Valentine's Day/Pancake Day/Mardi Gras

The day before Valentine's Day, our friend, Tiffani, invited us over for a birthday breakfast for our friend, Dan, at their house. The kids played a fun game called Hullabaloo (it's a Cranium game). Miss A and J didn't really know how to play it but the older siblings-J and C-knew exactly what to do. Miss A and J just stood around looking really cute.

 

  

E and Baby F got a nice nap in...

  

On Valentine's Day, E and I went out to a wonderful restaurant in Leesburg called Vintage 50. There was a live violist playing while a Charlie Brown's Valentine's Day DVD was on a loop on a flat screen behind the dessert bar. There was a price fixed menu with several courses and even a sorbet palette cleanser. 

We had our wonderful babysitter, Toni, come over to watch our children and she had the easiest job ever because we got them both in their cribs for the night right before she arrived. Miss A was still crying/fighting sleep (as she does every night) when Toni arrived but she calmed down quickly thankfully.  Having a sitter like Toni is priceless. We can leave our children with her without worrying. She's just so confident in her ability and we are equally confident in her ability too. She DOES have 12 nieces and nephews!

We celebrated Mardi Gras here in our home on February 16th...Note to people who live in Virginia: if you have a party after Fat Tuesday and call it a Mardi Gras party...it's not Mardi Gras anymore...it's just a party.  Anyway, Mardi Gras is known as Pancake Day in the UK and even though I hadn't really told Miss A that...she mysteriously asked for a pancake for lunch!

That morning she colored some masks...she's not really into coloring so I was happy she colored this much-

She helped me make my mini King Cakes-

  

Here are our cakes after they were baked and decorated-

They came out a little firmer than I wanted...I made a note to cook them on less time next time.

Here's Miss A eating one-

  

We hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day and a fun Mardi Gras!

My Husband's Birthday

Today is our beloved E's birthday...he is my husband, the father of our children, the breadwinner, the "bringer" of the bacon, and the man of the house. He is the one who can ALWAYS make me laugh and has the best sense of humor ever! He works hard and loves his children. He shows his love for them by praying and playing with them as well as changing their diapers, cleaning up their messes, tucking them in at night, getting them dressed, and providing for them. He also shows his love for them by showing his love for me. He is teaching our children already how a husband should be by the way he loves me, respects me, talks to me, and relates to me. 

He is a talented, crafty handyman and I never take that for granted. He helps with so many chores that many times it's because of him that the laundry/dishes get done! He helps to keep our house clean and run smoothly.

He shovels snow from our sidewalk and around our cars and always cleans the snow off of my car so that I don't have to do it. Twice a week, he takes out the trash so that I don't have to do that either! He created a budget for us that we stick to and made sure we paid off bills so I could stay home when I had our first child-Miss A.

He is extremely forgiving, doesn't hold a grudge, authentic, transparent, and self-aware. He will be quick to let you know his faults and struggles and won't make you feel badly about your own.

He's excellent at communication and makes a yummy omelet. He's smart and witty and loves the Lord.

He makes me think and enjoys good thought-provoking conversation as well as chatting about the mundane. He is, of course, my best friend and I love him so much and I am so glad I get to be the one to celebrate his birthday with him each year. Happy Birthday, E!!! 

From this cutie pie little boy....

to the handsome, hot husband and father you are today!

Tracheomalacia

I took baby F to the pediatrician last Thursday morning because of a bark-type cough that he has had since he was 2 months old. It started right before Thanksgiving actually. He's had no other symptoms with it so I ruled out croup early on. I had asked the doc about this cough at his last appointment after they were finally able to hear it. (He doesn't cough that often so it's hard to hear it sometimes.) The nurse practitioner suggested coming back at 5 months and possibly doing x-rays of his throat if he still had the cough. I knew he would still have it so I decided to go ahead and go back to see them. At first the doc thought he might be aspirating on his spit up and suggested trying the Prevacid they had prescribed at his 4 month check up. If that didn't work, then they were going to suggest a barium swallow to see where the liquid was going and to see if it was indeed going in his lungs. But thankfully she was able to hear him cough when he started crying during the appointment. Once she heard it, she suggested something different and she said it sounded like laryngo tracheomalacia which is one of the things the nurse practitioner had mentioned as a possibility at his 4 month appointmnet. It is basically a "floppy airway". She said it will get worse around 6-8 months and should be gone by the time he turns 1. There's no medication to treat it and she didn't see any need for any invasive procedures. I was very relieved to hear this as I had been going through all kind of reasons for this cough in my head and they were all heart-breaking diagnoses. I am so thankful it was nothing more serious than this. I've also done a little reading online...not too much though as I know I can get really freaked out. But I've read that babies who have this also tend to have reflux.
In the meantime, he will continue to cough and I am sure other people will look at me funny and think to themselves "Why does that mother have that poor, sick child out in public?"

