We decided to make Jam for the first time

So we have had such a busy holiday but with it coming to an end soon, we're trying to keep them just as busy and entertained as the start of the holidays.

When children are told they have 6 weeks of from school work, they really do go into two modes starting with the hyperactive and excited stage followed by boredom after doing everything they've wanted to do .

We have literally spent our holidays constantly on the go , we've visited parks and beaches, nature reserves and Safari /zoo's, we've visited family in other cities and celebrated at birthday parties , visited Sea-life Centers and Madame Tussaud's, Been on holidays to Parkdean resorts and visited Morcombe bay and Blackpool, we've seen stuntmen jump through fires, booked the children's Christenings and had BBQ's in the garden with friends, we've had toys to play and review and visited many a restaurant for a family get together and meal , shopped till our feet hurt, baked as a family and pampered ourselves, seen concerts and shook hands with real celebrities, battled aliens , met mascots and joined in so many dance classes ranging from hula hoop dancing to hip hop and street dance, we even took part in a Talent show , we've made friends , visited harbors and planted flowers, went swimming, played on the amusements and been on soft plays, we've even been on caravan sites for daily visits and even holiday home hunted and so we've done quite a bit of outings over the past couple of weeks .
It has been soo chaotic along with many other issues we have been having to deal with on a personal matter so I literally just wanted this week to be a quiet one , well ish.
I decided on Sunday that after making a lovely homemade roast pork dinner , we would go for a long walk in our local woodland where we came across so many  blackcurrant bushes that we could not help but grab a load and add them into a carrier bag that I had handy in my pocket.
We initially went to get some dandelion leaves for the guinea pigs but when we saw the currents , we had to get some of those too and wow what a surprise we had.

We laughed so much that we forgot the time and our walk ended up being a longer than planned one .
We were obviously doing the parent roles by telling them to be careful, not to go too deep into the brambles and holding them back , ensuring they never fell or hurt themselves.
Typically it was both me and their dad who ended up on our bums in the middle of the currents , thorns in our bums and laughing to hard we could not even pick ourselves up from the prickly heap. We had a good time though and that was my aim. I love the fresh air and I always feel we have a good time when were out and about .

So after eventually getting home and soaking our blackcurrants we decided that we would then make some Jam with out wonderful find and well, lets just say it turned out better than we thought for our first ever attempt.

So being it my first ever try , I had no idea how to make it less seedy but to be honest we do not mind texture in our jam .
We had no idea where to start, all I knew was that we had to soak the currents, add the same amount of sugar as we had black currents and boil and simmer. As the jam thickened up , we added a few little secret ingredients such as orange and lemon  (ok not so secret now ) and made some labels for our cleaned jars we found in the recycle pile thanks to Twinkl and their create section.

The children were so impressed at how professional they looked and whats more they had made them all by themselves.

Just one quarter of a bag of black currents made two whole jars of Jam , we were amazed how much we got from the amount collected.
We added ribbon and little wooden decor pieces to the jars and sealed them before placing them into the fridge. 
Look how amazing they look, and guess what?

The jam is also amazing .

We made sure we added the date made to the jar so we knew which was to be eaten first  because now we know what we are doing , we are definitely making more , even the sister has asked us to make some for Christmas  (what a great gifting idea at a budget ).

We had a wonderful time collecting them and it was an even more fun experience making something together a a family , even putting our name on the label. 
Blackcurrant picking may just become a regular family outing now and it is free to do .

Just look at how proud he looks , he said it was ''the bestest ever Jam'' .
Now that is something I will have to agree with him on. 

​Have you ever made your own jam ,I would love any tips or tricks for future trips if you have any , please comment below and share me your experiences if any .