Lazy Weekend

Lazy weekend here. Our two plans - movie night and dinner at a friend's in the country - both got rained out. So most of our weekend revolved around exercising the dog & getting projects done around the house. We are so thankful for our city's wonderful parks. We had an excellent romp at the dog park before the rain began. On Sunday the weather was gorgeous so we had a picnic in the park. 

Baby also had her first taste of milkshake - she was a fan.

9 months!

A few days late but H has now (almost)
been out in the world as long as she was in my belly. 

We got to celebrate today on a rare weekday with Papa at home. 

Los of fun stuff & also some necessities - eggs and bacon, doctors appointments for H & Prairie, errands, lattes at our favorite coffee shop, a visit to the international center to apply for H's passport, a walk and a long ball session for P. H even had a snuggle and nap with Papa in our bed. And I even get to go meet some gals tonight for dinner at a place we've been dying to go to (T is jealous). 

Thankful for cool weather, health, and my sweet sweet family. Gotta soak these days up as my days staying at home are (hopefully) coming to an end.  

Yes that is a guy with a cat on a leash.

Prickly pear jelly part 1

I've always wanted to make jelly from the prickly pear fruits but always seem to miss picking the ripe fruit. 

But this year we headed out to the ranch and managed to catch the tail end of the season. I haven't actually made the jelly yet, but at least managed to clean and process the fruit to get the juice. 

I scrubbed the fruit clean and cut each in half. I barely covered with water, and boiled for 30 minutes. At the end I mashed the fruit pulp with a potato masher and strained with cheesecloth.

Hopefully this weekend I will be able to make the jelly and can it. I'm thinking plain prickly pear jelly and also hot pepper. My dad has said that he remembers it not tasting like much. At least it'll be a beautiful color.