Strawberry Jam, sort of...

It's Strawberry season in Florida and I am in LUUUUUV! We went to a pick-your-own farm one Saturday morning and really went to town. When we got home we had two huge box tops full of strawberries. I think the lady said we had 14 POUNDS (!). So we decided to make some jam.



The Goods



Jake, mashing "The Goods"


My own home made version of a boiler for canning. I read about different ways to do this online to make sure that I did it safely. Don't worry, folks. There will be no botulism in my house!


The finished product! The only problem is that I tried to do the sugar-free recipe. I realized half way through that I had mashed twice as many strawberries than I needed. Well, I doubled everything except for the sure-gel box and didn't think twice. I realized about two days later when neither of the two jars that I had opened set correctly what happened. It's okay though. We roll with the punches in this house. We are using it as chunky strawberry syrup and it is real good on top of vanilla ice cream.


Sawyer likes it so it must be good!

Writin' it up!

Jane is learning how to write her letters.



I wrote the first letter on the paper above and Jane did her best to write the same letter right next to it. I think she did a pretty darn good job!



Jane really likes to "connect the dots" but she also really likes to color. SO, sometimes dots that should connect to spell "Jane Smith" just make fun shapes.

She's only three though...so I figure she's got time.

Shouting from the rooftops!

My sweet boy Sawyer has started to do something in the morning that mothers of young toddlers only DREAM about! He's been waking up in the mornings while Jake is getting ready for work so Jake gets him a little snack and turns cartoons on.

The awesome thing is that Sawyer will keep watching cartoons and let me keep dozing after Jake goes to work! I'm so grateful (for the first time) that we have a split floor plan! When Jake is getting ready to leave he comes in the room, we say our prayer and then Sawyer comes in and snuggles with me for a second and goes back out to watch his cartoon.

I don't stay asleep very long, usually just another 15 or so minutes because who wouldn't want to wake up and smooch on a little boy that is so sweet in the morning?!

I'm so excited to enter this new stage of life! We've been going to bed earlier, the house is staying cleaner, our money is lasting longer and we're starting to be able to sleep in!! I feel like I've hit the JACKPOT!

Easter Weekend Picnic

Easter weekend was great! Conference was wonderful and in between sessions on Sunday a huge group of families got together to celebrate Easter and life and love and anything else worth mentioning!


All the ladies at the picnic. We're a fun bunch of moms!


Jake and Sawyer on the park together. That kid is a hooligan!


Jane and one of her besties, Savannah.


Sawyer is a spinning king!


Jane, wearing her new Easter sunglasses the only way worth wearing them...upside down!

It's coming along...

Alright y'all (<--- note to all, I will never actually speak that word from my mouth)

I'm getting this rolling on my website! If you want to check out a ton of pure genius you'll head over to my "under construction" photography website. I'm pretty psyched! I've got the logo picked out. I'm working on colors and all will be revealed SOON!

Check it out!

www.starleighsmithphotography.com

Family Tea Party!

A couple of weeks ago we had our first ever (!) Family Tea Party (minus the tea, of course). Here is a peek at the festivities and a small look at our new palace.

The Grub. Those cookies from Publix are SO GOOD. Seriously, print off that picture, go to your nearest Publix and find these cookies. You will not be disappointed.


Daddy and Sawyer. These two are so much fun!


Sawyer is my little cookie/sweets/milk/banana/apple/juice monster. He's great and I love licking his little fingers when they are covered in the good stuff!


Sweet Baby Jane is chowing down! She is practically a woman now (look at her AND she's starting Pre-K in a matter of months!) but she'll always be my Sweet Baby Jane.


A sweet flower from the top of a sweet cupcake that was eaten by my sweet girl.


All in all, the tea party was a success. We had a blast eating treats that we don't eat very often and we got spend some good quality time together. We need to make it more of a tradition. Maybe next time we'll make treats out of my Hungry Girl recipe book. All the recipes are 200 calories or less! Imagine that!

Anyways, spring has officially hit North Central Florida so we'll surely be doing more activities outside! Keep your eyes peeled for more updates. :)

Kind of a downer...

So, I'm completely frustrated with myself right now.

I have tons of goals and dreams and plans and nothing is panning out! I feel like I'm always taking one step forward and two steps back.

1: I want to get out of debt and I feel like that is never going to happen. I need to be able to work outside of the house to make the kind of money we need to get out of debt quickly and anyone who knows me knows I'm not putting my kids in daycare (plus, there aren't many jobs to spare in this economy).

2: I want to take this photography thing seriously but I don't have the start-up money I need to get all the equipment that I need. ie: Photoshop CS4, new lenses, fancier camera, a better computer, lights, flashes, tripods...

I know, I know, I should take one step at a time but I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'll get more work with the nice equipment but I can't buy the equipment until I get more work. Bah!

3: I have friends doing AWESOME things with themselves. I feel like I'm jumping up and down in a crowded room sometimes and no one even sees me. I feel like I'm disappointing some friends by not calling enough and I feel like I'm irritating some friends by calling too much (even though I don't think I'm calling that much)... Sometimes you just get a vibe from people, you know? I just can't find my footing.

4: We are so unsettled! We don't know where we're going to live, whether Jake is going to stay on the career track he's on or not, if we're going to have more kids or ever be debt free. I just feel like nothing is sure. All the people I'm surrounded with know exactly what they're going to be doing. They've made up their mind; they're in grad school and there is no turning back. We keep trying to figure out what exactly is going to work best for us and frankly, it's making me crazy.

Anyways, I know I'm a bummer but since no one even reads my blog anyway it shouldn't matter.