It's no secret . . .

I have a strange obsession with jars. Canning jars to be specific. When we moved into our new house, I discovered that I had boxes of empty jars. Seriously, boxes! My husband was exasperated, he just couldn't imagine what I was going to do with all those jars, and frankly, I didn't really know either.

Last summer, after a productive evening of canning (something I'd only ever done on a very small scale before), I looked at this crazy little lip we had in the staircase down to the basement and thought, "Wouldn't that be a great place for all my jars of self-preserved food?" So D and put our heads together and came up with this amazing idea of building some shelves there. Then, two shelves was about all I needed, but I keep finding more of those jars as we continue to unpack. And thanks to a good friend, I have now discovered the joys of pressure canning and all the yummy foods I couldn't preserve before (especially all those dried beans we love to eat.)

This weekend, D got to work expanding my little shelving system, and this is what he finally finished for me. There is still some room to grow here, but not much. If I end up canning all the things I'm interested in this summer, this little space is going to be an absolute wonder to behold!

Little Fryes and Mud Pies

School might be over, but the kiddos got to hang out with Teacher Kris one more time this year. Her family has a little cabin on the water that they invited (get this) all the families from the two classes she teaches at the preschool. The boys had a blast! Liam learned how to use a clam gun (though it was used for some kind of bay shrimp I'd never seen before, not clams) and Noah decided to bury himself in the sand.

And okay, I know these pictures make it look like we're just hanging out in some kind of mud flat, but really we were out  at low tide on the Puget Sound. When you go out there, you know that you're not stepping in mud, but quicksand. If you stay in one place too long, you will find yourself sunk in up to your knees, and there were plenty of parents needing a hand out of their little holes, myself included. But we all had fun, so it was totally worth the 17 loads of clothes I had to wash (I might be exaggerating. Maybe.)