Men's shirt sleeves turned into toddler skirt.

The hubby had his mom turn his long sleeved work shirts into short sleeved ones. I was going to throw out the cut sleeves when I figured I could salvage the fabric for some American girl clothes or something. Instead I started thinking about other things to make and came up with the idea to make some skirts for Dimples.      
 

I didn't make a tutorial on how to do these. However, they were pretty simple. I cut each sleeve along the hem and laid each opened sleeve side by side. I then measured my daughter's waist and took in account my seam allowance. After that sewed each piece together and hemmed up the bottom and viola a cute little skirt.

Hand Print Ballerina Tutus

This year for Razy's birthday we had a ballerina party.  We wanted to make it special and send each of the invited ballerinas home with a party favor.  What better than their very own tutu and a handprint tutu.  Want to make your own? Your in luck, they are super easy.

Supplies:

Stretched Canvas (or even paper)

Pink Card stock (or any color you would like

Two colors of pink (or any color you choose)

Ribbon

Hot glue

mod podge

lighter to burn ribbon edges

Lets Get Crafting:

1. Take your card stock and fold it in half to cut out n symmetrical leotard.  I actually found that doing this on a piece of paper and then tracing it onto the card stock was easier and you didn't get a line down your card stock. 

2. Mod podge one side of the card stock and lay it onto your canvas (or paper).

3. Using the light colored paint, paint your child's hands and have them press four times (twice for each hand) onto the canvas under the leotard for your tutu. 

4. After washing your child's hand, paint it in the darker color and place one print of each hand to make the tutu look fuller and have a little depth.  Let dry.

5.  Cut a piece of ribbon to fit across the bodice, above the tutu prints.  I like to burn the edges to keep from fraying to to make it look cleaner.  Hot glue the ribbon down.

5. Tie a bow, burn the tails and hot glue it onto the ribbon you already glued down. 

6.  Hot glue ribbon to the back of your canvas so you are able to hang it.

7.  Sit back and smile at how cute your project turned out.  Don't forget to write the date on the back so you remember how old your little one was when they made this cute project.

Homemade Graham Crackers

It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  JBody is outside with the kids and I am inside preparing a yummy treat for the family.  Well part of a yummy treat.  There is no wind and the sun is out, so JBody and the kids have decided they want to have a fire in the backyard in the fire pit.  So what do you do with a fire pit?  Roast marshmallows for S'mores of course.  However, with Dimples eating solids now we are all out of graham crackers.  No worries...Pinterest came through once again I was able to find a recipe for homemade graham crackers.  The original recipe is from Our Best Bites.  However, I had to modify it by using Agave Nectar instead of honey because Dimples isn't a year yet.  The substitution worked wonderfully. 

I love making things homemade.  Not only do the kids enjoy fresh home baked goodies, but I know exactly what is going into them. 

 

I take no credit for the following recipe.  In fact I encourage you to head over to Our Best Bites to check out the original recipe and to see all the other wonderful recipes they have posted. 

 

Homemade Graham CrackersRecipe lightly adapted from Our Best Bites

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (measured by lightly spooning the flour into the measuring cups and leveling with a flat surface), plus more for working
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar (you can use dark if you prefer a richer flavor)
2 tablespoons agave nectar

Instructions:
Whisk together the flours, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, brown sugar, and agave. Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture. Beat until combined.
Lightly flour a work surface (a silicone rolling mat or wax or parchment paper work great because you can transfer the dough directly into the fridge) and turn the dough onto the floured surface. Roll the dough out until it’s 1/8″ (you may need to work in 2 batches). Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350.
Cut the dough with your favorite cookie cutters or a fluted pastry wheel (in my case a pizza cutter) and place on a baking sheet. Refrigerate or freeze for another 10-15 minutes or until the dough is very firm. If desired, use a fork to prick the dough to ensure even baking. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until very lightly brown around the edges (it can be a little tricky to tell), being careful not to overbake. Makes about 2 dozen graham crackers, although it really varies on how thick your dough ends up and how large you cut the graham crackers.

