You'll have to humor me...

This little doll is about to be 5 months old.

I can't believe it!

She is so jolly.

And precious.

And she is learning new tricks everyday!  Toes are her favorite toy.

She gives our whole family so much joy!

This is what I get to do everyday.

I have the best job ever.

Who wouldn't want to wake up eye to eye with this every morning?

It's very hard to get out of bed.

He tends to motivate me.  :)

Sweet miss got to try some cereal tonight.  She was pretty happy about it.  Next, avacado!!

3rd Annual Mullins Canning Day!

It's time to can.  My mother-in-law does her yearly trip to New Mexico and brings us back fresh stuff from Sichler's Farms.  We usually do green chile too but since we did that a couple of weeks ago, we were able to focus on canning. 

Look at these beauties!

Looks a bit daunting.

Our set-up gets better every year.  We come up with a system that works and we power through! 

You wouldn't believe the wonderful fresh smell that these tomatoes produce.  It smells the same even a year later when you pop these babies open!

My beautiful mother-in-law skinning tomatoes.  (I would show a picture of my sister-in-law too but I think she would kill me.)

My Cuisinart did a great job but took a beating.  It shinned up nice and pretty after.

We canned our salsa again this year.  Here are the veggies waiting to be processed.

We were able to make some bread and butter jalapenos and some pickled ones! 

It is so great to pull these out later in the winter.

It was a long hard day but we always enjoy it and look forward to next year!

I'm so excited!

 I got a big treat last week!  My sweet husband, brother-in-law and father-in-law put in some new counter tops for me!  Here they are!

 

This is my old counter top.  It looked ok but was NOT functional for someone who cooks a ton and needs a smooth space for rolling out dough!



The demo!
 



Matt his dad and brother working hard.



This sink was used when it was put in our house.  It is so scratched up that I could not keep it clean.  It was time for it to go.



The prep work.



Before



AFTER!!



I just love it!  It is pretty and very functional.  The sink is HUGE and so easy to keep clean.  Thank you to my sweet men!



We even extended our small counter top a bit to give me more usable space.  I am a happy mama.

 

This may be my favorite thing of all.  The sink is the perfect baby bath.  (it's hard to take a picture while holding onto a squirmy and wet baby!)

 In other news...

 Let the toothlessness begin!



Chile time!

Every family has its traditions.  One of our favorites happens at the beginning of Fall.  When the green chile is coming out of the fields, we are there.  We gather our burlap bags full of the aromatic fruit and prepare to put up a year's worth of the stuff.  Just like football on cool nights and the sound of the high school marching band on crisp mornings, the smell of roasting green chile is a call of the season.  It's a family affair.

Getting started.  This is the roaster that Matt's dad built.  It worked great.  We just had so much chile that it took a long time to roast in small batches.  Plans are being made for a giant one!

Hear the crackle of those chile skins.  The smell is like nothing else. 

We had such big beautiful chiles this year!  As always Sichler Farms came through.

Teamwork!  Matt and Galen taking the roasted chile to sweat until it's ready to bag.

Chile time is always family time.  Uncle Galen and Micah getting some cuddles.

We had a nice little set-up.  Matt put up misters and we had shade all day.  It even rained late in the afternoon!

Gampy sharing his hat with Levi.  Handsome cowboy.

Even though most of the kids don't eat the chile, they still love to help with the processing.

Some just like to sit in the shade and grin.

And all of us love being together.  Emma is a mini-mommy.  She loves to take care of Micah.

 

 

These are the days we will look back on with joy.  Thank you Father for allowing us this time, for giving us reasons to be together.  Thanks you for your creation that sustains us.  You are so good to make life so delicious.