Month of May

Yes I know it's almost July but Swim Team ruled our lives until 2 days ago. We are finally done and catching up. Actually today we've done nothing. I cleaned, the kids played, we ate, I talked on the phone... ahhh summer. Here are a few pics from the last month of school:

This is the Mother's Day Makeover. I brought make-up, nail polish and jewelry. Daniel rubbed my shoulders and made me look beautiful! I love the look of concentration on his face in this one:

I was absolutely starving after the makeover and hurried home to eat something. I didn't bother to wash off the make-up and of course a pool guy came to the door. I talked to him for quite awhile and didn't look in the mirror until after he had left. I looked like this: :O

This one is for the Reading Restaurant Isaac's class put on. He made a crossword puzzle for me to do while he brought me my menu. Then we read four books, all written by him. My favorite was the book about the black widow spider. Love the apron too. :)

This picture is major deju from last year's Kindergarten Rodeo. Lucy and I had fun dancing it up with Daniel and his class.

Father's Day Spa

I have many wonderful Fathers in my life. I am so grateful for my own Dad. A few of my favorite memories: Working out in the garden together, Building all kinds of projects in our garage (including "The Moo-ver"- a first rate mouse trap car), Getting out of the car to go check out someone's garbage, because one man's trash is another man's treasure!, Driving out of the city and laying on top of our van watching the stars in freezing cold weather (a car actually stopped to see if we were okay), Wincing as he whistled and sang loudly while walking hand in hand with me through my high school after a play, Walking in on him praying, Lots of dancing and laughing...

But I'm also blessed to have wonderful brothers, brothers-in-law and of course my Curtis. I literally thank God every night that he is the father of my children. I am so thankful for all of these men for their examples and efforts to be great husbands and fathers.

For Father's Day at our house, we had a lovely breakfast and headed off to church. Curtis wasn't feeling so hot and I told the boys we needed to pamper him a bit when we got home. Here's what they came up with (on their own):

They had French accents & mustaches. They cracked his toes and scratched his head, made him a booklet with a menu (his choices for food were mac and cheese or tuna) and games while he waited for his food.

It was a good day.

Eveyone else already knew this...

A few weeks ago the youth at church performed "From Cumorah's Hill." I figured that seeing teenage boys singing, and about their testimonies, would be good for Jonah, so he and I made it a date.


The performance was terrific. I was so impressed with the young men and woman. Jonah really enjoyed it as well and I know it inspired him because he has volunteered to sing a solo at church on Father's Day (absolutely unprecedented!). What's really interesting is that I've had the "Cumorah's Hill" CD for a year or so. My brother recommended it. I listened to it once or twice and thought it was meh- and truthfully I usually sort of cringe at any of the Kapp Perry music. After seeing the performance here though, I have been listening to it at least once a day! The harmony and beautiful messages keep choking me up.


I've noticed the same thing with musical pieces that I sing as well. And gulp- I'm embarrassed to admit that after reading/watching "Twilight" I decided to learn "Claire de Lune." I've never particularly enjoyed that piano piece before and now it's one of my favs. So at first I was thinking that watching things live really changes your perception of them. I think that's true but then I guess any kind of happy association can do it. Am I crazy? Anyone else have this happen?

So next month Curtis and I are going to see "Wicked." I CANNOT wait. I already adore the soundtrack... pretty much expect to see me with my face painted green. :)

Gifts and more gifts

I love getting handmade gifts. Even if they're not perfect or just what I would have picked. I cherish blankets made by my MIL and GMIL, booties from my SIL, placemats from an aunt... So espeically these days when I am in full on sewing mode, I've been making lots of gifts.

My mom is my all time favorite person to make things for because I know she'll seriously love anything I make just because she loves me. But I've had a few occasions to make some other fun stuff lately and will post for your viewing pleasure. There are lots of mistakes in these projects but all were made with lots of love.

Baby Blanket for new baby Ava (using Erin McMorris' Wildwood fabric)

Baby blankie for my old buddy from Michigan, haven't sent it yet... I need to look at it for a few more days. :)

Potholders for a wedding gift

My mom's Mother's Day Table Runner

Mum's cathedral pillow with fabric picked out by the boys!

