Catching up with Samantha Pt 2

FYI:  This was written in January 2013...just a couple days after the post about her walking problems.  It has been sitting here for a year, just waiting for me to put pictures into it before hitting publish, and since she's about to have another birthday, I decided I needed to get busy! Now on to the post:

So in other news about Samantha's last 18 months...she was finally potty trained in August 2011, at the ripe old age of 3.5.  She's ahead of the game on many things, but that just was not one of them. 

We moved into our new house in October 2011, and she loved having her own room...for the first week.  Then she and Jacob both cried for each other every night for about 2 weeks before they got used to sleeping in their own rooms.  She had a tea party for her 4th  birthday and this was the first time that she got to invite more than one friend.  She LOVED it and told me that she always wanted to have a tea party for the rest of her birthdays.  Of course, she has changed her mind since then, but that doesn't matter at all. 

In February 2012, she started ballet and tap class.  She has been dancing around at least as long as we have lived in Clifton and she watched the Nutcracker over and over after Brent recorded it for her.  She would tell us to look at her doing her ballet.  So we decided it was time to let her try a class.  And she loved it!  She also made some new friends.  She had her first recital in May and looked absolutely adorable in her costume.  And the most surprising part was that my shy little girl did not act shy at all when she was on that stage.  After all the kids danced, they all went back on stage and were called to the front individually to receive their awards.  Samantha went right up to the teacher and then waved at the audience just like a little queen.  It was adorable! 

She and Jacob both took private swim lessons in June and she really was swimming on her own at the end of the week.  She would do everything she could to not take a breath until she got where she was going, but she could take a breath and keep on swimming.  I hope to have her in swim lessons again in the next month or so through the YMCA in Waco to give her a refresher before summer comes.

Shortly after she turned 3, Samantha was talking about the sounds letter makes and figuring out, on her own, what letter a word started with.  So we started working on learning to read.  She loves it and whizzes through the lessons.  We did the first pre-K workbook, skipped the second one, finished the first Kindergarten book and have made it quite a few lessons into the second Kinder book.  We don't have any kind of schedule set for when we specifically work on it, we just kind of let the mood strike, but she will do between 2 and 4 lessons in a sitting.  Since that is working, I'm not worrying about setting a schedule, at least for now.  And she is sounding out words that are far beyond the ones she is learning to read right now. 

She is also apparently a math whiz.  I was putting some things away in Jacob's room one day this past fall and she came up to me and said "Mommy, 8 plus 7 take away 2 is 13."  I had to think for a second before I could tell her that she was right.  She got that completely on her own, it is NOT something we have worked on. Oh, and add to that, I was sitting beside her as she slept when we made an emergency room trip in December, and I heard her doing math problems in her sleep.   It makes me a little afraid.

Samantha started preschool at the end of August 2012.  We decided to have her go two days a week rather than 3 or 5.  I just wasn't sure how she was going to do, and it's not like I'm anxious to have her out of the house or anything.  She was a little timid the first few days, but then she absolutely loved it.  She did great at school and had no problems there, but the afternoons were pretty rough at home for a while.  I don't know if it was because of getting used to a new schedule, because of being worn out from getting up earlier, because she has trouble adjusting to change, or if she was holding any frustration in until she got home, or a combination of the above, but I was glad when everything started getting back to normal.  She started asking to go to school every day about 6 weeks after school started, but by then, all the other spots were full, so we didn't even have to worry about trying to make that decision. 

We missed the registration week for dance in the fall and by the time we realized that it was already started, we were seeing her problems at home after school, so we decided to just let it go for a while and consider putting her back in once the spring semester started.  She didn't say anything about it until just after New Years, when she asked "When am I going to go to dance class again?"  I was glad to be able to say with a big smile, "Next week, honey."  So now she is dancing again and has moved up to the older class of 5-7 year olds.  And she comes home and teaches Jacob her ballet steps, so now he goes through the house showing us Echeppe...although from both children it seems to be separated into 2 words...A ... Shappe, and quite honestly, from watching her dance class, I thought it was two words, and two separate moves myself.

