I see London, I see France

Can you see Tess' underpants?

I have been trying to finish up a few projects that I am very excited to share soon.

I am in the middle of laundry and working on the computer.  I can hear Tess playing near me, and I looked over to see what she was up to.  Tess has turned our spoons into babies.  She wanted to wrap them up and put them to sleep like all good mothers do.  The laundry is in the hallway and easily accessible.  Tess decided to swaddle her spoon family in her under wear and socks.  What a tender mother she will be someday.  

Back to work

After a long weekend of family fun it's time for me to get back to work.  Mommy work.  While my family was visiting I let me hair down and didn't worry about keeping things tidy.  My little Tess is a mess maker and she didn't hold back this weekend.  Tess had a great time playing with her cousins so all messes were totally worth it.  We enjoyed good food, shopping, video gaming, and lots of laughing.  It is bitter sweet when everyone is gone.  It feels good to get the house back in order, but also a little lonely without my Mom and sisters around.  I will just have to look forward to the next time we can all be together.

Treat Yourself

Tess has been asking for chocolate coins.  I took the kids to Pirate O's.  It's a gourmet food store here in town.  They have imported cheese, butter, and candy to name a few things.

Tess got her chocolate coins.  I tired to persuade Davis to get some Kinder chocolate, but he chose a giant pixie stick instead.  Collin wanted everything and anything he could reach.  He ended up with Pocky sticks.  I love those things.  I wish the store carried Hello Panda too.  Sadly they don't and I will have to keep looking.  I loved those little pandas when I was younger.

I did a quick stroll through the rest of the store before checking out. This beautiful bottle of French soda was caught my eye.  I don't really care for soda.  The burn of the carbonation kills me.  So, I wasn't convinced that spending 5 bucks for something I don't like to drink was worth it.  The flavors intrigued me though, and I couldn't leave without asking the cashier what he thought about it.  I was really close to buying the blueberry, but he recommended the French Berry.  (It's strawberry with a little grape.)
I absolutely loved this soda.  It wasn't syrupy.  I didn't feel that typical acid burning my throat I get with Sprite.  I am in love with this French soda.  I have never been to France.  Is all French soda this delightful?  I am totally taking this to my next picnic.  What are you treating your self to lately?

Yeah for Breana!

Last week my sister had a birthday.  Yeah for Breana!

This week she is graduating from college.  Yeah for Breana!

Breana is replacing studying, and text books with the world of paper crafting, and card making.

This is the perfect hobby for Bre.  She is so detail oriented.  We are strong proponents for hobbies, and gave her a fun bag full of paper, ribbon and embellishments for her birthday present.

Tess asked for a card and Breana whipped this up for her.  

Breana, congrats on the graduation!

 (and finding a hobby)

The Girly Gala

My friend Cassie is having her 5th baby girl this month!

To celebrate, my friend Gina threw a smashing party.

Moms and girls attended in their girliest attire.  This was easy for Princess Tess, and a stretch for me.

We enjoyed a yummy brunch with everything sweet and pretty.

Every girl received a flower as she came in.  The house was decorated in all things girl, pink and fun.  

The 16 plus little girls put together a collage to decorate the new baby's room.  

It was quite the piece of abstract art, but so full of love and pizazz.

It was a fabulous party.  

Good Luck to Cassie as she tries to pick another little girl name.

GIRLS RULE!

Time to toss them.

These are Davis' shoes.

I think we have maximized our purchase.  

Time for a new pair of shoes.

Preparing for House Guests

When preparing for house guests most people do a few standard things:

1.  Wash sheets for guest.

2.  Clean bathroom.

3.  Set out fresh towels.

What does a procrastinator do when house guests are coming?

Sew a new decorative pillow of course!

I couldn't wait any longer to use my new fabric.

I had a plan, but wasn't sure if it was going to work.  I wanted my pillow to have piping and a zipper.  I just kind of went for it, and I am so happy with how to turned out.  I didn't take pictures a long the way, but I found two great tutorials.

