or what?
Christopher eating his cotton candy.
This is also Michael's first time having cotton candy. He really likes it too!
Nathaniel opted for a drink instead. Hi Nate!
Hi Mom!
Hi Dad!
Michael, Candace and Nephi.
Corn dogs and french fries and soda pop make a good dinner on rare occasions. At the fair is one of those times. Those fries were so thick and tasty.
Eating corn dogs is fun to do! (Nephi did get the royalty treatment from some of those game side show people. On the house games. That partly got him the turtle he is holding. I forked over some funds and so did Grandpa to get this prize.) Boy those people are sneaky. Now I remember why I avoid them at all costs.
This and the next three pictures are from the magician's show. Raphael my nephew got to go up and be a "helper" with the double guillotine.
Hop on in Raphie. It won't hurt a bit. Really.
Oh no! He's still alive! Just kidding. 
Christopher petting the goats.
Nephi petting the goats.
Michael playing a baseball game at the TLC booth.