For her 5th birthday, she received a bicycle from us.  And when we went to get it, we discovered that she fit just fine on an 18 inch bike.  Yes, my barely 5 year old has an 18 inch bike!  She has only been able to ride it once so far, though, because the tube went flat at the end of her first 5 minutes of riding and we haven't remembered to get another one when we have been in Waco.  She has already discovered, though, that it is much harder to ride on a chip seal street than it is to ride on a smooth concrete floor in a store.

At 5 years old, Samantha is 43.75 inches tall and weighs 36 pounds.  Her younger brother weighs more, but she is almost 3 inches taller...for now.  She wears size 12 shoes, 5 shirts, 6 dresses and 5 or 5T pants (adjustable waist and cinched almost all the way in.)  She tells me that her best friend is Eden, and Eden is the first person she chooses to invite to anything, but she also is very good friends with Sarah, Rebekah and Jocelyn.  Emory is a new friend she met at school this year, and I think that if Emory and Samantha have anything to say about it, we will be seeing a lot more of Emory as well.  This past fall, Samantha had her first sleepovers, both with a friend staying at our house and with Samantha sleeping at a friends house.  The friend is Jocelyn in both cases, and Jocelyn spends Saturday night at our house most of the time now, then goes to church with us on Sunday morning.  The girls finally stopped counting sleepovers once we got past 5. 

She loves to dance, sing, read and play with her baby doll. She enjoys school, playing board games and playing outside with her friends. She is loving but bossy to her brother and gets quite upset when he doesn't want to follow her directions. We do have to work with her regularly on recognizing that other people don't have to do things her way.  She is usually honest when confronted, but we have had some issues lately with not always telling the truth the first time she is asked.  We are working hard on nipping that in the bud.  She is a sweet girl who is concerned about how other people feel and will try to help us feel better with hugs and kisses.  She is learning to think about how her actions make other people feel.  She is a joy to have in our life and I am so glad God chose me to be her mom!

4 Years Old



August 2013

Our baby boy is 4 years old as of a few weeks ago...and he's still as sweet as he can be!  But he is also very good at the fine art of temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way...especially when he's tired.  He gives the best hugs and kisses and he gives them all the time.  He is definitely still a snuggler and there is little (actually no) doubt in my mind that his primary love language is physical touch.  He asks me to snuggle him every night when he is going to bed and many times throughout the day. He is usually quite easy going and will go along with what his sister or parents suggest, BUT if he makes up his mind, there is no changing it!





January 2013



 

I think that he will be an engineer when he is grown.  He is constantly touching things, seeing how it works, taking it apart and exploring everything with his hands.  I hear from his Daddy that Daddy was like that as a child as well.  It makes Jacob happy to hear he is like Daddy.  He is trying harder and harder to be like him and he wants to spend more and more time with him. He even threw a fit the morning that Daddy had to go back to work after being home for Christmas because he just wanted to be with his Daddy.

February 2013

He is also a climber.  That one can probably be blamed on me since I climbed everything as a child.  I caught him climbing the shelves in the linen closet one day.  He got the pillows off the very top shelf.  The same shelf that I have to use a ladder to get to.  And he has gotten things off the top shelf of the pantry.  The child has no fear of doing anything physically.  It scares me quite frequently, but I try to stand back and be calm while still setting limits for him.



Falling asleep on his chair after insisting he was not ready for a nap. August 2013 

His 4 year well check isn't scheduled until February, but thanks to the flu, we went to the doctor the week after his birthday and got his official height and weight.  He is 44 inches tall and weighs 46.6 pounds.  He wears size 5T pants and shirts, although he can wear size 6 shirts sometimes and his 5T pants are getting a little snug around the waist.  He wears size 12.5W shoes.  He is definitely a big boy now!



