I love you, Grandpa

We got word this morning that my Grandpa passed away. It was totally unexpected (he was hit by a car), so I think everyone was kind of shocked. But, I know that life continues after death and I'm grateful for all of the many wonderful memories I have with him here. He was an awesome grandpa (and awesome man!) and we will miss him.

These are some of the tulips he grew in his garden last spring. He LOVED to work in his garden and found so much joy in sharing what he grew. All who knew him were blessed by the fruits of his life.

My kids' favorite

I make homemade bread and rolls quite often and have tried a few different recipes. My kids generally eat whatever I make, but I recently made an old recipe that my kids are now raving about. They LOVE it. And what's awesome is it's really easy.

Peasant Bread
4+ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
2 cups warm water (about bathwater temp.)
1 T. sugar
1 T. yeast

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water. Combine dry ingredients. Add yeast mixture and remaining 1 cup water to dry ingredients. Stir until combined. (Adding more flour if dough is really sticky.) (No need to knead!) Let rise 1 hour. Divide dough in half and put in greased loaf pans. Let rise 45 minutes. Pour 1-3 T. melted butter on top and sprinkle with poppy seeds (opt.). Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

My kids favorite is to have this bread with:

Creamy Potato Soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 T. margarine
8-10 potatoes, diced (peeled if you want)
2 chicken bouillon cubes
8 oz. lite cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup flour
3+ cups milk
cooked bacon

Saute onion in margarine until tender. Add potatoes and enough water to barely cover potatoes. (If you add too much water your soup will be kind of thin instead of thick and creamy.) Cook potatoes until they are tender but not mushy (about 8-10 minutes.) Add bouillon cubes. Put softened cream cheese into a medium bowl and mix in flour with a fork. Mix about 1/2 cup of hot broth into the cream cheese mixture (more if you need) and stir until creamy. Add cream cheese mixture to soup and combine well. Add milk. Heat through. Crumble bacon into soup.

Enjoy!

Easter skirts

This weekend was devoted to making Easter skirts for my girls. I went to the fabric store Friday morning and by noon on Saturday I had finished all four skirts. To make them I used tutorials I've found on various blogs. (I beg to differ with anyone who says blogging is a waste of time.) Here are the links in case you want to make skirts for your little pretties.

For the tiered skirt go HERE. (I adjusted the pattern to make four tiers instead of three.)

For the twirly skirt go HERE.

For the ruffle skirt go HERE.

I didn't use a pattern for McKenna's skirt, but here are the directions.

• Measure waist.


• Measure the length you want the skirt. Add 3 inches. We'll call this number C. (Length + 3"=C)


• Multiply the waist measurement by 1.25 and divide that number by 2 and then add 2 inches.((Waist x 1.25)/2) + 2"=A


• Add 5 inches to A. We'll call this number B. (A + 5"=B)


• Cut out TWO pieces of fabric the length you want (C) with the top width A inches and the bottom width B inches.
• 


• Multiply B by 1.5= D


• Cut out TWO pieces of fabric D x 7.5". (For the bottom ruffle.)
  
• Sew sides of skirt together. (seam allowance 1/2") Press seams open.


• Sew sides of ruffle together. Press seams open.


• Hem bottom of ruffle. (Fold up 1/4" and iron. Fold up another 1/4", iron, and sew)


• Gather top of ruffle. (Sew long stitches 3/8" along the top of the skirt and pull the basting stitch to gather until it's the same length as the skirt bottom.)


• Pin & Sew ruffle onto skirt.


• Fold top of skirt over 1/4" and press. Fold over another 5/8" and press. Sew 1/8" from edge to form casing (leaving a 1.5" gap to insert your elastic.)


• Insert 1/2" elastic about the same length as the waist plus a couple inches for overlap. (I used a large safety pin.)


• Try on the skirt to make sure you've go the elastic gathered to the right size. Mark the elastic with a pin or pen where you want to sew the ends together. Sew the elastic together using large zig-zag stitches.


• Finish sewing the casing where you inserted the elastic.


• Admire your skirt.

Now I just need to get make a dress for Chloe and maybe a skirt for myself and we'll be ready for Easter. Oh, and I need to figure out what everyone will wear on top. I thought white t-shirts would be sufficient, but when I had Lydia try her skirt on with a white t-shirt it wasn't quite what I hoped. Finding tops will probably be a more difficult process than making the skirts! :)

Update

For those that are curious.....