My Tips
*agave substitutes nicely in this recipe.  Just sub for same measurements.
**This recipe doubles nicely.  Just takes a while. 
***WATCH CAREFULLY.  I ended up baking my crackers for 9 mins. 

****I stopped worrying about pretty crackers and cut my rolled dough with the pizza cutter.  I then placed the whole sheet into the freezer and then broke them apart before baking.  This was a lot faster. 

Can't wait to try these with the kids when we make S'mores this evening.

***UPDATE*** 

The crackers held up nicely for S'mores.  Doble told me that I should make them all the time for S'mores and that they make the best ones ever.  SUCCESS!

 



 

 

Banana Oat Breakfast Bars & Baby Banana Finger Food Snack

What do you do with really ripe bananas?  You make breakfast cookies of course. 

These are very simple and packed with flavor.  And did I mention super healthy.  No egg, no flour, no sugar!  My kids ate them up quick too. Original recipe was found HERE.

 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups oatmeal, quick or old fashioned ~ uncooked

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup unsweetened applesauce ( I used our homemade applepearsauce)

1/3 cup raisins, or craisins (the craisins give it a nice sweet bite to it)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (or regular, if you prefer) ** see below

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon (or more, to taste) 

 

**We have a nut allergy in our house so we omitted the walnuts however, I think the next time we make them we will add hulled pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds.

***The possibilities for add in are endless.  How about chocolate chips, coconut, other dried fruit, seeds, etc..  Over at Watching What I Eat, she has other breakfast cookie ideas.

Directions
Preheat heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix vanilla extract & cinnamon into the applesauce.

Blend applesauce mixture with all other ingredients & let sit for 10 minutes

Drop cookie dough, by spoonfuls, onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet & flatten cookies into rounds.

Bake approx. 20 - 30 minutes, or until golden & done.

Remove from oven & let rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack.
 
Store in a covered container when completely cool.

 

 

And we can't forget our little Dimples.  She can't have the craisins so we made her her very own rendition. The original recipe can be found HERE.  However, I omitted the salt.  Babies don't really need the salt and they tasted fine without it.

 

Ingredients

2 cups quick oats
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2-3 overripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

 

Directions

Preheat heat oven to 350 degrees.

Grind 1 cup of oats into a powder and put into a bowl

 

Mix the rest of the oats to the powder mix, plus the salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg

Mash bananas

 

Mix vanilla and coconut oil to the bananas, then mix it into the dry ingredients

 

Pipe dough, onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet

 

Bake approx.12 minutes, or longer if you prefer them to be a little harder

Remove from oven & let rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack.
 
Store in a covered container when completely cool. 

 
 
 

I used my vitamix to grind the oats, however, a blender or coffee grinder will do the trick.

 

 

 
 
 

To pipe, place the dough into a strong Ziploc bag and cut the end off one side.  Be sure to close the top especially if you will be having little helpers.

After awhile he got tired of piping and asked if he could make lines that we could just cut.  Smart kiddo.  Little did he know that is what the original blogger had recommended.  

She loved them....and so did everyone else.  I found myself sneaking pieces from her whenever I would feed them to her.

The end product almost looks like cooked sausage.  My sister in law actually asked what I was feeding her. 

 

Do you have any healthy snack recipes you would like to share?  They could be for baby, yourself, or the older kiddos.  I would love to hear and try them.

DIY Dishwasher Detergent

So the other night it was about 11 o'clock and I was just about to go to bed.  However, I remembered that I needed to start the dishwasher.  OOPS we were out of detergent!!  I remember seeing a pin on pinterest for a DIY detergent so I quickly headed over to pinterest.  After some searching and finding formula that I actually had all the ingredients to I set out to make it.  It was super quick and easy. 