Sleeping in the car after church. June 2013

In the past year, Jacob went on two trips to San Angelo without a parent, but with his sister.  The first time was during spring break and the second was the end of June/ beginning of July.  My parents were here for the first weekend of spring break and when they were getting ready to go back to San Angelo, Kathy asked if Jacob and Samantha wanted to go to her house and have her bring them back to me the following weekend.  Samantha immediately said yes, but Jacob had a hard time deciding.  He wanted to go but he didn't want to be away from me at night.  He finally decided that he would go.  So I waved goodbye to my babies when I waved goodbye to my parents and they were so excited to be going on a trip.  This was the first time I had been away from the kids at night since Samantha was born and it was definitely a little strange for me.  I was worried that Jacob would have a very hard time, especially at bedtime, but there were very few tears and that was only for the first day or two.  He stayed at Aunt Kathy's house and Grandma and Benjamin took care of the kids when Aunt Kathy was at work.  They had a wonderful time!  In fact, they had so much fun, that they day before it was time to come home, Jacob said he didn't want to come home!  But once they got back home, he hugged and hugged me and didn't want to let go.

Making sun bread as part of our sun unit. September 2013

He keeps up with his sister in almost everything, and they are the best of friends.  He is so sweet, loving and tenderhearted nearly all the time.  He is concerned when his sister (or anyone else, for that matter) is upset.  If she has been hurt, he comes to give her kisses and hugs and will often bring Mr. Puppy for her to snuggle to help her feel better.  One time when we were leaving the grocery store and Samantha was throwing a fit on the floor rather than walking out the door with me, he went back to her, put his arm around her and helped her to stand up and then supported her to walk out the door.

First day of kindergarten for Samantha. August 2013

His favorite foods are spaghetti and "all the pizzas."  He will try almost anything and likes most foods.  His favorite color is blue...at least today, in a few days, it might be green, purple or pink, which are his other answers when you ask what his favorite color is.  He likes to play games including Chutes and Ladders, Guess Who, Candy Land, Blokus, and Chinese Checkers.  He loves to run and dig outside, play on the teeter totter airplane, "read" books, especially the "Things to Spot" books and mazes, build with blocks, duplos and regular legos...although he still needs quite a bit of help with the legos since his fine motor skills aren't quite good enough for those tiny blocks, and he is good at working puzzles.  He tells me, without any hesitation, that his best friend is Luke G. and his other best friend is Luke B.

Dino valley with Samantha and Luke G - December 2013

Mr. Puppy is still his favorite, his comfort object.  There was a 2 week period in September when Mr. Puppy was lost.  Samantha thought he was left outside and blew away in the wind. I knew that he wouldn't have blown away, and didn't think he had been taken outside, but I was concerned that if he had been left outside, an animal had dragged him off because he was NOT there any longer. And the longer he was missing, the more I was worried that was what happened. Jacob was getting more and more concerned as time went on, even getting up to look for him several hours after being put to bed, so I started looking to see if we could find a new one.    It was not easy to find since we got Mr. Puppy when Samantha was a baby. If I had known then that several years later Jacob would choose it as his favorite, I would have bought two to begin with!

  I found a new one on Amazon for a ridiculously high price. I found a used one on eBay for half that, but still ridiculously priced. They agreed to come down to a little less than half of their list price and shipping was free. Thanks to a fabulous auntie and uncle who suggested that they pitch in to help pay for it, we went ahead and ordered a new Mr. Puppy.  Jacob came in and saw the picture on the computer and commented that it was Mr. Puppy when he was new. I asked him if he would like Mr. Puppy to be new again and he said "YES!" So I told him that auntie and uncle were helping to pay for Mr. Puppy to be new again and he would be coming in the mail. He was excited and kept asking when he was coming and if the mailman had Mr. Puppy yet. So then, one afternoon, the kids came running out of Samantha's room yelling "We found Mr. Puppy!" and smiling like you wouldn't believe. An hour later the new Mr. Puppy came in the mail.  We had one happy little boy!  And he asked me to take lots of pictures of both Mr. Puppies.  For a while he called them Mr. Puppy and Mr. Puppy Too.  Then he called them Old Mr. Puppy and New Mr. Puppy, but he has recently changed the new one's name to Mrs. Puppy and the old one is Mr. Puppy again.

