For a little girl's birthday...

...I made this.  I saw a tutorial for it and knew it would be perfect for a little girl's birthday gift.  This little girl will be turning 4.  How handy is this thing?  You stuff the toys into the pockets on the bottom of the mat, roll it up, throw it in your bag, and go.  What a handy little number this will be at restaurants to entertain a board preschooler.  Kadyn, as usual, was eye balling this project and declared she would like one for herself.  I may just have to deliver this Christmas.  It was fun to make.  You can also make them for little boys, but instead of doing a farm theme, you could make a car theme complete with roads, gas stations, you name it.  So neat! 

Lovely visit

A couple weeks ago the Chase family was in town and we got to spend some time with them.  Jeff spent a Thursday afternoon with Jon at an 80's video game arcade.  Then the following Saturday we both met up with them for the day.  First the ladies got a little time away to just be women.  Kerri and I ate together at a lovely restaurant, and then went to get manicures and pedicures.  Later we met up with the men, who had been watching all the kids, to go grab some dinner while Grammy and Grandad watched the kiddos.  It was a great time with some pleasant conversation, and a great chance to just go be adults.  We forgot our camera, so Jeff snapped a few photos with his phone when he remembered.  I forgot my phone, so I didn't get any pics of the girl's day out. Rats!  Anyhow, aren't their kids the cutest?

Different

Every week I like to try at least one new vegetarian recipe.  This is one I cooked up last night  It's called cheesy eggplant burgers. I LOVED it!  The family, on the other hand, not so much.  I guess I can't really blame the kids as it is a little out there for little kid taste buds.  Jeff is very picky, so I can't really expect much there.  BUT....for someone with a wide pallet, this is perfect.  It is really like bruschetta with eggplant.  It does have Gouda cheese which was a first for me.  Not something I will do often as that cheese is  expensive.   Anyhoo...I wanted to share as I thought it was delish. Sorry...I couldn't resist but take a couple bites before I snapped the photo.

http://www.recipe.com/cheesy-eggplant-burgers/

Margaret Sling Bag

After sewing so many things for other people, I start to itch to sew something for myself.  I saw this tutorial and fell in love with this bag.  I wanted to do it as low of budget as possible, so I didn't put the interfacing in it as the tutorial called for since I didn't have any.  The outer fabric was an old pillow case that I bought to help me make those baby bibs awhile back.  The lining was fabric that was given to me for free a little over a year ago.  It really was an easy bag to make.  The bulk of the time to make it was cutting out all the pieces.  Assembling it went much quicker.  It does have two pockets inside.  It was hard to photo the inside as it was hard to hold it open and take a picture at the same time, sorry.

It is a little larger than I had hoped it would be.  It also looks a bit like a diaper bag because of the fabric I used.  I'm trying to decide exactly what to use it for.  I currently use a backpack for my diaper bag.  Hmmmm.....I'll think of something.  A woman can never have too many bags;)

Anyhoo...here's the link to the tutorial.

http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2008/11/margaret-sling-bag.html

Hands on education

This week has been kind of fun for crafts/preschool time at our house.  One day, out of the blue, I decided to take a detour from our nutrition lessons and do something just for fun.  I looked up a "how to" on making a paper boat.  I had the kids color and decorate a sheet of paper, then I folded into the boat shape and added tin foil to the bottom to make it a little more waterproof.  I can't just do a craft without there being a little learning involved, so we all went to the sink and did a little experiment with different objects.  They guessed whether they would float or sink.  Then I really threw them for a loop when I put a glass cup in the water.  It floated when I put it in the sink rightside up.  It sank when I turned it sideways. It was a cool lesson on how air can make heavy objects float.  Then the grand finale was getting to see if our boats would float down our creek.

Once Kadyn got over her fear of water bugs, they had fun.  The boats did pretty well until water got on the inside of the boats.  It was a little downhill from there, but they still enjoyed themselves in the creek which, by the way, had very COLD water.

