New skirt

As I sit here watching Project Runway with my husband, I'll show you my latest creation. The shape of the skirt is the same basic A-line I used in my last skirt. The fabric is a cotton khaki twill. What makes it fun is the design I put on the front and continued to the back. First I sketched the design on paper, then transferred it to the fabric pieces using tracing paper and my little tracing wheel.

I used my foot with the hole in the cross piece to make the design. I threaded #10 crochet cotton through the foot and sewed it down with a narrow zig zag stitch. I did most of the design double to make it stand out a little more. The tight turns and corners were a little tricky, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

Fun activities from the family party

Magic Nuudles

Made from corn starch, the girls had a great time with these fun little things. They are little marshmallow looking things. You dampen an end or side and stick them together.

Lemon charms

Grandma had little lemon beads and all of the girls got little lemon charms complete with leaves and blossoms. For the adults and bigger kids we had metal chains with clasps. For the youngest girls we used stretchy plastic cord used for stringing beads.

Coloring books

Grandma put together coloring books for all of the kids. It was mostly the family logos that my talented sister in law and brother drew for the family t-shirts. The last few pages were copies of the primary songs that we sang for our FHE. Here you can see the winning logo. It says Happy Lemons, the theme for the reunion. Very cute.

Summer vacation in Paris... Idaho

What a great week. We had fun in the sun at Bear Lake. We haven't been out of town much in the past several years so this was a new thing for our kids. We had a family reunion at a big family size cabin in Fish Haven, Idaho. One of the favorites things was the swing set in the back yard. Baby girl couldn't get enough.
My Mom had planned lots of activities for the kids. They loved it. The parachute was particularly fun.

There was a lot of talking and visiting and relaxing.

One afternoon while the big kids went to Minnetonka cave we took our little crew up the road to Paris. It is a cute little town.

There is a beautiful old tabernacle.

We stopped for a tour and the funniest thing was that almost on cue a tour bus pulled up and out came French tourists. Well, what to you expect when you go to Paris? French people of course.

The wood work inside the tabernacle was beautiful. It was done by a man who was a ship builder. I can't imagine being a ship builder and then going to live in Idaho so far from the sea.

We thought of getting a snack at the Paris Cafe, but it was closed. County fair I guess.

We stopped at Gladys's in Fish Haven for ice cream and popcicles. We also picked up ice cream and root beer for floats. We saved the treats for after the kids were in bed.

In the evening we had fun with puppet show improv. The kids loved it.

Everyone got a chance to try it out. Some of the funniest was the series of 30 second theater bits where you get a whole movie in 30 seconds. We got Napoleon Dynamite, Beauty and the Beast, and Twilight in less than two minutes.

Buddy boy even got the stage for his favorite joke.

What to you call a bear with no socks on? Bear foot.

He told that joke over and over again all week long. Thankfully people were still laughing after several days of it.

Dad instructed some of the older kids in the finer points of his favorite computer game. They were enthralled.

One of Buddy boy's favorite activities was the bear hunt. Just like the story. Through the rain, over the bridge, through the long wavy grass... Can't go over it, can't go under it, Oh no, we've got to go through it.

The deep dark forest. Then we found the bears with beady little eyes and small wet noses. The bears then chased us all the way back to the house.

There was a little stream running through the property. It was pretty cold, but the kids had fun anyway.

After it warmed up a bit we headed to the lake and the beach. The kids loved it. It was the perfect beach for the kids, shallow for a long way out, and relatively warm, for Bear Lake at least.

All in all, a fantastic week. When Buddy boy got home, in his bedtime prayer he said he was thankful for cousins, and cabins, and beaches. Me too.

...and one jar of cherries

I haven't done a lot of canning since leaving home. Mom would put various fruit and tomatoes in bottles by the bushel. This year my brother in law and his friends "adopted" a peach tree from a farmer in the central valley. For the adoption fee you get the privledge of picking all of your own peaches from your tree and taking them home with you. My share of the crop this year ended up being about 28 pounds of peaches and they graciously allowed me to skip the peach picking part. (Been there, done that.) I bottledmost of them and saved a few of those that were less ripe to eat all week long. I also did one bottle of cherries from the bag than was languishing in the refrigerator. I may do a few tomatoes depending on how the backyard harvest turns out or I might just eat them all myself.