 

Jacob had a monster birthday party for his 4th birthday.  I talked him into it because I wanted to make fleece monster pillows for a craft and had a really cute cake I wanted to make.  However, when I was showing him the cake I was going to try to make, he saw a different one and insisted that the other one was the cake he wanted.  He would not change his mind, so I changed my plans and ended up constructing a VERY tall cake.  This was the first birthday party that Jacob invited friends to rather than just having family.  Luke G and Luke B were his choices, along with his sister and Luke B's sisters.  The kids had a great time eating monster eyeballs (grapes), making monster masks, magnets and fleece monster pillows.  We were worried about whether the party would actually happen because a crazy ice storm came in the day before and many people were stuck in their homes, but fortunately, his friends were still able to come.
 

At City Park - May 2013

  Samantha started kindergarten this year and we are homeschooling.  Jacob wants to have school most of the time when Samantha does, so he is often at the table doing his "work" while Samantha does hers.  Sometimes it's the same stuff she's doing, sometimes it's a preschool workbook while she does something else, and sometimes it's alphabet bingo.  Thanks to his sister's schoolwork, Jacob now knows almost all of his upper and lowercase alphabet and knows about half of the alphabet sounds.  He also counts beyond 20 and understands what 20 of something is.  He loves to listen to me read and brings books for me to read to him all the time.  He is a wiggly little boy, though, so he is frequently turning himself upside down on the couch while he listens to his story.  He isn't really showing signs of being ready to start learning to read yet and he isn't asking to learn, so we haven't started that yet.  He has plenty of time in the future to start reading.



pictures at his sister's preschool in April

Running in the rain September 2013

He has also been part of all the read-alouds and Bible study that we have done with Samantha.  Every six days we have a phrase of words to remember.  One unit was "I don't quit, I persevere."  A couple weeks after that unit, around Thanksgiving, I had put Jacob to bed and he called to me a little while later "Mommy!  Mommy!"  I said "Yes, Jacob?"  Mommy!  I'm purse-of-the-yearing!"  I smiled as I walked to his room and asked him, "What are you persevering about, Jacob?"  He replied, "Waiting for you to snuggle me."  My Mommy heart smiles at things like that, not only because he is so precious and loving, but because I am so grateful for the lessons that his heart is absorbing.

Dressed as a "skeleton rocker" for Halloween

He is such a sweet blessing in our lives. He makes me smile and he makes me want to scream in frustration, sometimes within almost the same heartbeat.  He frightens me and he melts my heart.  I am so grateful for the awesome privilege of being his mom and look forward to seeing how he grows and changes in the next year.

Digging in the backyard, one of his favorite pastimes - August 2013

Catching up with Samantha pt. 1

I'm not sure when the last time I wrote about Samantha was.  I know it was before we moved into our new house, so she, too, has had 2 birthdays that I have yet to write about.  She's had a lot going on in the last 18 months or so.  A lot of it is about her gait issues, so this post will be all about that...then I'll actually work on catching up with the rest of her goings on in a second post. 

 In the summer of 2011, she started having a little trouble walking occassionally.  She could not walk fast at all and she was sort of limping while she walked slowly.  Running was impossible.  We were at the doctor's office for Jacob's 18 month visit the first time I noticed it.  The nurse asked her about it and we thought it was probably because of the ingrown toenail she had.  The doctor gave me some tips on how to keep her toenails from becoming ingrown since, at the time, she got them fairly frequently.  She got better for a while.  And then it came back.  And it was worse.  But this time she didn't have an ingrown toenail.  This kept going for a few months until it got to the point that it no longer stopped.  She couldn't run.  She couldn't walk fast.  She couldn't keep up with her friends at the park.  She did come up with a way to sort of run, by swinging her leg way out.  I was starting to get very concerned. 

