Summer & Fall Fun

Keira and I at the Orchard

Hailey at apple picking
Ethan with his pumpkin

Keira's 1st birthday celebration

Playing at a state park with friends

First Pony Rides

Outfits from Thailand

Grammie B with 7 of her 9 grandchildren

Busy summer/fall

Wow, I can't believe it has been since May that I have sat down and blogged on here. In all honesty, I tend to keep up with everyone on Facebook now so I don't make it over here very often.

Our summer was busy, beginning with a trip to Virginia. We had a lovely time visiting with my sister-in-law and her family. Two of my nephews graduated from high school so we had a graduation party for them. My mother-in-law was also visiting from Thailand so we were able to spend some great time with her. Speaking of my mother-in-law; she came to our house and stayed with us from Mid-June to Mid-July. A lot of great memories were made.

This summer was also busy for me as I decided to do more canning than I normally do. I made several jars of blueberry jam, zucchini relish, bread & butter pickles, three bean salad and just a few weeks ago I made applesauce. It's nice to have all the jars on the shelves and also nice to have all that work done. :)

One rather scary moment occurred a couple of months ago. I had given Keira her breakfast and then walked into the kitchen to fill out some paperwork. She started screaming so I went back in but didn't immediately see anything wrong. I thought maybe she needed a diaper change so I took her upstairs to check that. As I was checking her I noticed her lip swelling. As I watched it kept swelling and she kept screaming. I had my neighbor come over and decided to call for the ambulance as her eyes were looking a bit puffy too. As soon as the ambulance got here they said it looked like an allergic reaction and that she needed to go to the ER immediately. After a visit to the ER and her pediatricians the next day it was determined that she most likely has an allergy to apples (she was eating an apple when this happened and had just started having them). So thankfully it was not a reaction that affected her breathing but we do have to carry an Epi-pen JR for her as a precaution.

As the summer started winding down we prepared for the start of Ethan's first day of school. He was very excited, although a bit apprehensive also. One thing that really helped him to be "okay" with going was a park day that was organized by one of the other moms. She invited all of the incoming kindergarten kids to meet at a park for snacks and a time to play and meet each other. It was also nice for the moms to be able to meet each other.

Ethan loves school and is really enjoying being around the other kids. I have started being active with the Boosters club at his school which is the volunteer program for parents to help with tasks the school needs help with.

As for the girls, Hailey keeps busy helping me with things at home and practicing her letters and numbers to try and keep up with Ethan. Keira is very busy and has started walking and climbing. It's hard to believe she'll be a year on Wednesday. Time has certainly flown this year.

Recently I have started preparing for the holidays. Every year we have a Christmas party at our house and I like to include some sort of homemade item with the invitations so I am about 1/2 way thru making those.

As I close this post I did want to share our most exciting news of the summer. We found out in August that our 4th blessing is on it's way. I am due April 28th and now that I am thru the first trimester I am feeling a bit better. I still get tired easily but I am hoping that over the next few weeks that will get better also. The kids are very excited about having another baby in the house and it's been a lot of fun seeing how involved they want to be in everything.

I know this is long and only skims the surface but I did want to update and will do another post with some pictures from the summer and fall.

Happy Birthday Hailey!!

Yesterday was my older daughter's birthday. She turned 4 and was VERY excited about not being 3 anymore. It was a very busy day but she had so much fun and it was encouraging to see her grateful attitude. Last night I went in to tuck her into bed and she crawled into my lap and said "mama, I had such a good day today. I've never been 4 before but now I'm 4!!" She's my most expressive child which can be a challenge at times but it's those moments that make the challenges worth all the work. I love you my big girl.

For her party she had decided that she wanted a "Lightlings" birthday. What is "Lightlings" you ask...it's a wonderful allegory tale written by R.C. Sproul. He has 4 of these allegory books all written to help children understand the attributes of God. This particular book explains why some people are afraid of the Light and prefer to live in darkness. The end of each book has a clear explanation of the allegory and 3 of the books have a parents section where there are discussion questions. My son also loves these books too. I bought them all from Amazon and got a pretty good deal on them.

So, when she said she wanted a "Lightlings" birthday I had to figure out what to do (there are no "Lightlings" themed party items :) ). The characters in the book look like woodland sprites/fairies so we went with that look for the party. I thought I would share just a couple pictures from yesterday. All the party items were purchased at the dollar store; the total for decorations, favors, and tableware came to just under $35 dollars (had to add sales tax for everything so it wasn't an exact dollar amount).

