I hurt my back over the weekend and I’m in pretty bad shape.  It’s really painful to do much of anything, so while I had big plans for cleaning/organizing the entire house this week, I’m doing more low-key things instead.  What better time to catch up a little on the blog?  I’ll start with our letter R week.  And I’ll just tell you up front that this will be long and have too many pictures.  Feel free to just close your browser now.

To introduce the letter R (back in late August I think) we looked around the house for things that were red.

Then we made a red R using paprika (don’t ask me why didn’t I think of using red glitter – maybe the kids wouldn’t have tried to eat that).

Other R things we did: go for rides on scooters, watch the Runnin’ Utes, and go to the Ogden Raptors game (free tickets from the school – score!).

But really, the main event of this week (which we had to stretch a bit to fit the letter R) was…

Ripe Peaches!!

See what I did there?

Grandma and Grandpa own a lot with maybe ten or so peach trees, and they were ready, so we all went and picked SO MANY PEACHES.  Unfortunately, we are a bit inexperienced when it comes to picking peaches and didn’t wear long sleeves, so we were all super itchy by the end of the night.  But it was worth it!  These babies are delicious!  Look how pretty!

Devin and I started canning on Friday, and with a couple batches under our belt we felt comfortable letting the kids help on Saturday.  We made an assembly line (which the kids always love) and it was really fun!  Miles’ job was to take pictures, and I think his height and perspective were perfect.  It made for some pretty artsy shots.

Ok, maybe Miles didn’t take all of these.  Or maybe he stood on something.  I don’t remember.

Notice the football game going in the background?  That’s one way to get a man in the kitchen.

There is nothing more beautiful than finished jars of home-canned food.  Well, there probably is, but they just give you such a sense of accomplishment.  Also I love that Miles took a picture of the peach that fell on the floor.  He’d make a great lifestyle photographer.

Oh!  And here’s a great letter R book: The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister:

I love this book for its awesome illustrations, including shiny things that you can’t help but touch, and the great lesson it teaches about sharing and friendship.