A Little Kitchen Action

Chocolate Oatmeal Bars. Good choice kids. I was in a chocolate mood tonight!

Just What a Young Girl Loves

Something purple and sparkly!

Anya, my sweet little model. The baby/toddler skirt up next on my sewing list.

Lily's Tasty Treat

I enjoyed watching Lily discover the art of eating a sucker today. She enjoyed licking it the most but also discovered it makes a good drumstick and a handy cat hair picker-upper.Very tasty. Funny how none of the other kids accepted her offers to share it.This was one candy no one wanted to take from the baby!

You Had WHAT For Dinner?

What a treat! I'm really not being sarcastic. We had a precious pound of hamburger. This is not seen here very often. We are usually chicken and turkey meat people to keep grocery costs down. I needed to put my thinking cap on and think of how to make the most of our hamburger. Here is what I came up with...

Presenting my version of

Macaroni Ratatouille Soup

1 lb hamburger
1 onion chopped up big enough so the kids who do not like onions can pick them out
1 can 26 oz can spaghetti sauce
22 cups of water
2 cans of green beans
1 1/2 pounds of dry elbow macaroni noodle
Hot Sauce
Garlic salt

Fry the hamburger and onion until hamburger is cooked.Sounds odd but draining the meat is not necessary.It adds flavor to the soup but drain if you want.Combine 22 cups of water,the can of spaghetti sauce,the two cans of green beans and hamburger/onion/grease mixture in a big soup pot.Add hot sauce and garlic salt to taste.Boil for about a half hour.Add the dry elbow noodles and cook until elbow noodles are cooked.Serve with bread and enjoy!



Feeds two hungry adults and fourteen very hungry children. Sounds and maybe looks unappetizing to others but this was 100% approved here. Not a drop left over!

Sunday Sewing Rap Up

I finished my Baby/Toddler Funky Flowers drawstring skirt today. Lily did not really want to sit and have her picture taken today but I think I got a few good pictures anyway.



I just wanted to show the inside of the skirt. After a few days of thinking and few tries I figured out how to cover the inside exposed edges of the bottom ruffles.I have not used my serger for years and have gone back to just the good old fashion sewing machine to make clothes because it is easier for me. It is fun for to try different ways to make the inside look as pretty as it can. I still do not know how to make the inside raw edges on a sleeve look pretty. Someday, I will investigate that.

An Afternoon Delight

This afternoon found us traveling to Joanne Fabrics in Mankato to get my monthly fix of fabric!

I am going to try a very daring thing with my new love for making drawstring skirts...I found this beautiful off-white satin type fabric and lengths of two different beautiful overlay lace. What if I was able to use this to make two very unique drawstring skirts for young girls? Can you envision it? Now, I might come across an unforeseen snag in my design plan. If you see it now don't spoil it by telling me. Part of the fun of creating are those "oops, I should have thought of that before" moments. But until then I am dreaming...



Debbie Mumm fabric was on sale. She really is one of my favorites. These will be four different receiving baby blankets. I decided to use white Soft and Comfy for the backing on all four. When I start on these in a few weeks I will be sure to share how I make them. They are SO easy and pretty inexpensive to make if you get all the fabric on sale.

Funky Flowers

This



this



and this



became this... (cute Anya is my model)



I love how this drawstring skirt turned out! I am making a baby size as well. I hope to get them on my Etsy shop soon. Believe it or not this fabric is from WalMart. Real cute!

They Grow Up So Fast!

Today, My sweet 14 year old experienced a few firsts

Her first pair of high heal shoes.



Her first corsage and gown.



Her first ball dance with...her dad! I'm not ready for her first non dad date for many.many,many,MANY years yet.

Drawstring Skirt Craze

My newest craze it making drawstring skirts. I am so very pleased with how they are turning out. Here are my first three fabrics. I made one baby/toddler size and one young girl size out of each fabric. The real neat thing about drawstring skirts is that the size is not restricted by elastic. The young girl size fits all my girls except Lily,even Elena and Joyce. Of course, the length is above the knees on the bigger girls but still very cute for summer. I should make an older girls longer length version,too. That is a good idea to think about. I put these on my Etsy shop to see what interest there is. So far not much but the fun is in the creating Etsy is my justification sew more than I really need to!




Lily's chubby legs modeling the baby/toddler size. I love those little legs!



Lily once again my baby model. It was quite hard to keep that little one on the chair.



Now Ekie is a vision of beauty isn't she. She was very exited to be my model for this young girl size.



I hope to try my hand at making directions to post on my blog so anyone who is interested can make a skirt,too. It might take a few weeks. Keep checking back!

Over in the Meadow is Here!

Like my new blog title? We do not live by a meadow but I really wish I did. I just like the poem Over in the Meadow by Olive A Wadsworth. For some silly reason this poem reminds me of how I would like to be as a mom. It is inspiring to me. I can not quite explain it but I will try. As I read the poem (it is on my right side bar) it makes me want to love my kids more, to just sit down and enjoy them more. These moms in the poem are not running around like crazy getting all kinds of 'important' mom tasks done. They are being moms but still delighting in their little children. Now, I can not decided if I would want to be the mother bluebird or the mother cricket...Right about now you must be thinking how much you missed my odd train of thought these past few months aren't you!?

On to details about my new and improved blog...

I have taken a few months off to think over my blogging. I decided that although I have enjoyed sharing all of the ups and downs (well,not so much the downs. They were kind of embarrassing) here on my blog, I have been wanting to have a slightly different blogging focus for some time. I just did not quite know how to go about it. So after a few months of pondering things here I go...

You will find a little less journaling about my feelings and emotions ( mostly the negative ones ) which if you have followed this blog a little you will know change very rapidly! No need to take everyone on my crazy emotional roller coaster rides. Ha...I am pretty sure it is a ride my family would like to opted out of every once in a while as well. Maybe a little less detailed family reporting. I would like to use my blogging to focus on the beauty of our family life. I can be a glass-half-empty kinda person and miss the beauty and blessings in the little every day things. Those are the things I want to blog about,the little things. That being said this blog might start to look fluffy and anemic lacking 'real life'. Oh, real life is happening over here and it will continue to be loud,crazy,and sometimes very overwhelming for this old blogging mom. If you start to think otherwise give me an email and I will give you the read-between-the-lines lowdown!

I also love projects. The second part of my new and improved blog will be taking whoever is interested on more of my project adventures. I would like to include tutorials on as many of my projects as time allows me to. Is it too bold of a statement to say that since we are made in the image of God and God is The Creator that the desire for us moms to create beauty for our families and those around us in whatever form it may be can actually be a good use of some of our time? I am sure all of us moms have things that we are good at that we can use to bless our families...sewing,gardening,crafting,math,cooking,science,writing,the list is really endless. It might be boring to some but I will be sharing my many projects on many different subjects. I love trying new things. Not all of them will turn out the way I had envisioned but that is ok. Some projects will be for my family and some for my Etsy shop but either way it will be fun to show-and-tell!


Welcome back!