Canned goods so far! :)

 We have been very busy (as you all cans tell by the *previous* absence of posts on the blog), but mom still manages to make time to can our garden goodies!  :)

 Dill pickles and potatoes!

 We have canned 28 quarts of potatoes,

 23 pints of dill pickles,

 9, 1/2 pints (not nine and a half) of peach jam,

 14 quarts of peaches (in apple juice),

32 quarts of peach sauce,

(sorry, no picture)

 

14  quarts of spaghetti sauce,

(sorry, no picture)

14 quarts of pizza sauce,

and last of all (and least of all)...

(sorry, no picture)

4 pints of tomato sauce!

138 cans in all!!  That sounds like a lot, now that I think of it. Oh, and yes, I used a calculator! ;)

We usually would have canned tons of green-beans by now, but it seems that this year has just been hard on them. :( Mixed feelings :)  The plants are big, leafy, and beautiful but the beans just won't grow past a certain size! We have still had enough for a few meals though so I'm not complaining at all. :)  We probably wouldn't have the time to go full fledged into green-bean world like we usually do anyways! :P 

Here is a picture of what that full fledgedness in green-bean world looks like:

 Some-times two of these size blankets. :)  Yeah, it takes at least 4 hours. :)

 And that's with (just about) everyone helping!

 Wow, my hair was long back then! :)

 Eden Rose

 Josiah David

 Even Lydia helped (eat) the green-beans, raw! ;)

 Judah and Seth looking on...

 The clipped and halved beans!  Basket #1.

 And Box #2!

 Then it's canning time!

And there you have it!  These pictures are from last year I think.  We don't have half this many green beans this year though. Which is good (in a way), because we don't have half the time we did then either! :)

Have you canned anything this year?  Do you plan on canning?

Have a blessed week....I hope you are enjoying the many posts (because it probably won't last long ;)!

Joyfully His,

Alexis

The New Pantry!

See!  I told you I'd post in rapid succession! :)  One of the many new things that we acquired was a WONDERFULLY HUGE pantry!  Our previous pantry was tiny (holding only some food items) and now we have just about everything -as far as food goes- in our new panty (including the spices which used to be in their own cabinet)!  It is very nice and was done by a good friend of ours who does carpentry work.  His name is Dowy!  Well, that's not his real name, but that is the one that we call him by. :)  Not only is it bigger but it is much more well done.  Instead of pieces of un-sanded wood we have sanded, routed, and just all-around-beautiful wood! :)  Now, I know you are dying to see pictures by now so here you go!

 Yes, I'm afraid we do have to start at the beginning before you get to see the finished product.

 He had to build the entire thing from scratch (except part of the back wall).

 We used to have our fridge and freezer up against this wall so we had to move them across from the new pantry.

 Their place across from the panty for the time being. :)

 Guarding the pantry. ;)

 Okay..we are going to (really) jump ahead.  To the end. ;)

 

 The doors (minus the handles which are now installed).

 TA-DA!!!  Isn't it just gorgeesimo! 8D

 The left side.

And the right side! :)  It is very crowded for now because we don't really have any cabinets.  But that will change soon! :) Oh, and if you're wondering what the string is, it is our temporary handle to turn on our light.  The light was put in by Mr. Crowe.  I was going to put some pictures of Mr. Crowe installing the light (for the pantry) on this post but I couldn't find them. :(  

So there you have it!  Our beautiful new pantry! 

I will post again soon!  Have a blessed week!

Joyfully His,

Alexis

Siding the addition!

 Wow.  Long time no post!  We have been extremely busy lately (and still are) but I'm going to try to update y'all on the (not so) recent happenings at the Wassenberg house. :)  The last post on our addition was on "Finishing The Addition Roof".  This post is going to be about putting in our doors and siding the house!

 

Getting to work!

  Un-packaging it (I know that's not a word but when you can't think of a word you just make one up! :)

 Now it is finally ready to go in!

 You know me...I can't resist taking pictures of picture-worthy things! :)

 Ok, I don't know how picture worthy this is, but hey this is one nice toad!

 This picture is here because..I put it here! No, not really (well, yes really in a way ;).  I just thought it was funny how the spider has a fly right next to it!  I guess it was tracking it down! ;)

 Applying glue (I think) to the doorway.

 Multi-tasking.  Go Mr. Woodson! :)

 HEAVE....

 HO!!

 And it's.....

 in!!!!!!!

 Okay...maybe not.  The door was a little short so they had to put some wood in the door frame to make it fit. :)

 Stetting it down.

 Mr. Reynolds running to get something.

 Lydia

 And...he's back! 

 Will it fit?

 .......... :- |

 YES!! It fit! Whew.

 I know this is very awkward looking...but hey, somebody had to do it! :)

The ever-seeing eyes of mother! :)  Just kidding...but she does see everything! :)

 Okay, so currently you have NO idea what is happening in this picture.  Well, we were getting ready to put the other door in and figured that we would have to put extra wood in just the same as before.   Well, we were wrong. :) Yep, you heard me right!  The doors were two different sizes! So we had to take down the wood we had just put in! 

 This is when Mr. Reynolds was making the wood to fit in the 2nd door frame.

 This was when he put it in..before we found out that we would have to take it back out again! :)

 Papa-bear (as he is affectionately called).

 Putting the door back in.

 Now it fits! ;)  If you look at the top of the two doors you will notice that they are different heights.  That's okay though.  The handles may also seem to be in a weird place.  They actually were put like that on purpose.  You see, one door is the "OUT" door (opening to the outside) and the other door is the "IN" door (opening to the inside).  We did this so that if you're inside you use the right-hand door to go out and then when you're coming back inside you use the left-hand door.  I hope you're not too confused! :)

 Um...Hi dad..don't ask about the thingy between da eyes....

Drilling the door in place and we're done!

Now to the siding. :) 

Mr. Reynolds came with a young man on a week day and finished the side with no windows (or doors).  So this time (a Saturday) the crew was doing the other two sides. :)

Here goes!

 SIDING!! Dun-dun-dun.

 Mr. Louis using the snips.

 Mrs. Wren and Mr. Louis with a piece of siding :).

 The completed back-side!

 Mr. Woodson at the vinyl. :)

Caleb and Mr. Hare on the scaffold with Mr. Woodson and Mr. Trusty looking on. :)

That is just about all the siding they finished that day since we were (eventually) putting in a window upstairs. They would have had to re-do the siding if they had finished it completely since we were putting in the window.  We actually put in that window today! :)

So there you have your long awaited update! I (Alexis) will be posting for awhile for Kimber.  She has been very busy working at the barn and doing several photography shoots (not to mention editing them) with more coming up.  So that's why you're stuck with me for awhile. :)  Sorry. :)

Have a blessed week and be looking for the next post coming up in rapid succession!

Joyfully His,

Alexis