You know the old saying..”Life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

Well, I guess I took it to heart. All this snow, while beautiful and fun for awhile, it does tend feel like the very thing keeping you stuck in the house. A love hate relationship. This time of year is trying for all of us. I know I’m not alone. So, instead of falling deeper in the cabin fever rut, we decided to enjoy the snow while being stuck inside. If you can’t beat it..join it or at least try to not think of it as your enemy. (which I’m having a bit of trouble with) 

Making snow cones, with drink of your choice. The Kids picked kool-aid.

Making snow ice cream. While Ben & Jerry’s has no need to worry about the “snow” cream becoming competition. It’s still fun, adding what every flavor your tongue craves. The kids love it and anything to keep them happy in February is worth it.

• 1 Cup of milk
• 1/2 Cup of sugar
• a couple drops of vanilla
• FRESH & Clean snow.
• Add snow to liquids, stir, keep adding snow till you get your desired thickness.

options: chocolate syrup, strawberries, peanut butter or whatever else you want.

I’m a chocolate ice cream, fudge & pretzel kind of gal, but if it’s vanilla ice cream, a scoop of peanut butter with it. You’ve never tried it? You must!

Shout out to all you that are knee deep in snow.

A bit of cabin fever has set in. We were thinking of things to do and decided to make labels and tags for some of our baskets. You know the ones that are meant for one thing but end up with an array of items, turning into a “junk drawer” sort of basket.  The kids set to work, coloring and designing tags.  Getting organized and they don’t even know it. A sneaky mom.

Making these tags gave me an idea. Something most of you might have already found out, they are really cute! And a very ideal and useful project. You’d thought I discovered the wheel how excited I was about placing these around the house. So I got to work and made a few of my own.

Little labels for my flour and sugar jars. Don’t look to close, these are used quite often. All this lead to a lot of work. (not, really) and we were so famished that cookie making was needed.

Now baking cookies is great, but with it being so cold outside we needed warmth. Hot cocoa to go with it.

And what better way to eat hot fresh chocolate chip cookies with warm cocoa?  Eating them in an apron that was made all by one’s wee little self.  She did need a little help with the peddle. She sat on my lap moving the fabric while I pushed the sewing machine peddle for her. It will be a few more years before she can reach, till then we are partners on the machine.

What are you guys doing to pass the beautiful snow days away?

We ……
played,
explored,
gathered,
shared,
laughed,
learned,                                                                                                                                                      talked,                                                                                                                                                             they fought a little,
Back to normal, the four us through the day.

It seems riotous has won out. I’m a little of both. I love order, it’s calming to me, serene and safe feeling. It makes me feel relaxed and peaceful. I can actually think with order. When a lots going on, it seems I can’t clear my head.  The older I get the more I love order and symmetry. I crave it. On the flip side, it something that doesn’t come natural to me, so I have to work at it. Having kiddos running around the house requires some craziness that is just to be. Plus when I’m crafting and working on a project, my craft table it riotous indeed. But that is always a fun mess. So I guess, I just need to keep one foot on each side of the scale and try to keep the happy balance for myself.

We went apple picking this week. Orchards full of peaches, apples, jars of jams, fresh cheese and variety of vegetables. That tells me fall is here. Part of me is excited to curl up in a over sized sweat shirt and pull out my most loved, loved, loved boots. The other part that doesn’t enjoy winter much, well not at all really, wants to wait and cling on to those last few days of summer.  None the less, change of the season is here.

I also want to thank you all for the lovely comments. I apologize for not getting back with a lot of you. You all have been in my thoughts and put smiles on my face.  I’ve also been having more email and hosting problems. They are helpful and fix what issue they have but it’s not long before another problem arises.  I like supporting this hosting company because they themselves support working moms and women, but I do want something that keeps having this many problems. No one likes to randomly not be able access there site, some times days at a time and then find their email doesn’t work either and everything with in that time has been lost. Yes, I lost emails again. For a while now I’m thought of updating and changing things around but I’m very afraid to do anything with the hosting package I have at the present time. I guess time to move on.

