Crafting: Easter Outfits

This is going to be a quick one. For Easter this year, I wanted to make most of our outfits. So, I made 1) my daughter's dress, 2) my dress, and 3) the boys' bow ties. I wanted to share the links I used as tutorials. They are on my list of "must have" tutorials.

1. Abigail's dress: The Cottage Home, Party Dress for Little Girl
I found this dress on Allfreesewing.com about a year or two ago, and I have used it so much! I love it because Abigail looks good in these dresses, and she loves it because she can twirl and twirl and twirl. I often tell people, though, this is my most frustrating dress. For some reason it takes me about 6 hours (from cutting the material to the final stitch) to make. And it's not that hard to do. But she loves them, and I'll keep making them. The pattern goes up to size 5, so that will take my daughter until she is 6 to wear these dresses. Here is how Abigail's Easter dress turned out:

Front 

Back 

Showing off her dress 

My pretty little girl 

2. The Boys' Bow Ties: A Lemon Squeezy Home, Bow Tie Tutorial

 I took the leftover material from Abigail's dress and made bow ties for the boys so they would match. This tutorial was SO easy! I kid you not. This is a great tutorial for beginners. Give this a try. Here are a few pictures of the boys and their bow ties:

With the blue material

With the flowered material

Look how adorable my kids are with their matching outfits. 

3. As for my dress, I used an old dress that is pretty, but also pretty simple in it's design. I used some wax paper to trace the dress and got to work. There was a LOT of trial and error with this dress. I'm a curvy girl, so I need stretchy material or a lot of adjustments when making my own clothes so they will fit my curves. Here's what my dress looked like when I finished:

And here is my dress Easter day after I bought a yellow cardigan ($15 at The Limited Outlet!!) and made a belt from large elastic and made a blue flowered pin to go on the belt:

If I can perfect my dress, I will do a tutorial on it in the future.

I hope everyone's Easter was lovely and full of bright colors as well! Happy Spring and Sewing, everyone!

Make Your Own: Watering Can

It's Springtime. Yup. It's already hit 90 degrees here. BUT part of my New Year's Resolution this year is to have a successful garden. My dad, who has a HUGE garden and comes from a long line of farmers, has been guiding me step by step to help me out. It makes me wish I had paid attention when I was younger.

So in attempt to have a successful garden and get my kids involved, I found this great idea on Pinterest: make a watering can out of milk jug. We go through at least a gallon of milk a week, and I have been feeling pretty crummy throwing out those jugs. So every other jug or so I wash it out good, and save it. My original purpose was to make liquid laundry detergent (which is on my Make Your Own list), but since my dry laundry detergent is working well, I have all these milk jugs begging to be used. Lucky for me, I can now use one or two to water my plants...or have my kids do it! So...

Make Your Own: Watering Can

What You'll Need: 

• Milk jug, cleaned out (I cleaned mine out and then ran it through a wash in the dishwasher) 
• Sharp knife
• Water
• (optional) plant food (the kind that needs to be mixed with water)

Instructions: 

1. Take the lid off the jug and place it on a sturdy surface. I put mine on my counter. Just make sure it is sturdy and level. With a sharp knife, pierce the top of the lid. Slowly and carefully turn the knife. This will make a nice little round hole. In the picture below, you can see my first attempt. On the left you can see where I thought if I just pierce the lid a few times it would work...uh no. You need little round holes like the one on the right. 

2. Add plant food to the jug. Slowly add water to fill the jug. I really like doing this! I have no clue how much water my old watering can holds, so when the plant food instructions said "1 scoop per gallon", I was just guessing. This way, I know how much water! Yay! 

I'm not advertising "Expert" plant food. It just happened to be what I got. 

LABEL! You don't want someone to mistake this as kool-aid or something. 

3. Begin using! 

What I really love about this idea is that my kids can use it! While I am planting or putting away stuff, my kids can walk around the garden or yard and water the plants. ALSO, I hate having to drag my hose everywhere. The moment my dog sees the hose, she things it's playtime, so this reduces the chance of another destroyed hose. (For real, she rips the nozzle off the hose. We bought 4 hoses last summer). Finally, I love the way this pours out. It helps make sure I don't overwater my plants! 

And check out the garden fairy that helped me out! 

When I told her that was good, I got all the pictures I needed, she insisted on finishing the job.
::sigh:: makes a mama proud! 

