Valentines Day

I saw this on pinterest. I talked Tessa into letting me give it a try.

A Pooping Bird

At the request of my cousin/sister (technically my cousin, but love her like my sister), I've made a pooping bird of some sort. Our grandma made pooping chickens. If I could find the one she made that my cousin sent me, I would post it. Although I find the concept somewhat unsettling, I've made one for her and it only took 3 years of her asking for me to do it.

(Sorry this one is a little blurry. I didn't check my pic quality before sending her)

Untie the bow at the back and watch her go! (yuck) Just in time for Easter. Now if it would only stop snowing/raining.

Oh by the way, those are jelly beans.

t-shirt mistake fixed

My sister saw a great idea for a patriotic t-shirt in an issue of Family Fun Magazine. She organized an effort to make them with a whole bunch of cousins a couple of weeks ago (why didn't I take any pictures of that?!).

All was well until 11 pm the night before the Independence Day parade (which wasn't on Independence Day this year, but the day before). This was when two of my girls realized their shirts had accidentally been mixed up between the hand-stamping and name-painting phases. Oops. Lizzy's name ended up on Tessa's shirt and Tessa's name ended up on Lizzy's shirt. And they are dramatically different sizes. What's a mom to do with one girl in tears and another not far behind?

Well. I remembered fabric I had leftover from a few years ago when I attempted jumpers for the 4th of July.

And I made a plan.

They turned out very cute and I had requests from two other girls to add stars to their shirts even though there were no mistakes that needed a band-aid.

lil rabbit

This afternoon I made this little bunny for my mom out of flannel,

fluff, a couple buttons, some cotton yarn and a little bit of felt.

We had an enjoyable dinner with family.

eggs

we colored eggs today in anticipation of a furry little friend coming to visit during the night.

happy easter!

a valintim

"I love you so

much you shine

like the stars

I love you"

resolutions

When I was in 5th grade my new year's resolution was to not watch anyone blow their nose for an entire year. I think it's the only resolution I ever kept. This year I won't be making resolutions. I am just going to try to get back into a healthier lifestyle like I was during the summer.

What was your strangest resolution? Did you keep it? Are you making any this year? (feel free to answer even if you've never commented before)

a crafty slacker

Mikay on the 4th of July. We walked up to the park by my parent's house where she got dizzy from spinning too long on the merry go round - aka death trap. it's the same one we played on as children. I just closed my eyes and pretended not to see.

I've been a serious slacker in the crafty department. I've got a water bottle sling half way done for my sister. I've got a ladybug started, but couldn't get the head to work like I wanted so it's having a time out. I was very stressed about Mom's surgery (ps, she's home now) and I'm not even sure what I did all of last week. Now I'm just tired. I need someone to come crochet/knit with me. Someone to keep me company so I can get back into the groove. Anyone? Anyone?

anyone know what flower this is? We passed a couple houses with them out front along the way. I'd love to have them in my yard.

some pictures

I've been taking pictures. Here are a few. Just for fun.

me

**

my new friend

(s/he actually came in the house today,

but I had my husband let it back out. I see it every day)

**

some amazing roses my awesome sister gave my mom for mothers day

**

our new neighbor

egg planters

I saw this idea in my current issue of Better Homes and Gardens and fell in love:

Easter hasn't typically been a gift-giving holiday for me but I just couldn't resist these.

we had some chickens...

Ok so does anyone else know that silly little song? We used to sing it in the car when I was a child. It goes something like this:

We had some chickens in our backyard

We had some chickens, no eggs would they lay

Until a rooster got into our yard 

And caught them chickens right off their guard

They're layin' eggs now!

Just like they used-ter

Ever since that rooster

Got into our yard...

On Monday I was putting out my mom's Easter decorations and came across these little birds. My paternal grandma made them a long time ago. I fondly remembered playing with them as a child. I loved the chickens! I took pictures thinking I could maybe recreate them at home, but to my delight my mom let me take this little reddish-pink thing with me. I've made 6 so far, but might not get a chance to photograph them. Tomorrow morning they will go to school (filled with tootsie rolls because I have a zillion of those left over from Birdie's birthday) for the girls' teachers and classroom helpers. After school they will be out on spring break for the next week.

