Fall has arrived

   I can't believe it's fall already!  I feel as if I just bought my plants and started my garden and now it is all over. I love canning. It reminds me of my mom and grandma working in the kitchen. I was afraid of my pressure cooker at first, but once you get the hang of canning it's not hard at all. You just need to know the appropriate cook times and acid levels for all the items you make. I have a lot of my grandma's old canning jars. Most of them are quarts though. This year I canned lots of tomatoes, green beans, dill pickles, applesauce, grape jelly and green tomato salsa. The salsa turned out great, I got to use my green tomatoes at the end of the season and it tastes great.  The grapes, however, were in short supply this year and I only got 7 pints compared to last year's 22. Hopefully next year is a better grape year.

 Riley and the grandparents got some time to play on a weekend Keenan and Jon were getting some work done around the house. Riley learned how to use the pedals on her trike but she still finds just scooting to be easier for now.

    Weekend in Marion

 It was fun to spend a weekend just visiting with family and making food together.

We had fun going to the Cedar Rapids Farmers' Market. There were so many vendors with a variety of products, not just the usual produce. We tried many of the food vendors as well. The mini donuts were so fresh and amazing and I had the best crab rangoon. I even found someone a Christmas gift!

  

Riley just goofing around and playing dress up as a ladybug. You never know what she is going to end up wearing. I love to see what hat/cape combos that she comes up with. She also likes to pick her everyday clothes and sometimes we end up with some fun outfits!

We are as of today 26 weeks pregnant and as far as I know all is well. I can feel the baby move every day and have been recording the movement patterns to start doing kick counts. I am having trouble choosing a time of day.  You are supposed to do your counts at the same time every day and see how long it takes the baby to do 10 movements. For example if your baby does 10 kicks everyday at 7 am and it usually takes 10 to 20 minutes to get there, then it starts to take an hour or 2 that could be a sign of a problem.
      I had an appointment for the baby last week and I am right on track for growth and the heartbeat was good.  I go back at 28 weeks for the glucose test and a non stress test (NST).  The NST is just to check on the baby and make sure that there are no signs of fetal distress.  This appointment is going to take longer than a normal one so Sheryl is coming to watch Riley.