Tomatoes, mud, naked bottoms, and other such matters.

I believe I mentioned previously that the tomato plants in the garden went bazerk* this year, yes? Pete's tomato plants, not mine. 

Well, after Pete & Co. had canned salsa for days, and after Caleb and I had canned salsa for days, the plants were still producing. 

Then my Mom came over and showed me how easy it is to make fresh marinara sauce, so I decided to give it a go.

All by myself. 

With three small children.

And a newborn. 

Brave, you say? No no. A different adjective is in order. I won't say which one. The above photo was taken after I wiped the red sauce off of every surface in the room.

After 15 quarts of sauce, I still had piles of tomatoes but no more peppers or onions, so I just started canning tomato chunks (great in spanish rice!).

After 24 pints of tomato chunks, I was feeling like one giant hot steamy tomato myself, and realized that my kids had been entertaining themselves unusually long. 

I went to investigate.

 Ahh. That explains that.

 The Cosmos had keeled over in the recent frost, so I had pulled them out, leaving behind a lovely stretch of empty soil.
They can't resist empty soil.

 There's a reason they call dirt "soil", come to find out. My washer still hasn't forgiven me.

Claire wasn't in the mud, so I went to find her next.

Ahh, there she is. In Jonah's room, playing Hot Wheels. Naked. 

Who doesn't play Hot Wheels naked though, right? 

Don't answer that.

 And Millie, sweet Millie. She'd wake up for meals, then go right back to sleep. Hence the unusually productive day in the kitchen.

And now, in other totally unrelated but happy news:

She learned how to smile, and it's causing much happiness around here.

*Is 'Bazerk' not a word? Why is it trying to spellcheck it? Baserk bazerk bazerkeydonkeylicious. Nope, they all get squiggly red lines under them. So glad we've had this talk today.