The Letter "P"

Peter turned 3 in May and is like a little sponge.  His mind is so thirsty for knowledge and yet he is so busy and always getting into trouble.  The key I have found is to keep his mind and hands busy and then he doesn't look for trouble quite as much.

Recently I have noticed that he is learning his letters almost by himself as if through osmosis.  He is exposed to letters through our alphabet magnets, Sesame Street, alphabet puzzles, and his desire to write his name.  To further cultivate this I have started collecting the letter "P" from junk mail and old magazines.  The mail arrives and Peter instantly wants to have it so he can look for "P"s.  I am shocked at the tiny letters he can spot.  He points them out and then we cut them out and past them on a piece of paper.  

 The paper stays on the refrigerator for use the next day.  Throughout the day he talks about all the "P"s he has found and wants to look at the paper.  I figure that we will do this until the paper is full and then start on the next letter in his name and so on until we have finished his name completly.  It is a great free activity that is laying a foundation for his future education and keeps him occupied for quite some time.

 This is what Jacob does while Peter and I work on letters - Look Cute.

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Stitched Notebooks

I really like to write in visually appealing notebooks but they are so much more expensive then the plain ones.  Here is a solution for free.

Take your scrapbook paper scraps and a few sheets of plain white paper (or any paper of your choice for that matter) and turn then into pretty little notebooks. 

If you can sew a straight line on your sewing machine you can make these.

Look through your scraps and decide what size notebooks you want to make.    In the photo below I have two separate pieces for the front and the back and one more small piece to place on the top. 

 Cut you paper about 1/4 inch smaller than the finished notebook.  Stack all your layers together.

 Place the top portion on the finished stack.  In the photo below I have cut one piece of paper for the front and back and just folded it in half.  In this case I didn't put a top portion on. 

 Take your finished stack to your sewing machine and stitch it together.  I lengthen my stitch to the longest possible and back stitch a few times on each edge to prevent the thread from pulling out. 

 Sit back and enjoy your new supply of pretty little notebooks.  Stick them in your pocket, purse, car, desk....  you get the idea.  Now when you have a brilliant idea you can write it down. 

I have a vivid childhood memory of sitting next to my Mom while she made larger versions of these out of lined paper and construction paper.  She would always make us a few stitched notebooks in preparation for a road trip.  My girls (10 & 8) can even make these for themselves. 

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Chopin at 90 years old

My Dad turns 90 in a few weeks and he is my hero. 

We went to visit my parents today and after a while Dad announces that he is going to play us something on the piano.  He proceeds to play a beautiful piece by Chopin.  It literally brought tears to my eyes.  Dad has always played piano but has never considered himself a pianist.  He always said he knew just enough to get by but doubted his ability to be really good at piano.  He is really just being modest - he is the organist at church and has been for the past 20+ years.  It doesn't come easy for him and requires a lot of practice but he is good at it. 

Apparently last week he decided that the beautiful grand piano in his house shouldn't go to waste and should be played every day.  He wants to develop his talents and not just be satisfied with his abilities as they currently are.  So at the age of 90 he has started playing beautiful music by Chopin and who knows who else.  At an age when most people really start to slow down he just never seems to stop.  He has finally started to age a bit but what that man manages to do each day inspires me. 

If at 90 years old he can decided to play Chopin and further his musical talents what should I at only 35 be doing each day to further my talents? 

My Dad taught me an important lesson today that I hope to never forget. 

Quiddler

We spend a lot of time playing games with our kids.  We started teaching them to play UNO when they are 3.  It is a very simple game that they can play with help that teaches them colors and numbers.

As the kids get older we move onto more challenging games.  My favortie games are the ones that are fun to play as well as educational.  Quiddler has become a favorite to play after we put the little boys to bed and have some peace and quiet in the house (Ok that is all relative - the big 4 kids make plenty of noise).  It takes a bit of concentration but is a great spelling and vocabulary reinforcement.

One of the funnest parts is seeing the silly/gross/unusual words that get spelled.  Here are the kids with their winner hands.

 

 

Jim generally spends the game helping the kids with their hands and then having to play his own. He is a great father - and I am not saying that because I am a bit biased.

Follow this link to Amazon to read a full review of the game.  So much fun.

What games do you like to play with your family?

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Pumpkin Sheet Cake

I love all things pumpkin.  During the fall it is a must have but I like it so much we have pumpkin flavored things all year long.
 
We love this cake for dessert (and sometimes breakfast)

Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Yield 2 sheet cakes (can easily cut recipe in half)

3 cups white sugar
1 cup margarine
2 teas vanilla
2 cans of pumpkin (the regular size cans)
4 eggs
3 cups flour (I use whole wheat and it taste great and is more nutritious)
4 1/2 teas baking powder
1 Tab baking soda
1/4 teas salt
4 teas cinnamon

I dump all the ingredients into my mixer and turn it on until it looks good and mixed.  (I am not a very precise person in the kitchen)

Bake at 350 degrees in a greased cooking sheet for 20-25 min.

