Heart Pies

I finally tried out my heart shaped pocket maker. I've got a whole assortment of little pocket makers. I've got little empanada kind, heart shapes and a mini lattice pie one that I haven't tried out yet. I wasn't able to have one of these heart pies, but they were fun to make with the kids. These had cherry pie filling in the middle.

Kids and Meal Plans

I became a brunette this week. Here it is. I'm not really sure why I wanted a change, but there ya go. I think this is living on the wild side when you're a stay at home mom.


My new meal plan organizational thing. Instead of buying those weekly stick on calendars, I can see the whole month at a glance. I got this with a gift card someone gave to me and put command stripes on the back to make it adhere to the fridge. So far it's working great. I'm experimenting with planning two weeks of meals at a time. That way I can really work hard at using what we already have and going to the store for a smaller amount of the regular fresh stuff we get. I have started using www.saymmm.com Check it out if you have the time.

Here are the kids playing dress up. Zeke wants to do everything his sister does. Today I let him go around with a bow in his hair. It's so cute to watch them play. Gwen is the leader of the two and she tells him that they are baby kangaroos and he just hops right to it. Sure, they fight some, but mostly they are excited to be with each other. Have you seen two cuter faces than these? Ok, so I know I'm biased. :)

Pawpaw and Chowder

Might I suggest a children's book to you all? We got it recently from the library and it's called "Chowder" by Peter Brown. It has some funny pictures like this with the dog on the toilet. I get a kick out of it.

Pawpaw is moving back to Florida and so we said goodbye. We will miss him nearby but hope this new job is a good one.

Sewing and Movies

My mom got a sewing machine for me for my birthday.  Up until this point, my crafts have been centered around paper mostly.  I'm a little afraid of fabric.  There, I said it.  A piece of paper?  Well... I can just wad it up and throw it in the trash.  I mean, how much does a piece of paper cost anyway?  But fabric?  Yikes!

But today some friends from my small group who also want to learn got together and learned how to thread our machines and fill bobbins and such.  So far my favorite words are "feed dogs" and "bobbin".  I'm going to try to work that into my everyday speech.

Here's my machine.  Ain't she pretty?

This is my first project that isn't done yet.  I took a size 3 skirt I found in the thrift store and I'm making it into an apron.  I will put on a pocket and side straps to tie round and a thing around my neck.  We decided it looks a bit like the little mermaid makes an apron... but I can live with that! Did I mention it's a size 3?  I just think that part's funny.

Yesterday the kids went to the movies for the first time.  We saw Beauty and the Beast.  They had a ton of popcorn and water and loved it.  The first movie I saw in the theater?  I think Bambie.

They also really appreciated the hand blowers.  Those things are pure power!

In The Works

I have recently discovered chalkboard paint. I borrowed some from a friend and painted this lid. I bought yeast in bulk the other day and I thought it would be nice to remember what is in the jar.


I have been working on this project too. I painted these doors in the play room (Beki's old room) with magnetic paint and then chalkboard paint so they can draw on them or put magnets on them. I thought it would be a fun place to practice penmanship. :) I'm feeling the itch to redo this room now. That means scraping more popcorn off the ceiling and painting trim. (sigh) Maybe I'll get to it one day here soon.

I also have been organizing and sorting in the basement. I think I have all the tubs of kid's clothes organized. (thank you Stephanie for the clothes!)

and here is my crafting area as it stands now. I'm going to borrow someone's carpet squares so that should add some sophistication to the dungeon. Benny hung my peg board for me. I really like it.

Baby hutch I love you!

The makings of a garland going up soon. The kids and I had a good time painting today.

This years Valentines. The one on the left says "thumbody loves you" with a little thumb print man and the one on the right will have a sucker inserted for the butterfly body.

What projects are going on at your house?

Crumpets

Here's a recipe I tried this week and enjoyed very much. In fact, we've frozen some and have been enjoying them every day. This yields 25 crumpets... but you won't be sorry. If you have never tried a crumpet, give it a try. It's like a yeast roll in pancake form. Oh, and this recipe is 2 points per crumpet for all you weight watchers out there no matter if you use skim milk (which I did) or if you use 2% milk.

3 packages active dry yeast

3/4 C warm water

3 tsp sugar

1 C warm milk

3 eggs

3 C all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

*nonstick spray or butter for pan

Mix yeast, warm water and sugar in glass bowl. Sit for 5-10 minutes to proof or poof up as I like to call it.

Into that whisk warm milk, flour, eggs and salt until no longer lumpy. Cover and let rise 30-45 min. (check after 25, but the more bubbles the better) Do not stir it after this rise. I made that mistake this time, but I think it would do better to just dish it out in the risen state. Cook on hot griddle or skillet.

Zeke Turns 2!!

These are the kids today. Zeke has found his new "smile." They were watching apples dehydrate. Is that like watching paint dry?

For Zeke's birthday we took him and a couple of his buddies to Little Monkey Business. Boy, did they have a good time. Here he is with Luke dressing up in costume. Zeke is supposed to be smiling.

and here are the girls... Gwen and Katie Beth.