Pizzelles

My grandparents served a mission together in Ohio and Pennsylvania after they retired. Grandma came home making these yummy cookies. They are the perfect summer cookie since they are light and crisp and go perfectly with ice cream. It turns out that these are a traditional Italian cookie and not native to Ohio after all. They are easy to make but a little time consuming since you make them in an iron like a waffle iron. When they cool they are crisp, but they can be rolled into cones or cannoli shells while warm.

Make plenty so that you have enough to eat later. At our house about half of them get eaten before the last ones are finished cooking.

Enjoy!



Grandma's Pizzelle recipe:

3 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups flour

Beat eggs and sugar until smooth. Add cooled butter, vanilla, and milk. Sift flour and baking powder together and add. Drop by teaspoonful on to hot iron and cook until golden brown.

Notes:

You can substitute almond extract or other flavorings for some of the vanilla and add cocoa powder for chocolate cookies. Try lemon juice and lemon zest, also good.

family time

A cute story and a silly song for family reunion and car trip season.

This story made me think of the Washington cousins that came down every year to visit the family. I wondered if they ever got to go anywhere else on vacation. Now we are the out of state cousins though we haven't been as regular at making our visits.

Having been on my fair share of car trips as a kid I can relate to this next one. Actually my grandparents lived fairly close and the car trips are great memories. I'm glad we did it. However, we are not as brave as my parents were in this matter.


I'm So Carsick
(to the tune of "Oh, Susanna")

I'm in my dad's Toyota
And we're now in hour three
I'm gonna visit Grandma
Though I wish she'd drive to me.

We had some lunch
A while ago
A tiny pizza pie
I need a soda or some juice
'Cause boy, my throat is dry!

I'm so carsick
Between you and me
We've been driving for so long that
I am growing a goatee!

Some take the bus
Some take the train
And others get to fly
We're in this car, in the slow lane
I think I'm gonna cry!

I'm so carsick
Gotta go wee-wee
Hey Dad, stop this Toyota
And next time, go without me!

From Take Me Out of the Bathtub and other silly dilly songs by Alan Katz illustrated by David Catrow
This book is worth a look for the hilarious illlustrations and funny lyrics, though you may not want your kids singing these songs at the top of their lungs through the neighborhood.

Can you relate?

Gifts of the Spirit

"We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth." (Article of Faith 7)


“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
“Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil” (1 Cor. 13:1–5).



Gifts of the Spirit - Elder Robert D. Hales
The Spiritual Gifts of Healing, Tongues, Prophecy, and Discerning Spirits - Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith

no campfire required

After seeing this recipe for homemade graham crackers I decided to give it a try. I remember trying other recipes in the distant past without being impressed. These were fantastic, but let's not fool ourselves. They are far from a "healthy" substitute for a cookie. They are in fact a rich, flavorful cookie that calls itself a cracker. I liked them rolled thin and a little bit crisp on the edges with a chewy middle.

With such graham crackers I had to try S'mores. Without a campfire at the ready in the kitchen, I substituted a toaster oven with more than satisfactory results. Who needs a campfire.

W and B

More letter days. We aren't doing this in any order or even very regularly. I just sort of happens while Buddy boy is playing with his Legos while Baby Girl is napping. I choose the letter to go with what we are already doing or eating and go from there. The day we started with Waffles for breakfast and had whole wheat D.W. mac and cheese and watermelon for lunch I had to go with it. We also talked about questions and question words on W day. Maybe some of this sticks.

I ask Buddy boy to name words that start with the letter of the day and we write them all down. Now that he has somehow learned to read, we practice reading the words as well. He isn't writing very clearly yet at all. That will come. Here are some of our words.

Citrus Circus

Here is my latest sewing project. I love these little overalls. They are a little bright to say the least. She looks like an escapee from the citrus circus.

While I was taking the pictures she kept eating the lemons! I know they are fresh since they came off the branch of the neighbor's tree that hangs over our fence. They are good, but sour. I had a hard time getting a good picture because of the sour pucker face.