I asked Samantha's doctor about it when we went for her well check in January, but she walked with exaggerated care for him so he didn't see what I was talking about.  He assummed that it was just something she picked up because of having ingrown toenails so much.  After that, I asked Leslie, who is a pediatric nurse, what she thought about it.  She wasn't sure what I was talking about.  But then when we were at the Lindley's house a few days later, she saw it.  She asked if that was what I was talking about and she was extremely concerned.  She was so concerned that the next morning she called me a couple of times and left messages when I didn't answer, called her kid's pediatrician in Temple to describe the gait to him and ask his advice, and walked over to my house to talk to me about it some more, all by 8:30 in the morning.  She asked to see Samantha trying to run again, so we all went outside to play.  She took this video for me, and sent a copy to her peditrician.  Her pediatrician advised going to the ER in Temple so that we could get into see a pediatric neurologist without having to wait potentially months to get an appointment.  I took the video to Samantha's doctor.  The next day our doctor called me back as soon as he had seen the video.  He said, "She wasn't doing that in the office, was she?"  And I told him that she wasn't because she was walking very slowly and carefully, putting one foot directly in front of the other, kind of like walking a line, but that as soon as we left, she was doing it again.  He was very concerned and the next day we had an appointment with a pediatric orthopedist for the following week. 

First we saw a nurse practioner.  She checked for joint problems.  She checked for a difference in the length of her legs.  She did x-rays.  She did everything she could think of that day and couldn't come up with what was causing the problem.  So she sent us for an MRI and ordered some bloodwork.  They did a full spinal MRI, from the neck down.  They didn't see any joint problems.  There was no spinal tumor.  There was no evidence of rheumatoid arthritis.  She sent us to her supervising doctor.  He reviewed the tests and ordered some additional bloodwork.  He still couldn't find any problems.

Jacob's ECI team told me about a client they had previously, who had an issue with his muscle and bone growing at different rates.  They thought that Samantha's gait looked similar and Grace thought that Samantha's right leg felt very tight.  They recommended that I look into that possibility.  They said that it did not show up in an MRI, that it was diagnosed by PT evaluation and that it was treated by PT.  They said that it was important to see a pediatric PT, though, because otherwise the therapist would probably not be familiar with issues like that.

So I asked the doctor to send us to PT instead of asking to be sent to a neurologist.  Our PCP said that he would be OK with that, but that he wanted to talk to the orthopedist first to make sure they were on the same page.  I called every month to ask about it and got the same answer each time. 

In the meantime, Samantha started ballet midway through February, and then, right around Easter, Samantha got much better.  She even noticed herself.  The week before Easter she told me, "Mommy look!  I can run normal!" as she ran down the hallway with no difficulty, no limp and no gait problems.  That improvement lasted a couple of weeks before the problems started creeping back in.

Finally, we were in the doctor's office in May or June for something else and I asked again.  He called again while I waited in the office.  Finally we got the OK to start PT.

Samantha had her PT evaluation in the middle of June and started PT twice a week the third week of June.  She had a lot of milestones that she was not meeting.  We worked on her balance, on standing on one leg at a time, on walking on a balance beam, on galloping and skipping and on walking up and down stairs with one foot on each step.  She made a lot of improvement, she accomplished almost all the milestones that she had been behind on.  But her gait was still bad.  A little better, but still not normal.  She moved to once a week PT in the middle of July and then had her last day of PT on Thursday, July 26. 

But that Monday (7/23) she had started walking a lot worse again.  And then she started eating a lot on Wednesday (7/25).  When I told her PT assistant about that during her last session, he said that it could possibly be tied to her growth after all, and that the abnormal gait could be a way for her to compensate for growing pains (which she has not complained of) or for her balance and agility being thrown off by her growth.  He did say that he thought that we should go back to the doctor, that if it was his child he would do so.  And I was glad to have a professional agree with me. 

