graduation

Tallulah and Max had their Preschool graduation on Thursday. Tallulah's was first, graduation from the 3 year old class. First they processed down the isle, this is how she walked, the whole way!
After they sang some songs they each received their diploma, or certificate of completion of the 3 year old program.

It was quite emotional for me, saying good bye to the teacher who has taught 3 of my five children. I hope that when Addie is old enough we can send her to Mrs. B's class too!

After all the morning graduation excitement we headed back again in the evening for Max's graduation. He got to lead the pack into the sanctuary.

Max had two teachers this year, both wonderful ladies. And Mrs. S. made the transition from their first teacher to herself seamless- the kids did not miss a beat. Max is coming home so confident and ready for Kindergarten this fall- what a wonderful year this has been for both Max and Tallulah!

in the works

I am hoping to teach a couple of sewing classes this summer. I've been working on my schedule and trying out some of the projects I have in mind. Here is a sneak peak at the first project.It is a felt softie inspired by this, only much bigger (7.5" tall) and with a few of my own changes.

teacher gifts

It's that time of year again! I decided to try something new with the stack of Caprisun juice bags I have in my stash and made lunch bags for the teachers at preschool. I think they turned out pretty cute- I also stitched up a napkin and put a reusable sandwich box in the bags (along with a few pieces of candy). I've up-cycled a few other juice bags before, here is a tutorial for my pleated purse, which I think is my favorite so far!

bitter sweet

Last week was the end of year picnic at Preschool. The moon bounce and pony rides are something we look forward to all year long, but this year it seemed to come too fast! Preschool has been such a huge blessing this year as I waded through new waters of homeschooling while pregnant/with a new baby. Max and Tallulah have made good friends and blossomed so much. Although we are all anxious for the laid back days of summer, I am still sad that there is just one day left of preschool- they have both loved it so much this year, I am grateful for the ability to send them this year and for all the fond memories they have made!

chocolate heaven

This is hands down the best cake I have ever made.
My pictures don't do it justice, so take my word for it, and run, do not walk, to the store to get the ingredients to make this cake! I got the recipe from a friends blog and you can find it here. I used an easier ganache recipe:

Heat 1 Cup heavy cream til simmering, pour over 3 Cups semi sweet chocolate chips and stir til melted- it will thicken as it sits.
I think I'm gonna go have another piece right now!

berry cute

Strawberry picking season is upon us, we've already been two times and made 3 pies. Next on the list is strawberry jelly and chocolate covered strawberries, yum!

Isn't she too cute?
What you can't see in this picture is that Addie is wearing her strawberry picking outfit, complete with a big strawberry on her bum :)

look who's riding a bike now!

While I was away last weekend, Regan taught Max how to ride a bike, no training wheels! It really is nice have such a great teacher in the family.
Congratulations, Max, on you new found freedom!

surprising results

Do you think it's a fluke that my homemade burger and bakery bun is just barely moldy...

and the McD's burger is sprouting green and white all over?
These were not the results we expected, but the kids still think we shouldn't eat McD's any more.

twins, 7 years apart

When Addie was born we combed through all the baby books trying to decide who she looked most like. I am not sure we ever came up with a definite answer and then someone from church handed me this (top) picture of Addie. It was the weirdest sensation, like looking at two of my children at the same time! When I got home I went straight for Micah's baby book and look...
Couldn't they be twins?

I should have been doing this...

I am going out of town for the weekend (women's retreat with our church) and my M-I-L is coming to help Phil with the kids. This is my to-do list of things to accomplish by dinner time today.

Of course instead of doing the things on the list yesterday I tried out some different curtains in the kitchen.

And then started this...Remember this lamp shade I made last year for Regan and Tallulah's room?

It broke. I've been hot gluing the part that attaches to the lamp for months, but finally realized it was all in vain and bought a new shade with plans to punch new holes and move all the ribbon from one lamp shade to the other.
Then, Her Highness (Did you know Regan means little ruler?) decided she no longer likes pink, so...
Now I REALLY must get to that list!

a science experiment

We are reading this book in school and decided to do our own Super Size Me experiment. Here is our McD's McDouble and fries, now I just need to get a real hamburger and fries to put in another jar before the day is out. Can't wait so see what happens!

my little house

Remember this post from before Christmas? Well, I finally got around to painting my house yesterday! And now my thread has a happy home, all neat and organized (and not thrown into the bottom of my notions box!)
I think my favorite part is the mushrooms.

