Welcome, March

We had a mini-celebration yesterday to welcome the first day of March. While the kids were at school, I had an uncontrollable urge to bake something. So I made cupcakes and let the kids decorate them for their after-school snack. They were beyond excited to see what our afternoon activity was!

I think they'll remember the first day of March for a while.

Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is getting so close! And even more, I haven't blogged the first thing about our Christmas season. I was starting to feel bad about it, but then stopped.

And then I got a FB post from a friend (of a friend that I wished lived closer so I could see her every single day!!) who was wondering what I am cooking, crafting and sewing. I think that was the nicest thing someone said to me all week long!!

But it's because I've been cooking, crafting and sewing that I haven't been feeling too bad about neglecting this old blog. So here's what I've been up to.

Cooking
1. pork tenderloins, prepared several different ways. I think my husband would eat pork tenderloin for breakfast, lunch and supper.
2. vegetable soup - I love, love, love this soup. I'm in the minority at my house. I've even tried to think like a child and come up with creative ways to present it. Didn't work. So I've also been making chicken nuggets and mac & cheese. Throw in some applesauce and it's a meal, don't you think?
3. amish friendship bread - my husband WAS eating this for breakfast, lunch and supper. I had friendship bread coming out of every corner of my house. I feel bad wasting all the ingredients and starters, but finally just had to give up. But it was de-lish!
4. banana pudding. it's amazing. And even though I'm out of bananas, I'm about to make some banana-less pudding tonight, in the cozy and quiet of my house. If only I could type faster...

Crafting
1. Knitting scarves to give as Christmas gifts. And one day, maybe after Christmas, I'll do one for me.
2. Does playdoh and paint-by-water count? Needless to say, I'm not doing too much crafting, because I am...

Sewing (Lordy, lordy am I sewing!!)
1. I finally constructed a smocked bishop dress. Like, bought the yards of fabric, cut it out (after I figured out the monster pattern!) had it pleated, smocked it, and finished the dress. I thought I was going to scream several times, but once I finished it and Jordan Ann loved it, I wanted to make another one that very day.
2. Several, several jumpers. But that might taper off, as I was recently informed by my four-year-old fashionista, "I don't prefer jumpers. I would rather you make me smocked Sunday school dresses." Ahhh, I see.
3. Britches & bloomers - britches for Jack, bloomers for JA
4. A pink and brown damask smocked bishop dress for JA. I was determined to get it finished for to wear on Thanksgiving and now she calls it her "Thanksgiving dress" even though there is nothing "thanksgiving-y" about it.
5. Pillows for my sewing room and playroom. Haven't finished it them all yet. Believe it or not, I'd rather make clothes.
6. Super-hero capes for a handful of super-heros in my life. I can't wait for my two to see them for Christmas!
7. Another bishop dress with some serious smocking on it. I'm hoping to get it finished without JA seeing the finished dress and give it to her on Christmas morning. After waiting for me to finally make something with the fabric she picked out, I think she'll be just as excited about this as her Bitty Baby from Santa. You think? Well, maybe not. We'll see.

After Christmas projects
1. Knit hats with crochet flowers
2. Easter outfits - oh, how will I decide on that? And how do you dress a three-year-old boy for Easter? Glad I don't have to decide that tonight.
3. Pillows for my bedroom with leftover fabric from the bedskirt I had made three years ago.
4. Piping. I want to figure out how to sew piping for those smocked piped insert tshirts. That way I still get some "matchy matchy" without the boy john john.

Okay, so that's it. I wish I could post pictures. But that's another reason why I haven't been updating. My computer had a major virus and had to be re-built. I'm working on Windows 98 now. Talk about old school. This is what I had in COLLEGE, people! Needless, there is not a program that can read my pics, much less upload them to the internet. So, you'll have to use your imagination!

Off to make the banana-less pudding. Wish you could come over for some!

Hello, Fall.

It's official. It's fall at my house. Leaves are turning orange and red. I have James Taylor's October Road playing. I'm making chili.* Last week, I baked pumpkin muffins. And just now, I got out the Williams-Sonoma "Spiced Chestnut" hand lotion. It smells delicious.

I hope you're enjoying a taste of fall.

* On Saturday, I noticed a bag at my front door. I wasn't expecting a delivery of any kind, so this was interesting. Turns out, it's a bag full of green peppers. I'm talking like 23 of them. And they look home-grown. Not sure if the person delivering them meant to take them to another house, but I've chopped up two of the smaller ones for my chili. It's going to be delicious. In the meantime, if you're missing a bag full of peppers, let me know. They're at my house.

Crazy for Cupcakes

It's official. She's four. The Cupcake party that she asked for the day after she turned three and that I've been thinking about ever since was so much fun!

We had cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes on Saturday morning. With our friends over to play, we had the best time celebrating Jordan Ann's birthday.

I made the cupcake cake using the best pan from Williams-Sonoma. Those adorable cupcake bites came from the Bakerella website. (Unbelievable, that lady.)

The most fun, though, was the pinata. I'll post pictures of that tomorrow.

Thank you, friends, for coming. And if you weren't here, we missed you! We'll do it again next year. :)

Choo Choo Cookies

I wanted to give something other than toys for the party favors for Jack's party. (Besides, what mother would want her kids coming home with a train whistle? You can thank me later.)

I really wanted to give Thomas the Train trains as party favors but have you looked at the price of them? Times the number of children at our party. Equals not in my party budget.

So I settled for train cookies. I had a ball making these, figuring out how to make royal icing that hardens this century and then bagging them up cute.

My children loved the broken ones. So did my husband. Oh, who am I kidding? I loved them, too.

I'm No "Ace of Cakes".

Are you familiar with that show on The Food Network? I've watched it a couple of times and thought to myself, "what's the big deal?" Yeah, well. I now have a new-found respect for people who bake and decorate beautiful cakes.

I decided to try my hand at it for Jack's party. While shopping online for plates and napkins, I found this cute train pan. I read about it, looked at the pictures and thought I would add it to my cart and see what I could do.

I wanted to do something for his party that was different than the typical cake that matches the napkins or cupcakes (saving that for his sister's cupcake party). So a train cake it would be.

I wrote last week that I had a cake dress rehearsal to see how it would turn out. So glad I did. I ended up making several adjustments and figured out that I was decorating the cake backwards. (Only I would do that!) So decorating the cake for the real deal went much smoother.

I think the most fun was mixing all the icing colors. I felt like I was playing with grown up playdoh.

I wish I had taken pictures of the process for you. But honestly, I was so nervous, that I didn't have the forethought to do so. Instead, here's the finished product.