Yesterday

Yesterday was a hoodie-wearing, soup-sipping, Glade apple cinnamon candle-smelling, Harry Connick Jr-listening kinda day.  I think fall is finally starting to show up.

I made some yummy apple spice muffins last night.  First ones of the season.  Zachary, my muffin lovin' boy,  choose to have one as his dessert and patiently waited for them to finish baking.  So he was eating a one fresh out of the oven and he looked over to me and said, "Mom, these only taste good if there's a piece of apple in the bite."  hmmmmm...hubby tasted the muffin and said, "yep, these aren't sweet."  At that moment I remembered not remembering to add the sugar.  For a moment I was bummed that a beautiful batch of muffins ruined.  But alas, I rescued my baked apple non sweet muffins.  I broke them all into large crumbs and placed in a baking dish. Took 3 tbsp of butter and melted it and then added 1/3 C brown sugar and mixed.  Then I drizzled it all over the muffin crumbs.  Perfect.  Warm apples, slightly sweet bread.  Delicious once again!  :)

Today I finally found some pumpkin puree and grabbed the last 3 cans at my Kroger.  Finally some pumpkin bread coming up! 

I made the first chili of the season the other night.  I'm thinking this weekend I'll have to make my most favorite brunswick stew.

Trying to get some fall decorating up.  I have a whole bin of stuff that just aren't doing it for me this time around.  May have to break out the spray paint.  lol

What are your favorite fall things/recipes/rituals?

Aim and Shoot Nerf Party

This past Saturday we had Zachary's birthday bash.  It was supposed to be at our local park, just like last year, and was rained out, just like last year.

Z man had a nerf gun based party.  So of course the colors were nerf colors of yellow and orange.  I did the birthday boy's fav cupcake, chocolate on chocolate.

The space we used is our church building fellowship hall and gym.  Because of last year's rain out and that I got luck that the gym was empty last minute, this year I reserved it ahead of time for just in case.

Food was simple.  Z requested hotdogs.  I added some fresh veggies, fruit, salsa and chips and cheese balls (Target had this ginormous container of them.)

I made each boy a nerf dart pouch belt (tutorial here) and had youth sized safety glasses for them as well.

Favors were these yellow water bottles from Target and I wrote their names with an orange Sharpie.

And a small bag of candy.

Z is a little embarrassed with the loud birthday song singing.

These were our invitations.  I used scrap book and card stock papers from Hobby Lobby.  I used a shorp pencil to stab holes in the nines from the back to look like they were shot.

Everyone seemed to have a blast.

I got a lot of 5 used guns off eBay to have extras on hand in case someone didn't have one to bring.  And I bought a bunch of used darts off eBay as well.  I stuffed each pouch with 10 and let them take them home too.

I did try to have some organized games.  I made targets out of cereal boxes and we did a relay race with them, but the boys got impatient and frustrated with it and just wanted to go back to running amuck shooting each other.  I never even bothered to set up the little coke cans that I saved to shoot.  And there was football playing too.  It was a yucky rainy day and the boys all came bursting with energy!!  

Oh and some dads even donned the belts and glasses and ran around playing with them.  I don't think the male species ever grows out of this type of play.  ;)  

I just love having boys!  There is never a dull moment!

Make a nerf dart holder belt

I am making up about 17 of these nerf dart holder belts for Zachary's party tomorrow. 

 Sweaty kindergartener posing for me here.  :)  Thought I'd put up this little tutorial to make them.  I think for the school age male crowd, this would make a great gift paired with a nerf gun and extra darts.

Here's how to make your own:

I used camoflauge twill fabric.  For the 17, I bought a yard and half and it was plenty.  So to make one, but out a 6"X14.5" rectangle.

Because of my need for quick andsimple, I used pinking shears to cut the long edges.  You can serge them if you want to get fancier.

Here is where my directions will stray from the pics.  Love when you found out to do something better when you are all done.  ;)  So at this point I would recommend hemming just one end of the pouch.

On the hemmed edge sew a small square of velcro on the right side of the fabric.

With right sides together fold up the hemmed edge leaving about 2-2 inches at the top.  Sew sides.

Now turn right side out.  Press down side of flap edges and sew down.  Afer the sides are sewn, now you want to hem down the top of the flap.  Now line up the other side of the velcro square and sew down.

Now for the belt part.  You want to cut about 35" of webbing.  This will fit both my 5 yr old and 9 yr old.  Thread on d-rings and sew down.  Fold over and sew down the other end as well.  I used a zigzag stitch to prevent significant fraying.  You can use fray check on the edges as well.

