Kj, Our First Bundle of Joy

This sweet girl certainly is a JOY!  She was our first Joy to come in the morning and mourning.  She was the first grandchild on either side of the family.  She has always loved people and loved babies as much as I do!  She loves reading, listening to books read, learning, sewing, baking.  She is independent, but loves to have people/friends around.  She is flexible, entertaining, beautiful, fun, creative, caring and generous. 

 

This Week's Library Favorites...

Water Sings Blue  -  Ocean Poems
Written by:  Kate Coombs
Illustrated by Meilo So

Our favorite:
Not Really Jelly
You're not really jelly,
you're not really fish--
you're free-floating noodles
escaped from a dish,
all slither and jiggle
and tremble and squish.

Some of the poems are funny and some are very informative.  The watercolor illustrations are beautiful!

~~~

Building Our House
Written and illustrated by:  Jonathan Bean

Based on his childhood.  Parents and 2 small children move onto land with a camper and build their house.  In the story, it takes a year and a half, in real life, he said it took five years.  I think my brother and nephew would like this one!

¡Pio Peep!  (accent on i)  Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes
Selected by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy
English Adaptions by Alice Schertle
Illustrated by Vivi Escriva

Our favorite:
The Little Ant
The first (second...) little ant
came out of a hill
and crept to the barn, as still, as still...
She snatched one grain
of golden wheat
and tiptoed out on her little ant feet.

I will spare you the non-accented Spanish version for now!  :)
 
~~~

The Royal Bee
Written by Frances Park and Ginger Park
Illustrations by Christopher Zhong-Yuan Zhang

This book takes place in Korea's history.  At the time of the story only sons of wealthy families were allowed to go to school.  One poor boy, Song-ho, goes to his local school and asks to learn there too.  The schoolmaster, though sympathetic, must not allow it.  He does though let him listen through the door.  You'll have to read it to know the rest. 

Sew Matching

Birthdays were coming up and I wanted to make something instead of buying things.  My girls have been inspiring this habit in me as well.  It does sometimes take a little more time and effort, but not always.  So, E's birthday dress was the first to be made (bottom picture).  Then I was going to do something similar for her under one sister, J.  After thinking that over, I decided pants would work better for her as she is a crawler.  So the pant idea came about.  Before carrying out the pants plan, I thought about a skirt for mama, but the fabric, I thought, would be a bit much for an adult skirt.  Then the search for the right top started.  I finally found a nice clearance t-shirt at Target!  Finally got back to little J's outfit, and decorated the shirt to match the pants.  The party is next weekend, so the timing is right. 

Also, with the L outfit I made, Kevin asked if I was going to make something for Kj for her birthday.  I started to but it hadn't worked out, so I had put it aside.  Now, just a few days away, I came up with a plan!!  Hoping to have time to execute (without her knowledge)!  She had, several years ago, picked out fabric for her Nana to make matching dresses for her and L.  She found that fabric again at the fabric store last week.  So, while Grandma was here with the kids, I headed to the grocery store.  I decided to go to a different grocery store, right by that same fabric store.  I bought some to make her a long, simple skirt.  And now, off to that!  :)
   

Avocado Spread

Source:  Organic Authority

Original:
1 small chili pepper
1 medium onion
1 garlic clove
1 Roma tomato
2 medium avocados, peeled and pitted
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard

My substitution version:
2 slices colored pepper
1/2 (+) teaspoon onion powder
1 garlic clove
2 grape tomatoes
2 medium avocados, peeled and pitted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard

Process peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes.  Mash avocado with lemon juice.  Mix all together and spread on your sandwich!!  Yum!

We ate with sourdough bread, ham, salami, mushrooms, romaine and cheese. 

The Party Has Begun

My sweet Pi babe, is 11 months and 26 days, and the party has begun, because Curl Grandma has arrived!  The girls are outside, on the driveway, sewing with Grandma.  In the meantime, I choose to do my sewing indoors and Mn is taking his second nap of the day.  We'll soon walk out to meet daddy on his way home by bike.  Then, get together with our "small" group. 

Cheering You On

This week, I am cheering on a cousin.  She will soon be staying home with her kids until they are all in school!  I know that she is not going into it blindly, because she had a long maternity leave.  Therefore, I don't feel as though I need to tell her that it is hard at times.  The thing she asked for were some good recipes. 

Food, I like food, and I have recipes.  So, I thought I would share some here.  As long as I am typing them out for her, I might as well share with whoever else is reading this. I'll start with 2 breakfast-y recipes.

Slow Cooker Honey Granola

4 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup chopped almonds (or other nuts)
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
(2 cups dried fruit, if desired)

In 3 qt slow cooker combine first 6 ingredients.  Cook, covered on high for 2 hours stirring well every 20 minutes. *in the places you didn't stir/scrape the sides, the oats will be burned*

Spread finished granola out to cool completely before storing in airtight containers.  Add desired fruit once granola is cooled.

---

Almond Oat (Berry) Bake - tweaked from GH Jan. 2015

(1)  Combine in a medium bowl:
2 3/4 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy, we use almond)
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

(2)  Combine in the greased 2 quart baking dish:
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup (or more) chopped walnuts/pecans/almonds
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons chia seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

(3)  Pour milk mixture over dry ingredients.

(4-optional)Top with:
1 cup blueberries
2 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered

(5) Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes or until almost all the liquid has been absorbed.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.  Serve with vanilla yogurt if you'd like.

My Little L

The girls have inspired me to make birthday presents instead of buying them.  So, this is 2/5 (maybe more) that I have been working on this past month.  I did have L try on parts of this as I was working on it, but she never saw the end product.  She tried to sneak in to see it, but I told her if she looked now she wouldn't get it for her birthday.  ;)

She'll be 5!!  Wow!  She is growing up fast.  Last summer, she started telling people she was going to be in kindergarten (part of her "obsession" of doing everything her big sister does).  She is now fully in the kindergarten mode.  We have done about 4 weeks of the official/real stuff.  She equates school to doing worksheets.  We can't just read books or talk about things, she needs to "do" something.

Pictures are around her birthday each year, video is 1 year old L.

To My Only Little Sister:

I love you!  Hope your day has been going along splendidly. I wonder if you ever thought you would see these t-shirt logos again...

I finished the top of this quilt just in time for your birthday evening!!  Thankfully, I wasn't planning on seeing you today, so I didn't have to have it done.  Who knows maybe I'll get it completely finished by the March pool party...don't get your hopes up!

This is my first attempt, my sampler, of a t-shirt quilt.  It was spurred on by Cousin L's desire to make one with her dad's shirts.  She had the book on the how-to, so I decided to try it out on my little sister's cast off t-shirts.  Originally, I was going to make her little girls two baby-doll blankets, but then it turned into this lap quilt.  :)

Hopefully it will be enjoyed before the heat of summer!
aj