jelly

I wrote about our time spent picking strawberries on a school night, but those strawberries made for even more fun a couple days later. We made strawberry jelly! Or I should say I made jelly, while Aiden splattered strawberry guts around a little bit and ran around giggling with his strawberry winter hat on in an 80 degree house. At first he was armed with a potato masher and plenty of excitement, very intent of smooshing each strawberry I placed in his bowl. But as soon as he managed one accidental squirt from a strawberry he was only interested in trying to get more strawberries to squirt. His giggly little self helped wipe up the smooshed bits he "accidently" got on the cabinets and the floor, then he ran off. He came back a minute later with his strawberry hat on and a huge giggle smile. Then he ran off again and layered it with his pumpkin hat, asking me "do you like strawberry pumpkins?!" Our just over 4 pounds of strawberries made about 3 and half pints of jelly. I remember making jelly/jam with my family (thanks mom for cleaning up the sticky messes!) and I hope Aiden has happy memories of strawberry season.