August

We are nearing the end of our summer.  I have already noticed yellow leaves on my morning walks! 

 

 As much as I always hate to see the end of summer, it is time for a new school year to begin.  It's time for a routine again (although I REALLY like staying in bed until 7:30am!)  The kids are even excited to get back to their friends and, in Teresa's case, start a new adventure!

 

The shoes are bought.  The bags are packed.  I THINK everyone has enough jeans . . . just one week of summer left!

 

 

Wheat harvest 2013

Wheat harvest is complete!

 

Frozen Peaches

The timing was not good.  Swimming lessons were just becoming my part-time job for two weeks and there they were--lugs of peaches at Bauer's Super Valu.  I tried to resist them--and thought I could--but I could feel my will-power getting weaker.  I hadn't canned peaches in a few years, but I have always frozen at least a box to enjoy over the winter.  Everyone here loves them and they get us through the not-so-good fruit season that tends to get a little long sometimes here in South Dakota.

Then yesterday my friend Michelle asked me for my recipe for Frozen Peaches.  And that really got me thinking about how much we love to eat them in the middle of winter.

So, I had to stop at the store and gather my ingredients today, too!  I actually bought two boxes. . . not sure why, but the extra box will end up somewhere yummy I am sure.  I do have heavy cream on hand, so some Peaches and Cream may have to be made. 

With the kids' help, I was done with a batch of these in a couple of hours.  Landen *accidentally* added an extra cup of sugar while he was mixing them together.  His great-grandmas would be so proud. :)

If you've never tackled a box of fruit before (and I still find it intimidating), it is best to do something like this in stages.  First, get a big pot of water boiling.  Add as many peaches as will fit at a time and boil them for about a minute.  Then, scoop out the peaches and put them in ice water.  After a minute or so of the cold water bath, put them into a dry bowl until you are done with the process with all of them.  This will keep the peaches from turning brown before the syrup is made.  When you are ready for them, the skins will slide right off and you can slice or dice as you wish pretty quickly right before stirring them into the syrup. 

 

Frozen Peaches

12 oranges

3 lemons

8 cups sugar

1 box peaches

 

Liquefy orange and lemon wedges in a blender or food processor.  Add sugar to liquid mixture.  Mix well.  In a VERY large container (a large roaster) or two still quite large containers, add one box peeled and sliced peaches.  Mix together with the syrup.  Scoop into containers or freezer bags and freeze. 

 

A quart-size bag filled to about 3/4 full is a good serving amount for our family.  They are best eaten the first day they are thawed, but even if they turn a bit brown in the fridge overnight, they will still taste fine. 

 

It is a bit time comsuming and sort of a sticky mess for a little bit, but it in the middle of January, I'll be so thankful we made them. 

 

Thanks, Michelle, for the extra inspiration I needed. :) 

week with cousins

Another great part of our week last week is that cousins Carter and Lily were here.

It's always fun when they are here.  Grandma and I trade kids back and forth.  Girls one day.  Boys the next.  We take a head count at every meal and bedtimes.  It's great. 

 

Aunt Angela came up on Friday for the weekend and we all got together for some more family fun. 

Friday night was the drive-in movie in Redfield.  This was a first for our family!  We had a beautiful evening with lots of popcorn and blankets to keep us warm.  We saw Monsters U, which I liked even better than the first Monsters movie. 

 On Saturday, we made our annual trip to Storybook Land.  Rachel went with us last year, but this was the first year she could enjoy it.  As the big kids ran from place to place, she wanted to stay at each just a little longer!  All of the slides were like Christmas to her!  Teresa reached her goal of growing and is now tall enough for the balloon ride!  The boys may be outgrowing the Storybook Land attractions a bit, but you can see they still had quite a bit of their own fun, too. 

 Here are our two families of Melius cousins--Landen (9), Teresa (5), Carter (8), Scarecrow (74), Lily (6), Rachel (1) and Nathan (7).

a good week

Grandma Shirley is here for a few days, which is always fun.  As usual, we have spent most of our time in the kitchen!  Today's project was spaetzels.
 
Today was also a big day for the bathroom project--the walls are ready to paint!  I am SO excited about this.  I've picked out two fun shades of green and blue.  I'll wait on pictures until that part is at least done . . . I know sheet rock is only beautiful to its owner!

We have almost a whole week of swimming lessons under our belt.  The boys like it; T doesn't.  There always has to be one in the group, I suppose.  But, tonight before bed, she told me she chose to give it another shot.  That's good, since she was going to anyway . . . .

Wheat harvest started today, too.  With not much planted, it should go quickly. 

I guess that's about it . . . not too exciting, but thanks for stopping by! :o)