Another birthday!

      Our little boy turned 17 today! It seems like he should still be 5! Why do they have to grow up so fast? I'm sure you all ask the same questions! I am making his favorites today: pumpkin pie and stir fry chicken! That's what he requested, no cake, pie! That's easy enough for me! I am making the pie now and will have the stir fry done hopefully, before six. The reason I say hopefully, is because I am canning those tomatoes before they all rotten! I also have a dirty kitchen that has to be cleaned up first! So many things to do for only one person! I'll manage, though.

      We went to Ellijay, Georgia this past weekend to the apple festival. I have never seen the traffic like that! It grows more every year! We couldn't even get close to the festival, so we walked the town square. They have lots of vendors set up with apples, crafts and food, so we really didn't miss that much.  Plus, we didn't have to pay an entry fee! I think it cost $5-$7 to get in. My Mom and Dad went with Randy, Skylar, and me, so that would've been a lot of money spent, just to do what we could do for free! I really like going to the festival, though. When we went to the R&A Orchard to buy our apples, there were so many people inside, we couldn't even find a buggy! That's never happened before! You wouldn't know by all of this that the economy is not very good! I got a huge bag of apples for $10 that would've been $15 if I had bought the larger sized apples. We prefer the smaller apples for eating because one person can't eat one of those large apples; part of it goes to waste! I will be working on canning or dehydrating some of these apples later in the week. 

      I am also contemplating joining a CSA. The lady is supposed to call me back today and let me know. I hope to be able to obtain locally grown produce until my garden comes in next year. We'll see. Our weather is such a yo-yo! It's gotten very warm again, well, seventies with humidity so it feels like eighties! The temps may even get in the eighties this week, not sure, though. That's typical for the South this time of year. Hope ya'll are having a nice Autumn! Talk to you later this week! Blessings from Bama!

My vanilla beans came in the mail so I made some vanilla extract! It smells so good already! I plan on using some of it during Thanksgiving.

These two boxes were full. This is what I'm working on today.

Chopped peppers for the tomato relish.

Onions and peppers for the relish.

This old food processor that I got at a yard sale about ten years ago, for fifteen dollars, saved me so much time cutting all those peppers and onions.

The photo doesn't do this size of the pot justice! This is my water-bath canner, full of tomato relish! My tee shirt is down to my knees, but I'm up to my elbows in tomatoes!

Yasmine enjoying the slide!

She and Layla love to swing!

Winterlynn is growing so quickly!

I tried to get them to look at the camera!

Three little monkies!

Mom, Dad, and Randy. Skylar doesn't like to get his picture made.

See what I mean!

They look like the car was made for them!

North Georgia mountains viewed from R&A Orchards.

The very crowded store at R&A.

I had the hubs pull over so I could take this photo. That is so pretty!

Skylar and Oma, Randy's Mom. We ate at Kobe for Skylar's birthday.

Nanny, Poppa, and Skylar. My Dad is doing very well after his surgery this past summer!

Oma's birthday was the day before Skylar's so she celebrated as well! Dr. Seuss hat at Books-A-Million.

We got Skylar some new fog lights for his Jeep.

I wished you could smell this rose! It has a very strong old rose smell.

So pretty, even if she's bowing her head.

Twenty-four pints of tomato relish.

The big bag of Fuji apples.