Grape Jelly!!!

My parents have 4 grapevines and, needless to say, one of the vines was ready while we were there. So, my mom and I decided to make grape jelly. (With the kids help of course!) The kids helped pick and squash the grapes. I don't know if many of you know the process for making jelly but this is how grape jelly is done Dryden/Gallegos style. Enjoy!!!

#1 - You start to pick the grapes. Or in Sydney's case, just move them from bowl to bowl. Hey, it kept her busy so I didn't complain.#2 - Continue picking the grapes until only one of your children is left helping and that child is just making a mess on the ground below you because the bowls are too full.

#3 - While taking a break from picking try posing with all of your children. And then you remember that there is no way you can get all three kids to look at the camera at the same time so you give up and finish filling the bowls with grapes.

#4 - Now you have 3 full bowls of freshly picked grapes. Take them inside, wash and remove the stems. The kids were totally plugged in to the TV at this point. :) So this step goes pretty fast.

#5 - Now you have to squish the grapes. My mom has this handy grape squisher. (I don't know what else to call it, so that is going to be it's official name "Grape Squisher" for this post) So we turned off the TV and had the kids help us with this next step. You place the grapes in the "Grape Squisher" and roll the wooden pin around it, the grapes are squished and the juice falls into the bowl below. Sounds easy enough, right! The girls had fun with it. Isaac tried it a couple of times and then he was done. However, the excitement wore out quickly and my mom and I were left to do the rest of the squishing.

Another shot of the girls squishing grapes together.

And by this point Sydney was done and Jordan and Grandma got some time together squishing grapes together.

#6 - You take the juice, mix it with sugar and a bunch of other stuff and boil it for a few minutes. And when I say sugar I mean a lot of sugar. We used a total of 7 cups of sugar for every 5 jars of jelly that we made. WOW, that's a lot of sugar!!!

#7 - And finally, pour the boiling mixture into jars, set on the counter and then take a picture to prove that you really do no how to make jelly!!! We made a total of 30 jars that afternoon with 3 large bowls of grapes. And here is the picture for proof.

Okay, so there were a few other steps in there that I probably left out, but let's be honest, those steps just are not as interesting. We were lucky enough to bring back 15 jars so needless to say we should have enough jelly for the year. So, next time any of you come over to our house, don't be surprised if you get something with jelly on top!!!

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Time in Texas

We spent 3 weeks in Texas and now we are back in Ohio, trying to get back to some sort of routine. We all had a great time and we took a lot of pictures to prove it. So, sit back and enjoy some of the pictures we took at my parents house just outside of Canyon, Texas.

The kids playing on the swing set.

(I don't know what kind of face Isaac is making???)

Isaac and Jordan holding a baby chicken.

Isaac and Sydney playing in the mud. I think mud was one of Sydney's favorite things in Texas.

Jordan with the baby chicken. She held it the most out of everyone.

Sydney hiding in the corn patch.

Isaac hiding also.

Sydney and Jordan playing in the blow-up pool.

Another group picture on the swing set.

A group shot INSIDE the swing set.

I thought this was a cute one of Isaac.

We had a great time and needless to say we got a lot of pictures. I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our visit.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Everyone loves a Parade

Today our neighborhood had its second annual 4th of July Parade. And we were very excited to participate. The kids decorated their bikes with red, white, and blue and they were very excited to go for a ride. The following pictures are of the kids and their bikes all decorated!!!

(Okay so technically Sydney was in the bike trailer, not her bike, but we decorated the trailer any way!!!

And the next picture is one of the 4 of us before we started the parade. The kids were full of energy and ready to go.

We rode for about a mile and then took a popsicle break. Sydney was worn out and fell fast asleep soon after we took off. She slept through the entire popsicle break and finally woke back up closer to the snow cone stop. (My kids were in heaven. Popsicles AND snow cones all in the same day!!!)

This next picture is one I caught of Sydney sleeping in the bike trailer.

And here are Jordan, Isaac and their friend Carter enjoying a popsicle.

