Valentine Cards for 5

They all decided to do the handprint valentines. Even the 13yo-pretty cool!! The black is the 8yo sons. Black for valentines.....wouldn't be my first choice, but he is really happy with it!

Getting ready for Valentine's Day

It is time to make Valentine's cards for the kid's classrooms. My 7yo came up with this idea and now every one is making these for all their friends.

Since it involves paint, it is a hit!! My kids are paint magnets.
I forgot to take a picture of the finished product-we cut around the hands to make a heart shape, folded it in half to make it into a card and she wrote on the inside. They are really cute.

Of course the 3yo had to get into the swing of things.

Many more of these to be made today :o)

Ribbon Scarf Progress

I have been working on this scarf/stole for a little bit - it is my driving/waiting knitting. What is shown here is about 23 inches and the first ball of yarn finished. There are two more balls of yarn so I am expecting this to be approximately 69 inches before blocking. I was originally making this for my MIL, but now my oldest daughter says she really wants it. HMMMM.... could these possibly be gifts for the holidays this year??? or maybe birthday gifts..... A close up of the fabric this ribbon yarn creates. It's really cool!

Some knitting

I realize that I started this blog as a knitting blog. Initially it was all knitting all the time, but as time has passed I have branched out and done a little bit of many things. As my mom says: "I am a jack-of-all trades".....the next part is not so complimentary.... "but master of none". However, it probably applies and that is way ok with me :o)

A bookmark from the Monthly Bookmark Group. Those are flowers on it. I made it with dishcloth cotton so it turned out much larger that I usually like. But it is nice and has been adopted already!
Ice Skating Dish Cloth from the Monthly Dishcloth Group. I haven't done a dishcloth in a year and it was really nice to make one. I haven't made the mid-month cloth yet, but I will soon.

Just a regular old terra cotta pot that we had lying around that I decided to paint. It still needs to be sealed both inside and out and then I can plant in it. I am not sure what I will put in it - maybe some rosemary - I have always wanted to grow rosemary and I love the idea of just picking what I want to use when I need it.

I like the butterflies a lot!

Fiddle/Clogger Competition Dress Done!

The dress is done - it was completed yesterday afternoon-during the time I was supposed to be taking my walk! :o( I am so glad to have this off my plate. The competition is this Sunday so it's not a moment too soon.


Note that the dress is much shorter than originally called for. If you remember, this dress was supposed to be floor length. That is what the clogger's family requested. I made the dress floor length but did not hem it until the final dress rehearsal two weeks ago. Well.....both the clogger and the banjo player sent their dresses to be made at a dressmaker's. The same dress maker at the same time. The clogger's family decided at that point that the dress for the clogger should be knee length so that her feet could be easily seen. They also decided that the banjoy player's dress should be just past the knee. We found out about this change at the final rehearsal when we showed up with a floor length dress and the other two were significantly shorter. AAARRRGH!! I was told that our dress needed to be knee length also. There was a problem.......notice the two tiers-we will call them tier one (the one closest to the bodice) and tier two (the one closest to the floor). When the other two dresses were made, the dressmaker made tier one longer and eliminated tier two. On my daughter, tier one ends just slightly above the knee and if I were to have cut the fabric to make the dress the length requested, the 2nd tier would have would up being about 1 1/2 inches long -kind of wierd. I did not have enough fabric to cut out a new tier number one. I lopped twelve inches from the bottom of this dress and hemmed it. The clogger and her family seem to be ok with this alternative and each performer will have a slightly different lenghth dress. My daughter loves it!

AND, that's what counts!! By the way, Yes she will perform barefoot because both her and the banjo player are supposed to be hillbillies playing in the summer.

Puzzles=FUN!!

I can honestly say this was an unqualified success!!! Everyone in our family from the youngest to the oldest had a part in completing this puzzle. The big pieces and easy design made it easy enough for the youngest (3 1/2 years) to place a few pieces and my husband and I had fun also.


This new puzzle was started right after the other one was completed and although it is also a 300 piece puzzle it is much, much harder. Only the oldest 3 are interested. The 7yo has put in a couple of pieces and the 3 1/2 yo has no interest. The pieces are much smaller than the one above and the detail is much greater - it is much harder to place the pieces.

I am sure we will finish soon. Last night my in-laws came over for dinner and they put in a piece each. The next puzzle will need to be easier if the youngers are to feel included. Of course I love this puzzle!!

Fun Dinner Entre

I am one of those people who feels the NEED to plan their meals in advance. Every week before errand day, I sit down and make up a menu. I go through the fridge and the freezers to see what is there and what fresh foods I can use up before they go bad. With 5 kids, there is usually not much fresh left over :o) I made an exception last week when I found a recipe in the Everyday Food secion of Martha Stewart on-line. These pork Cutlets looked so good and I felt like making something special. I lucked out that I had everything on hand. Here is our meal - and wonders upon wonders - all kids ate A LOT!!

Pork Cutlets Parmesan

These took a little longer than I thought but were well worth the effort!
'Chinese Buffet' Green Beans
I discovered this recipe through 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven she is a mom of 9 kids and is so very organized!!!

Potatoes :o)

These are potatoes that I washed, cut up and mixed in a bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic and a little salt. I put them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350 degrees and left them there until the rest of the meal was done. We did not have any leftovers for the next night!!

Plain old salad.

The kids are vegetable mixing challenged.

Whole wheat bread from the bread machine.

Peanut Butter S'Mores

I saw this idea in the July/Aug 2008 issue of Taste of Home. I knew right away that it would be a hit with our family. I made chocolate chip cookies (fresh and gooey is best!), turned the bottom one upside down, drizzled with chocolate syrup, placed a warm marshmallow (warmed up in the microwave) on top, put on some mini reese's peanut butter cups that were in the cabinet and topped with another cookie. These were a COMPLETE hit!! I also made them last night for friends - a very easy, extremely yummy dessert!!! More cooking tonight!!