Food: Charoset Pies

Last week was Holy Week, and in our house, my husband and I really tried to make this a learning experience for our children. I did some research and compiled a Holy Week Curriculum for my family, church family, and friends to use. One of my most memorable things of last week was the Seder meal we did with our kids. I tried my hand at lamb in the crockpot, steamed some carrots and parsnips in vanilla-buttered water, made communion bread,  and made Charoset (also called "haroset" and pronounced "KHah-Roh-sis"). The Seder ceremony we did needed really only about 1/2 cup, so I had a TON left over. So when Easter Sunday rolled around, and I was given the task of bringing a dessert to the family dinner, I decided to make little pies...little Charoset pies. Here's what I did:

Charoset Pies
serving size: 18 small pies


What You'll Need:

• 5 cups apples, peeled, cored, diced 
• 1 1/2 Tbsp honey 
• 1/4 CUP ground cinnamon
• 2 cups grape juice
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

That was what was needed to make the Charoset. Just mix it all together. For the pies, add: 

• 1 cup golden raisins (I found raisins and/or figs in a few recipes for the charoset, so I figured this would help)
• 1/2 cup sugar or honey. (The grape juice and cinnamon in the Charoset makes it a little bitter, and I didn't want bitter pies) 
• 2 boxes premade, rolled, refrigerated pie crust (the kind you roll out, not the kind already in a pie pan) 
• Cupcake wrappers 

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven at 425. 
2. Mix together the first 7 ingredients in a large bowl. 
3. Put cupcake wrappers in the muffin pan. I have one large (12 cupcakes) pan and one small (6 cupcakes) pan. I used both. I wanted to cook it all at the same time. 
4. Unroll the refrigerated pie crusts. Using a LARGE cup, cut out 18 circles. This will take about 1 and 1/2 crusts. You may have to ball up the scraps, reroll, and cut circles until you use all the crust and you have all the circles you need. Place one cut circle in each cupcake wrapper. Press down gently. 
5. Scoop a large spoonful of the Charoset mixture into each pie. Make sure it is an even amount. All of mine filled up and came close to the top of the cupcake wrapper. 
6. Cut out 18 more circles out of your refrigerated crust. Again, it used about 1 1/2 of the crusts. I had a little left over. Gently place the cut circles over the top of the pies. Using a fork, seal the edges of the bottom and top crusts. I then poked holes in the top with the fork making a cross. This helps the air to escape (you don't want exploding cupcakes all over your oven. 
7. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is slightly browned. 

When you these little cuties out of the oven, everyone will ooh and ahh over them. They tasted just like little apple pies (with a twist, thanks to the walnuts and raisins)! Having them in the cupcake wrappers can also help save on the dishes, and because they are so small, they make great serving sizes. My dad kept saying, "These are so good! And they taste healthy, too!" Aw, shucks! Thanks, dad! 

I hope your family enjoys these as much as my family enjoyed mine! 

Devotion: That Sneaky Devil!

"Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests  and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him." Matthew 26:14-16 


Oh, money! The prospect of wealth! The temptation of beauty. The desire to "share" with others by gossiping. The appeal of knowing more, doing more, being more. Everywhere you turn, there is something out there that is seemingly that much better than what you already have. And Satan is the mastermind behind so much of that. 


Movies, television shows, and music tend to portray Satan as this ugly, horrid looking creature, lurking in the shadows. I always think of Al Pacino's character in The Devil's Advocate when I try to visualize Satan. He's just the creepy, but commanding, character that sits back behind a desk tapping his fingers together in a sinister way. 


But is he really like that? I attempted to find an actual description of Satan in the Bible. I did find a few verses, but I am no theology student, so I'm not 100% sure they are in reference to that Ultimate Bad Guy. If you are interested, check out here, here, and here. What I do want to do, though, is point out how Satan shows himself. 


1. Through Beauty: Oh man, this one is a seriously hard one. Not only are we tempted to be beautiful on the outside (because, as I tell my daughter, it's more important to be beautiful on the inside), but we are also tempted (oh so tempted) by the beauty of others. Look at David. "One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful..." (2 Samuel 11). Now was there anything wrong with her bathing? No. Was there anything wrong with him up and walking around late at night? No. Even if he saw her bathing, that's not necessarily wrong, if he wasn't looking for a naked woman, but he saw her, and he kept looking (sin), and he sent someone to find out who she was, and he arranged for her husband to be killed so he could have her to himself (sin and sin). How many men (and women) are tempted by another's beauty so much that is has led to sin? Did you see Satan walking around or whispering in David's ear to desire that woman? No. But you better believe he was there. 