I chose to CLEAN while David took the girls to the park. I figured a clean house would make me feel better than anything else. It was actually a pleasure to be able to get things just how I wanted them without anyone interrupting. :)

Dear Grandma,

I LOVE my sweater and hat. I wore them to church today and everyone told me I looked so cute. Thank you so much for making them for me. I really do love them (even though I'm not smiling). My teeth hurt and are making me rather uncomfortable.

Hugs and kisses,

Chloe

Making peace

I generally have a pretty healthy self-image. But for the past little while I have been struggling with feelings of doubt and discouragement. It all started with the idea that I really should lose a few pounds and has ended in a tailspin of negative thought. Fat, ugly, stupid, boring, incapable, and worthless are only a few of the horrid adjectives that have repeatedly entered my mind as I try to work my way through the day. As a result I've been snippy with David, impatient with my children, and brutal to myself. I've felt like nothing I can do is good enough.

Today, while I was in the attic putting our picnic basket away I was inspired to find the book "Making Peace with the Image in the Mirror" by Steven Hawks. On the inside cover I've taped this message: "Satan wants us to believe that we're not good enough, that there's something wrong with us, that we are alone and there is no hope. All these messages are LIES. Satan encourages us to have these feelings so we lose sight of who we are and are then less able to feel Christ's love and spread His light and love with others. If he can dupe us into believing we are worthless we won't be fully able to carry out the missions that Heavenly Father has for us because of our distorted view of ourselves. Sheri Dew said, 'Clearly, Satan wants us to see ourselves as the world sees us, not as the Lord sees us, because the world's mirror... distorts and minimizes us. Satan tells us we're not good enough. Not smart enough. Not thin enough. Not clever enough. Not anything enough. And that is a big, fat, devilish lie' (No Doubt About It, 46). So, the next time you begin to feel this way you can know it is from Satan and say, 'Get thee hence, Satan, ye father of lies! I'll have nothing of you!'"

And the final paragraph of the introduction to the book says, "The contest with the mirror is not the most worthy cause to which we can devote our strength. In order to free our attention for the truly important battles, it is time to make peace with the image in the mirror."

I needed to read those messages today. And even though my battle with self-doubt and negativity will not be won overnight, I am beginning to feel optimistic again. I'm ready to make peace.

Where do I begin?!

David just took all five girls to the park and left me here by myself!!! It's the first time since before Chloe was born that I've been alone in my house and I am overwhelmed with options. Do I clean? read? watch a movie? take a nap? work on my quilt? exercise? or cook? I figure they'll be gone for a couple of hours so I've got to make the best use of this time. Heaven knows when it'll happen again.

What would you do with the house to yourself?

Girl Dad

Most mornings David is responsible for getting Emily out of bed and dressed for school. (I get up to do their hair and have prayer.) Getting Emily ready is not an easy task because she is not a morning person and is terribly picky about her clothes. In order to expedite things David usually pulls two or three outfits from the closet and lets her choose from those. This morning my heart melted when I saw the outfits he chose.....

Valentine themed outfits for her Valentines party at school today! Even though he is MAN to the core, David makes such a good girl Dad!

Font addict

My good friend Sally just blogged about the coolest website where you can make fonts out of your own handwriting. So, guess what I have been doing all afternoon? Yep, making fonts. It's addicting. Every once in a while I go on a font-downloading binge and this is even worse because you are not just limited to what's out there. You can create your own fonts and the possibilities are endless! Now each of my children (except Chloe of course) have a font with their own handwriting.

(This does make me wish I had better handwriting. But, even as boring as my handwriting is it's pretty awesome to be able to type it on the computer!!!) If you make your own and don't mind sharing, e-mail me your scanned template so I can have your font, too!

Another baby quilt

One of my friends is pregnant with her 8th child. She's not due until May, but I couldn't resist getting a head start on a little baby quilt for her. They are SO FUN to make. And every time I make one I learn something. This is the first quilt I've machine quilted with my walking foot and I was amazed at how easy it was. Still not quite as cool as free motion quilting, but I was happy with how it turned out.