The following day we went forward with our nutrition lesson.  We were going to learn about the bread/grain food group.  I searched and searched for a craft that involved bread/grains, but it was difficult.  Then I ran into the idea of making a teddy bear out of dough.  I had seen the activity once in a the magazine Family Fun and forgotten all about it.  I'm pretty sure one of my readers also did this with her little one too.  Anyhoo....I controlled the really messy parts just to make sure I didn't regret the activity all together.  The kids got to dump in some of the ingredients, watch me kneed the dough and form the big parts, and then they got to make the limbs and put on some of the raisins.  Later we ate it for a snack with some apple butter as dipping sauce.  They thought it was quite tasty.  It was fun and different from our normal paper crafts (which we resumed today when we made the 5 food groups mobile).  Anyhow, just wanted to share.  Sometimes when my little creative wheel gets to going, life can be very amusing.

Embellishing the existing

Something I thought would be nice this Christmas is to embellish what the kids already have.  This will eliminate the toy overload that can so often happen.  I often find myself looking around at the new toys wondering where in the world I'm going to put them; I really do think a lot of kids have too many toys; I don't want my kids to be those children.  Already we have more than we probably should.  If it weren't for the daycare, I would be tempted to dump half of them.  I also think children need to use their imaginations more.  More often than not, it is the simple toys that the kids like the most, not the ones with all the bells and whistles. I also notice that when floor is littered with toys the kids sometimes have trouble focusing.  It's not uncommon to see the kids having more fun just running around the house without a toy in sight.  Sometimes they don't need a toy at all, just a little imagination and a lot of open space. 

Anyhow, I digress.  Of course, if I can find a way to sew these presents it will eliminate a lot of the extra cost of Christmas too.  So....I've happened on a tutorial for making dolly diapers (SO EASY).    Can't seem to find a tutorial on doll clothing.  Plenty out there for barbie clothes, but not dolls.  I may have to just put on my creative cap and try it all on my own.  I might have to make a few barbie clothes while I'm at it (it seems impossible to find barbie clothes anymore that aren't inappropriate).  I also thought I might try to make some baby carriers for their dolls.  Then to top it all off, a new baby diaper bag to put all those new clothes, diapers, and baby carrier in.  All of these creations require minimal fabric which means minimal cost.   Of course, there are other present ideas I'm entertaining, but at least I've got a good start.

Unfortunately, Kadyn has seen all of this.  I told her it was all for Brennan (and at the time it was).  She has put her two cents in that she wants some as well.  I told her I might be able to do that.  I'm just hoping after it gets stashed away for a couple months, she'll forget all about them and then there will be SOME element of surprise.  Sewing these things at night just isn't that feasible.  I'm usually tied up getting kids fed, bathed, and ready for bed.  After that I want time with Jeff.  I might have to get over that for awhile to get this stuff done however.  We'll see.

It really is a miracle

Maybe you remember my post at the beginning of spring about my new planters to try a little container gardening.  I was so excited about them.  In one I planted two hanging tomatoe plants and two bell pepper plants.  In the other I planted basil, parsley, and cilantro, and hanging strawberry plants. 

At first they did outstanding.  The soil I got was organic, but was supposed to feed for the first two months.  I did nothing in terms of fertilizer, and my plan was to try to fertilize organically with eggshells and water from my fish tank.  About a month and a half in, they started to stop growing and every day it seemed as though it would be their last despite my natural efforts.  I formulated two theories, these planters just didn't have enough soil or enough room for the root systems, or they needed some serious fertilizer, forget the organic stuff.  The first theory was beyond my control, so I decided to go with my second theory and put a little regular fertilizer (aka miracle grow) to the test.  At first there was minimal difference, but the leaves started to turn from a shade of pukish green to dark rich green.  No new noticeable growth. Then little by little, the plants started to grow again.  Now they are getting a nice size and starting to produce a lot of fruit.

I did have to ignore the suggested feeding schedule on the box. I fertilized everytime I watered. I  figured since these planters really didn't hold the water very well and it drained out with every watering, that the soil was probably being stripped of what nutrients it had just about every time I watered.  Boy am I glad I decided to do that.  Last weekend I picked 6 peppers off my plants.  There are still plenty coming up in their place.  I have several tomatoes growing as we speak.  I have cut the basil down more than I care to do.  The other herbs didn't quite make it because my basil over shadowed them, but that's fine.  The hanging strawberries just seem stuck in growth so they will not be planted next year. No fruit that survived on those plants.

Because the bulk of what I wanted to grow was successful, I am motivated to expand my container gardening efforts next year and do zuccini, squash, and more herbs in other pots.  This is kind of fun and honestly, a lot easier than a regular garden.  Maybe I do have a green thumb and it's called miracle grow.  It really is a miracle.