Confession...

O.k., I'll admit it....I may be a little obcessed with sewing baby girl clothes. There I said it.

This little skirt took a half an hour to make. Start to finish! And I'm not saying that to brag about anything I did, I am saying that to say that it is a simple little project with minimal sewing skills required. I wish I had skills to sew fabric other than cotton, then I could make myself things, oh well. Someday I'll learn ....but until then....it's clothes for my kiddos. Kaylee is outgrowing most of her clothes, so it works out. She needs some items, and I am having fun making them and saving some money.

Here is the link for this little skirt. The pattern is actually for 2T-5T, so I just made the seams smaller, and took 3 inches out of the length. I got lucky and it fits her perfectly. Next time, I'll make 9 sections instead of 8 for a little extra room. Thank you Mom for the fabric!!!

Homemade Noise Putty

For those of you who are dying to make your own potty putty, here ya go! We made this in Kodiak for the kids and also the little boy I babysatt. The next day, his mom said that his dad had just as much fun playing with it as he did! Before this, I hadn't ever bought Borax. One box will make a couple hundred batches, lol. So I have added it to laundry, etc. to use more of it up. I found the Borax in the basement today, so we decided to make a batch. Here is the recipe. We made a half recipe today.

Flarp

1 c. white glue (Elmer's, Tacky, etc.)

1 c. water

food coloring

1 c. warm water

1 1/2 tsp. borax powder


Mix glue with water in a large bowl. Add a couple of drops of food coloring if desired. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix warm water with Borax. Add to glue/water mixture and stir for 2 minutes. It will go from liquid to a nasty stringy mass, then at the end of 2 minutes it will be putty! Knead to smooth putty out.

Stuff putty into a small cup (friction makes the noises).

Let the giggling commence.

Store in an airtight container.

Sun Hat!

Here is the hat pattern I used for Kaylee's hat. Very simple and quick!

B-day Card

My brother, Jason, sent me this hilarious birthday card---too funny!

Whole Grain Waffles

These waffles are amazing and super healthy too! One batch makes 6 full sized servings.

We had these for breakfast with turkey bacon. The boys each ate 1 1/2 full waffles. They love waffles, but it could also be due to the fact that we didn't eat breakfast until 10:30am! Gotta love Sunday mornings! We like these because they are light and crispy, not what you would think a whole wheat waffle would be like.

2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups skim milk
1/2 c. oil (or 1/4 c. oil + 1/4 c. applesauce)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar (I use 1 T. honey)

1/4 tsp. salt

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, applesauce, and vanilla. Beat in whole wheat, flax seed meal, wheat germ, all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt until batter is smooth.
Preheat a waffle iron, and coat with cooking spray. Pour batter into waffle iron in batches, and cook until crisp and golden brown.

Handprints on Canvas

The kids are growing up WAY TOO FAST. Before Kaylee got any bigger, I wanted to do something that preserved her tiny little hand prints. I bought an 8x24 canvas, painted it a cream color, then put the kid's hand prints on it. The boys were happy to help, Kaylee giggled when I painted her fingers, then screamed while I tried to place them on the canvas. This explains the smudgy prints :) It wasn't worth torturing her to get new prints.
 

I painted the phrase, "Lead Me Guide Me". When Aaron saw the letters, he asked me what it said. I told him then he said, "That's from 'I am a Child of God'!!!" We sing it every night before family prayer.

I haven't decided where to hang it yet, but here is a picture of how it turned out.

Chicken Parmesan!

My version :)

2 boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves

1 c. seasoned bread crumbs (I use garlic Parmesan)

1 egg, beaten

1/4 c. olive oil

8 oz. spaghetti

1 jar spaghetti sauce (26 oz.)

3/4 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Thinly slice your chicken breasts in half. If needed, place in a ziploc and flatten with a rolling pin. You'll need 4 thin breast pieces. Heat oil in pan on med-high heat. Place beaten egg in a shallow dish, and the bread crumbs into another. Dip chicken pieces in egg, then coat both sides in bread crumbs.

Cook in oil 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown.

In a small casserole dish, pour 1/3 of the jar of spaghetti sauce into the bottom. Place cooked chicken breast pieces on top of the sauce. Sprinkle with cheeses and bake @ 425 for 10 minutes, then broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is golden brown (watch closely).

While chicken/cheese is heating in oven, cook spaghetti according to package. Heat remaining sauce in a small saucepan.

To serve: Top spaghetti with sauce from the pan, then 1 chicken breast.

Serves 4

Enjoy!

Auntie Ann's Pretzels! Copy Cat recipe...

You will never buy a pretzel again! I've been using this recipe for a couple of years, it is the BEST! I found this on a copy cat recipe site. It cost me .89 to download the recipe and was worth every penny, lol.

1 1/4 cups warm water


1 T. plus 1/4 tsp. yeast


3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour


3/4 cups plus 2 T powdered sugar


1 1/2 tsp. salt


2 tsp. vegetable oil



Bath:


2 c. warm water


1/4 c. baking soda


Cinnamon Topping

1/2 c. granulated sugar


2 tsp. cinnamon


Dissolve yeast in the warm water in a small bowl or cup. Let sit for a few minutes.Combine flour, powdered sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add water with yeast and vegetable oil. Stir with a spoon and then use your hands to form the dough into a ball. Knead the dough 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Dough will be nice and smooth when it's ready. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover it, and store it in a warm place for 45 minutes or until the dough doubles in size.


OR, if you use your breadmaker for everything, like I do, just put all ingredients in my bread machine and let it run on the roll cycle. When dough has risen, preheat oven to 425 degrees F.


Make a bath for the pretzels by combining the baking soda with the warm water and stir until baking soda is mostly dissolved. The baking soda seperates from the water easily. So stir it every couple of minutes as you are dipping the pretzels to make sure that there is an even distribution of powder/water mix on each pretzel.

Remove the dough from the bowl and shape into desired shapes. I always roll the dough out to 1/2" thick and cut into strips like pretzel bites, but if you are ambitious, you can roll them into pretzel shapes.


Dip each pretzel into the bath solution. Put each pretzel on a paper towel for a moment to blot. Arrange on cookie sheet and spray with non-stick spray. If you want salt, sprinkle pretzels with kosher salt. Don't salt any pretzels that you plan to coat with cinnamon/sugar.


Bake one baking sheet at a time. Bake 4 minutes, then spin the pan halfway around and make another 4 or 5 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. If you want to eat some now, brush 'em with melted butter first before serving. If you want the cinnamon/sugar coating, brush with butter and sprinkle heave coating of cinnamon/sugar onto the entire surface of the pretzel. Munch out!

Shoulder Bag!

Here is what I did during the Priesthood Session! It didn't start until 8pm here, so while Derrick was gone and the kids were in bed, I made myself a Sunday bag from this tutorial. It was so simple! I added 3 inches in the length so that it would be long enough for my lesson manual in Young Women's. So I sat on the floor, sewing, and watched "Errand of Angels" on the BYU channel. I should have been looking over my lesson for next week, oh well!