Messy

Are we messier than your average family?  Maybe I let the kids do more messy things than average...

Some Cuteness

No crafts or recipes tonight, just some cuteness:)

Jayne bought the girls a jewelry set to share. Pnut loves the necklace, but she didn't like the earrings.  Pilly had them on, and she was quite enchanted with them.  She turned her head from side to side to feel them swing.

They are pretty funny with their jewelry:)  The necklace talks, but it only says one thing, and therefore, I cannot wait until the batteries are dead!

 Pnut drew us a picture on her chalkboard.  She always claims she does not know how to draw people, but we know that she does.  She only does it when she wants to!

My Dress

I don't know how much I have talked about my dress on here, but I was super-excited when I bought the material for it.  Back in September.  I can't remember when I cut the pieces out.  A while ago for sure.  I started putting it together in December when I was supposed to be working on my Christmas projects.  I do like to make life hard for myself.  So I finally finished the dress Saturday and wore it to church on Sunday.  Last week on Pilly's birthday, my mom showed me how to do the sleeves, and after that, it wasn't too challenging.  This was the first time I have done sleeves so it was a new experience!

I love the colors, the style, and how comfortable it was.  It is definitely a cold weather dress because of the heavy material, but it is just fun!  I didn't put the pockets on.  I liked the way it looked without them, and I was nervous about putting them on since it was a directional material!

I love the sleeves!  I gathered them a little tighter than I would again, but I think they are super-cute, and I was really pleased with them for a first try at sleeves!

Joel's mom and grandmother came up for the day Saturday to celebrate Pilly's, Joel's, and GG Glo's birthday.  They are all within one week.  Jayne made this cake for them: 

It was obviously made for Pilly with her love of penguins!  She was quite happy with it, and she devoured her piece.  First she ate all of the icing, and then she ate the cake.  You wouldn't have known that there was icing on there if you hadn't seen it!  I have never seen a cake so clean:)

We are gearing up for a busy week here!  It's almost time to welcome February and that means Valentine's Day!  I'm so excited!!!

Laine's Gift

I edited this post and put the correct website for the soap!

Laine's birthday was at the beginning of the month, and I finally got her present out to her on Saturday.  I had to wait for the soap I ordered from Etsy to come, and it was worth it.

I made her a twirly skirt, but I changed it so that there was no tie in it.  It was faster and easier, and I don't really like the ties.  They don't make it that much tighter, and theya re just a pain.  I loved her little purse as did the girls.  They were very disappointed when I wrapped it all up.

Edited:
 I also got her a soapsicle from Body Beautiful.  (Before I had Simply Suds, I bought something else from there one time and remembered the name better!)  Is that not the cutest thing?  It took a few days to make because each layer has to be done on a separate day so the colors don't mix.  I am totally going to bookmark this shop for Christmas stocking stuffers next year!

The girls would like new skirts themselves so that project will probably be coming up soon.  I am working to finish my dress that I have been working on F.O.R.E.V.E.R.

I also wanted to share this video.  It is great if you need a laugh!  Have a wonderful weekend:)

Bouncy Balls

Tonight it will be quick.  I am not feeling very inspired.  And I forgot to attach a photo to an email so I have to go do that. 

Carolyn got the girls bouncy ball kits for Christmas, and we made them together one day last week.  They are so cool.  I believe they were by Roseart.  They said 5+, but what do they know?!:)

Pnut's has an LED light inside and sparkles in with the little crystals.  Pilly's glows in the dark.  There was enough powder left over that they will each be able to make one more ball too.

These balls are really bouncy.  The dog is enjoying chasing them as well, but he can't have them because I'm pretty sure he would tear them apart, considering that it took him all of five minutes to destroy a new stuffed animal tonight.

Today is Joel's 25th birthday so we are the same age again.  Whew!  We had birthday cookie and enjoyed a nice little evening here at home!:)

Repurposed Pillowcase

So a few weeks ago I bought a new pad for my ironing board.  It is thick and I was so excited to put it on.  I came home, took off the cover and the towel I had serving as a pad, and after I put on the new pad, I tried to force my old cover on top.  Well, much to my dismay, I broke it.  Apparently, that is a twill cord, not stretchy elastic that runs through the edges.  So now I had a nice pad but no cover, and with no cover to speak of, the pad just slid around when I ironed.  Wonderful.  My Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Pillowcase book has an ironing board cover in it, but it takes a body pillow pillowcase, which is hard to find, especially at the thrift store.  I actually bought two of them for 50 cents a piece without even realizing.  So I now (after all this rambling) present to you:

It is so bright and cheerful!  I really like it!  It only took about an hour, about 20 minutes of which was spent threading the elastic through the casing-yuck!