2. Through Power: Here is a tricky one. Is it bad to have power? Not necessarily. God anoints leaders (David was a leader, so was JESUS). But Satan likes to take what is good and exploit it and until power becomes an idol. Check out the story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph was his daddy's favorite. He 12 other brothers were not too happy with that. They wanted the power of being the favored son. So they arranged for him to be sold off. That would then, supposedly, open the door for one of them to move into Joseph's position (Genesis 37). Joseph, though, took it in a decent stride. He continued to trust God would take care of him. And God did. BUT (sneaky Satan), some of that power got to Joseph's head. He ended up becoming the 2nd most powerful man in Egypt. And instead of using that power to help his family (which eventually does), he used it to torment his brothers (Genesis 42). Luckily, Joseph remembered his place, and God was glorified in the end. 


3. Through Money: Have you ever read The Pardoner's Tale? Oh, if you haven't,  you should. It is one of my favorite ones to teach. Not only does it teach about greed, but it also is so stinkin' believable, the story could be set in today's time instead of the 1300s. BRIEF SUMMARY: 3 boys go on an journey to find Death to avenge their friends' deaths. They end up coming across a huge bag of money...and greed takes over. Money is not bad, but the love of money can definitely lead you down the wrong path (1 Timothy 6:10). Judas betrayed Jesus for about a month's paycheck. A big ol' ugly something did not come up to Judas and tell him he had to do that, but that gleam of silver sure caught his eye and led him to betray Jesus. 


And those are just a few ways Satan presents the temptations. He doesn't make us sin, but he most definitely puts them in front of us. And doesn't he just love to tempt Christians? We are God's children, but if we sin, then we give that name a bad one. We must be set apart. AND we must recognize Satan for what he is and what he does. Thank the Lord we have learned, through Him, about *grace, mercy, and forgiveness. 


Luke 10:19 says "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." Cling to those words. YOU HAVE POWER OVER THE ENEMY (Satan). Be watchful for ways of temptation and *flee (RUN!!!) away from them. You will enjoy a more blessed life if you do! 

Photo Credit 

*Other references: 
1. Defining True Repentance
2. Wheat and Weeds 
3. Forgiveness
4. Flee Sexual Immorality
5. Flee Idolatry  
6. Pursue God

Cleaning: Make Your Own...Hair Detangler

It's been a while since I've dried to Make my Own something. I really wasn't in desperate need for anything. I did have to refill my MYO Dishwashing Detergent and Laundry Detergent on the same day, recently, but that is about it. Until about a week ago. My precious (princess) daughter and I got into it when I tried to comb out her long, luscious, golden locks after getting out of the bath. That girl would rather run around with major tangles in her hair than have me try to get them out. So I needed a detangler, and since it was on my list of Make Your Own items, I pulled out my camera, dug out some bottles I had been saving for such a time as this, and got to work.

It was EASY! And it works, too! I did a little research and they all said about the same (water, conditioner, and shake!). I added just a little bit more to mine, put it in a bottle I hadn't seen in my research, and I have myself (I mean, my daughter) a nice, inexpensive bottle of hair detangler that is going to last us a while.

What You'll Need:

• Water
• 1-2 Tbsp hair conditioner 
• 1 Tbsp anti-frizz conditioner (if your conditioner does this anti-frizz thing, then all you need is the conditioner. Mine doesn't...so there you have it) 
• Container with a pump (I used an old dish detergent foaming bottle and pump...on purpose...I like foam) 

Instructions: 

1. Make sure your container is completely clean and dry. No use in having dish detergent in your bottle of detangler. I ran mine through the dish washer cycle twice and then let it dry completely. 
2. Add the conditioner and anti-frizz conditioner to the bottle. 
3. Sloooowly add water. If you do it too quickly, the conditioners will bubble up. And you don't want bubbles just yet. 
4. Put on the lid tightly and gently shake to mix the ingredients together. They will separate at some point, so don't freak if it doesn't mix completely. 

And you are ready to go! 

My review: 

It doesn't foam all that well. but it works great! I give mine a little shake before I use it to make sure there's some conditioner going in the hair. And I haven't heard any complaints yet. :) 

This is the bottle I use. See how it separates? Also, label. My husband thought it was hand soap and almost freaked when he saw me put it in her hair. :) 

And we have long, luscious, golden, happy locks again! 

See? All smiles. No tears. (Please note that she dressed herself and her shirt is on inside out) 

Food: Making Meals for a New Mom (and Freezer Meals for Me!)