Moments like these...

It's the moments like these when I am so happy to have 3 boys! (Notice how seriously they're all taking this game) Sometimes the ruckus they cause makes me insane but then there are the times when I can just laugh. They are all growing up so quickly. The other night we were reading scriptures and each person read a verse alone! That's pretty much a first. Today on the way to swim practice we were playing "Name That Tune" and I suddenly realized that we were all having fun playing the same game! (usually one person is annoyed we're playing a "baby" game or one person cannot possibly compete) And not only was Daniel able to keep up but he was actually really good at it! And because you wanted to know, here are some of the tunes we guessed:

"Eye of the Tiger"

"Spongebob"

"Star Wars"

"Super Smash Brawl Theme"

"Jeramiah was a Bullfrog"

"Pokerface"

"Popcorn Popping"

you get the idea...

Back to my roots

Growing up we ate a lot of beans and rice. My mom loves to tell a story about me when I was around 3 years old. I came into the kitchen and said, "Mom? You cookin' da beans?"


I haven't cooked pinto beans in years. We really don't need more gas in this house. But my kids were begging for Taco Bell bean burritos the other day and I figured I should make my own. (Especially considering that I can get the yummiest, fresh flour tortillas at any grocery store here!) I have a ton of pintos in my food storage and they're so easy to make. During college my roommates and I made these all the time. No wonder the girls upstairs hated us. Refried beans and LLCoolJ wafting up the stairs...


The other day I made the Pioneer Woman's Restaurant style salsa. I love it. And she's hilarious- it you haven't checked out her site, you should. And yes, I read the whole love story.


Then, just because I've been thinking about my g-mates this week I took some corn and flour tortillas and fried them in canola, salted them... and yum!

Easy Pinto Beans

4 cups of dry pinto beans
¼ to ½ cup taco seasoning mix
2 tsp salt

Soak beans overnight in a big pot with enough water to cover beans by 2-3 inches. Rinse beans well the next day and discard any floating beans. Fill pot again with enough water to go 2-3 inches above beans. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2-3 hours, periodically stirring. Add seasoning & salt. When beans become quite soft, use a bean masher or blender to mash them. Adjust seasonings to your taste and enjoy!

Alligators and the fam

I can't decide who's cuter...

Check out mama gator in the background!


We finally saw the alligators at Brazos Bend Park. We've been several times but seem to always miss "gator season." Okay and for the first year or two here we were afraid to go. I mean, alligators, just sitting there, a few feet away? But we figured if the boy scouts could hang out there we could too. It was cool. There was even a mama with a bunch of babies around her. I was taking pics of flowers and go too close to one alligator. It totally hissed at me... very creepy. And with that you might want to know that alligators make more different sounds than any other reptile. (I know that from reading our Know-it-alls Crocodilian book about 8000 times).

The kids are on the lowest branch of a HUGE tree. I love this picture

Mother's Day Sneak Peaks

Since getting married I've heard lots of mother-in-law horror stories. I guess I just got lucky because my mom, mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law are all awesome! No offensive unsolicited advice, no snippy comments about my lack of cooking or housekeeping skills... pretty much all three of these great women just love and support me and my family.

A couple of months ago I thought it would be fun to make each of them something small. As always, the projects took longer than expected and I don't think any will arrive by Mother's Day! Arghh! Hopefully it will just prolong the celebration...? Anyway, here's a sneak peek- I love making things for people I love. Thanks to all 3 of you!

Want to Learn Geography?

Geography has never been my gift. Really the only Geography class I've ever taken was in 7th grade and 1) it was pretty much coloring 101 and 2) our teacher was really cute (Mr. Coe for any other Clifford Smart grads) and he was frankly distracting!

Anyway, I've always been sort of embarrassed when people start talking about places in the world. I've tried studying maps but it just didn't seem to stick. When I was a new mom my girlfriends and I even planned to get together and learn geography while the kiddies played. But... we only got to Africa (which was where we started... and we pretty much ended up talking about other stuff).