 

I rounded up my ingredients

2 cups Baking Soda

2 cups Borax

1/2 cup Kosher Salt

 

 

Some recipes call for washing soda and citric acid, however I didn't have either.  Baking soda will do the same thing as washing soda. Although many people like the citric acid (or lemon Kool-Aid) it can actually leave streaks and scratch your dishes over time.  It will however help with the clumping of your detergent.  I have yet to get clumps since it has only been a couple of days, but when and if I get them, I have read you can put a panty hose with rice into your container of detergent.

 

You may also substitute Epson salt or another course salt for the Kosher salt.  The salt is used to help soften your water and it helps as a scouring agent to clean your dishes. 

 

Mix up all your ingredients.  No need to used special containers to do so since you will be using the same stuff to wash with!

The recipe actually fit perfectly into a quart sized mason jar. 

Vinegar can be added to your rinse cycle to help with any streaks and fogging on your dishes.

Here is a picture of my dirty dishes.  I rarely rinse my dishes before hand and I wanted to see if this detergent could cut through all the grime I leave on my dishes. 

1/2 TB in each compartment will do. 

1tsp vinegar in the rinse cycle if you choose to do so.

 

Look at those sparkly dishes.  Looks like someone moved my straw from spot to another.  I couldn't get a picture fast enough before the kids needed to eat breakfast. 

 

I have been very pleased with the outcome of my dishes.  I couldn't get a good picture without a glare of my glasses, but the ones with this detergent came out CLEANER than the old store bought stuff. 

 

The best part is.....wait for it.....This detergent cost me $0, Nada, Nothing to make.  Okay it would have if I didn't have any of the items.  But most of you probably already have all three things in your house.  That made the whole thing so worth it to me.  I really didn't want to make a trip to the store at 11pm and I really really didn't want to wash them by hand.  I know call me lazy, but there are other things I would much rather be doing with my time. 

 

Let me know if you try this DIY out or not.  Or do you have another homemade cleaning recipe you would like to share?  I would love to try it out!

 

After I run out of laundry detergent I plan on making my own.  I will have to let you know how it turns out.

Spring Break {Day 1}

Like most schools, ours is on spring break.  In the past we have done a Staycation Destination Game and Project Pinterest.  Once again we are staying home. However this time I am not putting any pressure to do anything that must be posted daily or that has to be accomplished.  I just want to spend some time with the kids and see where each day takes us.  The weather is SUPPOSED to be better than it has been in the past.  Most years we enjoy spring break in our rain boots.  This year the weather is going to have a few sunshiny days and we are hoping to take advantage of them. 

 

 

Day one found us at the park. Dimples was introduced to bubble for the first time and seems to really enjoy them.  She tends to be a little cautious of some things and bubbles were one of those things when she first saw them.  After the park we went to Dairy Queen for a small cone!!  Mmmm a rare treat lately, as mommy is trying hard to eat better. 

It was also the first day of the year that we were able to go and enjoy the park.  Lil' E kept telling me thank you over and over.  I guess I need to take them out more often.  It just has gotten harder now that there are 4 kids against one.  That is not to say we don't do anything fun.  They have all been keeping me busy with sports and school and I did take them to the zoo (by myself) in February.  The girls and I also go out for walks while the boys are at school.

Hopefully I will keep you updated with the fun things we do during spring break, but know that if I don't we must be having so much fun that there is just no time to post. 

 

What fun things do you do with your little ones during spring break?  Do you stay home? or travel?  Are you lazy?  or do you keep busy?  I would love to hear from you.

Easter 2013

I can't believe that it is already Easter time.  It feels like we just had Christmas.  However, with the beautiful spring weather we are experiencing I am not going to complain that it yet again this time of year.  I think the hardest part for me about it being Easter is that Dimples is almost 11 months.  I really don't want her to be that old.  It makes me sad to think that my last baby is soon turning into a toddler. 

 

Like every other year, we spent the Saturday before Easter over at Duema's (JBody's Mom) house.  The kids had a blast looking for eggs (over 300 in total between the big kids and little kids).  Dimples held onto the one and only egg she found for the majority of the day. 

