Happy Halloween!!!

Here's the crew, ready to trick or treat. As Z and K get bigger they really have started enjoying this part. It was fun getting out and seeing our neighbors and meeting new ones. We have a lot of older people in our neighborhood and they really enjoy seeing the kids come by.

So I'll introduce them one by one:

Princess Presto/Cinderella in pink dress/Sleeping Beauty

Super Why!

Bob the Builder

And Hello Kitty Gone Wild....lol

Zachary's school also had dress up today and alittle party. They were supposed to dress as a favorite story book character and bring the book. It was no surprise Z was Thomas!

Here he is in the parade.

We had a really fun day today! Now onto the next holiday.........

Seeing Double

My very first dress I made. In case you couldn't guess, the first picture is of Kalla and second Maressa. Still love this dress, though I'm not big on pompoms anymore. Biggest difference in the girls is that Kalla had a tiny bit of fluff of hair to get that bow to clip onto it and Maressa is as bald as the day she was born. Bald and beautiful. :)

Done!

Not the best pictures, but the sets are done!! I need to get some lights for indoor pictures one day. I prefer outdoor pics, but with someone always napping and running Z back and forth to school, it's nearly impossible to go 'on location'. As I was doing pictures of Kalla, the boys wanted in on the action too! They even posed themselves. lol You can find the auctions here on ebay .

Micah looks a little tired in these pictures. Amazingly Z took nice pictures. If it was MY idea he would have never let me.

Now I need to go whip up the kids costumes....totally forgot their party was TONIGHT!

Almoooosst.....

Soooo close to being done! I have been busting my booty trying to finish up the girl's holiday sets so I have the option of listing them on eBay as customs if they turn out as expected. I just have a few more stitches to put on this pocket and ruffles on the pants. They are made with an adorable pink knit penguin fabric. Kalla will have a raglan sleeve swing top and knit pants with ruffle and Maressa an a-line tee dress and knit pants...having a bit of trouble lining up the top of the lap tee style on hers. Anyway, as I was finishing up tonight, my belt on my machine snapped. I don't know why I don't just keep an extra around. But speaking of my machine, I get to go sewing machine shopping this Saturday!! I have been using my hubby's grandma's old machine (I think this thing was made in the 50's) heavily for over 3 years now. Old Bessie is just great and we have a great working relationship, but I think she needs a rest. Going to go to a local shop and try out some used Babylocks.
This tee is finished. Micah's holiday tee in a cute western snowman print. I plan on offering this custom too....hard to get a good shot on a 2yr old model though. He was actually very cooperative....too cooperative! He kept being silly and throwing his head back and cheesy grins....not really what I was trying for...hard to get him to be natural. Here's the non-posed version of the tee:
I hope to get this stuff done tomorrow so I have all weekend to try for shots of the girls in theirs. :)

Recycling

In this past several months I have been attempting to make my kitchen a little greener and safer. And no, that's not the color green. I have started reading food labels very carefully these days to buy products that don't have harmful preservatives and additives. At least for the food we consume mass quantities in our family. Alongside that I have been slowly replacing my bakeware with glass or silicone (LOVE silicone bakeware!) Here is a great webpage that goes over all the safety issues with cookware. Anyway, now what to do with those metal loaf pans?? I decided to give them a shiny coat of red paint and use them to store sewing notions. They will look great on my shelf...when I get it up...after my room gets painted. And I had some little spice containers I don't use anymore and thought they'd be great for holding things like safety pins. And when I replace my muffin pans, they will make great button sorters. :)

Mmmmmm STEW weather!!

Mmmmm mmm good!!! Nope not Campbells....but homemade labor of love. My favorite of all soups/stews is Brunswick Stew...I think it's a southern thing. Our local bbq place sells it, but it's not even as good as this recipe that a friend gave me. It makes a ton, so it's a great 'feeding the 5000 recipe' or for freezing portions to eat later.

