The Rubarb Is Ready

Today was wet, rainy and gloomy so what else is there to do? Bake, of course. We all ventured out through the soggy yard to collect the rubarb from the garden.

My Little Helpers

The end result.......

Rubarb Streusel Bread

Yummy! We ate an entire loaf for an after school snack.

A Little Bit Of Spring

I was inspired to work on this little project about six months ago. I had even bought all the supplies I need to create this beauty. Well... I do have 4 kids so needless to say I just got to it this weekend. What perfect timing with Spring having just arrived along with the arrival of many fat robins that look as though their bellies are full of eggs.

Here is what you need to create this:

Wire ( I used Parawire, in natural brass color/ 22 gauge) Hobby Lobby

Beads for the eggs, any color, but I like the blue. The ones I used were pea size

Chain ( I bought a spool of chain at Jo Ann's that matched the wire).

Miscellaneous beads to accent wherever you'd like.

Round end Pliers

Follow this link from Cathe Holden for instructions

I followed the instructions as a guide to get started but then I added my own touches and this is how it turned out.

Good Luck and Enjoy!

Rylee Is 10

Happy Birthday Rylee, We Love You!

I can't believe I have a ten year old. I remember when I was ten and it doesn't feel that long ago. Rylee is such a blessing and it is so fun to watch her grow up into such a wonderful young lady. She has been a great helper with Nora, dinner and cleaning since Steve has been working out of town. I am so lucky to have at least one of my kids with the same need for a tidy house. I hope the next few years start to slow down because the thought of having a teenager in 3 years is a bit much for me to think about.

Sharing A Friends New Blog

Just wanted to pass this link along to you all. April and Holly are two friends of mine that just started a new craft blog , trains, bows and two cosmos, and to kick it off they are hosting a "Give Away". So check it out any maybe you could be a winner!! Plus that have lots of fun super craft ideas with directions.

Enjoy

Coupon Queen

So I went to the grocery store yesterday and it got me thinking. I am such a coupon freak.! I love getting the Sunday paper so I can get my scissors out and cut it all up to little pieces and then file them away in my handy little coupon holder. Then the day I get to get them back out and maybe combine with a great sale or even better yet combine a Manufacturer and Store Coupon and possibly get something for free or super cheap, that is the best feeling. I have been known to save $20 with coupons alone at Target or even more if it is double coupon day at the grocery store. Oh, the excitement of looking at the receipt and thinking " Well done Laura".

The whole idea is rather ridiculous though. Me wasting all this time clipping, clipping, searching ( on the computer) printing, clipping, printing, searching clipping, filing. Wow that exhausts me just thinking about it. Oh and then there is me with my kids in the grocery store, searching, searching for the coupons in my handy little coupon file while holding my one year old in the cart because she now likes to wiggle out of the straps and jump out of the cart or reach in the back of the cart and pull out anything with in her reach and throw it out of the cart which causes me to CONSTANTLY , stop and pick it up and put it back in. On top of that I usually have a hand full of coupons in my other hand along with my grocery list and ad. All this causing me to drop at least one good coupon which I then have to go on a treasure hunt throughout the store until I find it. Of course, I am still doing all this with one hand on the baby so she doesn't go overboard and corralling the 4 year old from disappearing or putting any unwanted Pop tarts or candy in the cart.

I am sure if someone followed me around the store I would be very good entertainment. I wouldn't even know they were following me because I would be too busy cleaning cheerio's up out of the middle of aisle 5!

Pretty ridiculous! Of course this wont stop me from wading through the snow in my jammies on Sunday morning to pull the Sunday paper out of the snowbank in my front yard!

Nora Is One!

Happy Birthday Nora

I can not believe it has already been a year since we were blessed with are beautiful, little Girl, Nora. I keep thinking back to how before I was pregnant with her we thought our family was complete with our other 3 beautiful, perfect children and then low and behold God had a different plan and blessed us with Nora! I can't image our family without her and I am so thankful for how blessed we are. Now, I am not going to say our family is complete because that is not my decision to make although if you ask Steve he still thinks we have some control over this?? I am also not saying that we are going to have more because me just saying that would put my husband into a huge defensive panic. All I can say is I can see why my sister has 7 kids . I think with each child it gets easier and by #4 I feel as though we have things figured out for now. New things come up constantly and we deal with it and learn new ways to be better parents, but I love the excitement. Steve always reminds me that regardless of how many kids we have they do all eventually grow up. I is just so hard to think this the last baby and she will eventually be in school and I will be all by myself. Then what do I do?

