Winter Projects

Sophie has wanted to sew a skirt all winter. We finally got to the fabric store, it is far from us, and the plan was that we would buy some black fabric and I would help her learn to sew a pencil skirt. Simple, elastic waist, etc. Well. Sophie was intoxicated by all the fabric. There was no way she was walking out of there with only black. She found this stripe and explained to me how we could sew it into a chevron pattern. It was pretty sheer, so Sophie came up with the idea of a contrasting lining. I am glad my sewing skills were up to the task and am still surprised it turned out as well as it did. Of course I found directions online that I followed to a T! I have never known a kid Sophie's age so incredibly concerned with fashion. I am determined to teach her to sew that simple skirt though!

This rug is my favorite find. Just looking at it covering the yucky tile by my front door makes me happy. I found a new discount furniture store and they sold it to me for 35$! Now if I could just find a kitchen table I love and can afford.

Snow!

 Finally! Snow! Big, white fluffy snowflakes. We only got an inch or so, but it is sooooo beautiful. School got out early today in anticipation of the storm :) I am sure it will be canceled tomorrow too. It is not supposed to get above freezing here all day.

Grace stayed out longer then any of the rest of us. She always does. My little naturalist. She and Noah both have their snow clothes all laid out ready for first thing in the morning. Now that we don't have neighbors they can go out and make all the noise they want. I am so looking forward to walking through the woods in the morning, even if it is only slightly snowy.

Notice how muddy Sophie's "snow" boots are? All of my kids use them as outside play shoes. Tomorrow they will make red dirt footprints in the snow....

Budding Chef

Luke has been asking for the past several days to make dinner all on his own. He planned out a whole menu, and with a bit of help and guidance, cooked dinner tonight. It was awesome! He loves shrimp and it is too expensive to cook. But I let him get some for tonight. He and I made shrimp, rice, cooked carrots and coleslaw. Last summer in Utah Grandma H made coleslaw once and Luke fell in love. I never make it, but happened to have a cabbage in the fridge tonight. It turned out really good. I tried to get Luke to smile to show his gappy smile. His front tooth finally fell out last night. I am not sure how it was still hanging in there, I have never seen a looser tooth! He got up in the middle of the night to tell me his tooth had fallen out. He found it on his pillow. This guy. I love him to pieces.

Life in the South

I just have to record this so I will remember later. School is delayed tomorrow morning because it is cold. Really. I will gladly take the extra time in my warm bed though!

Treasures to Remember

Sunday Grace leaned over to me after the sacrament and asked me if I would help her bear her testimony. I could see that she had a piece of paper in her hand covered with writing. Of course I said yes and we went up. I was glad a sister got there before us so I could gather my thoughts for a minute.  When it was our turn Grace got up. She was REALLY nervous and said her first sentence,  "I know I am a child of God because He helps me get through hard times." Then turned to go. I reminded her to close in the name of Jesus Christ and she did and then almost ran back to our seat.

I was SO proud of her. We have never really spoken to the kids about bearing their testimonies in church, this was completely on her own. After my sweet Gracie bore such a simple and eloquent feelings I shared a brief testimony of gratitude for my children and husband. The first Sunday of the month is the only time Jason is at church with us. He is in Caswell all of the other weeks. It was so nice to be able to sit together and share the meetings. Grace let me see what she had written and said I could scan it. I would like to remember all she wrote. I know it was all testified in her heart, even if it didn't get spoken over the pulpit.

This picture on the back is my favorite part. I love how Grace captured the comfort the Lord sent to her when she had to ride 25 minutes to the hospital with a really, really painful injury. I love her. I am blessed to be her mom.

Minecraft Mayhem

The boys had their first friends birthday party Saturday. It turned out really fun. We had Minecraft games, Minecraft prizes and treats, a Minecraft cake (idea borrowed from Issac's cake made by
Chris and Heather). There was lots of yelling and laughing and boys all over the place.

 I loved the way the cake turned out! It wasn't hard, but took a lot of time.

Starting in front: Zachary Mullahey, Scott Hiatt, Noah, James Wrinkle, Luke, Levi Lundrigan, Rubin & Charlie Bassett.

Happy New Year 2014!

We had a nice first day of 2014. Nothing to crazy. Just time together as a family and some work. Jason was super excited to use his disc tiller this morning. Getting it unloaded from the trailer was a bit tricky. I kept praying for the Lord to help us and make sure no one got hurt. I kept having images of it dropping and slicing feet in half...

The kids and I watched Harry Potter 2. We started last night but it was too scary so we turned on Despicable Me 2 instead. But in the light of day the kids all wanted to watch it again. It was fun to lounge around and spend time together.

I made a traditional New Year's Day southern dinner tonight. It was a ton of work, but super yummy, except the collard greens. Both of our Elders are fairly new missionaries and I thought it would be fun for them. Supposedly collard greens and black eyed peas represent wealth, cash and coins. But I did read in Southern Living that the tradition started after the Civil War. All the was left to eat were dried beans in much of South, and greens grow almost year round here. They are inexpensive and mature quickly, so the greens and peas represent how communities in the south survived the period after the war by helping each other and sharing what little they had. I like the second version of the tradition better!

I tried a fancy way of sauteing our greens. They were still super bitter. Next year I will make something more mild like chard.

 This is Hoppin' John. It is a rice and black eyed pea dish traditionally eaten on New Years. It was good, much better then I expected. The Elder's has seconds and thirds. You are supposed to make enough to always have leftovers. The next day it become Skippin' Jenny and you eat it to show your frugality and you are supposed to be prosperous.

I was super brave and made pork chops.I have never cooked them before. We were going to have BBQ chicken but Jason told me he heard on the radio that it was bad luck to eat chicken on New Year's Day because chicken's scratch backwards. You are supposed to eat pork or beef, both animals that move forward as they forage! It took me a bit to believe him. I thought he was teasing me. But we went with it. I still don't love pork chops, but they were ok. 

Whats left of the caramel cake. I sent a big chunk home with the Elder's too. This frosting is SO good! It is from Jason's grandma Poulsen's cookbook. It is the only frosting I make that you have to cook because it is worth the extra time and effort!