Behind the dugout

Going to Z's tball games have been far easier than trying to entertain the other three in a gymnasium on crowded bleachers with all our coats and stuff during his basketball games this past winter.

I keep this little bag in the car. It contains small pails, shovels, rakes and plastic dinosaurs and other misc stuff.

So the other three spend their time digging,
making new friends,
playing with dinosaurs. And a good time is has by all. And I get to actually watch some of the game!

This last game we found our space in a grassy field behind the dugout. Every time I see these little white flowers, I am reminded of being a little girl and making lots of bracelets and crowns and necklaces with them. Kalla has no interest in wearing any kind of bracelets or necklaces so I made one for me anyway. :)

Growing up II

This past weekend we had a 'Big Boy' party for Micah. He will be 3 at the end of June and starting to potty train, so we decided it was time to say goodbye to the pacis at bedtimes.
In exchange for cupcakes, ice cream and a present he had to deposit all the remaining pacis in the garbage. He did that happily and then dug into his cupcake.
I got this tee ball set for his present. This also helped with the disputes of using big brother's tee set when Z would practice at home. He loves it of course. But so does Kalla. And now M has a nice shiner above his eye from where his big sister clocked him in the head with the bat from being careless with it.

As for the bedtimes sans paci, it's been difficult. Last night being night #2, the crying only lasted maybe 10 minutes. The first night was the roughest. I think we are about to be over the hump.


Maressa is finally walking all over the place. Frankenstein style...so careful in her steps. This last week she's picked up the speed a bit indoors and I still am not used to that tiny barefooted stomping noise through the house. I look up to see what is coming and it's cutie bald one with a concentrated look on her face. :)
She also loves pushing sister's strollers. Kalla is kind enough to share and even put a baby in them for her.
And no, still no more hair.


Kalla's continued obsession is her baby doll. But poor Maressa Too has the 'flute' and will have it forever evidently. But she still gets out as often as Kalla does. But at home she sleeps a lot on the couch or tucked in her bed with the light off and sound machine off. Shhhhhh.....the doll is sleeping.

More Nature

The other day I heard a "Mom, MOM!!!" chorus coming from the back deck. Z found this inch worm and wanted me to pick it up to put in his hands. We get excited around here about such special finds. lol Then he wanted to know if he could keep it for a pet. :)
Maressa found her own interest in the neighbors kitty. She just squealed and squealed.

I just love living through my children's eyes. How boring life would be without them.

Nature

This is more spring nature we've found at our house. The other evening we had 3 random snails on our front steps. This one, K and M were trying to feed it a purple flower. This picture I'm going to use on a card for a 3 yr old who is having a birthday next month and loves snails.
Here is another beautiful random flower I found in the back yard. I just love the vibrant yellow color. I hope to get all the bulbs up this fall and transplant them to the front yard and see what happens in the spring.

Top Secret Recipes

My hubby has taken up coffee drinking lately and I like coffee....but only the sweet sweet kind. You know the fru fru coffees you order through drive thru or meet friends for on a Friday night after the kids are in bed kind. But now that a coffee maker has found home on our counter I decided to try to make some of my own fru fru coffees at home. So I yesterday I experimented and tried to make an iced fru fru coffee for a mid afternoon perk up I needed so desperately to keep me from napping on the couch. Well, I realized quickly there was more to it than regular coffee and vanilla creamer over ice. lol So I googled for some recipes and stumbled across this really cool recipe site. Top Secret Recipes. Not only do they have a recipe for Starbucks bottled frapps, but so many other cool things. I plan to try the KFC coleslaw, Mrs Fields Choc Chip cookies, 7 Eleven Cherry Slurpee for this summer and more. So I tried the frappuccino this morning. And YUM! I even did the 'fake expresso' version.

Speaking of great recipes I've been experimenting with the muffins again. This time made banana. I changed up the base recipe with substituting the 2 eggs for 3 egg whites instead and for the banana I still added nutmeg, no cinnamon, and 3 mashed bananas for the apples. Fantastic. Light and fluffy banana muffins. The kids can't wait to have them after nap for snack. Next time I'm at the store I'm going to grab crushed pineapple as I've been dying to try pineapple muffins.

Three and 1/2 years

Little over 3 and a half years ago I started sewing little girl's clothing. This picture has all the handmade clothes I made for the girls in that time. Plus COUNTLESS items I sold custom on ebay and others and gifts. Started with a tdress for K when she was a baby. My sewing adventure all started when I saw some darling purses homemade with unique fabrics and trim. The lady was selling them for $50-$60. I was determined to figure out how to make one for myself. About 5 experimentations later, I had a decent diaper bag. Little tweaking and I started actually selling my own. I started an interest in clothing for my oldest daughter K. I had a girlfriend who knew a little about sewing and she briefly described to me the technique for gathering and making tshirt dresses. I successfully made one for K and then started selling those! lol I then moved on to patterns and quickly altering patterns and making my own stuff up.