It is tasty plain or with a light glaze on the top.

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Felt Owl Tutorial #2

Here is the next installment of the felt owl tutorials.

You can see the first one here.

How would you like to make this?

or this?

Use the template below to cut out your felt shapes.  Cut two of the body and one of the belly and two of the wings if needed.  To make the eyes just cut circle of felt.  Play around with their shape and size to change the look completely.

For this cute fellow - 
Running stitch on the wings and nose
For the belly I just made long parallel running stitches
The eyes – Starting on the back stick your needle and thread up through the center of the eye and them back down on the outside edge. Repeat all the way around the eye.

To make this one -
Basic cross stitch on the nose
Whip stitch on the eyes, wings, and center contrast

For the hanging loop you can use ribbon, strips of felt, or a loop of embroidery floss.  When you use embroidery floss or thin ribbon tie a knot in the end to create the loop.  The knot will help ensure that the loop of floss doesn't pull out of the top.  

I like to sew the front and the back together on my sewing machine but you could do it by hand as well.  On both of the owls you will need to fold the wings out of the way when you stitch around the outside edge.


Use the templates on any of your favorite crafts. In the photos you can see how I made not only hanging ornaments but keychains, small stuffed animals, attach a pin back and you have a brooch, you could even shrink the size of the templates and make hair bows. Only use one layer of felt and you can applique the shape onto your favorite bag or the end of a winter scarf. Use your imagination and see what you can come up with.

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New Skills

I love to watch my children learn new skills.  Peter is learning to joy of cutting paper.   So far is he content to cut paper - mostly.  I did catch him trying to give the stuffed Elmo a hair cut.

I guess the next task is to teach him that it is not necessary to stick your tongue out while cutting.

Formula instead of Milk?

I did something a bit unconventional the other day with my mashed potatoes.  I was out of milk and didn't want to run to the store to get some right then.  But I needed milk for the potatoes.  I rummaged in the pantry looking for options and I stumbled on a can of baby formula.  I have never used formula on any of my babies but some how I got on a mailing list and was sent a free can in the last few months.    I know it sounds weird but I made up 1 cup of the formula and used it when I mashed my potatoes.  I couldn't tell the difference and the kids were none the wiser.  It was definitely a make it work or do without moment and I think it went well.

Have you ever used formula instead of milk in cooking?  How did it turn out?

As a side note I  mash my potatoes in my Bosch mixer with the wire whips on.  I like mashed potatoes that are smooth and creamy.  No lumps for me here.
 

 

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My skirt made it into the top 15 designs for the 

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Mine is #14

What Motivates Me

I am always coming up with a mile long list of things I need to change in my life and while
I could ignore that list it gets a little hard because every time I turn around I see one of my kids.

I have Tim who when I announce what is for dinner (if he is excited about it) give me a hug and tells me he loves me - food is the way to that boys heart.

Then there is Andrew who although a total goof ball can be so sweet and loves to snuggle.

Allison is full of creativity and is learning to sew.  A small compliment and she is beaming for the rest of the day.

Kathryn wants so much to participate in whatever I am doing.  She wants to be helpful and takes joy in being of service.   I am hard pressed to start working in the kitchen and she is not there asking to help.

Then there are the little boys - Peter and Jacob.  They are just a bundle of trouble and yet I can't help but smile every time I see them.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about my health.  I have come to the point in my life where I realize clearly that I am not getting any younger.  Not that I am old but I am squarely in my mid 30's.  I am about 50 lbs overweight and I need to loose those extra pounds.  I need to do it for my children so they can have a healthy and active mother who can keep up with them for years and years to come.  Yeah and I want to be thin so I can feel good about myself and look great in the latest fashions but really it is about my kids. 

My children are my motivation.  I need to put a photo of them on my fridge and pantry so when I am tempted to make a not so healthy food choice I will remember why I shouldn't. 

What motivates you?

Pinstripe Skirt Giveaway

I have received so much great feedback on my skirt and a number of request to sell it.  So.....  Here is your chance to own your very own Pinstripe Skirt with Pockets.

You get one entry for each of the following -

1. Vote for my skirt (#14) here
2. Become a follower of The Orchard in Bloom
3. Post about the Shabby Apple Dare to Design Contest on Facebook and encourage everyone to vote for #14
4. Tweet about the Shabby Apple Dare to Design Contest on Twitter and encourage everyone to vote for #14
5. Share the Shabby Apple Dare to Design Contest on your blog and encourage everyone to vote for #14
6. Post about this giveaway on Facebook
7.  Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter
8. Write about this giveaway on your blog and include a photo of the skirt
9. Pin one of my skirt photos on Pinterest.

There you go - You have 9 chances to enter.  For each entry post a comment regarding what you did.  So if you want to do all 9 you need to make 9 comments.

You have until September 10th.  The winner will be announced on September 11th.

