Success in the Kitchen

After many, many, many failures in the kitchen with yeasted recipes, I found one that I didn't mess up...pita bread!  Finally!  Here is the recipe I used.

Timmy wanted to roll out some dough, except his was the day-glow yellow playdough kind.  :)

He also really enjoyed watching them bubble up in the oven.  And if anyone knows how to clean between the glass oven door panels without taking your oven door apart, please let me know.

All puffed up!

Timmy approves (don't mind the green marker on his nose).

And a highlight of having lots of snow on the ground: Snow ice cream!  With wind chills down in the negative double digits a few days ago when we did this, this treat was COLD!

Christmas decorating!

Timothy has been a great helper with the Christmas decorations going up, including a little wreath for his door!

This picture is blurry, but not only did Timmy get a wreath, but the cat got a little house out of the deal.  That is, until Timmy figured out that he could throw his football into the box and make a little game out of it.  I overheard him planning out drawing tiger teeth around the opening with his daddy.  :)  Not quite sure about how throwing a football into a tiger's mouth came about, but it is the greatest game since sliced bread around here!

Painting fun.  Still playing around with his left and right hands!

All done.  Don't ask me about the faces...all I ask for is a nice smile and this is what I get.  

And after 3.5 years of owning my camera, I have been learning about shooting in manual and getting some really cool effects, like the glowing tree!

Handmade Holidays 2014, part 2

I got some more finishes under my belt!  Only 218 started projects left pending...

Just kidding.

Sort of.

:)

Anyway, here is the felt nativity set I have been working on for Timothy.  I think I spent a total of $12 and 3 nights of cutting pieces and glueing while we were watching tv.  If you want to make your own, this is where you can get the templates.  And you heard me correctly, I glued the entire thing together, no sewing.  

It is located in our living room, right under the advent calendar where all of the pieces are now located.

We started with Mary, an angel, Joseph, and then the donkey so we can start with the angel coming to tell Mary and Joseph that Jesus is coming.  Then they can hit the road and start walking through the palm trees.  I think eventually I want to just glue the palm trees and manger to the background, but then I need to add three more pieces.  Maybe another camel, a fourth angel, and a barn cat?  Not sure, but we will see if I can get the scissors back out and dig through the pile of felt and crank through a couple more pieces.

Jared and I laughed about the fact that they look like they are in sleeping bags.  :)

And right before Thanksgiving, I got this cute pillow to the chair in the living room.  It lasted a whole 3 days out and then was put in the box until next year.  At least it will get some more daylight next year.  :)  I got inspiration from this pillow I saw a few weeks ago.

Timothy didn't want to smile, but he wanted his picture taken.  Go figure.

The back :)

The new owner of the pillow.  She totally took it over and slept with it every day.  :)

Edit: I forgot to include the link for the advent calendar that I made last year.  If you want to make one yourself, CLICK HERE.  :)  Onto the dentist with Timmy and then the sewing machine!

Produce coming in

I grabbed my camera the other night and took some closeups of what is going on in our garden...

Granddad's Dill 

Jared's cucumber trellis is working out well! 

Onions are starting to pop out of the ground 

New patch of beans have popped! 

The surviving cabbage is coming nicely 

Our spaghetti squash plant is going CRAZY!  We have only one plant of this variety, but it has stretched the entire length of our 18 foot garden.

Sunflowers are going to be coming soon!  (probably while we are gone camping haha) 

Our bush beans that decided to vine, so we quick through some tomato cages in to support them.   Tomato plants are LOADED.  I can taste them already... 

Berry crop is done!  I have raspberry, blueberry, and strawberry jams, all sweetened with honey, done and ready for the year.  Hopefully I'll catch the peach truck and add a few more jars, but we should be good for the year on jams.  

I tried a new jar...these are Weck jars, which are apparently made in and are popular in Europe.  I happened to win a case of 12 of these puppies.  They worked awesome!  They have a glass lid, a rubber gasket, and some little clips you use while they are in the canner.  I'll have to replace the rubbers every year, but they are cheaper than buying boxes of lids for the normal jars.   I have some larger half litter jars to try, too, I just need to figure out what to put in them...

New recipe of the year was rhubarb butter.  Sweet and tart, this is a keeper, even if did bubble and sputter rhubarb all over my stove, counter, cupboards, fridge, microwave, floor, and ceiling.  Messy is an understatement.  Jared volunteered to keep it stirred and had to use oven mitts to protect himself from the burning hot projectiles it was sending out.  :)  Hopefully next year I'll be better about getting the air bubbles out, too.

A Week In Review...

~ our week ~

cooking is more fun with a helper

tenting is fun, especially when you have company

daddy's hat provides quality entertainment when going out to eat

lots of play and learning how to clean up after play 

(which is almost just like playing when it involves a dust buster)

:)

Beating the Winter Blues

If you haven't noticed, it has been an incredibly cold winter.  Cabin fever has been running high around here with every member of the family and colds aren't making life any more tolerable.  But with temperatures running below zero and the wind howling, play time out in the yard is just not happening.  Timothy broke down in tears the other day because he just wanted to go out in the sandbox.  :(

Luckily, he has been a good sport about finding ways to stay entertained...

Timothy has a large selection of books that he has memorized, so now he "reads" to himself.

Forts have taken over various locations in our house in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors.  And sometimes a good movie is fun, too.

What is better than a new box of crayons?

Or a new blanket to snuggle under?  My penny patch quilt is done and currently in residence on our couch.  At 60" by 72", it is the perfect size for snuggling under and even to share with Jared when he isn't under his own quilt.  I am loving this multiple quilt situation...no more tug of wars over precious inches of quilt goodness!

Masking tape has been my new best friend the last couple of days.  Timothy has been busy racing his cars, animals, and himself along yards of tape all throughout the house.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  I think later today we'll have a car wash for the matchbox collection in the kitchen (the floor needs to be mopped anyway), a crockpot of chicken soup, and maybe some playtime with scissors (Timothy loves making confetti and practicing his new skills).

Wishing you sanity until the temperature breaks!