21 for 21

So yesterday I posted about Cara's first ponytail. This is what it looked like at the end of the day. Cute, huh? Last night we started canning tomatoes. My parents have a farm/fruitstand, so we are blessed to have access to plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. The two older kids are used to the drill, so they're actually very good help. Cara had fun, too. She would put the jar rings on her arms and say, "look at my bracelets!"

I had the camera in action shot mode, but she was still shaking her arms so fast they were still blurry.

A and B on the assembly line. A washes, blanches, and places the tomatoes in cold water. B cores, peels, and quarters them.

Daddy puts the salt in the jars, packs them, and seals them to go in the canner. We can on a propane burner outside. Constant heat and the house doesn't get too warm inside from the burner running. B is trying to give Dad a tomato in the face.

And we were 21 for 21! All of them sealed. Usually we have a couple of casualties, which require us to make spaghetti sauce with them the next day. We will do 3 more canners today and then we should be done for the year.

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It took 10 1/2 months...

three clips and a lot of hairspray, but we finally got a ponytail! She's so stinkin' excited.

She was trying to show Buddy her one ponytail,

but he wasn't interested.

B's First Day of School

It's a little bit of a bittersweet day for me. It's the first time in 9 years that I haven't taken A and B's first day of school picture together. B started the 8th grade today. A does Running Start so she doesn't begin until September 19th. Cara's preschool starts September 6th. I guess I can look on the bright side: I will get to enjoy 3 "first day of schools."

Cara the Diva

On the way to the river today, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood's "Remind Me" came on the radio. Well, Cara has watched enough episodes of the CMT Top 20 to know what Carrie Underwood looks like when she sings this song. Here is Cara belting out Carrie's part of the chorus. Please excuse the red velvet cookie all over her face! ;)

She started hearing the continuous click of the camera by this point and started to grin. She got a little self-conscious.

Funny baby!

Evening pics

I'm still messing around and learning with my new camera. We went over to the farm tonight to take some new pictures for the blog. I'm getting tired of the ones on there now and the kids look different from when those pictures were taken.

I wanted to take some pictures of the kids in their Shanghai shirts before Cara outgrew hers. I don't think it will fit next summer.

I love this one. I think it's my favorite.

Cara's new toy/Mommy's new toy

Today I got a new toy. The UPS man brought me a fancy, stainless steel, fingerprint proof kitchen trash can. It hold more garbage and the lid goes down slowly and doesn't slam...it's pretty awesome as far as trash cans go. And Cara got a box.

I really think it's true that all over the world, across cultures and socio-economic levels, the best toy really is a big box.

Her box was a little too warm and needed some air conditioning, so her brother helped her cut windows.

She says she's sleeping in here tonight. And that she's not going to pee it! ;)

Cara's new shirt fashion show

I had surgery 3 weeks ago to remove a benign ovarian tumor. Scary, but no cancer, thank goodness. When they took it out and measured the tumor it was 20 cm! That sucker was HUGE! The size and potential for malignancy meant that it could not be removed laproscopically, so I have a heck of a war wound! ;) So now I'm home recovering and spending a lot of time on the computer since I don't really like to watch tv. As you can guess, I've been doing some online shopping! ;)

This shirt is from Crazy 8. I really do think Cara has magical powers sometimes.
I am hoping by buying this shirt from Old Navy, maybe we can convince Cara that tantrums are not ok.

Saw Old Navy's new halloween merchandise online and knew we had to get this Hello Kitty shirt for Cara. She LOVES Hello Kitty! She even has a Hello Kitty she hauls around everywhere with her. She was pretty excited to get this shirt. We already had the tutu.

Thanks for looking! I need to work on getting my shopping habit under control. Too much looking online at cute stuff isn't good for the bank account!

She's pretty good at coloring

Cara likes color crayons and likes coloring. We went to Fred Meyer this morning and bought her a new, $1 pencil box to keep her color crayons in. You would think we gave her a million dollars she was so happy. I don't think we've ever really sat down with her and shown her how to color in the lines, but she has spent time coloring with her brother and sister. She's pretty good at coloring. Excellent fine motor skills. She found a picture in her color book of Hello Kitty dressed up as a ladybug. She was pretty excited to color the picture.
Please excuse the dirty face. She had a piece of chocolate chip zucchini bread before she started coloring.

Making her piggy face for the camera:

Here is her finished product. Not too bad!

She's growing up so fast

Cara wanted her picture taken this morning after I finished fixing her hair. I just keep looking at this picture, marveling about how beautiful and grown up she looks. The change in 10 months has been amazing, but her outward, physical look has been an unbelievable transformation. She doesn't look like a baby or a toddler anymore. She really does look like a preschooler...and she will start preschool on September 6th. I know she's ready and excited, but I don't know if I am. Where did my baby go?

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!?!

Grid kid practice started last Monday and we weren't sure if there would be enough kids for an "A" team. On day one there were 4 or 5 kids, but by Friday there were 11. Just enough for a team, but hopefully they can recruit a few more. B has been playing catch in the back yard with dad all week. This weekend Cara, cousin L, and Grandpa got in on the action.

Here is Cara practicing her high-stepping:
She's all business.

We still need to work on her passing skills a little bit:

It kind of cracks me up to see her playing football with a bow in her hair! ;)

At least she likes football. She'll be spending a lot of time watching it this fall.

Oh, the things she says

I need to start documenting some of the cute stuff Cara says before I forget.

When she wants to be held she says, "Mom, do you need some Cara time?"

When she leaves she says, "I'll right be back." Instead of I'll be right back.

She says, "Mama, I just love you long time." Her "ode" to the Black Eyed Peas.

She calls the camera the "camama."

Last night in bed she said, "Mom, am I brown?" I replied, "Yes, you're brown." She said, "Do you think Santa will bring me a brown bitty baby, cuz it needs to be brown like me (the girl's a planner)." I said, "Yes, Cara, I think Santa will bring you a brown bitty baby.

She is sooo funny!