I want you to look closely at that dish in front of that puppy.  One of Java's chewies is in there, and Pilly jealously guarded it.  She wouldn't let him near it!  Her puppy was eating.  I bet Javs wishes he was that well taken care of!

Never mind, he went in the living room and got some love anyway!  Do you like that pouty face?  We are working on having a pretty heart and a sweet face instead of ugly heart.  Someday it will come, she is doing better.  It just takes diligence!

Hand Puppets

We made sock puppets.  Jayne got the girls a kit for Christmas.  We stuck to simple-snakes.

The girls really love them.  I end up putting them both on and making them talk to each other.  They want to put hair on their snakes, but we haven't gotten there yet.

Pilly is fascinated by her snake.  She can't take her eyes off it when it talks to her.  It makes me laugh.  I took video of her just absorbed by this snake.  By the way, yesterday was her second birthday.  How did this happen?

In case you didn't notice, this didn't post this morning.  I haven't gotten the posts set up for the week like I have the past two weeks so we might be back to posts at night.  I hope you are not too disappointed.  I might change my mind tomorrow though:)

Corn Chowder wtih Roasted Red Pepper

Sorry, this was supposed to publish yesterday morning, but I accidentally pushed the wrong button when writing it!

 

This is also from Soup! on page 58.  I forgot to mention the other night that one of the author's names is Pippa Cuthbert.  I would love to meet someone with a name like that!  Pippa sounds young and rather like the name of a fairy in a glen.  Cuthbert reminds me of Marilla and Matthew from Anne of Green Gables.  She must be interesting with names like that!

On to the soup!:

Serves six very hungry people

2 T olive oil

2 onions, chopped

2 potatoes, diced

2 celery sticks, chopped

1 red pepper, diced

 1/4 t chili flakes

2 1/4 c chicken stock

2 x 10 fl oz cans creamed sweet corn

1/2 c fresh or frozen sweet corn kernels

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

To garnish:

1 long red chili pepper, halved and cored

1 red pepper, halved and cored

3 t olive oil

1 pinch salt

1 pinch pepper

Preheat the oven to 400.  Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onions and saute for about 10 minutes until golden.  Add potatoes, celery, red pepper, and chili flakes.  Stir for a minute, then add stock, and all the corn.  Simmer for about 20 minutes until potatoes are done.  Season with salt and pepper

Meanwhile, place chili pepper and halved red pepper in a small baking dish and toss with 1 t olive oild.  Roast for 20 minuets, or until the peppers begin to char.  Put the peppers with their juices in a blender and the remaining olive oil, season, and puree.

Put a spoonful of the puree on top of the soup in each dish and serve.

Now, much to your surprise I'm sure, I did it a little different.  I didn't use the onion, celery (because celery is evil in soup), chili flakes, or anything for garnish.  I was trying to get the girls to eat it for crying out loud!  I put some chili powder in instead of the flakes, but I didn't even really notice it.  I think this would be a good summer soup when you can get your corn right off the cob.  I used some that we froze, but I think it would be fun to make fresh.  This was good, but it is not one that I will make every other week.  It has a nice, sweet flavor if you make it like I did, and I really did like it, but neither of the girls did.

Now, an example of why you should obey your mother:

  

                                      

This is what happens if you choose to jump on your bed and stay up all nap time, even when you mom makes 20 trips to your room to try to settle you down.  You fall asleep on the couch and can't watch Mario being played.  Normally, I would have just put Pnut in my room, and they would have both fallen right to sleep.  However, Joel was taking a nap in our room so I couldn't put her in there, and they both went to bed early!:)

Estate Sale Blue Blouse GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Estate Sale Blue Blouse GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layered Cupcakes

Joel found this recipe on the Pillsbury site somewhere.  I made it for our class Christmas party, and there were none to take home.  I only got to eat half of the last one.  It makes 18 and I only took 15 along because Jayne and the girls each got to have one.  We had like 30 people at the party so it is understandable that they disappeared. 