Snow Day aka Stuck Inside All Day Activities

A couple of weeks ago, when we were stuck inside from all the snow, we got creative! I started off the morning by making snow cream with Miss A.

Here are the ingredients (minus the snow):

The snow...

 

The finished recipe complete with sprinkles being taste tested by Miss A-

 

  

Next, we made edible snowflakes...yes, it was an uncharacteristcally sugar-filled morning!

This was an idea I got from my moms group.

First we (meaning I) folded 4 flour tortillas into triangles-

 

Then I took my kitchen scissors and cut out shapes-

 

Then I unfolded them to reveal the snowflakes-

Then I let Miss A spread melted butter over them-

 

Then we sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar-

 

Here they are ready to be put in the oven-

 

After they were baked and cooled, Miss A trying one out-

 

After this was over, Miss A needed to wash her hands and what better way to do that than to let her bathe her Little People and their furniture in the bathroom sink...yet another good snow day activity...

Below is a photo I took of the icicles on our deck to give you an idea of the cold, frigid temps we've had here and the reason for not getting out too much...

For the Love of Vintage Pyrex

A few months ago, Michelle, at Living Slowly posted photos of vintage Pyrex that she has accumulated. She also mentioned a website called Pyrex Love. Seeing her post and her photos made me have a new appreciation of the pyrex dishes that I inherited from my grandparents. When my mom's parents went into the nursing home in 2001, I was able to have a few things that belonged to them that basically no one else in the family wanted or needed. I am so glad I picked these bowls and have kept them all this time. I use them all the time for mixing muffin mix or for salads or for just cooking and baking in general. Over the past 9 years I've thought that maybe I should pass them on or store them and get some newer updated mixing bowls. But I always enjoyed using them and I could never seem to give them away. I am so glad I kept them. During the snowstorms, I took some pics of my bowls and went over to the Pyrex Love website and that led me to ebay where someone was selling one of my bowls for $10 and there was 1 bid! Anyway, without further delay, here is a photo of my beloved vintage Pyrex bowls:

 

Do you have any vintage Pyrex in your house? If so, leave me a comment and...don't get rid of it!

Diaper Clutch

Two weekends ago when we got the 32 inches of snow, I worked on a sewing project! I figured I had my built-in-babysitter (my husband) here to help out so why not? (Well actually he did spend 6 hours outside shoveling so a lot of it got done during naps...which is actually how I am getting this post done right now...E, Miss A, and Baby F are all napping right now)
So, I made a diaper clutch using this tutorial.
Here are some photos of my progress and final product...it didn't turn out perfectly...I had to resew each piece of velcro 3 times and it still came out crooked...the final product photo was taken actually before I redid some of the velcro(I think I used Aplix)...so it actually looks a little more wonky in real life...I used Michael Miller fabric...both bought on etsy.com...one is called Groovy Guitar Lime and the other Groovy Guitar Gray..I think you can figure out which is which!

In the process...the outer pouch and inner pouch sewn...

 

In the midst of sewing:

The finished product...Miss A's hand trying to grab it before I can get a photo...

The final product with diapers and wipes stuffed inside-

Easy King Cake Recipe

I made this recipe in the past for my students when I was still teaching. It's such an easy recipe for a King Cake and because tomorrow is Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday...we will be making this
King Cake!

King Cake Recipe

Make your own King Cake with our recipe

Ingredients

• 1 can of cinnamon rolls, with icing
• 3/4 cup of sugar, separated into 3 parts of 1/4 each
• food coloring

Separate the cinnamon rolls and roll them out by hand so that they look like a hot dog. Shape the roll into an oval, pinch the ends together, and place on a cookie sheet. Cook as directed.

While they are cooking, use food coloring to dye sugar. Make one part purple using blue and red, one part green, and one part gold using yellow. When they are finished cooking, ice the tops with the white icing. Sprinkle the different colors of sugars alternating as you go around the oval. Enjoy!

From-http://www.holidays.net/mardigras/cake.htm

She Will Wear This One!

With Miss A's birthday money, I bought her a very cute hat from Briar Claire at etsy.com. They were having a fabulous sale and I couldn't pass up this cute hat. Thankfully, Miss A actually put it on when she got it and has been asking to wear it since then...but will she put on the crown we made for her for one minute so we can take a picture...NOPE!
Anyway, here are a couple of pics of Miss A in her new hat which also made the blog header-

 

 

Snowdom

Snowdom: (Sno-dum) When a family has been kept inside way too long because of snow, they get really bored and thus get very creative with how they spend their time!

In case you haven't been watching the news, we got 32 inches of snow here over the weekend!!! But that was on top of the 6 inches we had gotten during the week and the previous weekend. That's not all though...we are scheduled to receive more snow today! Depending on what you read or hear....it's anywhere between 10 and 20 inches we are predicted to get today and tomorrow!