As my boys have gotten older I have been on the lookout for games/tools to help them learn about continents and countries... and my search is over. After a bit of research I ended up with the Leap Frog Globe from Amazon. I've read reviews from people who found them at Sams or Costco for a steal. I bought this one over a year ago and I LOVE it! It has a fun game that you can play by yourself or with others. Within a couple of weeks I could locate places like New Caledonia, Georgia, French Guyana... My kids really like the music feature. You touch a country and a song from that land is played. Our favorites are mostly the African countries but we also love Oman and Scotland. One day I was quizzing Daniel (without the globe) and asked him to name the country between China and Russia. I was looking for Mongolia but he hesitated and said "Well, it could be Mongolia or Kazakhstan." I checked the globe and he was right!! So worth the purchase right there!

As Lucy enters her toddler phase I find that I can play with the globe less and less (she is obsessed with turning it on and off and on and off... and yanks on the pen- yeah that's her hand in the picture). So if you have a toddler you may want to hold up but seriously this globe rocks! The bad news: I got mine for $90 and read about people who found them for $50 at Sams but this year's model is $180! What gives?!

Pillow Project and this is why I'm crazy

I've been wanting to make new pillow covers for the ones on our couch downstairs but couldn't decide how best to match my crazy quilt. I finally settled on Amy Butler's Optic Blossom (mostly because I had a yard of it on hand). I played around with a bit of embroidery and applique- neither is my specialty but it was sort of fun to work on for a few nights. Still finishing up the second one...

Oh and this is why I'm crazy. I think I'm counting 8 started projects on that table (and that doesn't include 6 canvases on the floor...:O

I forgot how much I love singing in a choir

Since college and kids I haven't done very much singing. Many of my favorite memories are tied to music. I still have the music to "Set me as a Seal" from my 10th grade year in high school. I remember our choir teacher, Ms. Keefer, passionately telling us to think about the words as we sang. At state, our tiny little choir rocked that song!



At some point in high school I sang in a women's choir. We did "A Prairie Woman Sings" by Eugene Butler- it was beautiful. In college I just took choir as one of my classes. It was wonderful to sing with such a huge group. For Christmas we sang a song called "Little Babe." I've lost it along the way and need to find it- it's beautiful. Several years ago my family sang my mom's arrangement of "When Joseph Went to Bethlehem." Curtis and I have pulled that out many times and sung it together. What a great song.



I haven't sung in the choir at church much because it's just another thing to do. But I decided to try it out a few months ago. It's not without it's frustrations, but I didn't realize how much I had missed singing! I mean, I sing ALL the time. I'm one of those minivan moms that you laugh at while driving because I am totally rockin out in my car. I sing in the shower, I sing with my kids, I sing while I'm cleaning... (you pickin' up what I'm puttin' down?) But there is something really special about singing with a small group of people who also love to sing.



For Easter this year we sang "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need." I had heard this song before but it wasn't until I was singing it with the choir that I really listened to the words and melody. I LOVE this song. You can hear it here- I like this video because the lyrics are printed as it plays. But I will post them here just for fun. I love music. I think it is one of God's greatest gifts to us and it softens my heart like nothing else. (PS: The last line is my favorite)

My Shepherd will supply my need

Jehovah is His Name;

In pastures fresh

He makes me feed,

Beside the living stream.

He brings my wandering spirit back

When I forsake His ways,

And leads me, for His mercy's sake,

In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death,

Thy presence is my stay;

A word of Thy supporting breath

Drives all my fears away.

Thy hand, in sight of all my foes,

Doth still my table spread;

My cup with blessings overflows,

Thine oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God

Attend me all my days;

O may Thy house be my abode,

And all my work be praise!

There would I find a settled rest,

While others go and come;

No more a stranger, nor a guest,

But like a child at home.

Because I needed another cathedral quilt project...

I sewed these little handbags for my neices a few months ago. They each used 6 cathedral quilt squares and came to gether pretty quickly. If I do it again I will just use binding tape on the sides so I don't have to finish off all of those half squares on the sides- that was a little time consuming! If you want to do some cathedral squares but not a whole quilt, this is a great project!

