Making Applesauce

On Monday, I went to my in-laws and collected 5 grocery bags of apples. I'm not sure what variety of apples they are, but they do make a yummy applesauce! Yesterday, I decided to start the process. I'd hoped to finish all in one day, but with 4 little ones "helping" and needing me to do other things (ie: help with homework, make dinner, play outside, give baths, read to them, etc), it ended up having to be finished this morning.

I had a pretty good process going and since our kitchen is small, everything is nearby when you need it! I got to try out my mother-in-laws attachment to the Kitchen Aid mixer. It worked great and my mixer got quite the workout. I think it took around 4-5 hours to get it all done. Elizabeth was a good helper! The kids favorite part was being the "smasher." Caroline and Jonathan helped too, but they were not around when the camera was...

After we'd get a full bowl, we'd move over to the mix and bag station. Here, we'd add sugar and the various flavors. I discovered last year, by adding dry jell-o, we could flavor our applesauce. This year, we tried out orange, berry blue and lime, along with cinnamon. No, cinnamon is not a jell-o flavor, just in case you were wondering!!

My taste testers were rather pleased with the results!

Sixteen quarts later....we have a full freezer of applesauce that sure will taste yummy in the middle of winter!!

It was spirit day at school today, so all the kiddos were wearing their Colts apparel. You'll be happy to know that Jonathan and Matthew have the same size shirts on...

These three kiddos were fantastic while I worked away in the kitchen. They were either playing together inside, helping/watching me or playing and riding bikes outside. They really wanted to paint, so after I'd finished and was able to get the table cleaned off, they painted!! I love Matthew's cheese face!