Babies!! They are everywhere! I kid you not, in the past month, I have had 7 (yes, seven) friends have a baby.  And for those who know me personally, no, I was not part of this baby boom. But it sure gave me the opportunity to get my baby fix...and to serve the mamas who are either brand new moms or moms to a brand new baby. I love (love, love, love, love) to be able to help out new moms as they make that transition from hospital to home. I remember what it was like to get visitors in the hospital, but when I got home, there was a bit of loneliness. Once Joe went back to work, I was home, by myself (and now, looking back, suffering postpartum depression) with my little one(s). So getting visitors was actually kind of nice. So I want to be able to do that for new moms. What better way than to bring some yummy goodness for the family to enjoy for at least the first week home?!

I didn't want to bring the traditional lasagna over. I had just read a blog about a new mom who was grateful for the food-gifts, but had a freezer stocked full of lasagna. So, lasagna was off my list...sort of. I researched recipes that would be easy to freeze. Also, I wanted something that, in the most part, could be removed from the freezer by single servings. When it's just mom at home, there's no point in heating up an entire casserole. I found a lot of helpful recipes. So I collected all my ingredients, strapped on my apron, and spent an exhausting, but rewarding, 6 hours cooking in my kitchen. It was totally worth it! And since I doubled the ingredients, I was able to also finally able to do some of that freezer cooking that's on my New Year's Resolution list. Below I am going to show the picture of what I made, give a brief explanation when necessary, and give you the website where I found the recipe.


1. BBQ: I didn't really need a website for this one. I just got about 2 pound of pork, a bottle of bbq sauce, and my trusty crockpot. Making bbq in my crockpot is the norm in my house. Anytime I make a roast (whether beef, pork, or chicken), I normally make bbq out of what's left. And because I made so much, I was able to split what I made in half to give to my friend and the other half went in my freezer.

2. French Bread Rolls: What better thing to go with bbq than rolls? You can eat them separate or make a sandwich. And since I love to make bread, making bread once a week is part of my NYR, and my french bread rolls are a house favorite, these were a perfect choice. YUM!

3. Muffin Pan Chicken Pot Pies: I have not been a fan of chicken pot pie. I just don't like bread mixed in with my food. BUT, the idea of using  my large muffin pan to make meal-sized servings was appealing to me. And most people like CPP, right? So I figured I would give it a shot. And they turned out great! I had enough to make for my friend and still had enough left over for my hubby to take to work....and then I braved the recipe again last night to make for my family. They LOVED it! A side note if you plan on making these: The recipe calls for you to make your own crust. The first time I made this (for my friend), the crust turned out great. The second time, it was too flaky. The next time I'm going to try to make it, I'm going to use the Pillsbury ready-made pie crust that you roll out (the same stuff I use when I make pop tarts). If you are nervous about making your own pie crust, first, give it a try. If it doesn't work, then try the pre-made stuff.

4. Lasagna Cups: Here was another opportunity to use my muffin pans. For this recipe, I used the regular-sized muffin pans (because it makes good serving sizes AND my large muffin pan was being used for the chicken pot pies). This made a TON of little individual servings. This recipe I started the night before with the bbq. I used a smaller crockpot, dumped in my lean, ground beef, set it on low, and let it brown my meat overnight. In the morning, I drained the fat, and prepped the rest of the ingredients. What I really like about this recipe is that it used wonton wrappers instead of pasta noodles. So cool! Anyway, this turned out great. I wrapped each one individually to be pulled out for evenings when my husband has to work late, and I don't want to make an entire meal for me and 3 kids who don't normally eat a lot anyway. I pulled them out of the freezer, opened up (but did not remove) the foil, and put them in my toaster oven at 350 until the cheese started bubbling again (maybe 15 minutes). These are great and would also work great at parties as well.

So for some reason I didn't take pictures of what was left. Sorry! If I make it again (which I am SURE I will do), I will upload a photo. :) 

5. Summer Porridge (or cold oatmeal) Yum. Seriously yum. The website has about 6 different recipes for summer porridge (really, all have the same base, but what you ADD to it varies). I made the Maple Blueberry and the Vanilla Raspberry. I doubled the recipe so my family could have some as well. I really wanted to try this. AND I really think you could freeze this as well. I was taken back by the first taste of mine. My head was saying, "Oatmeal should be hot" but my tongue was saying, "This porridge is cold!...but lovely." It tastes a lot like those yogurt parfaits. I wanted to provide some breakfast or "lighter" snacks for my new mom friend, so this worked great!

6. Corn and Potato Chowder. The recipe calls for the frozen corn to be "roasted". Uh...Wal-Mart didn't have "roasted", so I just added some Mrs. Dash to the corn. This was decently easy to make (and if I wasn't making 6 other things at the same time, I don't think it would have taken so long). Once this soup cools, it's great to freeze and then reheat later. We are quickly approaching warmer weather (yesterday was a record 93 degrees!! In April!) so I didn't want to do too many soups, but I figured one would be okay.

