Visitors from Colorado

Dan's brother, Pete, and his family came to South Bend for a visit a couple weeks ago.  It's fun because all of the girls are pretty close in age and then there is Henry trailing behind.  We hadn't seen them since they came for a visit last August.  Its interesting to see how all the kids have changed over the past year.  And it's always nice when cousins can spend time together and get to know each other.

I was helping to organize a baseball outing to a local Silver Hawks ball game for our church and it happened to be the Friday that Pete and the family were in town so the whole fam, all 11 of us headed to the Cove for the game.  The stadium has been renovated and greatly improved over the last couple of years and has become a wonderful outing for a family.  Friday night's game was actually sold out!  There is a splash pad and playground behind outfield, a bunch of blow up bounce houses and slides near the entrance, and of course the game.  We spent 3 hours there before the kids were ready to leave and I think Dan and I were more tired than the kids.  There are fireworks after the game that we were trying to stay for, but it was just getting too late so we had to miss.

So that was Friday night, Saturday we headed up to a farmers market in Michigan in the morning and out to dinner at Hacienda that night.  The time in between was spend visiting and playing at Dan's parents' house.  And then Sunday was spent together some more with some family pictures taken in the afternoon to round off the weekend.  I can't wait to see them.  I didn't take to many pictures of the weekend because I knew we were going to have some really great ones from the professional.  The last picture in this post is a preview from that session! :)

Ballet Camp

Earlier this month, the girls did a week long dance camp at Southold called Princess stories.  It was nice dropping them off at 9:30 each morning and not having to pick them up for 2 hours, Henry and I could knock out some errands like it was nothing.  At the end of the week, the moms and dads could come watch their little performances.  Boothe was up first with the 3-5 year old group.  Magnolia followed afterwards with the 6-9 year olds.  There is something so sweet about little girls who think they are dancing like professional ballerinas.  I probably have just as much fun watching them perform as they do taking the dance lessons.

Pies

Every year we try a new thing or two when it comes to canning.  This year we are canning all kinds of different pie filling.  So far we have made Strawberry-Rhubarb, Cherry, and Blueberry.  I'd like to add Peach and Apple too if I have time.  The recipes we have used are really basic and simple and are below the picture if you want to try them out yourself.  The extra that didn't fit in a quart jar to be canned we have put on ice cream and it is wonderful.  I'm hoping to try some other things like crisps and cobblers with these cans of pie filling to see what works and what doesn't for next year.  I have 6-8 quart jars of each flavor so lots of filling to experiment with this winter.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Filling

4 cups rhubarb, chopped
2 cups strawberries, sliced
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine rhubarb, strawberries and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil and simmer as the fruit softens and the juices are released.  Stir often.

In a bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon and pour the mixture into the hot saucepan.

Bring to a simmer and cook until the mixture has thickened.

Pour into hot, sterilized jars and water bath can for 30 minutes.

Cherry Pie Filling

4 cups pitted tart cherries

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1. 
   
2. Place cherries into a saucepan over medium heat, and cover the pan; heat cherries until they release their juice and come to a simmer, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir often.
3. In a bowl, mix the sugar with cornstarch and pour the mixture into the hot cherries and juice
4. Return to low heat, bring to a simmer, and cook until the filling has thickened, about 2 minutes. 
5. Pour into hot, sterilized quart jars and water bath can for 30 minutes.

Blueberry Pie Filling

10 cups blueberries

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cup sugar

6 T cornstarch

5 T lemon juice

In a large stockpot bring the water, sugar, corn starch and lemon juice and to a boil.

Pour in the blueberries very carefully and bring the mixture back to a boil, stirring continuously with a long spoon. Keep stirring for about 5 minutes while the berries release their juices and the mixture thickens.

Pour into hot, sterilized quart jars and water bath can for 30 minutes.