Making heaven with the cousins...Strawberry Freezer Jam

 

You know it is getting closer to back-to-school when signs of this upcoming event start to pop up everywhere!

Julie and I were going to take the kids to the local Six Flags (Elitchs), but the weather was gloomy, so we quickly changed plans, donned aprons, and made freezer jam with all the girls!

Side note: My camera battery has been giving me trouble, so we had to start this little project via the I-Phone!

First the girls washed and trimmed the tops off the strawberries!

Julie got started on the first batch and tracked down her favorite recipe!

I'm going to quickly throw that in here, so we have it always!

Next, we loaded the strawberries up in the Ninja, and pulsed them just enough to have tiny bits of fruit, not pureed fruit.

Perfect blend!

Then we measured exactly 4 cups of strawberries, 3 cups of sugar, and one handy PINK box of SURE JELL.

Put those in a pot on the stove, stirred occasionally until a rolling boil, and then continuously stirred for ONE minute exactly with a constant boil.

Then we poured them directly into these nifty Ziploc containers!

Then...REPEAT...over and over until you get a counter full of jam, and very happy girls!

Kenna and Ellie made a batch from start to finish!

LOVE seeing them together!

After the hoopla of all the big girls helping out and doing batch after batch, Tymber decided to help out with the last batch of the day.

***Disclaimer! I would NEVER normally allow pictures of me like this.  Frizzy hair, double chin and all, but I NEVER want to forget what this day felt like cooking that batch of jam with Tymber!

She was TOTALLY into it!

She may only have just turned two weeks ago, but you would never know it.

She measured the sugar, poured it in, and stirred away.

I love that messy face...and I LOVE being a mom!

Leveling off the measuring cup...so CUTE!

An VOILA...the fruit of our labors...literally!

And just like the Little Red Hen, Easton showed up as the homemade bread was baking and photo bombed our Instagram moment!

Such a great day!

Day 6~BEAR LAKE~Brookie's Birthday

Happy Birthday sweet Brookie!

I love, love, love this girl!

She is the biggest helper in our home right now, and she is simply amazing!

Boy do I love this girl!

Let me tell you 11 reasons why on her 11th day

She is beautiful!  Not just on the outside with her gorgeous smile, and flaxen hair, but on the inside.

She can almost always be found helping someone.  Whether it is changing the baby, fixing Annie's hair, or doing some girly thing with Ellie, she is wonderful!

She is a very hard worker.  She is one of the youngest in her class, but she works really hard and does really well.

She loves having friends, and is a pretty good friend to those around her.  She surrounds herself with smiling girls just like her.

She is a peacemaker.  Whenever conflict starts to arise in our home, she is there to help calm things down.  If Annie is sad because Tymber took  something of hers, Brooke is the one who puts her arm around Annie and goes on the search to find it.

She has the bed where everyone wants to sleep.  I don't know if she has ever truly slept alone.  It is so sweet to wake her in the morning, with her little sisters curled up next to her.

She is a little grumpy in the morning, but super sweet and very talkative at night.  She will follow me around just to tell me about her day.  Sometimes the same story more than once.

She loves to take care of herself.  She starting running to exercise, and she takes the time to get herself showered, dressed and hair perfect everyday.

She loves life.  She is one of the first ones to have me grab the camera and capture the moment.  I love her so much for this.

She loves to dance and tumble.  Did I mention she loves to dance and tumble?  Like, all the time. Everywhere!

She is a sweetheart.  Through and through!  I love you Brooke Elizabeth!

She got to spend her birthday in Bear Lake with the whole family this year! (Except Uncle Eddie~we missed you!)

She is a lucky girl!

She started her day with a "hair appointment" from Aunt Julie!

Timmy 2 Step was taking a ride on daddy!

Kenna and Ellie~BFFs!!

Annie and Lucy ready for their turn on the tube!

I could not get enough of this natural curl beauty!

Spencer and Reese taking their jobs VERY seriously!

I LOVE these little ones expressions!  Priceless!

I love the "thumbs up" from the girls and the crooked smile on Annie!

Easton, Spencer and Reese after Easton got his head bonked.

Two was the perfect number for some speed and fun!

Spencer, Brooke and Quinn are up...

Spencer isn't sure after hitting heads with Easton

I love this kid!

Brooke's faces are so her, that I couldn't choose which pic to use!

I love that all three of these girls have a different expression.  Fear, excitement, and "turn up the speed" please!

Apparently, tubing is tiring.

And watermelon is delicious!~

Lucy building away...

Caroline, Quinn, Ellie, and Kenna sharing a moment.  It is hard to have so much fun with all the girl cousins without a little drama.  My little Ellie sure was a stinker sometimes!

Annie getting some lovin' after waking up from her nap.

Did I tell you the vacation came with a free cabana boy?  Well it did!  Thanks John!

For Brooke's birthday "party", we decided to play a little pin the scarf on the birthday girl...

Stephen testing Caroline to ensure she wasn't peeking!!

Easton on the patrol checking on Ellie!

Little Annie was a little off...

Then we sang a little magic birthday song, to the "glowing" birthday girl!

She was pretty excited about her gifts!!

This is the "Pin the scarf on the birthday girl", that looks more like "tape a streamer as close to the beautiful drawing" as possible game. :)

The night ended with Brooke wanting a picture of our traditional birthday streamers.

I think it was a great birthday away from home!