Now place and pin your pouch on the belt.  Placement is not real significant as the belt canbe pulled around once one.  You want to sew it down on the insed of the pouch just under where the flap comes down.  I gently pulled aside the front of the pouch to secure stitches along both right and left sides.  Above I'm sewing a stitch from toop to bottom of the width of the belt on the right inside of the pouch.

Now it is secured to your belt and ready to wear

Fill with darts and they are ready to go!

The next big bash

What to do for big boy birthday parties??  It's getting harder to come up with any kind of theme.  We did a very fun and highly rated by the boy, flag football party last year.  There he got his first and only nerf dart gun. This year when brainstorming ideas we thought of having a nerf dart gun sort of party.  Most boys this age have one.  And like shooting each other with them.  So to the park we go loaded with lots of darts (bought used on eBay), safety glasses, extra guns (also purchased used on eBay) to have a load of boy fun.

I have some organized games planned involving shooting targets.  Then of course there will be free for all.  

More details to come next week!  ;)

Tomorrow a tutorial to make a dart holder belt.  :)

Nine is Fine

My first born was born 9 years ago today at 2:33pm.  It was a scary experience with a few unusual complications.  Not the best thing for a first time mom.  Apparently it didn't stop me though.  lol

The first 6 years were really really hairy.   He didn't sleep through the night til he was 14 months old.  He was a high maintenance baby for sure.  In toddlerhood I was that mom with the screaming kid at Walmart.  Getting lots of 'looks' and unsolicited advice and old grandmotherly types pitying the 'poor thing'.  They offered to let him go home with them and if I thought they were serious I probably would have gladly taken up the offer.  Then there were the fevers.  They not only made him feel bad and halt all family activities every other week or so and have both of us in tears, but they affected his mood severely around fever time.  He began to have rage type tantrums when he was 6.  It was scary for all of us.

All that said I'm happy to report that we've mostly outgrown the fevers and the severe highs and lows and that terrible roller coaster.  AND he is the most remarkable young man.  God has heard our prayers.  He is kind, God loving, compassionate, albeit still a bit emotional, responsible, smart and creative.  I can't be more proud of him.  And most days I really really like him.  ;)

He chose cinnamon rolls for his birthday breakfast.  For what it's worth,  Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in a can is much better than the frozen ones.

He got the bike and helmet this past Sat when he could enjoy them.  Today he got the rest of his presents...a stack of books.  Micah was not impressed.  He said 'all you got is books?"  lol  But Z has almost outgrown most toys.  He really wants for nothing.  And he was perfectly content with his books.

His latest obsession is origami.  And I had to get him a Hardy Boys book (I was a Nancy Drew girl myself) and a Choose Your Own Adventure book...I used to read those over and over as a kid.  Sports novel and a cartooning activity book that is so cute and perfectly silly for boys his age and also teaches some on making stories/cartoons that he just loves to do.  So yep, loved all his books. :)

Then being the most awesome mom I am, I made him some Clemson paw print cookies to take to school to share with his class.

A cartoon style coffee table

I got this table many many years ago.  For free.  I worked at The Limited when I was in college.  They were throwing this table and it's matching taller table (you can see here as my sewing table) out.  I totally rescued them.

I painted them black a long time ago.  You can see in these pictures how the black has chipped and peeled off a good bit.  For a while this table held our big tube tv in the playroom.  Once we got an appropriate entertainment type unit, I gave it a few coats of primer and white paint.  Then I got the idea to draw on them with a Sharpie.  I thought briefly of letting the kids at the table top to do graffiti style drawings in black sharpie, but thought that would be too much.  So I just gave it this little border.

Yeah I know you guys probably think I'm totally weird and/or crazy.  It kinda makes me think of a black and white cartoon type drawing.  But I kinda like it.  I put a melamine tray with couple of books and a bowl of dominoes.  Now I just need a nice fluffy shag rug for the floor.  :)

Making a Difference with blogging

This morning in my reader, there were 2 separate blogs I read regularly that had posts for the benefit of others.  I love that thing about the crafty blogging community.  With all the thousands of readers they have, such a difference can be made from a simple plea in one post.  While I consider blogging and reading blogs a bit of a frivolous hobby, feasting my eyes on beautiful pictures and colors and making mile long to-do lists for the latest and greatest crafts, this is one part I love.  There are so many readers on so many blogs, meaning that most of us have easily a hundred blogs in our readers, which also means that messages go a long way to many many people very quickly.  What an awesome thing it is to use that 'power' for good.

So I'm going to vote.
And I'm going to pick up some kids vitamins.

What about you?  :)

A Variety of Homemade Granola Bars

A few weeks back I was making these healthy homemade granola bars for a women's function at my church. I decided to make 3 different varieties.