Poor Razy woke up Saturday morning throwing up.  But stayed well enough to search for some eggs for a bit.  Her hair was a mess, but I wasn't fighting a sick little girl on her looks.

Lil' E and Doble spent some of the afternoon over at the pond with cousins.  They came back to show us the salamander eggs they found.  Yes they did return them to their original spot.

I can't get enough of this cute little ball of sunshine.  Always smiling and always showing off those cute dimples. 

After the festivities, Lil' E and JBody worked on their pinewood derby car.  This is Lil' E's first derby race and he and daddy are excited for the big day.  The car he is holding is his extra one. 

 

Sunday morning we got up and the kids checked their Easter baskets.  Poor Daddy was super sick and so he stayed downstairs just long enough to see the kids get excited and then went back to bed.  We all (excluding JBody) got dressed and headed to church where the kids did awesome singing with the primary.  After church Mema (my mom) hid eggs at our house and the kids, their cousins, and a couple church friends looked for eggs.  Then we piled into the car to have Easter dinner at Mema's.

After dinner we took daddy out for some fresh air to see the pretty cherry blossom trees that are in full bloom.  Oh and the kids had their jelly beans grow into lollipops again.

 

 

We had a wonderful, beautiful Easter with our family.  I am so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. He Lives!!!  and through him I know that I will one day be resurrected and be able to live my family for eternity.

Introducing Dimples!

Meet Dimples!

Our newest edition was born May 15th at 1:46pm. 

 (I know she is making her bloggy debut a bit late). 

She weighed 5 lbs 15oz

and was 19 inches long. 

 

Can you see why we call her Dimples?  She was only 11 days old here and you can see those dimples clear as day.

 

Just a few pictures of the last 10 months with this bundle of sunshine.  We have been asked if she ever doesn't smile.  Not too often.  She is always so happy for the most part.

 

Dimples at 4 months.  Love Love Love this little girl.

She is so loved by her siblings.  Our family wouldn't be the same without her. 

Can you tell who these babies are?  One is Dimples and one is Peaches (Me). 

I not only see her resemblance to her brother, Doble, but she and I could have been twins 31 years ago.

 

There you have it.  I know I am late, but I told you yesterday that I would introduce her.  It took awhile to come up with her bloggy name.  I liked Sunshine and Doble liked Dimples.  Both are very fitting.  But how can you not call her dimples?  Look at the picture on the right.  You can not only see one dimple, but there are THREE!!  She is full of them.  The two deep ones on her cheeks she gets from her daddy.  The little one under the eye is from mommy. 

 

Hello again!

Wow.  It has been almost a year since I have last posted.  I am a bit embarrassed.  I think I have a good excuse though.  With the birth of our 4th last May, our life became just a little more busy.  And on top of that I decided to less busy my life.  Many things went on the back burner.  One of those things being this blog.  However, I am glad to report, I am back.  Hopefully to post things a little more often. 

So what have we been up to?  Well that is easy.  THE KIDS.  Sports, school, church, home, LIFE!!  Our new little edition (not so little anymore) has our favorite thing to keep us busy.  I will have to post about her in a later post. 

This post is just a little shout out to say HELLO AGAIN.  We are still here and with the start of Spring Break, ready to start posting some of our fun projects and adventures.  Before heading off to baseball practice in 30 mins I though I would share with you two of our little beauties. 

To you remember this little beauty.  Razy is now 5 1/2.  Where is my little girl going.  She has become quite the little lady.  I found an idea similar to this on pinterest and made it my own by having her hold a picture of the Seattle Temple (where JBody and I were sealed).  She had quite a fun time wearing my wedding dress and even showed her friend that day the dress she got to wear.

 Now meet our newest edition.  Can you believe that part of the reason I haven't posted is because I can't come up with a name that is fitting for this spunky, cute, bald, baby?  I know lame excuse. Without further ado here she is (well her back side).  We will reveal more latter.  Lil' E hates this picture because is shows her bum.  He thinks we need to blur it out. 

