A Day in the Life

I did this my my online forum, and thought it would be fun to post here, too

Good Morning!

I get up a little early, so that I can have a little quiet time before the LOs get up.I do some scripture reading over breakfast (Daniel 4 today)Check in at MOMSAnd get some sewing done.Time for the day to really begin!Logan likes to make his own scrambled eggs.Then it's time for errands.Gas station - Groceries - I love my HEB!Myra is snug in her sling.Logan likes HEB because he gets a balloon.Home!Need to bake some bread -Logan helps.While it's rising, paint the toenailsAnd do some laundry.Bread's done! Yum!Time for some outdoor fun before naptime. This is the backyard.Then it's naptime - no pics, I was sleeping, too!

After nap, a quick trip to the fabric storeThen the park.All that action tired Myra out!But we still had just enough energy for some more fun in the backyard!It was a good day. Good night, mamas!

Bluebonnets!!

and a chance to show off their Easter duds. I made everything that they are wearing except Logan's polo shirt.

Recon again

My friend Beth's oldest son had a shirt that he had stained right in the middle of the front. It wasn't wearable that way, so she brought it over and told me that if I thought I could do something with it, I could. Yay! At first, I was thinking maybe of appliqueing to cover the spot, and then Logan could wear it, but after staring at it for a few minutes, I decided that it really was yearning to be a dress. So, I gave it it's wish.I basically just recut the bodice to fit Myra and then altered the armscye on the sleeve to fit the new bodice, shirred the armholes for girliness, put it all back together and gathered the bottom half of the shirt into a skirt.Myra loves it!

Adventures with Canned Chicken

We are working to expand our horizons, food storage-wise, and following the advice of Sister DeWitt to utilize foods that your family actually eats, planned as actual meals, rather than metric tons of pinto beans. One of the recipes that appears in her booklet is for Sweet and Sour chicken, and includes a pint of home canned chicken. Mitch won't eat storebought canned chicken, so we've been apprehensive about the idea of canning our own. I mean, at some point, this is all going to get rotated into our regular diet, and I can only eat so much chicken by myself. Fortunately, Mitch's Mom had canned some chicken a few months ago, and sent us a jar to try out.
I know, it looks like something from a science lab.
But look! Once out of the jar, it looks like chicken!

Logan wanted to give it a try (although he keeps calling it turkey). He actually ate a little chunk right out of the can. This is a minor miracle, since Logan is a total meat-phobe. Worth canning chicken to get my picky toddler to eat? Heck, yeah!!

Here is the Sweet & Sour chicken, bubbling away on the stovetop. It was SOOO easy to make, and only took about 15 minutes (although I cheated and made the rice in a rice cooker.)

And here is dinner! I will say, I thought it was pretty tasty. The pineapple mitigates the strong chicken flavor well. Mitch still wasn't a fan. Well, back to the drawing board...

I already ordered the pressure canner, though, so we'll be trying it out with other meats, chili, tomato sauces and salsas. You name it - I'm gonna can it. But the chicken -- just for Logan and me apparently.

One busy week!

It has been a busy week here at the Deshazer house! We've had lots of fun, though. Here are Myra and Logan, enjoying some downtime together. I love that she is old enough to actually play WITH her brother now. She doesn't entertain him for long, but it is so sweet while it lasts. On Monday, we had fun with our friends Nicky and Ian while Claudia (AKA Mom) had a doctor's appointment. I was making some bread, and the kids were a big help!

On Tuesday we had tons of fun at playgroup (Sorry, no pictures). Since it is Spring Break, there were lots of big kids there for Logan to idolize. As a bonus, I got to chat with their Moms, which was super fun for me. Thanks for hanging out with me, ladies!!

Wednesday, Nicky and Ian came over to play and Claudia came, too. We had a great time. Little did either of us know that little Hanna was making the move! The Walker's played with us until noon or so, and Claudia's water broke just 2 hours later! Wow! We can't wait to meet the little princess.

Thursday was Match day. We had so many friends matching, I found myself getting sympathy nerves! Fortunately, everyone matched well. A&M has a cool tradition of hosting a cruise on the Lake for the graduating class, so we hosted the Chapman kids here at home so that Eric and Aubrey could enjoy the fun. We had a great time!

Carter learned to play the guitar.

And Ashlyn got to know the kitty. Godiva wasn't too excited about the prospect, but an uneasy truce was declared.

There was MUCH outdoor fun. Limbo on the slide, swinging, soccer, you name it! The boys also took turns pushing each other in Logan's red wagon.

Then we all settled down for some Sword in the Stone, baths and bedtime. They all crashed out pretty easily, since they did a good job tiring each other out outside. It was so fun! Logan has been asking when Ashlyn, Carter and Isaac can come to play again. Hopefully soon!

Myra has been having some fun of her own with food. She absolutely refuses to eat anything that resembles typical pureed baby food. And, at 7 months, she is determined to feed herself. Well, I guess we'll just go with the flow!

Here she is chowing down on some little cheese cubes. She's loving life!

I've been busy trying out new things in the sewing room. My mother has always said that Burda is one of her favorite pattern companies. They are German, and never go on sale, so, since I'm cheap and American, I hadn't tried them before. European patterns don't typically include seam allowances, so that you can choose your own. I learned to sew with included SA's, co this made me a little nervous. Still, I was ready for the challenge. And I found a Burda pattern for free that I really love. So, here we go. It took me FOREVER to cut out the fabric, since I had to mark seam allowances for every pattern piece. I need to find a tool to do that. Way annoying!! That said, once it was all cut out, it went together really well. The instructions were great - thorough and easy to follow. I choose to do the tunic in a tissue knit, which made it challenging in some ways, but I love sewing knits, so I could take it. The pattern called for a zipper in the back, which I thought would be a really bad idea on a fabric this light and stretchy, so I put in snaps instead. Minor alteration.

Anyway, here is the finished product - hanging on my dress form.

And hanging on myself! It is really comfy. I absolutely adore the cute little half-puffed sleeves. The fabric is fabulous. There are a few things that I will change the next go round. The yoke needs to come in a bit at the shoulders, as it is too wide to cover the underthings, and I might switch the closure to the front, for easier nursing of the baby.