Using the original recipe I added chocolate and peanut butter chips to one batch (you can get a mixed bag in the baking section of the grocery store).  I then melted some down and drizzled the chocolatey peanut butter goodness on top.

Another batch was made with one of my favorite combos was white chocolate chip and craisins.  I cannot for the life of me melt down white chocolate chips properly, so I just used white bark to drizzle on top.

And these are the kids favorite....butterscotch chips mixed in.  Again the butterscotch chips would not melt down properly either so they look plain on top.  :)

My pasta salad

Here's my fav way to make a super quick yummy pasta salad.  I use the tri colored pasta and boil until it is al dente or slightly firm.  Rinse with cold water.  I use an italian house dressing and pour over the pasta.  Then I chop onions and red pepper and mix in.  Then I like to cut up some hard or genoa salami into small bite size pieces and I sprinkle shredded parmesan on top.  Refrigerate til fully chilled.  Once of my favorite side dishes with grilled hamburgers or chicken.

Fun with spray paint: some rusty clearance sconces

Got these rusty looking sconces on clearance one year at Hobby Lobby in the garden section.

Finally got around to putting some color on them and hanging these this summer in my dining room.  My dining room is coming along very slowly.  Once day when I get back to my sewing room and get a chance to make some cool patch work-y table runners, I'll show the whole over haul.  :)

Taming the school papers

School papers.  They come home by the stacks.  Now that we have 4 kids in some sort of school, they can get really out of hand very quickly! 

When I saw these double wall files in a catalog I just knew they would do the trick to tame all the papers.  They are metal and a lovely shade of green.  I hung them low enough that the 2 little kids can reach the bottom.  I used wide popsicle sticks, paper and stickers to create magnets with their name to label their file.  When each kid gets home from school, they empty out their totes and backpacks and put their papers in here.  Then later when I have time I can go through them all and then file or throw away.  The little kids especially love putting their papers away in their own file holder.

They hang in our little office not far from the front door.  We are loving them.  :)

Friendship bracelets

Don't you remember making these by the dozens and trading them as kids?

My girls have discovered them (through a little kit Kalla got for her birthday).

They are super easy to make, but a little tedious.

All ya need is some embroidery thread.  To make the 4 color thick diagonal one you need 8 threads...2 of each color.  If you want it wider, simply add more threads.  I measured them all 25" long then knotted them together at the top.

You can use tape to secure them to a book, board or table, but I used a clipboard.  Once secure for light tugging, separate all your colors in the order you want them.

Now, you start from left to right.  Take each thread and double knot it to each of the other threads being sure to pull the knots all the way to the top.  See that pink thread...I already tied 2 knots in the other pink, both greens and now am tying it to the blue.  The pink goes around the back and then through the hole.  Pull snugly to the very top.  Keep going with each color til desired length.  Tie both ends together.  For my girls who like to take every off and on at whim, I tied it snugly around their hand then pushed it on.  Now they can be pulled off and on.

Kalla did the skinnier bracelet much on her own.  Still tough for a 7 yr old to keep all the threads straight.  :)  She still loves it (though coveting her sister's wider one) and wears it 24/7.  Guess I can start now working on a few for the stockings (yep, already making plans for Christmas!)

Been enjoying the fallish weather

Meaning temps no higher than 92F and drier, less humid air.  So we are spending more time outside.

We have a pecan tree over our deck creating quite the mess.  It is dropping the pecans too early before ripening, much to my hubby's angst.  Doesn't bother the dogs, they eat them anyway.

And we've gone on 'nature' walks.  I was really really hoping to find a bunch of acorns because I really really wanna make these.  But we only found a few tiny ones that Maressa kept to feed to her little stuffed squirrel.

Butterflies have been everywhere this year.  Beautiful 'fall' orange butterflies.

This one has a birthday in a few weeks.  Planning a super cool nerf aim and shoot party at the park...more details on that soon.  He's gonna be 9.  UGH.  One more year and the double digits.  Not ready to admit I'm old enough to have a kid that old yet.  He's getting a new bike and helmet for his bday.  He's kinda outgrown this one.  Boy does he love his bike too.  Wouldn't have known it a year ago.  He was a slow bloomer when it came to taking off the training wheels and learning to go solo.  

Another milestone for him too.  We've moved up to kid pitch.  He plays fall ball every year.  

This is him stealing his first base.

This is him actually pitching.  Just adorable...but don't tell him I said that.  We were at the Space and Rocket Museum this weekend to see the Star Wars exhibit (will post pics if I have any good ones...they make you turn off flash and I can't for the life of me take clear pics with that slow of a shutter speed) and a lady at a random space hands on exhibit called him handsome and he totally rolled his eyes at her.  lol