Strawberry Season 2012

Here in Indiana, June is strawberry season!  On Saturday, #1, Jelly Bean, and I went strawberry picking.  It was Jelly Bean's first pick.  #1 is a one year strawberry picking veteran.   I do this every year..  I don't remember when I decided this would be a good way to spend my time, but I've been doing it for a while.

I always pick our strawberries at Cedar Creek Produce in Leo, Indiana.  Like them on Facebook, they post updates on berry picking, and their phone number and address is located on their page.

#1 and Jelly Bean with the "real bear" at Cedar Creek Produce.

 We picked strawberries for about two and a half hours.

You can fit 5 pounds of strawberries into the bucket Jelly Bean is holding.

 #1 and Jelly Bean FILLED one bucket each during our picking session.

Jelly Bean's "big berry"

#1's big berry

 We also had a contest to see who could find the biggest berry.

#1 is my Creative Artsy Girl, she found a heart shaped strawberry :)

We picked a total of 18.75 pounds of strawberries on Saturday.  Sunday we went back with one of my best friends, and her 3 children.  On Sunday we picked 14.02 pounds.

 In case you are wondering what I did with all these berries...

I made 18 half pints of strawberry rhubarb jam,  28 half pints of strawberry jam, and 4 pints of strawberry syrup.  

I canned for three days.  I also helped my friend who has never canned, can 44 jars of strawberry jam.  One Monday at 11:30pm I lost my steam and froze enough strawberries for another batch of strawberry rhubarb jam, another batch of strawberry syrup, and I froze crushed strawberries in ice cube trays to use for strawberry butter cream icing (which is the most requested icing in this house.)

To sum it up...  

Strawberry Season 2012

32.77 pounds of strawberries were picked

46 Jars of my jam were canned

I helped my friend can 44 jars of her jam

4 jars of strawberry syrup were canned

Washed, hulled, and crushed strawberries were frozen for future batches of jam, syrup, and icing.

Allow Me To Make The Necessary Introductions...

I decided the most logical way to begin my new blog was by introducing you to my family.  Since I am a housewife, they will be a significant part of my blog.

So here it goes...

This is my husband, he a licensed journeyman plumber.  And me... the over caffeinated housewife.

I have decided to use my family member's nicknames for the purpose of anonymity... and because all of the cool kids are doing it.

In order from left to right...

V is three years old. #1 is seven years old. Jelly Bean is six years old. And M is two years old.  V and M stay at home with me.  #1 and Jelly Bean are in first grade and kindergarten respectively.  They attend the local Catholic grade school at our church.

These are not just random names I made up for my blog, we actually call the kids by these nicknames... I don't know why, we just do.

This is Yum Yum, the only boy.  He is eight months old.  Please try to ignore the bras in the background of this photo.  Yum Yum was diagnosed with Goldenhar Syndrome shortly after his birth... but more on that later.

Now onto our furry family members...

This is our Chihuahua Blue, he is seven years old.

This is our rather elusive Yorkshire Terrier, Audrey.  She is four years old.

Well, that is all of us.  Now you won't wonder if I am typing random letters and numbers when I'm blogging.  

And yes, my husband and I are the biological parents of all five kids.  I have given birth to five children in seven years (kind of explains my excessive caffeine consumption doesn't it...)  This may seem like a lot of kids close together (that is how it seems to me anyway).  But there are families I know who have twice the amount of kids with very close ages (like mine) so I will try and keep my complaining to a minimum.