The Birthday Girl:

The Cake:

Some crocheted "oven mitts" for her play kitchen (her present from her baby sister ;) ):
Everyone waiting patiently for cake (There are 12 cousins that all live within 45 minutes of our house so birthdays are always very "kid-filled"):

A Homemade Life

Today I thought I would share a few things that I've done over the past two weeks. Something that has recently come to my attention is that it is extremely difficult to find casual dresses for little girls that are modest enough (i.e. well below the knee). My 4 year old loves to wear dresses but I have a hard time finding ones that are appropriate for running around outside yet long enough so she is still modest in them. I have done some sewing but definitely am not an accomplished seamstress. I decided to try my hand at making a dress for her, without a pattern, out of some fabric I had on hand. I did some research online and got a few tips from some friends who have done sewing without using a pattern. The dress came out okay. The material is not something I would normally use for a dress but it is what I had on hand and I didn't want to spend money for new material when it very well could have ended up a total disaster. Here is the final result. She loves it and now has one more "everyday" dress:


This next item was actually a joke between my younger brother and I. He loves coffee...correct that..he is a coffee addict. While looking thru some crochet patterns one night I came across the pattern for a toilet paper cover shaped like a mug of coffee. I joked to my husband that I should make one for my brother. The next day I happened to talk to my brother and told him about the TP cover. He thought it was great and asked me to please make him one and send it to him. I shouldn't have been surprised that he wanted one :-D

I have also done the usual bread baking and I also made some homemade granola this week. One last thing I wanted to share is a new blog I found called Little House in the Suburbs. She has so many ideas for homemade products that I wanted to pass the information along. Also be sure to check out all the other homemade ideas over at Life on a Back Road.

Everything Crochet/ A Homemade life

I've been crocheting quite a bit lately and thought I would share some of the things I've completed. I found all of the patterns on this website. It is my favorite place to find free patterns.

This is the sweater I made for Hailey. I used the same pattern as I used for Ethan's sweater and it fits her perfectly.
(Ethan's hood is stretched out because he hangs it up by the hood and has had his sweater for about a year now)


This is a hat that my niece requested. It was a fun and quick project:


This is a pumpkin keychain that I made for a group of moms that I talk with, we all had babies in October, hence, the pumpkin theme: (I added the small tag with a note for when I mailed them)
So that is a bit of what I've been busy with; I'm looking for a new project to start now. Any ideas for me?

You can check out many other homemade ideas over at Life on a back road

"God is in Every Tomorrow"

I found this poem in a magazine I recently received. It was a great encouragement to me and now hangs on my fridge. I thought I would share it here also:

"God is in Every Tomorrow"

God is in every tomorrow,
Therefore I live for today,
Certain of finding at sunrise,
Guidance and strength for the day;
Power for each moment of weakness;
Hope for each moment of pain,
Comfort for every sorrow,
Sunshine and joy after rain.

God is in every tomorrow,
Planning for you and for me;
E'en in the dark will I follow,
Trust where my eyes cannot see.
Stilled by His promise of blessing,
Soothed by the touch of His hand,
Confident in His protection,
Knowing my life-path is planned.

God is in every tomorrow,
Life with its changes may come,
He is behind and before me,
While in the distance shines Home!
Home where no thoughts of tomorrow
Ever can shadow my brow,
Home in the presence of Jesus,
Through all eternity now!

~Author Unknown

Baked Egg Rolls.

Here is the recipe for the Baked Egg Rolls that I made for our open house. The original recipe is this one. I tweaked it a bit to include both the meat and more vegetables. It does make a large batch but they were a huge hit and none were left.

Baked Egg Rolls
Serves/Makes: approximately 42 pcs

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons corn starch
8 cups finely shredded napa, Chinese or regular white cabbage (OR you can use a 16oz bag of coleslaw mix to save shredding the cabbage yourself)
1 12 oz bag mung bean sprouts, chopped a bit.
2 medium or large carrot finely grated (about 1 cup)
4 finely sliced green onions (use both green & white parts)
8 cloves finely chopped garlic, divided
1 pound ground turkey or hamburger (optional)
2 cups fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
4 teaspoons grated ginger root
2 packages egg roll skins found in produce section of grocery store


Directions:
These can be made with or without meat (if not using meat add an extra 2 cups of vegetables).

Mix soy sauce with corn starch. Set aside.

Spray non-stick skillet or wok with nonstick cooking spray or heat one tablespoon cooking oil. Over high heat stir-fry 4 cloves garlic and ginger for a few seconds. Add cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot and green onions. Stir fry a few minutes until cabbage is wilted. If cooking meat, remove vegetables from pan.

Add remaining 4 cloves garlic. Add ground turkey or hamburger. Stir fry until no longer pink. Drain off any fat.

