Good eats for breakfast

This morning was very laid back. We have no commitments - no soccer - no parties - just relax together. I decided to make a special breakfast for us. It's not fancy, but encompasses all the things the kids and us adults like. Behold:

Mickey Mouse Waffles

made with our waffle maker that was given to us as a wedding gift.
Bacon - both crispy and not

Scrambled eggs

Pineapple and Mandarin Oranges

Truffle-Filled Orange Thumbprint Cookies
These are delicious cookies from a new recipes that we tried out last night
from the little magazine below from the checkout lane of the grocery store

Yummy eats!!!!

I am sick of knitting bears.

Finally! All the bears for all the neices and nephews are complete! I can't wait to hand them all out - I hope the kids like them :o)

These are for 2 sisters who live in New York
For my neice in Utah

For my sister's boys

For my nephew in Canada

This picture would NOT cooperate - so it has to be sideways :o(

For my husband's older brother's girlfriend's girls (say that 10 times fast!)

The whole gang! What a herd! My things 2 and 4 still want one of the mini-bears. I let them know that I need a break from bears for awhile - maybe I will make them for next year..... This year we are having the whole gang of our family here for the holidays. I can't wait to have all the cousins running around and all the fun and cooking and good conversation between all of us. It can't get any better than this for the holidays :o)

I won, I won, I won!!

I won a contest over at Want What You Have. Heather had a game give away that I entered for this Cat In The Hat interactive game. I am so excited!!! I can't wait to share it with the kids - I think they will have a great time. Heather's blog is a really helpful blog about family, kids, organization (she is a master!!) and just enjoying the things that you already have. The title of her blog says it all, "Want What You Have". In these economic times that is an especially important message, but in my opinion it is an important message for all times. We have been trying to live our lives more frugally and her posts have been incredibly helpful, insightful, and inspiring. Her tips and posts have helped me to value more my role as wife, mother and homemaker in a time where these same roles can sometimes be undervalued. Thanks, Heather for all you do and thanks for letting me enter the contest!

Beaded Eggs

I love making these!!

They are just normal old chicken eggs with the insides blown out.
Then seed beads are strung on thread....

and glued to the eggs

These are family gifts this year. I can't wait to make more!! And, no surprise here, each kid wants their own egg!

Cookin' and Knittin'

So....I have been doing a fair amount of cooking lately. In an effort to "conserve" cash we cut out all take-out and all restaurant dining (no fast food either)-this has been since September. Even though I really like to cook, things have been getting a little boring around here. Sure the kids are happy with the 6 main menus I have been putting forth, but my husband and I, not so much. Enter Mom2my9 over at 11th Heaven's Homemaker Haven. I have been reading her blog for awhile now and am so-o-o impressed. She makes everything seem so easy and she has 9 kids. I have 5 and sometimes I feel so out of control!!! Anyway, she posted an entry over the weekend about planning and starting the prep for meals ahead of time. She even posted her menu - crockpot teriyaki chicken, rice, 'Chinese Buffet' green beans and Asian Salad. I decided right then and there to try it - I had almost all of the ingredients anyway, so I gave it a go. It was delicious and an unqualified success!! Everyone ate and had seconds of all of it - ALL OF IT - EACH KID - I still can't believe it! So I decided to make another dinner tonight:

Tortellini Soup

Homemade Bread

Fresh Cut Veges

Again - they all loved it. I'm not sure what has changed??

Recipe for Tortellini Soup:

1T butter

4 cloves of garlic, minced

9 cubes of vegetable boullion

9 cups hot water

19 oz pkg cheese tortellini

1-14oz can stewed tomatoes Italian style

1-small box chopped spinach

Grated parmesan cheese

*Melt butter and saute garlic for 2 minutes

*Stir in hot water and vegetable cubes

*Bring to a boil and reduce heat

*Add tortellini and cook until just tender

*Add remaining ingredients and simmer 2 minutes

*Serve with sprinkled parmesan

**ENJOY**

Along with the cookin' comes the knittin'. Always knitting at the end of the day :o) The bear above is for our new baby cousin who is almost 4 months old.

Started: 11/14/08

Knitting Finished: 11/18/08

Rest Finished: 12/6/08 - I hate finishing!

Needles: US7

Yarn: Bear: Vana's Choice - Color #130 Honey

Jammies: Knit One Crochet Too Fleece - Color #1293

Mini Bear for another cousin - this one has a keychain clip attached at the top

Started: 11/28/08

Finished: 12/06/08

Needles: US00 for bear - US1 for scarf

All of the thread is Royale Classic Size 10 Crochet Thread that was laying around. A long time ago a friend's mom gave me a whole bunch of this thread in all different colors and being the pack rat that I am, I kept it even though I didn't have any plans for it. Well - now I'm glad I did keep it!!

Another mini bear for above cousin's sister - also a keychain bear.

Started: 11/20/08

Finished: 11/28/08

Needles: US00 for bear, US1 for scarf

Same random batches of thread as listed above.

I still have a few more bears to sew together and embroider faces on. I am kind of all "bear'd" out now though and it is very tough to make myself finish these. It took me more than an hour to sew one bear together last night and I didn't even get to the face - I am unmotivated!!

Here are all three bears together to show the size of the mini bears. They really are fun to make :o)

Shrinky dinks

Some kids make cute little shrinky dinks like the one above. Or they make flowers, cars, halloween or christmas images - you know, something kind of cute.......

My kids make freaky eyes!

The eldest made these eyes and all of them had to take turns wearing them!!

More Juice Pouch Puses

These purses have turned out to be the best thing since sliced bread. They are easy to make (less than an hour each) and they have great "bang for the buck" so to speak. The pouches are mostly donated to me by my next door neighbor and some other friends because we don't purchase them all that often. I like them because they are a recycled gift and the cost to me is next to nothing - just a little bit of time - which I thoroughly enjoy!!


The one above is for young 3 1/2 yr old son. He wanted it to be just like the first one I made - so I happily obliged. This is dragged hither and yon. It holds his legos quite nicely :o)

I didn't have too many of these colorful pouches so I decided that I would use different ones for the bottom....

the back.....

and the front. This one was a big hit.

For the girl who loves pink (although since this picture was taken, the new favorite color is green-go figure) one all in pink lemonade pouches.

The two sweeties together.