Apricot Kolaches and Willa Cather

We read "My Antonia" for book club last month and I decided to make some kolaches for the discussion, as they were mentioned a few times in the book. My sister, Jenny, discovered these when I was a kid in Michigan. We made them several times and they were SO yummy. Last month when I went back to Michigan for a visit, my sister Lisa and I went into a bakery. ahhhh! Since leaving MI I have yet to find any bakeries half as good. (This is probably a blessing in disguise as I'm pretty sure I would LIVE there if there were any close to me.) The smells brought me back to my childhood. It helped that they had made fresh Pączkis (pronounced poonchkies) for fat Tuesday. YUM!

Anyway, here's the recipe for anyone interested. They're simple to make and not too sweet. I just used apricot jam instead of cooking up dried apricots.




Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

6 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup dried apricots

1 1/2 cups water

3/4 cup white sugar


Directions
To make Filling: Combine apricots and water in heavy saucepan and cook covered over medium heat for 10 minutes or until apricots are soft. Cook UNCOVERED 5 to 10 minutes or until most of the water has been absorbed.

Mash apricots, stir in 2 tablespoons of sugar and let filling cool. Set aside.


To make Dough: Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy; add 3/4 cup sugar and beat well. Add flour and mix well. Shape dough into ball and chill 1 hour.
Turn dough onto well-floured surface, working with only half the dough. Roll into 1/8 inch thickness and cut into 2 inch squares. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon of apricot filling into the center of the square. Bring four corners to center, pinching to seal.


Bake at 400 degrees F for about 15 minutes. Optional - you may baste with butter halfway thru baking period.


Optional - drizzle LIGHTLY with powdered sugar/milk frosting if you desire sweeter kolaches.



FYI, I thoroughly enjoyed "My Antonia." I read it a few years ago and liked it even better the second time. I love Cather's descriptions of the Nebraska landscape. She can make grass sound beautiful! Her female characters were strong and she showed how critical their work was in farm life. There's more but I gotta sew.

My first dress

I found this bunny print a few months ago and have been hoping to use it for a fun project. I have been wanting to learn how to make a dress so I decided to give it a go. I got some inspiration from this dress at Shabby Apple and had some help from the tutorial here.

There are many problems with this dress, but I learned a lot and hope to make more. Even with all my huge mistakes, it only took about and hour and a half. (I worked on it while the kids were sleeping and Curtis was watching fight night with some of his friends) The next day was Sunday and I wanted Lucy to try it on to see if it would even fit over her head! It did and she stayed in it all day! I love sewing... it's therapy that gives back. :O

Time Out

Daniel on time out for mooning people on the trampoline...................... and he's back in the game!

Easter Week for kids- starting with Palm Sunday

My awesome friend, Sarah, gave me the best idea to make Easter special for the kids. We have done some or all of the following several times and the kids really enjoyed it. I just realized that Palm Sunday is this coming Sunday. So thought I would share:

Sunday - Palm Sunday
Song: Hosanna page 66
Show a picture of the Triumphal Entry and read Matthew 21:1-8

Spread out robes and fake palm fronds

Place palms on the mantle

Monday - Second Temple Cleansing
Song: I Love To See The Temple
Picture of Temple Cleansing and read Matthew 21: 12-15, discuss temples & explain selling of Animals on temple grounds
Hide peeps for dessert

Place doves on mantle

Tuesday - Parables
Read about the Widow’s Mite, Luke 21:1-4, and Mark 12:13-17 about rendering unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s.
Hide chocolate coins for dessert

3 coins on the mantle

Wednesday - The scriptures actually don't give a record of what Christ did on Wednesday. Maybe he spent the day with family and loved ones. This is a good day to talk about a couple more of the many parables he gave on Tuesday.

