Monday, Monday....

Monday is my bonus day. Usually a day off for me. I LOVE this about my schedule, and today we had a wonderful day at home. The kids were awesome. Sure there were the timeouts, chaos, and yelling, but there were also those moments of bliss, of brothers working together, playing together, enjoying each other! And enjoying each other without endless talk of bad guys, shoot guns, and the usual little boy infatuation subjects. Today Forrest taught Talin how to hold and feed his baby (stuffed) kitties, how to make a fort under the table,(in the dirt no less, but we'll take it!) and how to dance, with each taking turns giving a little show to the other brother.  I love these moments
And, as all parents know, any 'extra' tasks you happen to get done on days like these are pretty amazing. Today we did it all. Not every day is like that, but today was one of the good ones.
It involved harvesting and roasting tomatillo's, an entirely new experience for me as we've never grown them before....They are sticky! And quite yummy roasted, I must say.

It involved the usual fun strawberry picking with my favorite helpers ;-)

And, add a lot of tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, and secret ingredients(he he!) and you have three different kinds of salsa!!!!

green tomatillo, strawberry tomato, and our regular ranch special :-)

My favorite, strawberry tomato salsa. MMMMM MMMMM! I used it to top the crockpot blackberry pork chops tonight and it stole the show! A new favorite for sure :-)

We were also lucky enough to have Palos and Sean's friends up who have experience with cider making. Our apples are already going bonkers, so they made delicious work out of the first of many apple loads. Forrest and Talin loved it.

Combine all this fun harvest and food prep with the lovely afternoon on the beach, (even if I did have to work a wee bit!) and you get a PERFECT Monday. I'll take a case of my Mondays any day!