Overall we had a great time and I am glad the kids got to participate in the parade. The weather was great and we were all very thankful for that. So, we have officially started our 4th of July weekend off successfully. I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend. We hope all of you also have a great 4th of July weekend!!!

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Jordan is 7!!!

Guess who turned 7 today!!! Jordan definitely had a great day. She was supper excited about today and I can't blame her, it is exciting being 7. So here she is with her birthday cake. She picked out the animal print theme and she was very excited about her cake. I have to say that I was pretty excited about how cute it turned out also.


As soon as she woke up this morning she was ready to open presents. And when I went upstairs mid-day to grab some laundry this is the note I found outside my door.

(I like how she signed it "sincerely Jordan.") And I couldn't figure out how to turn the picture around so am sorry it is upside down.
And here she is with her cake while we were singing "Happy Birthday."

And enjoying a bite. She wanted chocolate cake with icing. She is a chocolate girl, just like her dad.

And Jordan was very excited that her cousin Paige was able to come over. Here is a picture of all the girls playing dress-up.

Balloons and a new princess dress

It has been a crazy weekend and I was just so glad that she had a great birthday. And I think she had a great day. It is hard to believe that she is already 7. It is definitely true when people say "they grow up too fast."

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara

Happy Father's Day!!!

...And I will be a father to you,

and you shall be my sons and daughters..."

2 Corinthians 6:18

Well, today is Father's Day and we had a great one. (At least from my perspective it was a good one.) We had a nice run this morning in the valley with the kids and that was fun. Jordan rode six miles with Patrick as he ran and they got to spend some special time together.

So, Patrick I thank you for being such a great Husband and Father. You bless our family in so many ways.

These 3 kids couldn't be happier!!!

And Me, well, I couldn't be happier either!!!


You are a great dad and I hope you know how much we truly love and appreciate everything you do for us! Your guidance is amazing. We hope you had a great day.
Happy Father's Day!!!

And for my Dad, thank you so much for everything you have done and continue to do for me. You are so great and I love you so much! I hope you had a great day and I wish we could have been there to celebrate it with you!!! (And remember I will always be your favorite!!! Don't worry, I won't tell Damon, your secret is safe with me.)

And Gene, I hope you had a great Father's day also. You have raised an amazing husband and father in Patrick and for that I will always be grateful.

I hope that all of you had a great day!!!

Love you and God Bless, Tara G.

Family Pictures

Patrick's parents were in town last week and we took the opportunity to take them out to the Cuyahoga Valley. While we were there we decided to take some pictures as a family. And well, that actually is harder than a person might think.

So, the following is what we got. (You never know, one of these may end up being our Christmas card picture!)

For the most part everyone was looking at the camera in this one. (Jordan has the funny face in this one!)

Our families version of a straight line!

What is Patrick doing to Jordan???

AHHH, A true family portrait for the Gallegos Family!

4 out of 5 of us looking at the camera is about as good as we can get!

As a side note, I cut my hair off about a week ago. I donated 11 inches to "Locks of Love." Lets hope they can make a crazy cool wig out of all that hair!!! :)

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Our first Harvest

Well, all of our hard work has paid off. We harvested our first strawberries yesterday. Yes, we are already harvesting food from our garden. (A small side note: The word "Harvest" is used very loosely in the previous sentences!)

I checked out the garden and noticed that some of the strawberries were ready. So I quickly picked them before the birds got to them.

So, here is what we got!!!

Yes, 2 strawberries. Roughly the size of a penny. They were so small and there were only two of them. (That is why I used the word "Harvest" so loosely.)

However the kids were very excited.

Here they are eating up their dinner so they can eat the strawberries I picked from the garden. They didn't know that I only got two and that whey were the size of a penny but they would soon find that part out!

So, here is a picture of Jordan with the strawberries.
And Isaac was super excited also.

And Sydney, well, she was excited but just wanted to eat them. It was kind of tough taking the picture without her shoving them in her mouth.

So, when every one's dinner was done I divided them up and handed them out to the kids. The really funny part about all of it was that the strawberries were kind of tart and the kids did not like them at all. Their faces were priceless!!! Well, we hope to have much more harvesting in the future and look forward to sharing.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.