School Week #1 Complete!!

Well, we survived the first week of school. Both boys seem to be happy. J LOVES Jr. high---this year he gets to get SALAD BAR and bigger portions. Ahh..the important things to an 11 year old.
T hasn’t really said much, but he hasn’t even met his “real” teacher yet. His class has a sub at the moment as the teacher’s mother passed away.
Our school changed over to a 4 day school week this year. They go to school from 8 to 4. I am finding I am really enjoying this! I can schedule dental appointments and stuff like that with out them having to miss school. The hours may be longer but we really have not noticed much of a difference from the past years. I will say they are STARVING when the come home. J doesn’t eat till one, and for a boy with hollow legs, that’s a long time to go without food. He’s even keeping a box of granola bars in his locker so he can make it home without dying from starvation. ;)
I am finding I have more energy now that I am getting up a bit earlier.
Though I wasn’t ready for them to go back, the new routine is very nice!!

Spent part of Saturday morning working out in the garden. Pulled all the corn since it was done and T harvested about 20 mini pumpkins and there are at least that many that are almost ready to go. D got 2 “giant” pumpkins that ended up being the same size as a regular pumpkin. Our “regular” pumpkins haven’t done anything yet. They’ve got some blooms but that’s all. Our neighbor was complaining about his garden and he’s usually got a garden to die for, so I wonder what went wrong this year.
Still getting tomatoes and I should have enough to make another batch of salsa. I’m really enjoying canning. I’ve dropped several hints to my mom that I’d like a pressure canner for Christmas. =) Don’t have ANY idea how to use one, but….!

Bing Cherries are on sale at the store at the moment, and I bought 7 lbs. So last night I used 2 lbs of them to make spiced cherry jam. Yum…it has Amaretto in it and it is just heavenly. I still have 5 lbs of cherries to use, so I think I will just make more of this jam and freeze some of them for later. I was pretty proud of myself!