Visit Cottage Magpie for a fold over pillow cover.

or

House on Hill Road for a zipper pillow cover.

Don't worry Mom, I will at least get you a clean towel to use when you arrive. ;)

Have a great weekend.

My Latest Finds

My husband is a big music guy.  He knows just about every song on the radio from any station.  I stink at the "name the band" game and he rules.  Mike was excited to tell me about this website called PANDORA.  Have you already heard of it?  It is radio on the internet.  He uses it on is blackberry and now we use it every day on our home computer.  

pic from goole images

I am horrible at names of bands and songs, but I know a few.  You can create stations to play the music you like and other bands that are similar.  It's a great way to find new music, and you can buy it right there too.  If you haven't heard of it, go check it out right now!

image from LMNOP

I love getting my weekly newsletter from LMNOP.  It's an online magazine that comes out several times a year.  They have a weekly newsletter, blog, and just a bunch of cool and hip things from down under.  It's an Australian company!  This week they featured upon a fold.  

 

image from upon a fold

Upon a fold is a website/blog featuring all things paper.  I couldn't stop looking at all the cool things made out of paper.  Take a look some time.

It's no secret that I enjoy sweets.  I made this, this and this in the last week.  When I saw the sign of a gourmet bake shop opening in Draper I was so excited.  I told Mike I didn't know what they were going to sell, but I was going to buy whatever they had and love it.  I love supporting local shops!  

 image from The Sweet Tooth Fairy

The Sweet Tooth Fairy is so darn cute, and their goodies are delicious!  I stopped in with the munchkins and picked out some treats.  I bought myself a raspberry lemonade cupcake.  I really wanted to take a picture of it, but after one little taste I couldn't stop eating.  I need one now!  The Sweet Tooth Fairy totally lived up to my expectations.  Stop in for some sugar some time.

Inside Outside Matching Bags

My sister in law wanted a couple of Road Trip Satchel's for some birthday presents.  We worked out a fantastic trade.  A little sewing on my part, for some overnight baby sitting!  Lucky me.

Sara's twin nieces are turning 5.  She's going to fill the bags with coloring books and crayons.  How fun.

I bought this fabric a while back at Joann's.  My original plan was to make some aprons with it, but I LOVE how these two bags turned out.

Each bag has a different color zipper for some added flare.  As with most of the things I sew the colors coordinate, but are not too matching.  

Have you made a road trip satchel?  I would love to see pictures of any projects made from my tutorials. Email me saltypineapple@gmail.com

Bathing Suits and Overcoats

I have heard that kid's taste buds are not fully developed when they are little.  Things that are sour or spicy for me, might not be so for my little ones.  Does anyone know if this is true?  I was wondering if cold affects kids differently than adults too? 

Tess demanded that she wear her bathing suit to play outside.  She wanted Collin to play with her.  This was around 8:30 in the morning.  It was still cold, and I knew I didn't want to go outside.  Strangely enough they were okay with the cold.

After I was unable to bring the play house into my family room, I persuaded Tess to wear a coat.  Yes, that is snow to the right of the playhouse.

In other family news, Collin finally got the hang of a sippy cup yesterday.  Bye Bye ba bas.

Isn't this fabric fun.  You may have noticed it in my last two posts.  The red with white polka dots has an acrylic coating, so it's wipeable. Awesome.  I couldn't resist the crab fabric.  I loved that it was kind of weird.  I found these both at Ikea last week.  I think I'm going to use the crab fabric for a pillow.  My basement has a Hawaii flavor, and I think it would fit in nicely down there.  I'll post pictures when something gets finished!

UPDATE:  The photos of the kids outside were taken on Monday the 12th.  Less than 24 hours later we woke up to this.

SNOW.  That's spring at our house!

Just about...