1.5 c flour
1/3 c cocoa
1 c brown sugar
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/3 c veg oil
1 c water
1 T white vinegar
1/2 t vanilla
1 egg
1 8 oz pkg softened cream cheese
3/4 c peanut butter (Reese's is my favorite!)
1/3 c sugar
1/3 c 10x sugar
1/4 c PB chips
1/4 c chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350 and line 18 muffin cups
2.  In a large bowl, mix flour, cocoa, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Add oil, water, vinegar, and vanilla, stir until smooth.  Don't overbeat!
3.  In a mixing bowl, beat egg, cream cheese, peanut butter, and granulated sugar on medium speed until smooth.  Make sure to scrape down sides.  Add 10x sugar, beat until creamy.
4.  Spoon one level tablespoon choc batter into each cup, evenly spread one tablespoon peanut butter filling on top.  Repeat layers.  Sprinkle with two kinds of chips.
5.  Bake 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Cook in pan 15 minutes, remove and cool 15 more minutes on wire rack (or in pie taker if you are going to be late to the party).

These are best to make if you have someone else, like a conveniently placed mother-in-law, to watch your children.  They are pretty involved.  Spreading the PB filling on top of the chocolate is lots of fun!  It is not nearly as runny as the chocolate.  PB chips are the bomb!


I should make my friend Jackie guest post her cake recipe that she brought because it was awesome!  It was a chocolate cake with a Ganache, and it was so moist and wonderful.  My husband brought a huge slice home.  He says she is the best baker he knows!

French Bread

I also received the Bread! cookbook for Christmas, and these recipes are all done with your bread machine, but I think it would be easy to adapt them to not having a bread machine, just let it rise once or twice. 

This is from page 109.

Makes 2 baguettes

Scant 1.5 c water

4.5 c white bread flour

1.5 t salt

1.5 t instant or fast acting dried yeast

Fine cornmeal or extra flour, to dust

Place ingredients in bread pan as you usually would.  For mine it is wet first, then flour and salt with a well for the yeast on top.  Insert pan and set to dough setting.  When cycle is complete, dump out dough and form into a smooth ball.  Divide dough in half and form into two baguettes about 12 inches long.  Place on baking sheet scattered with cornmeal.  Set aside for five minutes.  Boil water and put it in a cake pan.  Put this on the bottom rack of your cold oven.  Slash the tops of your baguettes with a sharp knife and brush with cold water.  Put the baking sheet in the oven and preheat temperature to 400.  Bake the loaves for about 40 minutes until they are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.

Would you believe, I actually followed the instructions on this one!!  This bread is really good warm with butter.  It has a slightly sour taste, like a sourdough would without having to prepare a starter, and I have been banned from making it into French toast.  I will definitely be making this again.  It would also be easy to cut in half and only get one loaf. 

I love bread.

Ham and Potato Chowder

This week will be the week of recipes.  I do love to cook and bake!

The girls and I had this soup last week when Joel went out for wing's.  I'll give you the recipe, and then tell you how I did it.  :)

This is from the book Soup!, which I am really enjoying.  It comes from page 41.

Serves 4

3/4 stick unsalted butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 lb 5 oz red potatoes, chopped into 1/2-in cubes

3 T flour

4.5 c vegetable stock

1 c grated mature cheddar cheese

10 oz cooked ham, cut into 1/2-in cubes

2 T chopped chives

salt and pepper to taste.

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and add the onion.  Saute until translucent but not browned.  Add the potato and stir to coat with butter and onion.  Add the flour and stir for one minute, don't move away!  Add the stock slowly and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and add cheese and stir until melted.  Simmer for 8-10 minutes or more until potatoes are tender.  Add ham and chives and cook for further 2-3 minutes. 

The best idea before starting this soup is to make sure, double check, that you have all of the ingredients.  It really is.  Because that may not turn out to be cheddar cheese in your fridge.  It could be mozzarella, which, while wonderful, does not sound appetizing in this soup.  You may not be lucky enough to have Feta in your drawer to cover up your mistake!  I only had about a 1/3 cup of cheddar cheese, but I did have a large hunk of Feta, so I crumbled it and tossed it in.  I think I probably ended up with more than a cup of cheese, but that is all right.  I also had no onion or chives, but that is okay because I don't think the girls would have gone for that.  I also used chicken stock instead of vegetable.  I only used half the amount of recommended and added water for the rest.  Sometimes I think chicken stock can be very strong, and I wasn't sure how that would go in this!  I guesstimated on the potatoes.  Mine had to boil for at least five minutes more than it said until my little chunks were tender.  Undercooked potatoes are the worst! 

