Month: July 2009
Our birthday Morning
The wee one woke up today to small decorations and yummy breakfast cakes.
We all sang him happy birthday and he blew out the candles with the BIGGEST smile on his face.
This evening will bring a few gifts….. a homemade cake and homemade pizzas. This boy has a love for pizza!
While he's napping and the pizza dough is rising….. I thought I would share a few photos with you and also the recipe for our "breakfast cakes" which turned out oh so yummy.
enjoy……..
the "pizzas" as the wee on calls them….
decorated and waiting for the birthday boy to wake up….
banana blueberry cardamom "cake" (these itty bitty vintage cake pans were given to me by my Aunt Lori)
Happy Happy Day 🙂
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Banana Blueberry Cardamom "cakes" (breakfast muffins)
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. unbleached white flour
1/2 to 1 tsp ground cardamom (we like ours with 1 tsp)
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
**preheat oven to 375. mix dry ingredients together and set aside**
1/4 c. melted butter
1/4 c. sugar
3 mashed, very ripe bananas
2 large eggs
1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
**mix sugar and butter together. add bananas and mix well. add eggs and mix well again. stir dry ingredients into wet. gently stir in blueberries. Bake at 375 until lightly golden in a buttered dish. makes 1 loaf or a dozen muffins cakes **
Serve with yogurt and fresh berries for a super yummy breakfast.
Enjoy!
some pre-birthday sneak peeks….
It's been a busy couple of days around here!
I won't bore you with the plumbing issues with our 35+ year old house, but we'll just say that after two full days of running to the hardware store and replacing the old toilet, our new toilet flushes and no longer overflows……. and for that we are all thankful!!
So, I finally have a little bit of time to get on here and show you what my evenings and nap times have been full of……. really, I should be painting moulding and cutting in the living room, but this is just SO much more fun!
I've been meaning to sew a cape for my wee guy for quite some time. We have a few in the dress up box, but I really wanted one made just for him. I had to figure out just the perfect style though……… so after some creative thinking and mindful watching I noticed two things.
One, he likes a cape to cover his shoulders……….
and two, he wants to take it off and put it on ALL BY HIMSELF.
So with my independent little man in mind, this cape was born. An over the shoulder style with an encased elastic neck piece so he doesn't need help. I don't have to untie the horrible knots that usually get tied in a cape and I am far less worried about someone choking. For the stripes I used several strips of colorful fabric and sewed them on with different stitches. I added some vintage silver trim from my stash too. Every super hero needs a little bling right? The neck is a little left over strip of black biased tape and the elastic piece is just a casing with 1/4 inch elastic inside. And of course he needed a big initial to show the world that this cape was made just for him, because he IS super.
the front of the cape
the back
a close up
Next was a need item. We gave away all our down jackets in WI when we left, so the wee man needed a new jacket. He needed a lightweight fleece coat for winter. Inspired by this cute little gnome, this jacket was born. (the gnomes are a Heather Ross print) I had a pattern for a long sleeve shirt and used it as a guide…….. but I made the body wider and a bit longer, the sleeves wider and added a great big gnome style hood. I can't wait to see this on him because the hood stands straight up! My own design too, it's sewn together with three pieces. After much seam ripping (and telling myself I should have found a pattern instead of trying to make my own!) I finally got it right and I am really happy with the final creation. Plus the whole thing is sergered and top stitched so my wild man can wrestle alligators and it should hold up beautifully.
the coat
I also whipped up some birthday banners, which you'll get to see tomorrow when we decorate for the big day. Yeah-hoo!
How the heck is my baby turning three tomorrow? I have no idea how this happened…. I am in amazement at how quickly the time flies by. No matter how I try to slow it.
I always love to give my kids a little pile of handmade goodies as gifts. Knowing that they were made with love especially for them is such a warm-your-heart sort of feeling.
A house Update
F-i-n-a-l-l-y . . . . . . . . .
A hat for my boy……
I love birthdays.
The chance to focus all that love and affection on one special person.
A day just for them.
Around here the birthday boy/girl gets to pick out their most favorite meal and dessert. They get pretty darn spoiled for one whole day and they love it!
I enjoy the opportunity to create something special for them. Focusing on one or two handmade goodies. I tend to overdo this around the holidays and end up finishing things at the last minute. This happens with 4 kids, and good friends and a sweet husband….. and just a whole heck of a lot of folks that I love 🙂
But birthdays are different, especially the birthdays of your growing little ones.
This is the wee one's birthday hat.
Knit for my wild little boy with the dark chocolate eyes and mischievous grin. This sweet little babe who (just like his siblings) has stolen our hearts and changed our world. Who is growing too fast. I swear each one grows quicker! Thoughts and memories flooded my mind and heart as I knit it up. Just the way handmade goodness is supposed to be 😉
The yarn is green & blue from Purewool. This yarn is some of the softest wool I've knitted with. I got it from a yarn co-op and I ended with with fingering weight…. oops….. so I doubled it up when I rolled it into a ball and knitted with the double strand.
Wool in Louisiana?? Of course 🙂 Actually this hat is super lightweight and the wee man (much to the delight of his mama) is a lover of hats. It will be perfect for cool days this coming winter.
Knit from this pattern. (I started decreasing at 4 inches.) I made the brim of the hat a wee bit bigger (2 inches) so he could wear it rolled up like a little fisherman. I can't wait to get some photos of it on his birthday…… hopefully he appreciates this more than the shorts (longies) I made him a while back.
More birthday crafting to come……. I've got 8 more days to fill with handmade goodness before the big day!
Be Still
These two words sure pack in a whole lot of meaning.
Good Bugs
Along with fruits and veggies……. you can buy bugs at the Farmer's Market.
Miss 6 and the pet
Miss 6 "Mama, I need my own pet."
Mama "How do you feel about having your own pets?"
Dancing in the Rain
I now know the meaning of torrential downpour.
Sure, I've seen my fair share (and then some) of darn good rain storms. But this was pretty impressive.
One minute it was blue skies….. then the wind picked up….. then the sky darkened….. and thunder and lightening rolled in with buckets of water. It was more than just rain drops….. literally like pouring water out of a bucket.
Needless to say the kids loved it and all but the eldest got soaked. The wee one especially got a kick out of it…. running, biking and dancing in the rain.
90 degrees and humid turned into 75 and rainy. You gotta love it. Best of all it stopped and the sun came out after dinner making the bike riding puddle splashers especially happy. We've never lived somewhere that had warm rain…..
I must admit….. I am really starting to like Louisiana rain.
sans helmet – bad mama – I know
splish splash
run baby run
even the big ones dug the rain
love those raindrops
pouring
he LOVED it
So, if you get the chance…… dance in the rain….. or at least take pictures of your kiddos doing it 🙂
a little progress
First, thank you all so much for your kind words in reply to my last post!!