Parable of the Fig Tree (Matt 24:32-42) and Ten Virgins (Matt 25:1-13)
Watch Living Scriptures version of the Ten Virgins
Show a picture of the Second Coming and talk about fig tree
Fig Bars for dessert

Oil lamp on the mantle

Thursday - Passover
Watch "Prince of Egypt"
Matzo soup and coucous
Piece of matzah on the mantle

Friday - Trial, Crucifixion
Read New Testament kids version & visit a cathedral if possible
Salt and Vinegar Chips, taste of vinegar from sake cups
Sake cup on the mantle

Saturday - Guards Placed, Mary brings spices
Show the boys some essential oils & watch “Testaments”
Spice box on the mantle

Sunday – Pics of Ressurection and Christ in America (Read John 20:11-20)

Lamb for dinner with lemon dessert

Folded linen cloth on the mantle

Enjoying the warmer weather

The kids are so happy the weather's finally warming up. I never bought winter coats for any of them (We seriously haven't used them the last two winters and every week I just kept thinking the cool weather would end. arghh!) and they are happy to be able to run around outside. Here are some hangin around pics:

Her real name is Gretal...

Yeah, this is what cool looks like


Let's see... rollerblades with no helmet, sucker in mouth and weapon (I mean hockey stick) in hand. Who's kid is this?
Wait, this is what cool looks like. Very cool

Spring is here!

So Knock Out Roses were designed for me. I don't think I could kill them if I wanted to. The sprinklers in our front yard don't really work- most plants would complain- not these babies. They get toasted by the setting sun every day but just keep on blooming, most of year. Yea- definitely my kind of plant. Anyway, I was so excited a few days ago when I noticed the first blooms of this year. I missed you spring.

The Cry-It-Out Quilt

<

So a couple of months ago I knew I had to let Lucy CIO at night. Up until that point I was nursing her to sleep. She was really wakeful during naps and at night, making me crazy and I knew she needed more rest. So I pulled out my handy emergency video (bought it one night online in utter desperation). It's called "Your Baby Can Sleep." Not rocket science but it helped me a lot. I was seriously one of those people who thought that letting your baby cry was akin to child abuse. No offense to anyone who still feels that way- I really believe everyone just has to walk their path. That's deep. And now I will go do some yoga.

Anyhoo... making this quilt totally got me through those nights of listening to my sweet baby cry. It was the perfect distraction and now we have a snuggly quilt for the living room! Yeah! This quilt from quiltdad really inspired me. I also got the idea of an orange border from an awesome quilt made by someone named "Little Grey Dog" online. But I can't seem to find the link now. Film in the Fridge is due credit for the backing. I love her site- she is seriously responsible for getting me interested in quilting! :) And aren't my quilt holders awesome?

I know all the patterns are sort of random but I just had to have all of them in this quilt... together.

It's a mishmosh of Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Michael Miller, Erin McMorris, etc. I'm such a nerd. I had never heard of these people a few months ago and now... I'm getting choked up. :O I tried hand binding another quilt recently and am WAY too impatient to ever do that again. So my binding doesn't look awesome but "it'll do."

I had it professionally top quilted because I was afraid I would ruin it in my machine. I like the pattern but wish I had just used white or clear thread. I think the orange is a bit distracting from all the great fabrics. But I'm still really happy with it and look forward to years of snuggling with it.

Curt's gone right to work on that.

THE best bread ever

I love Heather Cosby because she brought me some bread a few weeks ago and it was amazing. (wait, I love her for lots of reasons! :) But I was blown away when she said she made it using the recipe in "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day."

We love yummy crusty bread with soups, pasta or just served with cheese and meat. My Better Homes and Gardens recipe is okaaay hot out of the oven but very so-so beyond that. Lately I've been buying ciabatta or specialty bread at $3-4/loaf.

Anyway, I finally got the book ("Artisan Bread...") and read the first 5 chapters. I learned a lot and finally tried making the bread yesterday. It turned out SO good and is honestly the easiest bread I've ever made! Easy and fabulous?!? How often does that happen?? I was sort of freaking out at dinner b/c it tasted just like yummy French bakery bread, so crusty and chewy! (In college we called this "Bobbing Out" - see "What About Bob" for more info.) The kids were a little bit afraid. And... I just had some for lunch and it's still fabulous. I highly recommend getting your hands on that book if you love good bread!

Check out that crust!