(even if I don't manage to get pictures of the 6 I have right now, I will be making more for other little gifts and can snap a pic of some at some point.)

a little edit for Kim... I guess I forgot to mention that the chicken fits over a plastic Easter egg. I put the tootsie rolls in the eggs. Apparently Grandma (or Maim) also made hens that pooped jelly beans. I'm not sure how that worked, and frankly I'm a little afraid, but my cousin said she's mailing me one.

Green M&M's

My mom is pretty clever. After Christmas she buys the holiday M&M's on clearance. She'll go through the bags and divide them. The red and white ones she puts out for Valentines and the green ones come out for St. Patty's Day. Smart, huh?

I have 3 hats (nearly) finished for the children's home. I just need to find that dang yarn needle (actually the whole bag, as that's what I've misplaced - I keep them all in a small pouch I made a few years ago. Arg) so I can finish the 3rd. I hope to get another done on time to send them off to my friend Momma B. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow. I'm quite pleased with them myself.

valentines breakfast

regular pancakes, just a little fancier.

I was wishing I'd thought to mash up some of the

frozen raspberries so they'd be pink (and raspberry-ey).

maybe next year.

we don't need no stinkin' resolutions

simple resolutions:
1. eat less food
2. drink more water

and since I'm thinking about food...

we had a fabulous NYE dinner.
My sister is an amazing cook, and she cooked
we had ribs and turkey
twice baked new potatoes


a shrimp plate (not my thing, but Doug, my mom & brother in law liked it)
cheese bowl (similar to cheese ball, but made at the last minute)
the best veggie salad I've ever had


dessert for the kids, rice krispies made with cocoa and regular (I did peel the kisses!)


for the rest o' us, a pie made with brownie mix and cream cheese. Mmmm


Then for New Year's breakfast, we had an egg, bacon & hash brown casserole


and I made our traditional NYD breakfast food, aebleskivers




Which brings me back to the need for my first resolution.

Happy Easter

This morning my four-year-old reported that she
thinks she heard a bunny in the living room last night.
I think she could be right about that.

Happy Easter!

they say it has stopped (for now)

We have had snow storm after snow storm around here (makes for lots of cozy evenings spent knitting). The news claims we'll be five days without another storm! That hasn't happened for two months, hence the Christmas lights still up in the front of my house. It hasn't been safe enough for my husband to get up on the ladder to get them down (and besides that he'd have to wade through a couple or so feet of snow just to get to them).

Fourth of July - a little tardy

Well I know we are a ways past the fourth, but I wanted to post my Independence Day project anyway. Better late than never, huh? In May I saw some patriotic fabric on the $2 a yard table at Walmart. For some insane reason I decided to buy enough to make jumpers for the girls. I phoned my sewing friend in Iowa right there to ask her what yardage I ought to buy (I had decided against patterns because same Iowa friend often makes patternless jumpers for her five daughters). She helped me figure out what to buy and I headed home where I promptly forgot about the fabric and jumpers ... until Thursday June 29th.

My mom offered to help me sew them so I brought the fabric with me for my normal Friday trip. We didn't have time to sew them, but no worries, I could still work on them over the weekend. Except I forgot the fabric at Mom's which is a half an hour by car. Ugh. We were scheduled to go down there on Sunday evening. I couldn't justify an extra trip with gas prices like they are so I waited.


Monday I sewed as much as I could between errands and household things that had to get done. Did I mention that the girls were to be walking in a parade Tuesday? Ha. I did manage to get the dresses finished. I was shocked to come out of the den (where my sewing machine is located) and see that it was 10 minutes to four. Ack! But the dresses were finished. I'm no pro sewer, but the girls liked them and I do think they are cute.

I made the jumpers reversible, though not the way reversible items should be done. Oh well. The smaller two are opposites of each other (one looking like the other when turned inside-out) as are the larger two.