Here's the very first pattern dress I made...a simple red flannel jumper dress for K.

This is my very first design I sold on eBay. At that time over the top was what sold on eBay boutique so I made a patchwork halloween jumper dress and pants with huge ruffles. Kalla could hardly walk so I took this pic and some of her holding daddy's hand walking through the yard. lol

This was my most successful design. I only made one to keep and one custom, but it was the highest dollar my sets ever made for this scottie dog swing top, velvet pants and headband. The pic is terribly washed out as on my old monitor everything was really dark and I didn't know it at the time, so I lightened everything up too much!

Then when Micah was born I made some boys appliqued overalls. The pumpkin ones sold were another very successful auction. I sold several of them and a few of these monkey ones.

I made more overalls the next year too....Little Slugger and Lil Cowpoke ones.

I don't know how I found the time to make all those clothes. This is what I counted in the first picture of clothes I made:

26 dresses

11 tshirt dresses

13 pants sets (I made the full outfit...top and pants)

2 rompers

7 skirt sets

8 embellished overalls

3 jackets

9 embellished jeans

15 embellished tees

15 pants

8 skirts

3 tops

And I probably made at least a third more of that that wasn't kept or sold. Now that I've quit eBay though, I still sew a bunch and have a dozen or so half done outfits/set for the girls in my sewing room. But now that I'm only sewing for them it feels as though I've got lots more time than a couple years back when I was up many nights finishing customs. :)

The last ones

The last of the yummy yummy peach muffins. As I mentioned before I am off of desserts, but not all carbs. So these lowfat muffins I have deemed acceptable. Few of these mini muffins and a handful of nuts for snack today.

These muffins are basically the same as the muffins in this post, except I left out the cinnamon, nutmeg and apples and substituted canned, no sugar added peaches. I poured a little of the juice in the batter and diced up a nice amount of peaches to add as well (I didn't measure, but I kept adding til I felt there would be several pieces in each mini muffin).

These are the lightest muffins and not at all too sweet. So I've decided that the base of the muffin recipe could lend itself to all kinds of fruits. I want to try pineapple with a hint of brown sugar, blueberries, strawberries...you get the idea. I love that it has a little sugar and made moist with lowfat yogurt. I got the original recipe from the back of a Stoneyfield lowfat vanilla yogurt container.

And the kids love them for breakfast and snacks too. :)
Mmmmm mmmm!

Crafting for little girls

We went to a birthday party this weekend for a 7yr old friend. This is what I whipped up to give as a gift. Doll, purse, button bracelet, button clippie and some Hello Kitty stickers and chapstick.
This doll was such a fun craft!! This is a Black Apple doll as seen on Martha and you can get template and instructions here. She doesn't mention it on the website, but I happened to catch this one on the show and the creator suggested a little bit of rice in the bottom of the body as it helps it sit. Also a great tip she mentioned on the show was to trace the arms and legs on fabric and do NOT cut them out til sewn. I simply used disappearing fabric marker to trace them and then sewed along the lines. Worked much easier than dealing with skinny pieces to sew.
This was a vintage Martha idea. Button bracelets. This idea was found in one of her Martha Kids mags that I collected years ago. So simple to make with buttons and clear elastic for making bracelets. You can find little bags of buttons at craft/sewing stores in brights and pastels.
This is a little purse for carrying the little girl essentials. Long strap to wear across the chest for easy carrying. I just made up my pattern. It's sitting a little wonky in this pic but it's a small little curved bottom purse. Velcro closure.
These are simple clippies. Alligator clips covered in skinny grosgrain ribbon, then buttons or padded appliques glued on. Also can add a little bling to the middles if you like. You can find so many sweet and cute appliques for this type of clippie here on ebay. I'm terrible at doing bows (I gave up on them years ago), but love to make cutsie clips for K.

If you are going to make clippies as a gift, take some cardstock and cut out a rectangle with a small slit in the center and it makes a nice presentation for the clippie as in my first picture. Plus they don't get lost in the gift as easily. :)

Stop staring at me!

These homemade chocolate chip cookies keep staring at me from our counter.
But I ate this instead. Holding strong at 10 days since my last dessert and soda. But I've lost close to 3 lbs. Gotta get in shape for my 10th anniversary trip in June! :)

Who needs toys?

