cheap organic pumpkin

Amazon is having a sale right now. This caught my eye as ALL eight of my quart jars of pumpkin I canned last season were ruined when we moved and they got misplaced. I only found them after they were warm.

You can pick up a 12 pack case of organic pumpkin puree right now for $12 shipped w/prime or $10 and change if you sign up for subscribe and save. Redeem a $5 Amazon gift card from Swagbucks(see below for signing up!) and you'll pay less than .50 a can. 

I'll be back

The past week has been hectic to say the least, there is so much that needs to happen between now and our move on the 18th that blogging isn't a priority right now. The kids have been having a grand time with the empty boxes. They've made tunnels and towers.

Club houses and look out places.

Which has really done nothing except keep them busy. Making messes and not helping in the least.

Homeschooling is near impossible seeing as the house is a wreck and what's not a mess is being packed up or on it's way out to the trash or donation bin.

It's pretty much driving me batty.

But it's also funny. Especially since the boxes all came from either Dell or the liquor store and the kids can read now. Makes for interesting conversation when Alex says something like "So you're packing up the kitchen stuff in the Vodka box?" or when he asks specifically for the Samuel Adams box for his books.

So, between packing and addressing holiday cards, homeschooling and cooking up the last of the stuff in the freezer, my next few weeks are going to be a bit busy but don't worry (I'm pretending you are) I'll be back before the Holidays.

Unless I die in a freak packing box accident. Then I guess this is good-bye.

Letting them go

This week I've had the opportunity to grow as a parent. Something that doesn't come easily or without heart pains. The simple little thing of dropping off my oldest for a homeschool class became a turning point, a milestone, a memory I'll hold to my bittersweet heart. I hated every minute of it.

Though he'll probably never remember the day, the moment, the impact.

It was the first time I have let him go. The first time I stood on the sidelines and watched as he tried to assimilate into discussions with other (much older) kids. I had to physically pull back every cell in my body that screamed out to run to him, to protect him. We didn't have the comfortable safety of our church, or the relatively similar expectations of kids our own age. Alex is now old enough to attend homeschool classes with kids old enough to have cracking voices and facial hair.

The fact that he's about four feet shorter than the tallest and at least a foot shorter than the girls has me on edge when his bright smile falls upon kids he wants to know. Kids can be cruel. I know from experience. I want to sheild him from any possible pain.

But the time for hand holding and boo boo kissing is ending with my little man. It's an opportunity to discover new things about this fascinating person I helped create and it is also sad and scary. My heart feels like it's being torn in two. He is eager to grow up, explore the world, meet new people and depend on himself for support and encouragement. He's by no means grown up and I'm not sure I'll ever see him that way, even when he's holding his own son in his arms but it's time I started letting go, trusting them to the world.

I just wish it hadn't happened so soon.