I tried to talk about more testing, but it didn't happen.  And quite honestly, I was tired of fighting and Samantha was tired of going to the doctor.  So I decided that I would give it a break and just keep track of when her gait worsens and when she eats more and that I would track her growth every month.  So far, increased gait issues and increased eating have coincided each time.  But I think that I need to track her growth at smaller intervals...at least biweekly, so that is what I have started doing now.  I figure that if it does show to be tied to growth spurts, then we have nothing else to worry about, with the exception of possibly doing PT again.  And if it doesn't, then I have something to show the doctor to say that we really need to be looking at what is causing this issue.  So that's where we are right now.  Just watching and reminding her about her PT exercises when she starts having a hard time again.  And she does do much better than before.  And she can keep up with her friends now. And that makes us both smile.

Catching up with Jacob

So Jacob is 3 now.  Yes, seriously.  This cute little baby face

 has magically become this big boy face

 

OVERNIGHT! 

Well, OK, it wasn't REALLY overnight, but it sure does seem like it. 

Jacob started speech services with ECI right around his second birthday.  At that time he had 5 spoken words and about 15 signs.  He didn't talk very much at all.  Then Grace and Diane came into our lives and helped us encourage Jacob to speak more.  And to work at speaking better.  And he blossomed!  By May he had over 100 spoken words and I stopped counting in June.  By then he rarely used short phrases (1 or 2 words) any longer,  but instead spoke sentences of 6 or more words most of the time.  I was amazed at his progress.  His ECI team was as well.  They said that they don't recall having a client make so much progress in such a short amount of time.  I am grateful for their advice and help, which helped us to encourage Jacob to be more verbal.  He had his last ECI visit the week prior to his 3rd birthday (they can only work with a client and family up to the day before the 3rd birthday) but they did make a referral to the school district for speech evaluation.  He again qualified for services, so we go to the elementary school for speech every Monday morning now. 
He had swimming lessons for the first time in June 2012.  I already decided that he needed them, but when I had to jump in a friend's pool, fully clothed, in April, swim lessons became a done deal.  And he did very well.  He can't swim on his own, but he can kick, put his face in the water and blow bubbles all at the same time.  I hope to have him in lessons again in the next month or 2 so that he will have a head start on the summer.
 

At three years old, Jacob weighs 40 pounds and is 41" tall.  He wears size 11.5W shoes.  Mr. Puppy is still his favorite, but he CAN sleep without Mr. Puppy if he is missing or has to take a bath.  He is VERY happy when Mr. Puppy is back in his arms, though.  He likes to play Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Uno Moo and Uno Choo Choo.  He plays pretend games with his big sister all the time.  He loves playdoh, crayons and paint.  He hasn't eaten any crayons in at least 6 months...yes that is a big accomplishment! He knows how to use scissors.  He can count to five and understands what five of something is.  He knows other numbers but doesn't get them in order.  He recognizes some written numbers, but doesn't really care about telling me which ones he knows, so I don't know how many he actually knows.  Same with letters.  He knows a few, but getting him to point them out is a real challenge. 

He is concerned when other people are sad and notices when other people are not being safe...such as not wearing a helmet when bike riding.  He loves to ride his bike and tricycle, but doesn't get the whole pedalling idea.  He asks to be pushed or he will push with his feet on the ground, instead. He tells me about his friends all the time, especially Ellis.  He asks where Mrs, Carla is every time we drive by her house (and since that's across the street, that's all the time!) He thinks that he is just as big as his sister and her friends and DOES NOT like to be told that he isn't big enough to do something.  Unless it has to do with going potty.  Then he tells me, "Me NOT big boy.  Me little boy." He knows that big boys use the potty and he just doesn't want to do that. Sigh.  Been there done that, but in the end, he will be potty trained, just like his big sister was.

He refuses to refer to himself as "I."  When I corrected him about it a couple of months ago, the conversation went something like this:

J: Me want that book.

Me:  You mean, I want that book.

J: That what me said.

Me:  No, baby.  When you are talking about yourself, you say I.  So Jacob should say I want that book.