Add reserved soy sauce/corn starch and the vegetables. Cook 1 minute or so until thickened. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

TO MAKE EGG ROLLS:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Turn eggroll skin so it looks like a diamond. Place 1/4 cup filling just below the center. Fold the lower point of the diamond over the filling tucking it under the filling. Fold the left and right corners over that. Tightly roll the egg roll. Moisten the top corner with a bit of water to prevent it from unrolling. Repeat until you run out of skins or filling. (Note: Keep the eggroll skins in their wrapper or cover with a moist towel so they don't dry out.)

Place eggrolls seam side down on the pan. They can be close together but not touching. Lightly spray the egg rolls with the nonstick cooking spray. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

*This recipe can be halved easily*

A Homemade Life - February 27th

I wanted to share two things this week for the "Homemade Life" post. One of the great things about making things is the money that is saved. I buy whole chickens when they are on sale for 89c /lb (usually every few weeks I can get them for this price) we usually get 3-4 meals out of a chicken plus I boil up the bones and make homemade chicken broth to either use for the next night's meal or to freeze. Homemade chicken broth is so easy to make. I simply put the bones in a pan cover with water and bring to a boil. Then I cover it and simmer for 1-2 hours. I have added seasonings to the water to give it a deeper flavor but generally I just leave it plain so that I can use it in any recipe calling for chicken broth.

*Frugal tip* - Don't throw away those plastic containers you get from the deli. They make great containers for holding broth (or snacks or a small child's lunch). I simply wash them out and then, to use for the broth, I measure 1 Cup of broth into the container cover and place all the containers in a zipper storage bag and then into the freezer.


The second homemade item I wanted to share is a sweater I crocheted for my 3 year old daughter. I was a bit disappointed in how it came out because the pattern for the size 4T runs very small. My daughter is very petite and it is a little small on her. Also, next time I would use a single color yarn because I think the variegated yarn with the cable pattern looks too busy. I will hold onto this sweater and when my younger daughter gets a bit older she can wear it. Here are a couple pictures. I still have several skeins of this yarn so I think I will make another sweater for her just using a different pattern.



Be sure to check out all the other great homemade ideas over at Life on a Back Road

A homemade life

Carrie over at Life on a Back Road has recently started a weekly feature called "A homemade life" where she encourages her readers to share what they are making at home.

This week was a busy week here as I was preparing for an open house/game night that we were having. I did quite a bit of baking & cooking which was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it too. I made four different kinds of cookies: M&M, Oatmeal Raisin, Mint Brownie Bites, and Sugar cookies with Rolos. I also made homemade baked egg rolls and mini-quiches.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the food and the egg rolls were very poplular.

I was hoping to have some time to work on a sweater I'm crocheting but I wasn't able to find the time. Hopefully this week I'll have a bit more time.

I'm still here....

...Just very busy lately. I realize it's been months since my last entry and am hoping to once again start blogging somewhat more regularly. With three little ones it's hard to find time to sit down and organize my thoughts.

Here is a quick review of what we've been up to:

After Keira's arrival on Oct 28th we spent the next couple of weeks adjusting to having a newborn again and getting her to sleep a decent stretch of time at night. She caught on really quickly which we were all thankful for.

In November we took a road trip to Pennsylvania to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and his wife. The kids did great in the car and we all had a very fun time with them. (for those of you with Facebook accounts you can see some pictures and videos of our time).

After getting home we started gearing up for the Christmas season and Ethan's birthday. We planned to have a birthday party for him the Saturday after his birthday. As with so many things in life, God had other plans and we received an ice storm instead. We lost power and decided we needed to find another place to stay that had heat. My older brother and his wife graciously opened their home to not only our family but also my sister and her family. Ethan was able to still enjoy seeing and playing with his cousins and I brought the cupcakes and cheesecake we were going to have at his party for everyone to enjoy. It wasn't "as planned" but was still a nice time and a lot of fun for the kids. We were very happy though to only have to be away from home for two nights. We came home and over the next couple of weeks my husband worked diligently to get as much done on our kitchen remodeling project as possible before Christmas. Thanks in part to the help of a friend we were able to have most of the cabinets installed before Christmas day.

We hosted my whole family for Christmas day. It was once again a lot of fun to have all 9 cousins together and to also have my brother and his wife up from Pennsylvania. We had a great day visiting.

So far January has been a month of getting back into a routine after the holidays and finishing up the kitchen remodel. It's been very nice to have a working sink again and I'm very grateful for all the hard work my husband put into the project and how much better the kitchen functions now, compared to how it was. Just as we think things will slow down they seem to get busy again. We have several birthday parties to attend and also have been working to get back to our usual level of involvement at church.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying the start to 2009. I have a few blog posts rolling around in my head that I hope to get posted over the next week or so. One is to show some crocheting that I've been doing and another to tell about a great book I'm reading and studying.