Every Sunday Mike makes cookies.  We usually have a big lunch after church and then eat cookies for dinner.  I'm not sure if this is a fun tradition or a bad habit.  Whatever it is, it tastes good!

We have several chocolate chip recipes that we rotate through.  This Sunday Mike baked the classic Nestle Toll House recipe that's printed on the chocolate chips bag.  You really can't go wrong with that one.  I like dark chocolate and the kids like milk, our compromise is semi-sweet.

The iheartfaces photo challenge this week is "I Heart Desserts."  Chocolate chip cookies aren't the fanciest dessert, but they are one of my all time favorites.  Go to iheartfaces to see more tasty food pictures. 

Disappearing Act

I recently found this awesome website called Food Gawker .

I saw a link to some soft peanut butter cookies and thought I should give them a try. 

The kids and their friends are always willing to try another cookie.

This recipe was simple and quick.  It calls for honey, which I had never used in peanut butter cookies before.  It adds sweetness to the cookie.  I rolled my dough slightly bigger than the recipe called for, and then had to increase my bake time.  

I could hardly even get a picture of the cookies before someone was trying to swipe them.

Cookies don't last long in our house.  

Check out Food Gawker for lots of recipes and awesome food photos to boot.

Easy Envelop Bag

This is a quick tutorial on how I made the birthday bag for our friend.

I apologize for the dark pictures, I put this together late at night.

Supplies:  2 pieces of fabric that measure 12 x 24 inches.

Nylon belting ( cut to your desired length)

A sewing machine

1.  Lay fabric right sides together.  Sew the two long sides and one short side.  I used a 3/8 inch seam.

2.  Flip the fabric right sides out and iron.  

3.  Take the fabric on your open end and turn your edge in about 1/2 an inch. Iron it flat.

4.  Stitch the opening closed.  I sewed two stitches about 1/8 inch apart.  

5.  Lay your fabric rectangle down with the outer fabric up, and the opening you just stitched closed away from you.  Fold the short end closest to you up about 8 inches.  Sew the two sides together to create a little pocket.  Flip right sides out.
6.  Measure out the length of strap you want.  I used a 30 inch strap for a 4 year old little girl.  The bag in these pictures has a 32 inch strap, and it seemed a good length for my son who is a small six year old.  Use a lighter to melt the ends to prevent fraying.  Center the belt strap with the side seam and stitch it in place.  I set my strap about an inch down and sewed it in place with a box stitch (a square with an X inside).

This bag is really versatile and can be scaled up or down.  

Look for this bag at my booth in the Beehive Bazaar.

Mrs. Potato Head

Lately I just want to be a couch potato and watch t.v.. 

Alas, I am surrounded by piles of this

and this, so there is no time for couch potatoing. (spell check doesn't like that word, but I do)

I have several projects going on right now, and I think I have spring fever.  I am ready for some picnics and laying around outside in the warm sunshine.  

I guess I will just have to keep plugging away while it's still a little chilly.

I am working on a tutorial for this bag.  Check for it on Friday.

One Day-Three Pounds of Butter

Last Saturday I just couldn't help my self.

I made a pan of these cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting.

(I used butter in place for the margarine in this recipe)

I tried my hand at a pan of lemon bars from my new cookbook.

And the day wouldn't be complete without something chocolate.  I tried this brownie recipe with some homemade caramel in the middle.  They turned out really ooey gooey, but oh so rich and delicious.

Easter 2010

Easter with a bunch of grandkids is no small task.  I think we filled over 100 hundred eggs.

The kids were so excited to get out in the back yard.  I am always surprised how looking for eggs doesn't get old.

Tess was so excited with every egg she picked up.

 The moms filled the eggs and the dads hid the eggs.  My nephew went to great stretching lengths to get this egg out of the tree house.  I will have to post the world's greatest tree house this summer!

Once everyone was back in the house it was trading and negotiating time.

Easter is so fun to spend with family.

We missed the cousins that were not with us this year, but look forward to Easter together another time.