I'm back!!!!

I spent my day encouraging this...

and this,

and this.

I think it was officially called "Peru's Popcorn Game" on my field day instructions. Three hours of hilarious parachute mishaps. Lost a lot of my voice by the end of the day. Now I feel like my legs and arms are going to fall off. No real winners or losers just a whole lot of fun.

I have been busy sewing an apron and shorts for Miss Kathryn along with other projects and layouts. Here is the apron. I have to say I learned a lot about sewing around curves.

These are my mother's day gifts. Kate had all of the girls dress alike and they went on a photo safari the Saturday before Mother's day. I love seeing all of the fun they had! Here are a few quick shots of Kate's Mother's Day Coupons. I LOVE them!

Now I promise to stay up to date. When I get behind it is too hard to start again without including all of the fun things I didn't get a chance to record. See you soon!

A tale of eggs and Tulips...

We have had a great but busy week after the show. I'm updating this before I show you the Mother's Day Post tomorrow.
Every morning Paige climbs into bed with me. (Kate is supposedly "watching her" for me when they get up extra early) She sits next to me and has her own little conversation. Mom, Momma, Mommee, Mom, Momma, Mommee, she sings. If I try to roll over, hide my head or show any other avoidance of morning. Paige will climb on my head and yell MOM EHHH, MOM EHHH!!! This will graduate into a full scale screaming tantrum on the floor if I don't talk her down quickly. As Melly says,"Save some of that for later little sister."It took me a few days of Paige kicking and screaming before I figured that tantrum out. She wants EGGS. I keep them hard boiled in the fridge and she only wants the whites. Go figure one kid wants sausage, one salad, and the littlest egg whites.
This weeks accomplishments.
Birds nest discovery last weekend 3 eggs. Checked again on Tuesday and we have FOUR!!! Hard to explain to Paige that she really can't touch them and definitely can't eat them. Robins eggs are so pretty and almost turquoise painted finger in photo mine to show scale.

Science Fair Project on Tornadoes by Kate(She did a great job. That girl has some skills.)Paige and Sydney played together for a long time. When Kate got off the bus they taught her how to roll down the dip in our middle yard. Hilarious.
Henke's over for craft day....FUN, FUN, FUN! When it started raining they kept playing outside. Kate was smart and got everyone mismatched sweaters, jackets, hats etc. Katie Henke and I both made progress on craft projects we'd been putting off.
Planting more seeds in pots and some outside.
Fertilized new growth.
I also transplanted the remaining tomato plants to bigger pots.(Of my original 36 plants only 17 made it through my cats, mice, and other creatures.)
John painted a second coat in the studio.
I signed up for an Apron Swap. I'm so excited.
Laura and I went fabric looking for her apron swap creation.
Macy, Hanna, and Sydney and I went to the Science Fair at school.
I had Skrappaper Friends over for a Friday night Crop.
Jennifer Hayes and my sister Laura came over on Saturday. Lots of work completed on their parts. Some work completed on my end. I personally think my Mother's Day cards Rock! So the Sister Missionaries came over and made two cards each for their mom's. John took the girls all day on an adventure to complete the photography part of a project with Kate. It was heavenly around here.
Oh yeah and John took some rocking photos of flowers and children. I just love how he caught Paige peeking around my leg. I show you his Mother's Day Masterpiece tomorrow.

Oliver...

So I haven't blogged for a while. The girls were in "Oliver",with their favorite director Miss Jone' of Theatre Kidz Inc. Met lots of great, talented kids and I became reacquainted with old friends. Kate had a lot of fun telling people that this was her 14th show. I just can't believe how fast time flies.

By the fourth and final performance, this particular parent was DONE. I was tired. I wanted to not see a green room full of children for a long, long time.(No the room's not green!) I knew what my assingment was for strike, collect and bag all props. Jone' had us all organized. The kids had just finished their final bows, starting to trickle through back stage on their way out to see all of their fans, when a loud noise split the air.

Oh, for the love of a Pete! Not the fire alarm. My first thought was which kid did it? Nice, right! Definitely not looking on the brighter side of things. My second thought was where's Sydney? I went through the theatre. I looked backstage. NO Sydney in sight.

You might ask if I was worried about Kate? No, I knew that Kate would take care of herself. That child of mine has a great sense of self preservation. I was sure I would find her telling the other children her age exactly how to get out of the building. Syd on the other hand likes to cuddle her knees, hide her head and cry. She sits in her room and cries, she sits in the kitchen and cries, it doesn't matter if she's sad, angry, or really mad she just cries. Okay maybe moaning is more appropriate term in some situations. That's just the way Syd rolls.

So me what do I do while this all runs through my head? Well I kept looking for her, in between the seats, behind the curtains, in the green room, no Syd. I had to leave the building without her. I was panicking. Panick attacks aren't fun. I just plain don't like them and I hope that you never have had or have one. At least there was a cause for this one.

I went outside and started looking through the actors. Saw Kate right away, for her this was an adventure. Remember when things like fire drills were fun? Still no Syd. Then the crowd parted and I saw her in the middle of a group of older girls.

Of course Miss Megan who is only a Freshman, a big sister to three wild, fun and crazy brothers, a talented singer, dancer, and actor had her. I got teary eyed. I hugged Syd to me. Relief is such a great feeling. I thanked the girls, I thanked God, I was in a great state of thanks. We heard the fire trucks coming. Everything was fine, no fire. The set strike continued after the building was released for use.