So for now I will just love on my Baby Nora and enjoy every snuggle she gives my while we are both lathered up in baby lotion so I will always remember that smell

Finished Product

Thought I would share how the girls hair bows turn out. Hopefully the actual taking of the pictures goes as well as me making these little things.

I also included a picture of some other hair things I made recently. What will I do when my babies grow up?

My Day

Recently a good friend asked me to write out what I do in a day to helped stay organized in effort to help her get some ideas to go about her day and accomplish all that needs to be done. So I though I would share My Day:

To start my day I go and make all the beds. Sometimes I get in there while the kids are eating or getting ready for school. While in each room I put dirty cloths in the hamper. The girls should do both of these but that doesn’t always happen. I also straighten things up since 2 of the 3 rooms should stay kid free for most of the day.

Also in the morning after the kids and I are all done in the bathroom. I wipe down the sink and toilet with Clorox wipes (these are my best friends). I have them under every sink.

I try to do dishes after every meal just to keep the counter cleaned off since I don’t have very much of it to start with. I also try to sweep after at least 2 meals because I can’t stand having things stick to my feet when I walk through the room. Sometimes it is not as needed.

I vacuum and sweep floors every few days depending on the dog hair. I usually do this mid morning.

I try to get toys picked up before naptime so I can enjoy the peace in a cleaned up house. I also do this or have the kids do it before bed. I also find that is I keep up on it throughout the day its not such a huge task later and we all know that once they play with it for more then 20 minutes they are board and onto the next thing.

As for laundry, I will wash it throughout an evening and into the next day and then fold it all at once and immediately put it all away otherwise I don’t have the motivation to deal with it, then it is so frustrating when I finally get it put away and realize I have to start all over again because the hampers are full.

I guess my biggest thing is I don’t like clutter so if I keep up on things it’s less likely to build up. I am also a little O.C. and a messy, cluttered house completely stresses me out and I have a hard time functioning and knowing where to start.

Le' French Toast

This morning for breakfast I did my best at creating the best french toast from one of my favorite restaurants, Plum Hill Cafe. Here is the recipe for my version of:

Le' French Toast

4 eggs

1 cup of milk

1 tsp sugar

a couple dashes of vanilla ( sorry I don't always measure)

cinnamon ( to sprinkle on after on the griddle)

Store bought croissants ( got mine from Sam's Club)

Mix the eggs, milk,sugar and dashes of vanilla in a bowl. Warm of the griddle and melt some butter around. Dip the croissants in the egg mixture and place on the griddle. I then sprinkled each croissant with cinnamon and cooked on both sides till golden.

I then topped mine with raspberries from our garden this past summer and U.P. blueberries that my Dad picked. YUM!

It is also good with pure maple syrup, but if you are like me and didn't get a chance to get out and tap any maple trees this past spring then Mrs. Butter's Worth works just fine too!

Enjoy

"Surprise" I'm still here!

I'm back! I've decided I miss writing even if no one reads this, it still feels good to look back at my day or week and let my mind wander beyond the next daily task. Or maybe I feel like this is my only way of communicating with someone who is older than 9. Now since Steve is working out of town and only comes home on the weekends my communication with adults is even more limited. I will now be that annoying woman in the checkout line at the grocery store who tells her entire life story to the cashier because she is so lonely and is happy to have someone to listen to her. Okay, that is really sad, but true.

I am sitting here thinking about how to start my day and what to do first. I would love to just sit and work on my many craft idea's that are floating around in my head. Last weeks project was knitting each of the kids a hat and embellishing them with crochet flowers which thanks to the internet I taught myself how to do. I will post a picture as soon as I can get my 4 kids to sit still and cooperated long enough for me to take that picture. This weeks project is creating hair bows for my girls because I have a picture appointment for the kids next week so I thought I would tie their outfits all together with matching hair bows.

Okay that is all for now. I am going to work on getting that picture.