Here goes the recipe for those who like a hearty chicken stew:

Brunswick Stew

2 whole chickens, cover with water and simmer until meat almost falls off bone

reserve 1 qts chicken broth

debone chicken and set aside

In large stew pot combine the following:

deboned chicken

1 qt reserved chicken broth

1 qt water

1 32 oz can tomatoes (pureed or diced...your preference)

1-2 pkgs frozen creamed style corn (not canned)

1 jalapeno pepper, sliced (opt)

1 Tbsp black pepper

1 Tbsp sugar

1/3 C vinegar

1 small bottle ketchup (12oz)

dash tabasco (opt)

Let simmer for several hours, stirring often.

Enoy with stack of saltines and a salad!

Here is another soup that is a favorite:

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 C diced onion

2 garlic cloves

2 cups cooked shredded chicken (I boil a few breasts)

1 tsp grd cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

2 14.5oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained

2 14.5oz no salt added chicken broth

small can diced green chilies (opt)

Sautee onion, garlic. Stir in chicken and other ingredients. Simmer 1 hour. Serve with tortillas and sour cream.

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Tiny TOYS!

What is up with the tiny toys? Kalla can't get enough of anything cute, sparkly or princess toys that are no bigger than a few inches. And oh the ity bity accessories! These are her favorites things to clutch every where we go. I'm amazed we haven't lost anything! That's really only due to the fact that mommy is a little OCD when it comes to things being in their place. Kalla must not be alone as the toy makers have caught on as they are now making all popular toys in minature. K also has a fondness for the tiny Ponyville toys. Good part for me is stocking stuffers will be cheap this year, bad part is Maressa baby is now EVERYWHERE. So they will be strictly assigned to the top shelf in Kalla's room.

What a wonderful weekend!

This weekend was perfect weather! And we went up to a mountain. Here we have a couple in city limits...not big ones, but nice all the same.
Monte Sano has a park, big field, lots of picnic areas, an amphitheater and lots of trails. We took a picnic Sat and played at the playground. The kids mostly loved Daddy playing 'gonna get you' on the slide. I have very fond memories of my dad doing the same thing when I was a kid. :)

Here is Zachary playing in the amphitheater. We also went 'exploring' on the trails...not very far in as the ones we were near went alongside the very edge of the mountain. Next time we will find the kid/family friendly trail that is safer for the little ones. Zachary really LOVED exploring...that was his favorite part of the day.
Here is Matt and kids at a beautiful overlook.

Then he went to take a pic of me and Maressa and the others decided they wanted in the pic too. :)Here Kalla is on a trail....I just love what a quick, easy smile she has. Getting Z to smile for pics is nearly impossible....you have to just sneak up on him having fun like I did for the following picture. Usually he does an obnoxious 'cheeeeeeeeeeesssseee' smile or nothing. lol Guess that's just how it is with a 6 yr old boy.

Move over Little Einsteins

You've been replaced by the Super Readers!

My kids have a new favorite show and characters to pretend play. There is a new super cute show on PBS called Super Why! The kids are totally into it. Kalla wants to be Princess Presto for Halloween and Zachary Super Why....don't really want to put green tights on my 6 yr old boy...thinking a green sweatsuit and blue cape will do....lol

This is perfect since Zachary is starting to read. :) And well, Kalla is a self proclaimed princess for life. Now to find (probably not get around to making this year) a pink princess dress.

Cutie and the Blowfish

Been super busy here and gone. We went to my sister's house in SC last week during fall break and the kids had a wonderful time visiting and playing with their cousins.



Here is a cutie pic of Maressa at their house. She looks more and more like her dad every day! We came home last Sat night and found a lovely surprise in the boys room. Ugh. A melted pumpkin on their dresser. Zachary picked his own pumpkin at the patch a week earlier and apparently it was a bad pumpkin. It was so gross and it the dresser was NOT salvageable...the gross liquid pumpkin oozed down the back side onto the particle board. View the next photo at your own risk!





So anyway, today I got into my sewing room. There's lots of sewing to be done and I just had to tackle some organizational problems and clean and make more room first. I plan on overhauling my room and lots of paint soon. I am getting a new machine very soon and want to welcome it with a pretty and organized space. ;) While I was cleaning out my room, I found some boxes from our moving last year and found a box of old CD's from college. Feeling a little nostalgic I put on my autographed Hootie and the Blowfish CD as I worked. Brought back memories of hanging out at Matt's old college apartment.