SO,  if anyone knows of a hosting company that is very easy to use. I prefer cpanel, and very reliable, with reasonable rates, PLEASE Please, PLEASE recommend someone to me.

Have a Happy and Fun weekend.

Do you have kids that don’t want to eat their vegetables? I have one that hates them, one that loves them and well, one that is sort of in the middle.

If I was a kid, I would eat all my vegetable with these cute little things looking up at me. Wouldn’t you?

Well, if eating veggies isn’t your thing, you can always sleep with them.

WELCOME

Come have a seat. We have lots of goodies for everyone. The kids and I have worked hard to make you feel welcome. When I said “let the party begin”, This is what happened. Hands grabbing for the donuts.  You had better dig in too, because I don’t know how much longer these yummies are going to last.

 

I had to have the party on my favorite table and chair set. The color seemed perfect for a happy day with the kids, you and up to elbows in sprinkles and icing.

Sorry, the chocolate covered strawberries are all gone. They sure tasted good.

We still have some strawberry shortcake left.

And can’t forget your tea. What kind do you prefer? Black,white,fruit,chai.etc.  Let me know what to pour you.

Or do you prefer lemonade?  It’s a pretty hot day and I know kids just love it. I do too!

Lots of mini desserts, a perfect finger food.

And these pretzels were a lot of hard work. Not because they are hard to make, but because of the mess we caused when making them. Some of the sprinkles fell on the counter top instead of the pan we were using to catch them. No big deal. There was some water on the counter top and so the red sprinkles cause it to turn into a red mess. Still no big deal. I just grabbed a few paper towels and was cleaning it up. That’s when it happened. I accidentally knocked over a whole can of sprinkles. The lid had been off so red sprinkles went everywhere. Now these were not the big chunky ones. Oh no, These were the small sparkle ones. Well, it was a lot of work cleaning it up but we got it done between laughing. See here is some of the damage it caused.

I’m so glad you stopped by and I hope you enjoyed yourselves. I know we did. We actually left the table waddling like a stuffed goose but BOY, was it good.

I also have a few little party favors I’m passing out later. And just like most kid parties, You don’t really know what’s in the bag until you get home or in the car. So it’s a surprise. I’ll be randomly picking a few names from the comments.

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

And if you can find the time, spend a day with cookies and cupcakes, sprinkles and toys with a kid. Better yet, let them help make the party and then sit down and enjoy it with them. It will be a memory they and you will cherish.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

We had a wonderful one. Saturday was the birthday and cookout. All the kids had a great time. I’m glad at times like this to have a very large back yard. We had kids on our go-karts, the older ones where on the dirt bike and 4-wheeler. Even the men had to show off a time or two. The other kids were in the canoe & tube. Then after one of the girls slipped off the tube while trying to get out, it started a whole new idea. Swimming. They are braver than me, because there is no way, I’d swim in a pond.  They felt like they were at a regular camp ground. We even thought about camping out but with the storms in the forecast we decided it was best not to. Lucky for us the weather was perfect.

Some of the family that came, stayed all night. Some that lived close by came back over Sunday and we did it all again.  We grilled out again as well, making potatoes and bacon pouches. DELICIOUS.

You take a piece a foil, make sure it’s large enough to fold once you have all your food in it. Lay it flat and fill each pouch with…

 Potatoes. I like them sliced long ways. My sister-in-law likes them in circles

Bacon, cut up into small bit size pieces. It’s easier to cut if it’s been in the freezer for a while but not frozen.

Onions. Diced

Seasoning salt, a fair amount.

You can also add things like green peppers and mushrooms.

Fold up the pouches nice and secure. Place on hot grill with the lid shut. Turn them over during cooking. Sorry but I don’t remember how long we left them on the grill. Once they are done, take them off and add shredded cheese and sour cream. 

