Monday, June 15, 2009

summer begins!

summer has started! no matter what the date is in my franklin, summer begins after school is out. today was our first whole day of summer, and I was totally blessed with a wonderful day. no plans on the calendar, just a day at home with my boys. I started with an exercise walk that got my juices flowing. then after a quick house pick up off to the kitchen I went for lots of fun.
I started with chocolate chip cookies (spencer reminded me that the cookie jar was empty), added chocolate chip muffins (spencer reminded me that I forgot to make them last week), and finished with my most anticipated event- freezer jam!
I've seen so many of you making freezer jam, that I just had to try something new this year. during our anniversary weekend trip, mark blessed me with a late afternoon trip to a "you pick" strawberry patch. we so enjoyed the hour of picking! mark described our weekend so perfectly, so please go visit his blog.
I was prepped and ready to go last night.which made for a smooth process this afternoon. that and having the right pampered chef tools for the job. :)special thanks to erin {house on hill road} for describing her freezer jam process so precisely that even a first timer like me could make it a successful venture.

I followed her directions with these mods: I chose to use regular mouth 8 oz. jars. I used four quarts of berries with four boxes of pectin which yielded 23 jars of jam.
as I worked in the kitchen, spencer and connor played on the computers. they started side by side then ended one up and one down, so I pulled out the walkie talkies to ease their communication. the giggling, the jokes, the fun walkies bring...all made me smile.

the evening brought backyard baseball and photo fun.
these brothers share such a special bond. I am so, so blessed!

7 comments:

Journeying Five said...

what a wonderful way to start off the summer holidays! wish i could taste some of that jam...our berries will be a few weeks yet!

stitching under oaks said...

Those jars of jam look fabulous! What a great idea to use your slicer...I used that black chopper thing that PC sells. It worked great! Glad your summer is off to such a delicious start!

At Home Mommy Knits said...

What a great kick-off to summer! Okay if you say it's easy then I will definitely have to make some jam :)

larissa said...

your jam looks great! now have your guys spread it on the chocolate chip muffins for an extra special treat!

jo ellen said...

The jars look really great! Reminds me of all of Grandma's jar lined on the shelves in the basement. Good job! Mom

lucy said...

Strawberry jam sounds like a sweet way to kick off summer! I need to give jam making a try!

Liz said...

I an so envious of your jam. It looks fantastic.