7. Homemade Biscuits Like Grandma Made: These I prepped but did not cook. If you read my post on them, they make great individual biscuits. I thought these biscuits would go well with the chowder. So they were a natural choice for me to provide for my friend. Here's a picture of what I've done in the past:

8. Pre-Made Pancakes. Wal-Mart has these bags in the frozen food section. When I was still teaching and my boys were itty bitty, I found these little treasures. They come 3-in-a-pack and take about 45 seconds to heat up. Before I started making my own pre-made pancakes, these were a life saver. They work great on Sunday mornings. We are rushing to get out the door for church, and the kids normally eat something that is filling but can be eaten in the car. These fit that bill. If you are looking for a recipe to make your own pre-made pancakes, I use this recipe at least once a week. My addition is about 2 tsp of vanilla to the batter. I normally make about 20 small pancakes (about 4 inches). Whatever is leftover, I freeze for those mornings we need a quick breakfast or I just don't feel like cooking.


So it took me about 6 straight hours of cooking. I studied the recipes the night before and planned which course of action I should take. It was worth every second. I was able to serve my friend and her family, and I was able to finally get my freezer cooking done. It would also be a good idea to make one or two of these and freeze so when a friend, family member, or someone in your church or community gets sick, has a baby, or is just in need of being served, you can pull one of these out, get a nice little cooler bag and spend some time loving on your neighbor.

And just so you can see why I love doing this, here is the joy I get in helping new moms:

Mmm...See how I'm getting my baby fix? Love holding those little ones! 

Devotion: Keep Forgiving

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.'" Matthew 18: 21-22


"I'm sorry." The words were spoken with so much conviction. It was the type of scene you see in a Nicholas Sparks movie were the guy is gently grasping the girl's face between his hands, looks deep into her eyes, and whispers "I'm sorry" in a way that would melt any girl's heart. And this was happening to me. In my kitchen. My husband and I had gotten into a disagreement the evening before over how to fix a tire on a bike stroller. It was a silly argument, and really, at the time, I couldn't understand why my husband was getting so upset with me for asking if I could fix it since he was so busy. But it happened, and he apologized. And I forgave him.

That evening, though, he got upset with me again. We took the entire family to a baseball game. Two-thirds of our kids weren't really into the game (if you know my kids, you know which ones) and were climbing all over the seats, bumping into other spectators, begging for more food, and just being kids. I was getting frustrated because I just wanted to spend some time with the kids and my husband, but I ended up spending the entire time making sure those restless two weren't disrupting other people. So when he asked me to scoot over a little more, I sarcastically said, "Oh, sure, honey." And that started another argument that ended with him picking up our other child and moving to another seat so the two of them could see the game. Both of us were in the wrong, but my feelings were so hurt and I was frustrated already, that I just couldn't believe we were back to square one. When we got home, he tried the "I'm sorry" route again. This time, though, I knew it was coming. I knew he was going to apologize and do something like clean up the kitchen while I was getting the kids into bed as a way of apologizing. And what did I do? I rejected his apology. He apologized, and I said, "Really? For what?" We both went to bed without speaking to each other.

The only problem was I couldn't sleep. As soon as the house was quiet and I was lying in the dark, a voice as clear as could be said to me over and over again "Not seven times, but seventy-seven times." I immediately knew that my words and actions were not called for. All night long I kept thinking, "Who am I to judge his apology?" "What if someone didn't accept my apology?" And honestly, I was reminded of the other times God has opened my eyes to forgiveness (see here and here). Then my thoughts turned to how often God has forgiven me of repeated offensives. Oh man, I was feeling so incredibly guilty. My husband, a kind and gentle man, who gets along with most everyone around him, was having a stressful couple of days. He does not normally get upset with me so easily, and I should have taken all of that into consideration. Who  was I to not forgive him?

As I continue to work on my relationship with my Lord, He is showing me more and more that everything is about the condition of my heart. Living for Him means to have a pure and honest heart. It means to see others where they are and to not get upset over the little things. It means to admit when I am wrong and to seek forgiveness. And it also means that when others ask for forgiveness, it is my responsibility to show them God's love in accepting their apology and to get back on the road to making things right with them.

Because He loves me so much and has forgiven me for the countless ways I have disappointed Him, I, too, have the responsibility to love others and forgive others "seventy-seven times" and more.

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