While the toy blocks get dusty, M entertains herself in the kitchen while I make dinner. She built the entire tower herself. Pretty impressive I think. :)

Beautiful spring

I found this little beauty and a few of her friends on the side of my house the other day. I no idea I had them. But they are on the side of the house we never go to (you know the one with the air conditioner units and all). Plus we've not lived here quite 2 years yet. Still lots of work to do in the yard too. Wonder if I can successfully transplant this little group to where they can be more appreciated. :)

Growing up

Kalla pretending to be mommy. In the back seat, her baby doll (known as Maressa Too) and front seat is the 'real' Maressa. She was even pushing her heavy little brother too at one point. However she has declared she does NOT want to be a mommy when she grows up as "they do too much work in the kitchen." She has also informed me that she will not have any birthdays after she turns 6 (she is now 4). I asked her does she not want to have any more birthday presents and birthday cake after that? Her answer was "I'll just eat cake at other kids parties." And furthermore, she said "I want to just stay little and go to kindergarten and just play all day with my ponies and Littlest Pet shop."

Zachary has finally learned to ride his bike without training wheels (better late than never....he's never been the bravest kid).
And Zachary's now in Little League. This is his first year and he seems to like it.
Going to games has been fun for all of us.

As for the other two, Micah can't wait to start school (preschool) in the fall and insists on doing everything himself...opening and closing doors, climbing in and out of the SUV, and most importantly for some reason to be the one to turn off the tv.

Maressa is finally walking, though not terribly steady yet. She's wearing out the wheels on the push walker though. :)

C is for cookie cutter sandwiches

Though it doesn't feel like spring outside today, we still are having spring thoughts. Since my kids are anti-crust these days, I just go ahead and cut their sandwiches with cookie cutters. Kalla got a butterfly and caterpillar out of one pbutter sandwich and Micah got 2 caterpillars. Gotta love having an extensive cookie cutter selection. ;)

Today's post is brought to you by the letter 'C'.

Cupcake soaps

These treats are not so sweet to eat. But they smell good and will give you a good scrub in the tub! One thing I love to always have on hand are some basic soap supplies for last minute gifts to make. I started making simple soaps years ago and had invested in some yummy scented oils and red, yellow and blue colors. I also keep on hand a packet of ground apricot seed scrub and I have an assortment of molds. Having gotten bored with my traditional molds I have decided to experiment. I was inspired by the super cute popsicle soaps on etsy.com and came up with cupcake soaps. They are so super easy anyone can do them. The glycerin (I used the white kind here) melts easily in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Then adding my scent and tints (these are raspberry vanilla, so I was mixing colors to get a raspberry kinda color). Then I simply poured the mixture into aluminum cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Stick them in the freezer to harden and simply peel the aluminum off. Simple simple. :)

I'm back!! :)

Rewind to Easter. We dyed eggs of course. We just finished eating them all as I had to boil 18 so they would each (the older three that is) have enough to dye. I ended up making a batch of deviled eggs at the end for a lunch I had company over for. I kinda miss eating a boiled egg for breakfast though, so I might have to boil some more.

Then I made a special feast for breakfast that morning. We had boiled eggs and fruit and donuts...the kind my dad made me as a kid. They are SUPER easy. Just take canned biscuit dough and pull a hole in the middle of each and deep fry them til they are golden on both sides. When I was a kid we would put powdered sugar in a brown paper bag and shake them in there. But this time I made glazed donuts. I simply mixed a little milk and margarine in some powdered sugar and drizzled the mixture over the donuts. Then I added some sprinkles.

Then they got their baskets of course. Zachary has a thing for ties, so he wore one on Easter.

I made these little rabbits from this book for their baskets. I didn't get a pic of them before I gave them to the kids, so here they are a little loved on and they did all have sweet little ribbon bows around their necks. It took all of 2.5 seconds before the kids all pulled theirs off. I did add some rice to the ends of the legs arms and bottom of 2 of them to see if they would sit better and to keep the arms from sticking straight out. The kids were undecided on which they preferred.

And I made the girls a new dress to wear. I've had this sheer cotton fabric with floral applique forever. So I made Kalla's dress with it. She wasn't real impressed. Especially when she saw that Maressa's was pink. So I added the pink trim to the neckline and hem and she was a little more enthused. :)

Here is M's dress and bloomers. I just LOVE bloomers on babies! I hope to make her several set of swing tops and bloomers for summer.

And I made one other dress this particular weekend. A sweet tshirt dress and bib for my friend's daughter's 1st bday. I just fell in love with this madras plaid and can't wait to make a set for M and shorts for K and a skirt for me!

Well, that's it for today. Have painting to do in the playroom. Maybe some sewing. And a couple of dinner's to make. Tomorrow I'll share my gifty cupcake soap.