Summer Fun Schedule

I have a lot to catch up from the past 2 months, including the recent birth of our baby girl on May 15th.  However, before I do I want to share with you a fun way to spend your summer vacation with your kids.  I was recently looking on pinterest for fun things to do with the kids.  There are hundreds of ideas and so little time to do them in. I was trying to think how we could implement these ideas into our summer.  I am hoping to have our summer be fun, educational, simplified, and relaxing.  I came upon to summer schedules that can help with this.  However, I am not going to force myself to stick with this schedule 100%.  A brand new baby, and three other siblings definately alter schedules all the time. But with these fun schedules it gives us something to build upon this summer. 

Make it Monday: This can be anything from building with the Kinex and Legos, Craft projects, Baking, you name it. 

Take a Trip Tuesday: There are lots of fun places to visit where we live, whether it be somewhere outdoors, or just a walk to the park.  You can visit the library, a museum, the pool, or  grandma's house. The kids are always asking me if we can have a bike ride.  I think there will be lots of these (whether permitting) this summer.
Time to Read Tuesday:  This was another great idea.  I really am hoping that Lil' E can continue to practice his reading this summer in a fun way.  This would be a great time to take a weekly trip to the library to choose books to read during the week. 

Wet Wednesday: Around here this is subject to change all the time.  Obviously if it is great weather on Monday and the kids want to go out and run in the sprikler they can.  If you live somewhere where the weather is always sunny you could easily make this a set day.  You could take a trip to the pool, get the sprinkers out, or have a water fight.
What's Cooking Wednesday:  This is more realistic for us.  Lil' E and Razy love to help me when I am in the kitchen and they are always asking if they can help.  Whether you choose to make cookies or have the kids help with a dinner or lunch menu they would have a blast doing it. 

Thinking Thursday:  I really like this idea.  Lil' E was really into science this year and I found some fun experiments to do with the kids.  Thinking thursday would be a great day to do those.  You could also use this day to learn a new skill or learn about something you have been interested. 
Be Thoughtful Thursday:  I also really liked this one too.  Today could be used as a day to get to know your neighbors by taking them a goody that you made on Wednesday.  Or maybe write a letter to a friend or teacher.  There are endless things to on thoughtful thursday.  Today could be used to focus on service and kindness.

Friend Friday: The kids love playdates and after talking with JBody we have decided that we would much rather have friends come over to our house than have our kids go to friends houses.  This way we can control what they are learning and taking in.  Yes this potentially means 3 more kids every friday, but sometimes it is easier to get it all done in one day and use the rest of the week to focus on family time.  Besides have you noticed that sometimes it is easier to have extra kids at your house because they are the ones entertaining you kids instead of you?

Now that I have put up our not so much set in stone schedule, let me also tell you what the kids need to do to earn these fun outings and activities...Bedrooms and small chores need to be done before hand. Yep that is all I have asked from the kids.  So as long as they get up and make their beds, and make sure their playroom is clean they are good to go.  They do have other small chores to do throughout the week, but those are on a need to do bases when mommy asks. 

I have also set up a system for them to earn tokens that can be redeemed for Kinect and TV time.  Every day the kids have a list of things to do each day.  If they chose to do them they get a token and those tokens can be used to go for tv time and kinect.  This list includes:

Reading: Atleast 20 minutes.  If they choose longer they can have more tokens.  Reading can be done alone, or with a sibling.  Asking mommy or daddy to read to you also counts.

Writing: Every day I would like the kids to write in their summer journal.  For the little ones this could mean drawing a picture and dictating to me what it is they drew.  They can write about whatever they want. 

Physical: They can do this alone or with their siblings.  They can ride their bikes, or take a walk, play tag, or just play outside. 

Practice: This is a time to practice a skill that they would like to.  This could be reading, baseball, riding a bike, music, ect.  Any goal that they have chosen. 

Home: If they would like to earn extra tokens they can ask me for a chore that needs to be accomplished.  The skies the limit on mommys choosing.