Here is my sewing desk (much cleaner than it usually is).
People are always trying to figure out what those tins on the left spell. I picked them up on clearance at Michael's ($.25 each) and used a magnetic strip from Ikea to hang them. They hold things like safety pins, elastic, quilting pins and Velcro. I attached the letters with hot glue to help me find what I am looking for quicker. :) The dry erase board serves as both my idea board and a school board, hence the list of prepositions written on it now. I am enjoying the new set up in the office/school/craft room, but still find myself going to the wrong desk to find a notion or check my email every once in awhile! I think my favorite part is having the window right next to my sewing desk, and without things piled in front of it! Next I think I am going to tackle the living room!

i left the room and...

I went to change the baby and came back to this:
Tallulah looked at me with a big smile and said "we're PRETENDING, Mom!" Thank goodness for that!

happy mother's day!

Hope you all are having a fabulous Mother's Day! I have been showered with many handmade card and gifts (those are the best kind) and flowers and lunch out with the family. Now it's time for a Sunday afternoon nap! But first I wanted to share the pictures of our Mother's Day craft from Regan's Sunday School class.

This tutorial was my inspiration.

The felt flower is a pin that comes off the card and can be worn- a Mother's Day corsage of sorts.

I just cut two slits in the card and pinned the flower onto the card.

And here are the girls showing off their cards (there are no boy's in Regan's Sunday School class!) I loved all the color combinations the girls made- gorgeous flowers!

more baby blankets

I made two blanket sets for a friend this week. I love the flannel I used for these two sets.

Especially the monsters, aren't they fabulous? I have a few yards of this that I am saving to make more pajama pants for the boys next winter. I also think I will have to one of these to go with the pj's.

On this one I decided to round the corners and now I am wondering why I never though of it before!
I've got to get back to those Mother's Day crafts for Sunday School tomorrow- we decided to combine the flower pin and the card idea and the kids will make pins that attach to the cards. Hopefully I will have some pictures tomorrow!

new toys

My iron officially bit the dust last week. It's been touch and go for awhile now- sometimes needing a few whacks to get it working- but last Wednesday evening, no amount of hitting and wire jiggling (I know, I know, pulling off the base and messing with the wires while plugged in is dangerous- but what's a girl to do when she's in the middle of a sewing project and her iron won't turn on!!!) would get it working. I guess it had just been knocked off the ironing board one time too many.

As providence would have it, Phil's had some extra work recently and I was able to not only pick out a super fancy new iron, but a new ironing board too! And not just any ironing board, but an extra wide one with a built in iron and beer spray bottle holder!

i made cheese!

Tonight I made fresh ricotta for the first time. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but it turned out to be pretty simple and not nearly as time consuming as I thought it would be to make my own cheese!

Here is the recipe:

3 C Whole milk
1/2 C buttermilk (I used the powdered kind you find in the baking isle and it worked fine)

Put milk and buttermilk in a heavy sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. (this takes awhile)
Remove from heat and strain in colander lined with paper towel or cheese cloth.

Put milk solids into a bowl, add salt to taste and mix.
I did not measure, but I would guess it made 1/2 - 3/4 C of ricotta.
I served it over pasta with sauteed zucchini and tomatoes and it was yummy :) (The recipe came from the May issue of Cooking Light).

april showers bring may flowers

Regan's Sunday School teacher asked Regan and I to come up with a Mother's Day craft for his class next week. These are a few of the ideas we've tried so far... Seems flowers are the theme of the day.

This was an idea we got from a Crayola video tutorial (I'm not sure where it is, so I can't link up, Sorry). I am thinking the bucket should be filled with Dove Dark Chocolates :)

You can find the tute for this card here.

And this flower pin is based on the same flower from the card above.

I also loved this idea too, but I think it may be a bit too time consuming for a Sunday School craft.

Do you have any great Mother's Day craft ideas for 3rd-5th graders?

i'm still here...

Addie is sitting beside me squealing- like she's just discovered her voice. She lets out a loud squeal and then has a look of surprise (like "did I do that?") on her face quickly followed by a big smile.

So I know I've been MIA lately- I feel like life is going 100 miles an hour and I can't keep up! My list of things to do is beyond reasonable but there is little to nothing on it that can afford to go undone (for a day maybe, but not indefinitely anyway). And now I find myself sitting here unmoving b/c I have no idea where to start!

Hopefully I can get some things done this evening and have something of significance to blog about tomorrow- I have not been taking many pictures lately- we actually went strawberry picking yesterday (first time of the season) and I forgot my camera! Okay, so now I am just rambling- I'm going to go eat some strawberry pie and then clean something!