The Feta actually turned out to be a wonderful addition, but I love Feta.  I like to just crumble it and eat it!  I am not sure how I will feel about this soup when I make it the correct way because it will taste so different.  I'm sure it is good though, and the girls both did like it.  Pnut only likes the broth, she isn't a fan of potatoes.  Pilly liked it all:)

Update on our family status:  No, we are not pregnant.  But apparently Pnut thinks we should be.  But, there is a condition.  She told me the other day that she wanted us to have another baby because she wanted to play with her.  I asked her what if it was a boy baby?  She said we would just give it away and get another one.  We aren't planning on having any more children.

Christmas Crafts-Lunchbox

This project turned out to be my favorite.  I am probably going to put a couple of these in my Etsy store soon.  They are unique and really cute.

This was for my sister Kacy.  She is difficult to make something for.  She doesn't need an apron.  She doesn't carry a purse.  I was going to make her a checkbook cover, but that wouldn't have been very exciting to only open that!  So I saw this in my repurposing pillowcases book, and since Kacy is getting ready to start her internship and then stay on at this company, I thought this would be perfect!  It is too expensive to eat out every day so this should help:)

I didn't use pillowcases because I don't have colored ones as mentioned  yesterday.  Kacy likes green, and I have loved this fabric for a while but didn't have anything to use it for.

I just adored this little flower embellishment.  Sometimes the small touches make all the difference!

I am hoping to get two of these made soon to put in the Etsy.  I thought they might be fun for high schoolers who are too cool for little kid lunchboxes or for adults.  They are much more trendy than a brown paper bag!

This is the last of my Christmas crafts.  I am working on Laine's birthday gift right now.  Actually, I hope it is done by the time this is published.  I wrote all of this week's posts on Sunday night and just scheduled them to publish.  What did you make for Christmas???

Christmas Crafts-Purses

I made two purses this year, one for my sister and one for Joel's brother's girlfriend.  I like purses, they are pretty quick!  They always seem to come out cute as well.

Randa's outer shell was made out of a pillowcase that I re-purposed.  She told me she likes that pillowcase one time that she was here.  It is reversible too, so that is fun!  I did have to buy the material for the inside because I only have white embroidered pillowcases other than this one.

Corey's was interesting.  She likes zombies and skulls and things like that.  We were able to find two cute skull fabrics at Joann's (if you can call skull fabric cute) and Joel thought this one was more unique than the other one.  The handle was an idea we got from the store, it is chain-links.  For $9 from Joann's, you got one handle.  For $3 at Lowes, you can get enough chain link for two handles and have it pre-cut!  I thought it turned out cute and was unique.

Christmas Crafts-Mom and MIL Gift

For my mom and Joel's mom Jayne, I made pillows.  Heart pillows with the girls' handprints on them that is.  I debated about the pillows, how to do them and such.  I started out on linen embroidering the hands on, but they looked too plain.  Thank heavens I did start this project early (this is the only one!) so I could change how I was going to do it.  I like the way they turned out:)

Jayne was very excited to receive hers.  She is always enthusiastic about anything we give her:)

Pnut's hand is to the left and Pilly's to the right, but they are just about the same size.  Pilly's hand was a little chubbier yet, but not too much shorter!  I liked the polka dots on the white fabric, they gave it texture.

Rather randomly, I will also share pictures of these cupcakes:

They are snickerdoodle cupcakes.  I thought they turned out really pretty!  Note:  Carefully read and comprehend instructions.  The icing made 8 cups, I wasn't thinking and thought it would ice eight of the cupcakes, but I was determined to stretch it to do all 12!  I threw a lot of icing away that day...

Christmas Crafts-Kids Gifts

Well hello!  We have had a wonderful break, and I am glad to be back.  This coming week is going to be full of craft posts of the things I made for Christmas, and I am excited to share them with you.  

Today, I will show the kids gifts.  They were well received!

I made capes for all of the kids: 

Anthony was very excited when he saw his, and he said, "I hope I can really fly with this now!"  So Randa and Eric will have to watch him pretty closely!

Anthony's was the hardest to make because he had two silky fabrics that didn't have sparkles on.  The girls's fabrics were all silky, but they had sparkles so they didn't slide around so much.  Anthony's was the worst.  Silky fabrics are definitely not my favorite!  I don't know how my mom made our prom dresses!  

I also made them these mailboxes with envelopes that have removable names and stamps.  Now they can send each other mail.  My brother-in-law suggested I put chore lists in there for them:)  Since I made them for my niece and nephew as well, he will now have the opportunity to do that!

The kids gifts were fun because they were so excited about everything once they opened them!  

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!