They can earn extra tokens for doing extra time in each of these areas or by taking time to help eachother out.  I am hoping this not only helps our summer run smoothly, but that the kids will get along with eachother and learn a little extra something before school starts again. 

Today's Easter Message

The Lamb of God

There are three parts to this video. 

For some this can be hard to get through.  I know that it has always been one that has brought tears to my eyes as I watch.  To see the pain, mocking, and cruelty the Savior went through on my behalf. 

Week Long Easter

Today's Easter Message

He Lives



I love hearing the testimonies of our latterday apostles.  As the kids sat and listened I was impressed that even my four year old recognized each one the spoke.  This truely has been an awesome week.  We were able to start it off with General Conference and then end with Easter. 

Week Long Easter

Today's Easter Message

Sunday Will Come

What a wonderful reminder to us all that although we may be in sorrow and pain in our lives right now, Sunday will come.  Christ will return and we will be free of all our pain, lonliness, and sorrow.  He overcame death to make this possible. 

Day 4- Project Pinterest

Today was a fun and busy day.  I will be honest, we didn't actually get to do a project today.  However, I am posting one that we did about 2 weeks ago.  No worries, I am hoping to post two tomorrow.  Lil' E feels kind of jipped that we didn't do a project eventhough, we went to the park, went to the beach, went to get icecream, went swimming, and went to baseball practice today.  So before I post pictures of our day I will share you with our project.

Today's Project Pinterest

Homemade Icecream

You will need

2 cups heavy cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2tsp mint extract

mini chocolate chips

Add your heavy cream to bowl and whip.

Whip until stiff peaks form.

In another bow add can of sweetened condensed milk, extract, and chocolate chips. I added food coloring for the added effect of mint icrecream. Mix all these together.

Fold your heavy cream into your milk mixture.

Place into a container

Freeze for 6 hours or until set.

This icecream is really yummy and so easy to make.  I love that you don't need ice or salt either. 

Don't like mint? Try other add ins. 

You could add anything to your sweetened condensed milk to create your own flavors.

We also made smore icecream by adding 3 TB butter, crushed chocolate covered graham crackers, mini marshmellows, chopped hershey's chocolate.  Once we started placing it into the container we added swirls of hot fudge then froze.  MMM! 

What flavor would you create?

Our Fun Filled Day!

We started our day with cleaning.  Fun no, necessary yes.  This spring break I have not only been trying to do fun things each day, but get at least 2 loads of laundry done, and clean 2 rooms in the house (clean clean, not just surface clean).  We finished our chores, packed a lunch and waited for Mema to arrive.  Then we loaded the kids into the car and headed out.

We went to Chetzamoka Park.  The kids got a kick out of the fact that their daddy used to work there before he left for college.  They really enjoyed playing on the monkey bars. 

This is fun!

Look what I can do!

Okay wait, I need some help!

MOOOOOOOOOOMMYYYYYYYYYY!

Trying to get a picture with the kids is so hard.  Razy is in that "I need to be silly posing stage."  They all have their forced smiles.  I am just thankful for professionals who know what they are doing and have captured great photos of the kids, because it can be so hard.

They do love their Mema.  They love going places with her and they were happy to find out that she would be joining us. 



After the park we headed down to the beach.  Mema likes to look for sea glass and the kids tried finding some for her.  No luck.  They did find lots of shells and rocks. 

We continued our adventure into town to visit the local icecream shop (no photos).  We each got a cone and then checked out all the gourmet candies.  Mema treated the kids to some jelly bellies.  They took their time selecting which flavors they wanted.  However, once getting into the car, Razy exclaims "I didn't want jelly beans" Icecrem and then jelly beans,? I think it was too much for her in such a little time. 

Next we met up with our cousins and enjoyed some swimming time.  They love the indoor pool because we can go during anytime of weather.  Our favorite is when we visit in the winter and go sledding and then swimming.  We couldn't stay all day and had to head home to get Lil' E to baseball practice.  It was cold, but fun to watch him crush those baseballs out in the outfield.  He gets so excited when he does. 

Well that was our fun day.  What did you do today?