FOE experiments

i ordered some FOE (fold over elastic) to make some headbands for my babe. i was getting sick of saying, "well, no, he is actually a she..." i think some headbands will help out our case. i also wanted to make me and p some hair elastics. these elastics are SO great. they don't snag your hair when you pull them out. if you want to buy some FOE for yourself, there are a million etsy sellers willing to sell it to you, so go and have a peek. 

now look at this cute baby GIRL!

here are a few of the goodies:

 i know you probably didn't need to look at all those head bands, but i made you anyways...mwah ha ha!

also, hair elastics.

leprechaun shinanigans

how was your weekend? we had such a good weekend and i'm so sad it's over. we had a lot of family time. we ate yummy mexican food watched disney movies and enjoyed the rain from inside. the biggest event was st. patrick's day. we made irish soda bread and a leprechaun came and sent us on a treasure hunt. he didn't leave us any gold, but we did get some cupcakes and that's almost just as good!

 the hunt

the little guy left our front room in shambles and left a note saying he hid our goodies some place that we would never be able to find. then he left us a clue. they needed a flashlight to read the clues apparently.

and that was our weekend, BAM!

wishlist of dresses for my girls! i'm seriously drooling!

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have a lovely weekend and don't get pinched!

peanut butter bars

when i was pregnant with penelope one of my weaknesses were peanut butter bars. not just any peanut butter bars, only the ones they sold at the pier 49 (pizza shop in UT) that i worked down the street from. i tried not  not to overdo it on the deliciousness, but they were seriously good. i ran across this recipe and it seemed like it might be the ticket. it was! i made them up this weekend and the leftovers have been down right dangerous to have about. these are SO good you won't want to eat anything else for a week straight. here's the recipe:

peanut butter bars

this recipe is adapted from french knots (i decided to make a couple of changes of my own), found here.

Ingredients

• • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 3/4 cup flour
  • 2 cups oats

• for frosting

  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup softened butter
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons Hershey's cocoa

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Instructions

• 1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees
  2. Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Add flour, salt, soda, and oats. 
  3. Spread in greased 9" X 13" pan. Dough will be sticky.
     
  4. Bake for 15-20 min, until the edges are golden. 
  5. Allow dough to completely cool. Place in fridge if necessary.

• for frosting

  1. whip all ingredients together until light and fluffy.
  2. Spread frosting on top of cookies. Cut and serve with ice-cold milk.

you're welcome!

getting green

 we've been learning about mixing colors. penelope painted these lovely pictures the other day using blue and yellow to make green.  today we turned it into a st. patrick's day decoration.

her cutting control has improved so much! we may be able to start more complicated shapes soon. 

 

 all done! i think we may practice making green in the form of frosting...for cupcakes. yes, cupcakes will be a must this week.

harlequin throw: in progress

for a few years i've wanted to try a harlequin pattern afghan and i'm finally doing it! this is proof that dreams can really come true.

i am making this throw for our front room. i have been working on it a little at a time and at this pace it probably won't be done until 2013, but maybe i will surprise myself. i am using red hart soft yarn. i usually steer clear of red hart brand, but i've really started to like some of their colors and they are very affordable. we will see how this throw stands the test of time.

in other news:

isla is now pulling herself to standing and is sometimes crawling in a normal stance...go baby go!

i made this recipe for sunday dinner (we love rumbi's and can't get it here) with this and it was SO delicious. i may share pictures of this success later.

i am rereading a tale of two cities. it is slow going, but i really liked it the first time around. here's to hoping that my high-school self wasn't more patient than my current self.

"mom, i have six fingers and nineteen toes!" someone come and teach p to count. ha ha. she is actually a really good counter, so she must be like her mom by doing some creative counting.

floor cushions.
i've been thinking about making floor pillows in the next couple of weeks. they are on my make-my-house-cuter list. i also have a few ideas coming together. hopefully all this plotting will result in some sort of action... here's to hoping!

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have a good weekend!

10 months baby!

this little lady is 10 months now. it has been a wonderful 10 months and my heart is so full. before i had isla i remember being worried that it would be hard to love 2 kids the same as i can with just 1 and that isla would end up feeling less loved. it is amazing, i am discovering, how one's heart can grow.

isla loves:
being held
clapping her hands
eating rice cereal
crawling around the house
sorting the laundry...
mandarin oranges avocado and blueberries
penelope's little people house that makes noises
paper
keys
daddy
playing with penelope
being tickled
singing
taking off her shoes & headbands (see below)
trying to dress herself (this one is SO cute to watch. she will try to put her shirts on by putting them on her head.)

isla loathes:
when mom leaves
when mom is exercising and not holding her at the same time
when big sister sensors (aka takes away) the toys that she has just discovered

people

by penelope sparks

i had to share some of penelope's drawings of people. i think they are so great. they have all the important parts a head/body, eyes, mouths, legs, hair and occasionally arms, hands and feet. gold.

dried bananas

bryan gave me a dehydrator a while ago. i haven't used it much, but i am hoping to rectify that.

bryan went on a campout with the scouts in our ward. i sent a bunch of bananas with them to eat with their breakfast and everyone of those bananas returned to me, hmmm. anyway, we had an excess of bananas in the house and i was thinking of all the banana bread i would have to make to use all of them when i remembered my dehydrator. bryan, penelope and i cut the bananas, dipped them in lemon water and loaded up the dryer. it was a fun family activity. they drying was supposed to take 8-10hrs, but our dryer is a champ and took 20...

now we have gobs of banana chips. yum. i am storing in them in these small glad containers, they are a good size to take around with us in my purse.

new dresses

i've got a few summer dresses in the works for the girlies. these little numbers are the result of some experimentation with a pillowcase dress pattern. they are far from perfect. i think they looked pretty cute for church. i will work on this one more, because it's a good pattern to use up some of my extra fabric. i am also planning some play dresses and a couple more jumpers like the one in these pictures.

happy birthday dr. seuss

i love dr. seuss and today is his birthday! dr. seuss is so inspiring! i love reading his books to my girls and i am amazed at the important lessons he taught in his simple stories. my favorites are the sneeches and oh the places you'll go (this last one does make me cry, because i'm a baby). what's you're favorite dr. seuss book/quote.

i will buy this!

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this one too

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he's even inspired the quilters out there and i'm loving this dr seuss quilt 

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one of my favorite quotes

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have you seen all the cute dr. Seuss themed parties out there? so cute.
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