We had a roller coaster week. The weather was super cold for some days and very nice on others. January is our cold month in Arkansas. We had our snow and now we are having our freezing temperatures. On a warmer day the younger kids went out to jump for a hour. They needed to burn some energy. Most of the snow is gone, but Fort Zimmerman (the snow fort) is still standing...a little.
One of the things on my list to learn how to do is make lemonade concentrate. I purchased about 24 pounds at the store when they went on sale. Two days later someone posted that there would be boxes of lemons and to come pick some up. Monday we drove to the pickup location to get a box and ended up bring back seven more for others in our ward that wanted them. We were swimming in lemons...literally. For as much as the kids try to get out of "work" they sure can be big helpers. I decided to take things in chunks. Tuesday was juicing day. The kids helped to wash, cut, and juice the lemons. Wednesday and Thursday were processing days.
While the kids had piano, I ran to a produce discount store to pick up berries. We ended up making 26 pints of various flavors of lemonade concentrate, seven pints of strawberry jam and five pints of raspberry. The kids all helped and stuck with it until almost the end. I was super impressed and happy the kids actually seemed to enjoy it. It also helped that we got to sample our potions. Hyrum decided that he was my potions apprentice. I thought it was pretty funny. I'm really proud of the accomplishment. I've ordered seeds for us to expand our container garden. I've basically decided that we are going to destroy a large part of the yard with my containers...not that it's anything more that weeds and ant piles.
Wednesday morning I noticed that Hyrum's joints were red and swollen. He didn't seemed bothered by it, but by the evening he broke out in hives all over. He was pretty miserable for the next couple of days. We are pretty sure it's a reaction to a virus that he had last week. He's broken out in hives before, but never to this extent after being sick. I felt bad for him, but by Saturday he was pretty much back to normal. Hopefully, everything clears up by next week.
Saturday, was a temple day. We took the kids up to Bentonville and we swapped babysitting with another family. It had been forever since Tim and I went together. For years we have just taken turns, but it was nice to go together. The kids did surprisingly well, but we were all tired.
We will have some very cold temperatures this coming week. I'm crossing my fingers that everyone will be healthy and that we won't have any major hiccups. Until next week!
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