we took the leap...homeschooling the tweebs

My 2 middle guys, Jay and Max, are the Irish twins of the bunch, and so, wound up in the same grade. Max was very ready for kindergarten, but Jay needed some extra help to come along. We have had several struggles with him at the public schools throughout the year, and decided to talk about homeschooling the two of them. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like the right choice. I finally made up my mind when the boys came home after a field trip to a local farm. Their eyes lit up when they told me about riding the pony, and going on a hayride with bunnies. I was thrilled that they had such a wonderful time experiencing those firsts, but my heart broke when I realized I couldn't share it with them. I feel as though I am missing so much.

They are still such little people in the making, and at the end of the school day, I am missing nearly 8 hours of their lives. To me, that is just completely unacceptable. I want to experience the thrill of learning WITH them, I want to watch them plant a garden, paint a picture, ride a horse, read a book, bake brownies, the list goes on! My oldest will still continue in the public schools, he is in many advanced classes (didn't get that from me!!) and very involved in activities, so he prefers to continue on in the school system, but we have decided that elementary school will be replaced with homeschooling for the 4 youngest. I'm very at peace with the decision and can't wait to begin sharing our adventures!

and Visty, yes we ARE all just copycats, lol, you were on to something all along!

my mermaid's 4th birthday!

birthdays are always a special occassion, but for our daughter Stella, they are even more so. She and her twin sister Mya started out as preemies, born 14 weeks early. They were extremely ill, even more so than most babies that early, and were given very little hope of survival. After 6 months of fighting, Mya passed away. Stella made it home after a long rode, and is in perfect health today, with zero long term complications, other than being small for her age.

Her party was at the hotel daddy works at, and of course she asked for an under water theme. She is obsessed with mermaids, and in particular, the Disney movie Aquamarine. She insisted on a pink cake (strawberry), with aqua frosting, covered in orange starfish. Pretty specific, eh?? My hand was in serious pain, and cramped like crazy after piping on all those starfish, but watching her gaze in satisfaction at her cake was well worth it! I think more practice is in order before I try a cake more elaborate than this, but it was fun all the same!

I just had to give her something mama made for her birthday, but in all honesty, after the Dutch costume insanity, I was a bit worn out, so I opted for a totally simple dress stitched up from some Amy Butler fabric that I love (of course, in aqua). I had so much going on this week, that I had only 45 minutes or so to whip it up on the day of her birthday, so the gathers aren't as perfect as I'd like, time maybe to get a ruffler??

beaters and rickrack

I seriously think one of my best childhood memories is of watching bowlside in the kitchen as my mom baked (she was a cake decorator), and my anticipation of being handed the ultimate reward for my patience...a batter covered beater. Heaven on Earth. I perfected the art of wriggling my tounge and fingers just so, so that every last tiny speck of batter made it's way into my mouth. So, as I made my favorite brownies this week, I remembered the glory of licking beaters as I watched my two youngest stare in awe as I mixed. I handed them over, and Stella and Ty looked at me as though I had surely made some mistake, and would momentarily come to my senses and yank them out of their grasp. When it finally sunk in that they could actually LICK them, they went to town. Ty quickly dubbed it his "chocolate sucker". I honestly think they toted them around the kitchen for over 30 minutes.



On to the rickrack. I have some old fabric I am trying to use up, so decided to stitch up a few play dresses for Stella. The first attempt started out as a pattern, but I went off on some crazy tangent, and wound up with a far different dress. Yeah, my improvising skills are a bit rusty, but Stella was giddy all the same.

Sewing purgatory is over...til next Spring.

For those of you who don't know, I live in a Dutch town in Michigan and we have a huge Tulip Festival every year. Complete with carnivals, parades, klompen dancers, and my favorite part, Dutch costumes. I have a love/hate realtionship with the costumes. There is nothing more adorable than watching my little clan run around in wooden shoes, placket pants, aprons, and twirly skirts, but alas, where there are costumes, there is much sewing. Nevermind that my kids seem to be growing at warp speed, and I can NEVER seem to get more than a year or two out of each costume. Tulip Time for me, means elephant ears, funnel cakes, cotton candy, and endless nights hunched over my machine stitching on backwards sleeves, and gathering aprons. Sigh...but the end result is well worth 6 trips to the chiropractor and a full bottle of Advil!!! :)





apparently this is what happens to a dehydrated 10 yearold who walks 2 miles in wooden shoes. trust me folks, it's not a pretty sight!


my oldest's good friend and her own mommy-made costume


yeah, can you beleive after all my hard work, the two middle children peeled off the costumes and donned sweatshirts?!?!?


However, the unlucky baby does not posess the dexterity or freedom of choice that his brothers do, and therefore was doomed to wear his costume endlessly


the Dutch marching band

And back again!

After a looooong break and some home remodeling projects, I am back to blogging. Never to leave again! Or so I hope...

Our oven conked out on me a few months ago, and we only recently replaced it. Something strange took over my body. I donned one of my beloved vintage aprons, and went on a 3 day baking marathon! I swear I now have bread-kneading biceps that would rival that of Bruce Banner gone green. Pictured below, this is what happens when a carb deprived bread junkie gets a new oven...







The honey buttermilk recipe below is my personal fave (I found it on the web and tweaked it), but I also did some
banana-oat bread which the kids devoured. I couldn't stop at just bread, I had to hit up the first day of Farmer's Market to snag some INCREDIBLE local raw honey. I need to run today. Far.


Honey Buttermilk Wheat Bread

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon salt
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour mixed with 3 cups whole wheat flour

DIRECTIONS
In a small mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
Combine buttermilk, butter, honey and the yeast mixture in a large mixing bowl. Add salt and two cups of the flour. Whisk well to combine. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well with a wooden spoon after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and supple, about 6 minutes.
Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees F).
Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves into two lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for about 30 minutes or until the tops are golden and the bottoms of the loaves sound hollow when tapped.

Thank goodness for macaroni and lentils.

They add a bit of color and fun to the otherwise drab and boring snow days. The proportion of glue to macaroni was skewed to say the least, but at least the macaroni won't be falling off anytime soon. Their faces all lit up when they realized they could actually paint the noodles as well as the paper. I myself just had a grand time scooping up the tactile wonderment of handfuls of lentils and elbow macaroni. I think we need a huge bowl just filled with lentils to stick my hands and feet in, and squish them around!!

a fat free craving...

I am beyond obsessed with cupcakes, but as a rule, it's not such a good idea to consume them on a daily basis as I've been doing. Maybe even more than one a day. :O When one of my friends mentioned she wished she could crochet because she saw a darling crocheted cupcake wristlet, well, I jumped at the opportunity to create one for her. I could indulge in the frostingy bliss without the guilt!! It's actually for her daughter's birthday. My own little princess was enthralled by my project from the first second she saw me bust the fluffy pink alpaca and confetti yarn out of the bag. I promised her a second one would be for her (after some legwarmers she's been begging for), but she was all too happy to model this first one for a snapshot. Ignore the Don King hair, she opted to forgo the styling today! It's a great free pattern found at crochetville and written by Cynthia Gurisko. Love it! I chose it over others because of the great ribbing in the "cup" created by front and back post stitches.




what's a little crocheting without a glass of wine?