Here's the lovely cabinet I got finished. I moved fabric over to it, from other cabinets. This is my fleece and baby gift stuff stash. I don't sell much baby stuff, but I always make my baby gifts. The fleece is from my collecting it years ago before I found out I couldn't sell the patented Taggies. :)



Projects in the works:

*quilted messenger bag with Amy butler's ginger bliss fabric--yum!

*finish knock off burberry plaid apron dress for Kalla started last fall
*knit penquin pants and swing top set for Kalla

*funky preppy 'BABY GIRL' knit dress for Maressa

*pink penguin knit dress and leggings for Maressa

Projects in the planning stage:

*the boy's dinosaur room

*painting my sewing room, playroom and dining room

Now to find the time to do it all!!!

My favorite time of year...

I finally got to make a scrumptious batch of pumpkin bread the other day. And as promised here is the recipe:

3 cups self rising flour

3-4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

3 cups sugar

4 eggs--beaten

1 cup melted marg

1/2 cup water

2 cups cooked pumpkin

1 cup pecans chopped (opt)

Sift dry ingredients in lg bowl. Make a well in the center. In smaller bowl mix all other ingredients and put into well. Mix well. Grease pans. Put into 3 loaf pans or I prefer mini loaves. Bake at 350F for about an hour for regular sized loaves, 45-50mins for mini loaves.

Also here is another fall favorite:

Instant Vanilla Chai Tea

1 cup nonfat dry milk powder

1 cup powdered non dairy creamer

1 cup french vanilla flavored powdered creamer

2 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea

2 tsp grd ginger

2 tsp grd cinnamon

1 tsp grd cloves

1 tsp cardamom

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp white pepper

In large bowl combine all ingredients. In a food processor blend one cup at a time until mixture is a fine powder...this step is important to prevent grainy tea.
To serve: stir 2 heaping tablespoons mixture into mug of hot water.

BOTH of these recipes make great holiday gifts!!

Also this weekend we went to the pumpkin farm. I look forward to this event every year and we always have a blast. Little hot this year, but still way fun. Here are my favorite photos:

This was grandma and grandpa's first year with us at the farm. I think they had fun. But everyone was so tired in the end. :)

The Anatomy of a Bath

Bathtime. Ahhh it's such a tedious time of day in our house. I try to be as efficient as I can, but with four dirty gurties in need of some soap love, it can be quite time consuming. Now that Maressa has graduated to the 'big bath' I now do 2 separate baths...usually the older 2 in one (they like to play) and the younger 2 in another. But that is still 8 ears, 8 arms and legs, 4 noses and ears to clean and 4 heads to shampoo. And not to mention the older 3 get conditioner...yes even the boys since I tend to keep their longish. It helps with the combing (esp with Z's tender head) and believe it or not, it helps keep 'bedhead' under control between washings. Then when they are done bathing, etc. Then it's line up for drying, diapering (just M&M) and nail check (that's 80 nails to clip!!!!). And if they have 'white' on the bottom of their feet, they like me to slough it off.....lol.....they are just a little high maintenance!

Whew...tonight was bath night and I'm tired!!

Mom Tip Monday #1

I got this idea from a magazine (can't remember which one). I LOVE organization and thrive on it (kinda have to with 4 babies 5yrs, I mean 6yrs and younger!) Anyway, to organize your pantry and make thing more efficient you take a large plastic container and put all your lunch making supplies in it!

My kids have virtually the SAME thing every SINGLE day. PB sandwich (Z now takes jelly too and make his pb crunchy please), cheetos (we love the natural kind), a fruit and water. Putting all the pantry items in this box makes it easy for me to tote all items in and out.

I got these boxes 2for1 I think at Target. So I used the other for their snacks. We have snack time every day after nap and they can choose one of any item in this box. Z is usually kind enough to open Kalla's and Micah's packages. Kalla is in charge of getting everyone's waters out of the fridge. Nice and simple and best of all they can do it themselves!! ;)

Oh and the little paper hotdog 'trays' are left overs from Z's party last year (they only came in a huge package) and make perfect little snack trays.

And just another handy little tip: when you are out and about with a 2yr old carry a Sam's supply of wipes! lol

This was JUST the beginning:Nummy ice cream!! :)