The snow began last Friday and Miss A and I made a smoothie that we got from my friend's blog at Living Slowly. I didn't have all the ingredients she mentioned but I had most of them and posted a photo of them below.
Baby F was sitting in the high chair during all of this just observing.
Here's a photo of our smoothie and the ingredients...Miss A liked the green one better than the chocolate one but don't take the second picture wrong...she still enjoyed it...she just decided to stick out her tongue for that pic...

 

  

Today's smoothie...also taken from Michelle's blog...I didn't have the kale but I did have all the other ingredients for this one...

 

Alas, here are some photos of our snowy weekend-
Our deck before it was partially cleaned off by E-

 

The top of our grill from our kitchen window-

 

E shoveling off the deck-

 

The view outside our front door on that Sunday, the day after shoveling had been done...disclaimer-yards appear ten times higher because of the snow shoveled into them-

  

  

Take a look at how the snow in the yard next to us is higher than our front porch-

What did we do on Saturday while the daddy was outside shoveling for 6 hours? Well, we brought the snow inside of course (thanks to Lindsley's great idea)!

We did get our valentine verses glued onto some cute doily hearts and in a jar that we pull from each morning. They go right up on our patio door after they are read.

 

  

(The pic above was taken before the great Snowstorm/Snowpocalypse/Snowmagedden/Snowapalooza/Blizzard 2010)

Now for 3 quick milestone updates:

1. Miss A said "I love you" all by herself yesterday with no prodding and without someone saying it first! When E got home from work, he picked her up and she hugged him and she said "I Ove You"! It was the sweetest thing and brought tears to my eyes!

2. Baby F laughed out loud on Saturday! He started to do it last week but it was pretty quiet. However, on Saturday, there was no denying it! It was the cutest funniest thing! I love how easily he laughs...he's such a happy baby now.

3. I met one of my fitness goals today!!! I am now under that unwritten weight limit...remember how I said that I wanted to be under 1_0? Well, I am now under that! I now weigh 1_9!!! Apparently, eating a brownie and working out yesterday is what pushed it over the edge...or is that under the edge??

Birthday Crown

After seeing the cute crown that my friend made for her son for his birthday, I decided to make a felt birthday crown for Miss A for her birthday...and then I got real and realized it wasn't going to be done by her birthday! I planned to design, cut, and sew the whole thing myself but that was until my dear husband somehow got involved with the project. I became more of the project manager/designer than the actual sewer. But I DID sew the elastic on the back of the crown at least. E and those dang Home Ec classes he took in middle school!

E and I both taught ourselves how to embroider by watching videos on the internet while we were working on the crown. I taught myself the basic stitch and E taught himself the chain stitch and then volunteered to stitch the A on her crown.

I chose the shapes I wanted for the crown and found templates online and printed them out. Then E cut them out of the felt and hand sewed them on...yes, like I said...E did most of the work! He totally hijacked my project! (But he did a wonderful job!)
He also did the embroidery around the heart and used it to put the whole crown together.
I am so glad we didn't rush to get it done for her birthday because she has pretty much REFUSED to wear it since it was done! That's a 2 year old though, right?
The tutorial I used for the crown came from Frontier Dreams.

Without further adieu...here are photos of the crown...

 

  

  

 

What to Do With All Those Old Christmas/Birthday/Thank You Cards

You send them to St. Jude's Ranch! I just went through my cards today and picked out the ones I will be sending to them. I am going to stuff them in a mailing envelope and they will be on their way soon to St. Jude!

Copied from their website:

We are accepting used, all-occasion cards from: November 15, 2009 - February 28, 2010 You can mail your donations to: St. Jude's Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program 100 St. Jude's Street - Boulder City, NV 89005 877-977-SJRC (7572)

Recycled Card Program History Over thirty years ago, wishing to show our donors appreciation for making St. Jude’s Ranch for Children possible, the idea was conceived for turning the previous year’s Christmas cards into "new" cards for the coming season. The recipients were so delighted with their unique "thank you," they requested the children sell them the special cards. And so, the St. Jude’s Ranch Recycled Card Program was born. Since then, the Program expanded to include all occasion greeting cards…just about anything that starts with a used greeting card front. People from all over the world have sent us their used card fronts! The children participate in making the new cards by removing the front and attaching a new back. The result is a beautiful new card made by the children and volunteers. The benefits are two-fold: customers receive "green" holiday cards for use and the children receive payment for their work and learn the benefits and importance of "going green". The ongoing support for the Recycled Card Program has been overwhelming! The Program grew and soon we were receiving over one million cards. We have since redesigned the process to more efficiently manage the increased production from the increased volume and we welcome your submissions! NOTE: We currently have an increased need for both Birthday and Thank You card submissions.