The winner will need to provide me with a few basic measurements and I will make the skirt custom  to your measurements.

If you have any question just let me know.  This is my first giveaway so......

Week in Review

Highlights from my week.

Jacob is teething - such a sad little boy.

Jim and I have an agreement.  He is the potato peeler and I am the potato cutter.  It sure makes cooking with potatoes go so much faster.  Plus we get to visit while we work in the kitchen.  Not a bad deal at all.

Our wheat is stored in 5 gallon buckets with containers of sulphur in them to hep preserve the wheat.  I don't entirely understand the whole sulphur thing  (the wheat came from my parents).  Well to make a long story short the sulphur container spilled into the wheat and we had a disaster of a batch of bread.  The entire house smelled like rotten eggs.  It was nasty!

 

 The bread from the bad sulphur contaminated wheat was supposed to be for lunch.  I didn't have much else on hand for a quick lunch so I had to get creative.  I sauteed squash, broccoli, carrots, cabbage and green onions on some bacon grease (I always save it in the fridge) tossed in leftover black beans and rice.  I seasoned it with fish sauce and Thai curry paste.  The kids loved it so much we had it again for lunch 2 days latter.  I love that my kids will eat veggies.

 

Tim is camping with the young men in the ward tonight.  He is a good sport to let me take his photo on the way out the door.  He needs a hair cut.  It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so curly.

School started this week.  That means that I once again have 4 math lessons to correct every day.  The kids do it sometimes but I like to do it to keep better tabs on their progress.  Andrew has terrible handwriting.  He has this thing about using as little of his paper as possible.  It makes it so hard to correct.

Allison was hungry and went scavenging in the kitchen.  She thought that Peppermint extract sounded good.  She was surprised by the flavor and will never do that again. 

Best Cookie Recipe Ever

In my humble opinion this is the best cookie recipe ever.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 teas baking soda
1/2 teas baking powder
1/2 teas vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups flour

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 min.
(My oven runs cool so I bake mine at 365)

Be sure not to overcook them.  They should be puffy when you take them from the oven but as they cook they flatten a bit.

This is the only cookie recipe I use.  I alter it to suit the type of cookie that I want to make.  Today I replaced the brown sugar with white sugar and rolled the dough in cinnamon and sugar to make snickerdoodles.

These cookies are moist and chewy  - Never dry and crunchy.

 My mother made terrible cookies.  They were always crunchy and often burnt on the bottom.  She thought she was being efficient by cooking 4 trays of cookies at once but in order to put the 4 racks in the oven she had to place one rack  all the way on the bottom.  That tray of cookies ended up burnt to a crisp - ALWAYS.  You would think that she would have noticed this problem and changed her ways but no.

I remember my sisters and I learning to place burnt peanut butter cookies under a little water and scraping the burnt bottoms off to make them more palatable.  Wet soggy peanut butter cookies - yummy yuck!  We must have been desperate. Don't get me wrong she made other things that were quite yummy but  the cookies were not one of them.

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If you haven't voted yet please do.

My skirt made it into the top 15 designs for the 

Shabby Apple Dare to Design contest

You can go here to vote - PLEASE :)

Mine is #14

Felt Owl Ornament Tutorial

Want to know how to make this?

Over the next few weeks I will be posting tutorials on a series of felt owl that I made.

Today lets start with a few very basic stitch.

When I give my kids a needle and thread to stitch with this is what they tend to do
naturally. A running stitch is very easy for even the most inexperienced sewer and looks nice when spaced evenly.

This stitch I call the snowflake stitch for because it reminds me of a snowflake.

The photos are pretty self explanatory -. Make a basic cross stitch but in a + shape. Then on top of that do another basic cross stitch slightly smaller. That’s all there is to it.

 If you can make a running stitch , a snowflake stitch and sew on a button you can make this.

 

Use the template below to cut out your felt shapes.  Cut two of the body and one of the belly.  To make the eyes just cut circle of felt.  Play around with their shape and size to change the look completely.

You can shrink or enlarge the template to suit your personal style.  These would make adorable Christmas ornaments.  You can even enlarge the templates and make something as large as an accent pillow or a stuffed animal.

Click on the above photo and you can see the details of the stitches. 

Stitch instructions -

Running stitch to attach belly and snowflake stitch in the middle

Nose is attached is a few running stitches. 

The eyes are held on only with the button in the center

For the hanging loop you can use ribbon, strips of felt, or a loop of embroidery floss.  When you use embroidery floss  or thin ribbon tie a knot in the end to create the loop.  The knot will help ensure that the loop of floss doesn’t pull out of the top

I like to sew the front and the back together on my sewing machine but you could do it by hand as well.

I don't do hand work as often as I should.  I always find it calming and therapeutic.   What are you feeling on handwork?

________________________

If you haven't voted yet please do.

My skirt made it into the top 15 designs for the 

Shabby Apple Dare to Design contest

You can go here to vote - PLEASE :)

Mine is #14