Me and my little friend, Claire.

bouncing at Little Monkey Business.

We also had a trifle at small group. He had been practicing how he would blow out the candles all day. Is he GORGEOUS or what???

The trifle I made for Zeke.

They helped me make the cake for the trifle and were kind enough to lick the beaters. I am on weight watchers now so I told them to watch me and if I look like I might put any of the batter near my mouth to shout "no mommy!" They were happy to hold me accountable and this first week I lost 2.8 lbs. My weight issues is a whole 'nother post all together people.

It seems like yesterday when Zeke looked like this. :)

35 and My Life

Well, another year has rolled around for me and I am 35. Wow! Does that sound weird. It's like I'm an adult or something. Here's some photos of things I've celebrated lately.

Gwen has been working on writing her name for a while and I've been really making sure she forms the letters the right way so she doesn't have to relearn it later. I've recently cut shapes out of foam and let her put letters together like a puzzle. That has been our breakthrough. Here is the first time she wrote her name. I have it on the wall. I am working with Zeke on learning colors and being able to count from 1-10. He thinks everything is either yellow or purple. :)

I got tired of my mitten garland so I made another one to hang photos on from the past year.

Of all the things the kids got for Christmas, I guess their favorite would be the pillow pets. They sleep with them every night and during the day "ride" them and sing She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain. It makes me laugh.


Is it me or is her face changing to a little girl face instead of baby?

Yesterday was a fine day. Actually warm for once in January. We went over to our neighbor's house and jumped on the trampoline. Here is Zeke with his hair all stuck up from the static electricity and he is attempting to smile. :) In a few days he will turn 2. He is becoming very silly and also stubborn at the same time. He is now sleeping on a mattress on the floor. We took down the crib. I felt like he was ready and he hasn't figured out he can get out of his bed yet, so it's good. At dinner time he likes to sing the "go go poopy" song that Ben sang one time and he just cackles like he told a fantastic joke. Ah hem... we're working on that.

Star of Bethlehem

The other day I bought myself some flowers. The white ones are called "star of Bethlehem" and the purple are heather. Love it!

Craft Area and Family Fun

First off, I wanted to show you all my new "thing". I'm attempting to make paper flowers. My goal is to learn how to make several varieties and possibly make some stuff for Beki's wedding. I've got some time, so that's good. :) Here's my first paper flower.

Zeke bumped heads with Gwen yesterday. Look at this goose egg! That head of his gets it very often. Thank goodness for skulls.


We took the kids to the mall and here is Gwen riding on a mechanical car. Does she look happy or what?

On the carousel.

Here are my blue jars that Ben's Grandparents gave to me. I think they are lovely and I will treasure them forever. I'll put craft supplies in them.

I got a calligraphy pen set for Christmas. This was my first project using the calligraphy pen. This is a quote from Gwen that is particularly poignant to me. :)

Well, here it is so far. We got a pegboard up and I think it's not half bad considering I have concrete to work with.

Mystery of the Scooter Revealed- thanks to Beki

Beki, you are brilliant. This is one of the songs the scooter plays... now for the other one!

On a Quest

I'm on a quest to find out what the music on Gwen's scooter is. It's driving me crazy. Here is some nice Mendelssohn to keep you entertained. LOVE his Italian symphony!

Balloons and a bit of Kingsville

I have been feeling like I do this blog just for myself (which is actually some of why I go to the trouble of it... to remember) and then someone today told me they look at it and enjoy the photos. (hi Suzanne!) So... I was inspired to do my post today and let you see some exciting things happening around here. We were in Hy-Vee yesterday (a grocery store) and a person there asked if we wanted these balloons for free. We could not believe our good fortune! I mean... who has a balloon this size of a reindeer?



We spent the day at Ben's Grandparent's home in Kingsville. Ben and I were discussing the landscape in Missouri vs the landscape in British countryside and I was saying that in Missouri you have to look for its special beauty unique to the Midwest. Then we happened upon this car beside the road and I told him to look through the spoiler to see the unique beauty. We had a chuckle over that. Maybe you had to be there... :)

Oh, and Ben's Grandparents gave me many blue canning jars with the metal lids today. I love them and will be putting them to use in my craft area. :)

Christmas 2011

Many exciting things have been happening around the Barreth home. We got siding recently on our home so NO PAINTING! You know you are getting older when siding makes you want to dance a jig.

We had some wonderful food this Christmas. This is an appetizer I made for our Christmas Eve celebration. It has a basil leaf (from my basil plant I brought inside), a tomato and a little mozzarella ball with some balsamic vinaigrette on there. YUM!

Our family before going to the Christmas Eve service.

The kids. They were a handful at the Christmas Eve service. Let's just say Gwen relieved herself in the church's elevator while throwing a fit and Zeke let everyone know he was there too. Merry Christmas!

But, things settled down and we came home to a nice dinner with family. Here are the kids at the kids' table.

Then we put the kids to bed and we adults opened gifts.

This is Gwen this morning with her scooter.

This is Zeke and his new trike.

Gwen and a Cinderella dress I found at the thrift store.

Zeke opening gifts.