holiday

Turkey Trot Appliqued T-Shirt

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I do not want to prematurely claim this project to be awesome since at this very moment I have it in the washing machine with my fingers crossed that is will not crumble 🙂

My family is participating in a local Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving with some friends and when I saw this shirt on Pinterest, I though how cute it would be for the kids to have a Turkey shirt:

The tutorial for this shirt can be found  at  cookinwiththejohnstons.com

Super cute right, it got my mind turning, then I remembered all that fabric I had thrifted last year and posted about here, and thought, ooh I can make one of those.

Lets segway for a second; I think there are two kinds of people, those that go to craft shows and buy cute things and artfully decorate their home, then there people like me that go to shows, and scour Pinterest and think, I can do that….. although this is not always true, and it is in no way is a discredit to original ideas and artists, I think we just really think we can do it. We are literally in the mindset that if you can do it so can I.

Ok back to the shirt, I can make one of those……with my 5 previous hours of experience on my sewing machine, of course I can make a Turkey appliqué shirt, hellooooo I have a Pinterest account….geeez.

Well, I did it, and I love it, however, it was not as easy I thought and I definitely had to separate myself and the sewing machine (she is going to need a name) me to reassess my strategy and the machine for poor behavior.

I will post the steps as to how I made my shirts once I have pulled it out of teh dryer and I am certain that it survived.:)

Happy Winter Holidays!!

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We got our first round of snow here in MN and I immediately got everyone ready for a photo shoot, this was taken on one of our relatives farm and I just love how it turned especially since it was my first time using the camera on manual with a tripod. There are others from this shoot that are great but this is the one I am sharing, do not want to spoil what is coming snail mail to some of you;)

I have to admit I thought ths posted at the appropriate time but alas….not so much!

A Heart-y Breakfast

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It is the day…the one some people can’t wait to spend with the person they love, others can’t stand to be  alone and all the latter people are celebrating and the day that some anticipate with anxiety and hope.  There are so many expectations what sould be given on this day that I think the sincerity of simple love can be lost to the material expectations…but this is no soap box…today. 

At our house there are no built up expectations or shiny bling, it is similar to most other days, with perhaps a little more focus on love and family.

So what better way to start the day than with homemade heart waffles, topped with fresh crushed sweet strawberries,  and whipped cream spiked with just a touch of almond extract… and nothing says momma and poppa love you more than spikes of bacon on the top, like sprinkles only much tastier.

My mom has had this waffle iron since I was a kid and it was so fun to use it this morning when heart shaped waffles actually made sense. I am sure she got it at Dayton’s back in the day but I see Target has a similar one.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Snowed In Reindeer Craft

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In case you have not heard, those of us residing in Minnesnowta have been pretty much shut in by a recent blizzard.  Even better is that the forecast claimed that we may reach a high of around zero degrees today!!!  Oh the joy.  So here kids is 4 feet of snow but with the wind-chill dipping to an excruciating -30 your chances of playing in all that great powder are about as probable as today’s forecasted high.

This is where my job becomes, fun.  time to plan activities that everyone will enjoy so that the house is not completely torn apart at the end of the day. 

So here is what we made today, “snow-deer”  sometimes called reindeer, but let’s face it, if it was rain we would have been splashing in the puddles.

The bonus to this project is that we can save it to remember each child’s foot and hands from this year.

I had them all gather a shoe , trace it and cut it out. 

Then I helped them trace each hand and cut it out…these are the antlers.

Next I got out my jars of buttons that I bought at a local antique sale that happens annually in a small local town and they all chose buttons for eyes, nose and of course an earring or two. This also led to discussions of how old the buttons were, and we imagined what person or outfit might have gone with these buttons.  We found one dated from the 1800’s.

Then Jon and I had a turn making  one, his had some lines on it from another project which he turned into a proper tribal tattoo.  I love how all of them reflect each person’s true self in a small way.

We also made bread, meatballs, and those little pretzel chocolate melts with the M &M’s what a great day!

Literature advent

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I am finding it more important to teach our children creativity and frugality through well thought out traditions, as well as everyday life. This year I decided that the advent calendar for our house would belong to everyone and be made from things we have at home.

I  had the kids run around and gather all the winter, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, etc. books from their shelves.

I  then wrapped each book in red paper, except for one, the books do not have numbers, giving the child whose turn it is a chance to choose the book.  The 24th book is wrapped in green and will be the last one to be opened…can you guess which one  it is? 🙂

Each night, starting with the oldest each child will take a  turn choosing one book from the shelf, they will get to unwrap it, pass a chocolate to everyone and we will all sit together and listen to the book they chose.  Who reads the book will also be their decision.

Things they will learn from this are that excitement can come from items you have around the house when given a new purpose. Patience and taking turns.  It also gives our family a chance to enjoy some of that precious together time.