The hit at the party was our furry pets. The kitten, who is fearless. He is only about 4 inches tall but will actually chase you down, trying to grab at your ankles. He is hilarious. And the other hit was Ollie. I have to admit I was a little worried about how he acts to strangers. He is not barky like a lot of schnauzer are. He may bark once when someone rings the door bell but that’s about it. If he’s really wound up and playing hard or trying to get your attention. He will do these really weird noises. He does a ya ya ya sound where he changes the tone as he’s doing it. I know he’s trying to say something, but I have not a clue what. He’s famous around here for his weird BURRRR sound. I tried to look on youtube for a schnauzer who does a similar sound but didn’t find any. Maybe he’s wishing to be a Scottish terrier and have that wonderful Scottish accent. The thing I was worried about was how he LOVES strangers. We have really been working with him and his greeting manners. But with all those people, I thought for sure we’d have a crazy dog on our hands. He was a little excited at first but I had the people not pet him until he was sitting nice and quiet. Just after a couple people he was a total gentleman. No running in circles around there legs with his tail and whole back side wiggling. No jumping up on the people and whining to be held. He never jumped into anyone’s lap unless invited but with that said he was in every ones laps all the time, which is his favorite place. Several of them couldn’t get over how you can hold him cradled in your arms like a baby. He loves it and goes totally limp and relaxed. He will even fall a sleep like that.  I just wished I had gotten him a little trimmed up before the weekend.

I was very worn out yesterday so I just puttered around. I did organize my bloglines and add some of my favorite blogs. Hopped over to flickr and organized the rest of my pictures. I was planning on taking some pictures of several craft books I’ve had for a while but never posted about. When I was on Flickr, they were having a upload hiccup yesterday so the books will have to wait till later this week. The next thing I need to hit is my poor blog. I did feel good to get those things cleaned up.

Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum in a dish. How many pieces do you wish. One, two, three…. 

Did you as a child have a favorite saying or rhythm?  I remember all of us girls doing the bubble gum game quite a lot.  But if gums not your thing, How about cupcakes? Can’t go wrong there.

blue bird

Suppose to be a sheep, but I don’t know???

Sneaky Snake

 

 A bunny rabbit

My 3 year olds, bear and she did this all by herself.  She was proud of herself.

A kitten, my other daughter was trying for a sheep too???

Just one happy gang.

I can’t believe I haven’t posted since Thanksgiving.  That seems like months ago!  Well, I can say for sure, we are into winter as you can see from the picture below. This was the beautiful sky and trees that I saw this morning. So, what better day to stay inside where I’m warm with a cup of hot chocolate and cupcakes baking.

These cupcakes were baked with a food allergies child in mind using Cherrybrook Kitchen cake mix. And decorated by happy little helping hands.

There were several people that requested the pattern to the sock horse. The pattern is in the Horse Craft book that I borrowed from the library and wrote about a couple post back. But if you can’t find it at your local library and don’t want to purchase it. I put together a basic idea pattern from what I could remember from the book.  If you need any help understanding my quick scribbles and notes just let me know. It’s pretty simple.

 

I really liked this picture in Country Living magazine.  I would love to have one of those Glass dispensers, the funky glass on the table are cute too, even the table with those curved legs would be nice to have.  When I seen this I instantly thought of one of my roses bushes that would be perfect for putting it’s petals in drinks or soups. The smell is sweetly intoxicating and strong too.  It’s an antique one that I bought a few years ago through this place. I don’t remeber it’s name but If my memory serves me right, It’s from the 1400′s. It was one of the oldest known roses.  I love things from the past like buildings, clothes, romantic history, plants. 

This is a picture of the actually rose. Beautiful.. huh?  

 

Because it smells so good. I’m wanting to make some rose water with it. I found this website that had some great information about green living and the recipe I need.  My roses have been blooming for a couple weeks, so I don’t know if I have actually could get 3 quarts of rose petals from it now.  I may have to wait until next year to make my own 100% rose water.  I found a lot of info at the Care2/Green Living site, a few of them were  crafting while still being green, decorating Green, fragrance quiz. I know I love different scents for different moods but enjoy earthy herby smells the most.  Kimono rose by Thymes is my very very favorite. It doesn’t smell like roses to me. If it wasn’t for the name and looking at the ingredient I would not have guessed that rose was even in it.