Garden

my vine-y rambling garden

two watermelons and a rockmelon/cantaloupe/muskmelon/whateveryoucallit

another rockmelon

Josh's idea of a tree with hanging ornaments. LOL =)



my grapevine

Random weird pics of the kids

Beka's hand there, not Emma's

"Cheese!"

Christmas decorating

Can you find the baby?

I guess I should get a picture of the tree all done. hmmmm.....

Thanksgiving

my pics got turned around. oh well, the top is after baking, the bottom is before. =)

I found a cool idea for bread rolls for Thanksgiving and tried it out. I made the dough in my breadmaker and then shaped it like a turkey. I thought it turned out cute.

pictures--almost

well, at this moment my camera is uploading all 188 pictures onto the media centre computer. So I guess I have blog fodder for the next little while. =)

Girls at Sunday school programme

got these photos from someone at church. They are hard copies and I've scanned them in so they aren't the best. Oh well. I've heard that Steve and Jennie have a cute pic of Ben holding Nathan so I'll ask them for it.

bad blogger strikes again

I'm a bad blogger in several ways.
#1 I haven't been blogging.
#2 I haven't been posting pictures to show my mom which is one of the main reasons I have a blog but that's because
#3 I haven't been taking pictures!! I do have batteries in the camera now so did take a couple pics. Now to upload them.
and the #4 reason I'm a bad blogger is because I have been using a great muffin recipe that I am going to share with you and I don't remember where I got it from!!! See?? bad blogger!!!!

Here's the yummy recipe.

snickerdoodle muffins

1 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg~beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil or applesauce

mix them up, divide into 12 muffin cups, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, then put them in the oven at 375F or 180C for 10-12 minutes.

Instead of the cinnamon and sugar (which makes them taste like a big fluffy snickerdoodle) try incorporating blueberries or chocolate chips or lemon peel/juice and poppyseeds, whatever. They are very versatile. I doubled this, used applesauce instead of oil and added blueberries and they came out a little rubbery but I'm slowly checking why since I normally use oil, make a single batch and do cinn/sugar instead of blueberries. Yesterday I did a single batch with the cinn/sugar and used applesauce and they were fine.

And here's another super yummy looking recipe that I found today. I'll be trying this chocolate pudding cake soon.

Christmas card 2009

what I've been up to (with lots of links)

so, I haven't been taking pics much. Partially because it's a pain to upload them and partially because the camera's batteries need to be recharged as do ALL our rechargeables and I haven't gotten around to that. (I think the recharger is on Josh's fix-it desk in the garage/schoolroom and one of my Christmas presents is there too so I haven't been able to look.)

I got into my craft room the other day and did a few things. I cut up a baby blanket/quilt and am almost done making a cover for the seat on the swing. Here in QLD anything that gets left in the garage/shed for any amount of time gets moldy so the swing cover was pretty gross. We've been using a blanket because Nathan laid down in the swing but now that he wants to sit up more it needs the regular cover. I had been thinking I needed to do something but was inspired by Ashley of Make It and Love It when she recovered her high chair.

Ashley is also the inspiration behind one of Emily's Christmas gifts. Her felt Mr. Potato Head is SO CUTE!! Mine isn't quite the same but I like how it turned out.

I made a softie ball and block for Nathan. And I've made him a little doll too. Yes, I know that sounds weird but that's life. =) I know he won't care about Christmas but I couldn't just not give him anything. And I also couldn't resist the little John Deere tractor from Big W. =)

I still need to paint the doll families for the girls. So much inspiration out there but mine look kinda dumb. But I need to remember that the girls are going to love them and that's all that matters.

I have most of Josh's gifts bought but can't share them here because he reads this to check up on me. =) Hi honey!!

GREAT NEWS!!!! Josh says that we can get the S's cleaning lady to come to our house too!!! I try to keep the house tidy but the cleaning kind of goes by the way. But now someone else can sweep, mop, clean my bathrooms, etc.! YAY!!!!!

Okay, I need to get moving. It's so hot and humid here that if I sit too long I might get stuck to the chair! LOL =) Have a great weekend!

had to laugh

In our Young Marrieds' Bible Study we are going through a book on Christian Disciplines. Last week was fasting and I've heard and read so many things about fasting this week. Think God is trying to tell me something??
Anyway, last night's chapter was on solitude. First question--

The last time you were faced with solitude did you welcome it as a friend, or did you shy away from it as a threat? Explain

Really?? Do I need to explain that I embraced it and enjoyed it? I'm thinking the writer of this book wasn't thinking of a mom of young children. =)

see anything wrong with this picture?

(besides the fact that I made it all blurry and pixellated on the off chance that someone tries to copy or get information from it)

Yeah, apparently Nathan has no father or siblings. AND I PAID MONEY FOR THIS!!!

Just can't help myself

Nathan slept as I cleaned out his drawers again. He's outgrown some stuff and I needed to reorganize the clothes for when he's bigger. This was a couple weeks ago so he's even bigger now. and not quite as skinny but still no fat rolls. =) and yes he looks extremely uncomfortable and like he has a broken arm or something but he did it to himself.

Anyway, as he slept I laid out two of my favourite outfits for him. I squealed when I saw that Big W was having a sale for two pairs of shorts for $15~one plaid and one plain. I love plaid shorts on little boys so I bought two sets~one brown and one red. Then I found a couple shirts to match. love love love the outfits and it will be so fun to dress him up when he finally fits in them. Yeah, I bought size 1 because he has way too many clothes for the next little while. So, he should get to wear these next year at this time. =)

a little crafty

I have this gene that I got from my mother. It makes me say "Yes, that is very cute. But I won't pay that much for it. I bet I can make it for myself." So after seeing all kinds of cute calendars made out of frames and vinyl lettering I decided to buy the lettering on etsy. But my crafty gene kicked in (and I also couldn't come up with a good enough justification of money spent to Josh) and I decided to use what I had. I had a 12x12 frame left over after changing the frames in the front room and I had a black Sharpie. I did however have to buy thinline whiteboard markers as ours were all thick and didn't do well. Anyway, I drew out the grid for the calendar and wrote the initial of the days of the week (yeah, totally had to wipe them off several times, wrong order, weren't backwards, etc.) on the back with permanent black Sharpie. Thankfully, it does come off with some fingernail polish remover. Then I put in some scrapbook paper from my stack (another fun thing is that I can change the paper whenever I want and use up some of my cute paper in my mostly unused stash) and closed the frame up. Using my whiteboard markers I was able to fill out the calendar on the front. I actually did this a month ago and on Sunday I redid the calendar for this month. super easy and fun. I especially like it because I have a calendar that I love but I bought it (and spent way more money than I ever have for a calendar) because I want to reuse the pictures. So I didn't write in it this year. And I like being able to look at a calendar and see the birthdays, meetings, etc.

And speaking of cute, (yes, I do think my calendar is cute) how cute are these?? I love Sharpie markers. and cute colours in miniature sizes?? LOVE!! I had to buy them for another cute project that I'll show you another time.