J:  But me want that book.  Not you, not Danta (Samantha), ME want that book.

So he is absolutely convinced that "I" refers to anyone except himself.  Once again...he'll get it eventually.

 

He has definitely developed opinions and has learned the fine art of the temper tantrum.  What can I say?  He's 3. 

 

He still loves to snuggle and I love to have him climb into my lap for cuddles and kisses.  He sings along with me and with Samantha, but his signing is usually repeating the first 5 or so words over and over and over while Samantha and I finish the rest of the song.

He is my sweet baby boy...no matter how often he tells me that he is NOT a baby boy, he is a big boy. I wouldn't trade him for anything.  I am so grateful that God chose him for me.

Hello from 2013

Hello again.  Somehow I managed to do a million things other than record our lives here.  And my poor children's scrapbooks will be much sparser as a result.  I hope to do better, But I make no guarantees.

So basically, I've missed the last year and a half.  My kids have both had 2 birthdays with no word from me, and quite honestly, I don't really remember enough of what was happening a year ago to accurately report it.  There are a few things I can accurately recall.  Samantha started dance (ballet and tap) in February 2012 and started preschool in August 2012.  I finally called ECI in November 2011 and Jacob started services with them right around his 2nd birthday.  We moved into our new house in Oct 2011 and started getting to know our wonderful neighbors. After years of saying I was going to, I finally got a vegetable garden started.  We have made wonderful new friends.   I was director of our church's VBS for the first time in June 2012 and we started a Storytime with Santa this past December that we plan to have each year.  We have stayed busy.  We have grown.  We are loving our life and each other.

And at least for the sake of memories and the kids' scrapbooks (and for my mom), I will try to blog a little more.  We'll see what happens.

Tomato Bounty Salsa

And yet another from Taste of Home.  Like I said, I'm really glad I bought the magazine. While cooking, I thought that I would like this salsa better than the spicy chunky salsa, but I although they are both good, I like the spicy chunky salsa better.  I think the cumin kind of takes over all the other smells while cooking so it didn't smell as good to me, but the taste was great.  This salsa tastes very good as well...just not as good as the other.  I have no pictures other than the finished product, I just got busy and forgot, but hey, it pretty much looks like the last one anyway.  :)  And now...on to the recipe.

9 pounds yellow tomatoes (I used mostly Romas instead, with some yellow pears tossed in.  I also just used the measurement from the other salsa that 6 pounds =9 cups peeled and chopped, then adjusted for the changed poundage)
4 medium onions, finely chopped
2 cans (6 oz each) tomato paste
1 large sweet red pepper, finely chopped
3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped (I used more of the Hungarian peppers)
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tsp salt (I used about half this amount)
1/2 tsp pepper

Blanch tomatoes, then peel and finely chop.  Combine the remaining ingredients in a stockpot and stir in tomatoes.  Bring to a boil over med-high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until desired thickness.  Carefully ladle hot mixture into hot 1 pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles, wipe rims and adjust lids.  Process for 20 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Tomato Bounty Salsa is the jar on the right

I actually made only half this recipe and my yield was 4 pints.

Spicy Chunky Salsa

So here's another recipe from the Taste of Home magazine.

6 pounds tomatoes (I am seriously considering a kitchen scale so I can get these recipes right!)
3 large green peppers, chopped
3 large onions, chopped
2 cups white vinegar
1 large sweet red pepper, chopped
1 can (12 oz) tomato paste
4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (I used the Hungarian peppers instead)
2 Serrano peppers, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 tsp ground cumin
3 tsp salt (I used maybe half the salt!)
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp hot pepper sauce

Cilantro ready to chop

Blanch the tomatoes, then peel and finely chop to measure 9 cups.  In a stockpot, combine the tomatoes and remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until slightly thickened.

green Serrano pepper, red and yellow Hungarian peppers

Carefully ladle hot mixture into hot 1 pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles, wipe rims and adjust lids.  Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.  This yeilded 4.5 pints for me.

Spicy Chunky Salsa is the middle jar