Megan came up to me later and said "Oh, Miss Susan I forgot to tell you what Syd said. She was hiding her head sitting on stage(see I know my girl) and I went to pick her up. She said,Thank you for picking me up. I was scared that I was going to trip on my skirt and fall. Then the fire would lick me and eat me all up." Thank goodness for kindhearted kids like Miss Megan. There is nothing like a little drama to end a great show.

Our workhouse child, waifelike isn't she?

Workhouse child and Fagin's boy Kate was great!

All pictures courtesy of Charlene. I didn't have time to grab my purse on the way out, actually I didn't even bring my camera on Sunday. What a slacker.

Where was Paige? The little monster was home with John since I can't keep her off the stage. A big thanks to John for tending the tyrant while I was gone this weekend.

Cute huh?

I used to like the little bunnies hopping through my yard. I've even thought how cute they are. I always make sure that my dog doesn't catch one when I let her out to the bathroom in the morning, which involves me scarring many of them away before she goes out.
I have decided that the honeymoon is officially over.

I discovered late this afternoon that the little monsters stripped four of my berry bushes bare. I am not a gardening moron. I know bunnies think that my garden is just scrumptious buffet that I plant just for them. Really, I took precautions. I put chicken wire around each bush!

Things I've learned today.

1. The holes in my wire were 1 1/4 inches.....not the required 3/4 inch that a bunny can't squeeze through .

2. My bunny actually decided to tip over the cages all of my cages. With one exception, the milk carton that I cut the top and bottom off of.

So while accessing the damage. I went to the roots to see if there was any new growth at all. Hence the saying getting to "the root of the problem."

That is when I discovered lesson number 3. The rassafrassin bunnies actually ate an entire raspberry bush roots and all. Not a piece of the plant left for me to mourn over. Just a sad, lonely, empty hole.

3. Bunnies can dig and think roots are yummy too.

After much fuming over dinner and emergency consultation on the internet. I decided to reinforce my wire fencing with plastic mesh fencing with smaller holes in it. I buried the bottom of the fencing and now I'm hoping that I have done enough.

Darn those rascally rabbits.

General Craftiness

This is the latest completed project by me. I wanted to make a gift for the newest addition to our congregation. She is so sweet and tiny. I can't believe that my little tyrant was once that size. Congratulations to Kristin and Ryan! I just hope that their daughter sleeps more than my three did the first year.Just a quick note the vine on the side is cut with my Silhouette. I lovey, love, love my Silhouette by Quickutz. I am in the process of trying out my different ideas with it. The freedom that this tool gives me to be creative is amazing. It's nice to finally have the time to try out a tool I was gifted with last year.

The acetate overlay I designed myself. I used graphics I found at Designer Digitals, graph paper - Katie Pertiet, the qoute is one of the free online weekly web qoutes. I had a lot of fun and also used this on a layout that I've been working on for Paige.

I finally finished this blanket! Found this while cleaning my bedroom closet a couple of weeks ago. I am so very happy to complete this. I started this blanket for Paige when she was still in utero. I find that crocheting is calming for me. I don't follow patterns, they stress me out. I just stitch and stitch and stitch.

Kate and Sydney have orders in for their own blankets. Luckily Kate still loves this yarn she helped me pick out three or more years ago. Syd wants a light blue and white one. Well at least I''m never bored.

Growing Pains

My sprouts look great but I had to thin them out today.
I hate this part.
How do I decide which plant should live
and which one will, well die.
I know a little dramatic.
But sometimes it's the little things
that are hardest for me to do.

It is done.

Yummy Cheddar Cheese Bread

Baking makes me happy.
While cleaning out our recipe file

I discovered a recipe for Cheddar Cheese Bread.

It was written by Skrappinguy and he only saves

"important" recipes.

So I knew if I tried it we'd like it.

Well the results were, well, YUMMY!

I love the smell of bread rising.
Then the amazing smell of bread baking.

Then my favorite, warm bread straight from the oven,

with REAL butter on top.

I let the calorie counting go for yesterday.

Kate was thrilled when I took it out of the oven

right after she got off the bus.

Paige devoured hers.
Syd "loved it."
John told me after he ate his bread that this was

his Grandma Kathryn's recipe.

What can I say about Grandma Kathryn?

Well she was funny, bold, and obviously a great baker.

I missed her all over again yesterday.

I think we just started a

Cheddar Cheese Bread tradition.

Grandma Kathryn's Cheddar Cheese Bread

1 package Yeast

1/4 cup warm Water

1 1/2 cups milk

2 Tbs Sugar

2 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese Grated

3 Tbs Cooking Oil

1 1/2 tsp Salt

5-6 cups Flour

Sprinkle the yeast into the warm water. Stir, let stand for a few minutes until dissolved. Heat the rest of the ingredients, except flour until lukewarm. No the cheese won't all be melted but it will be o.k. Pour over yeast mixture. Add about 1/2 the flour. Mix well, continue adding flour until it is a stiff dough. Take the ball of dough out of the bowl and knead the rest of the flour in...this will make a smoother dough. Grease bowl, place dough in and turn it over. Cover with a cloth and let rise until double (about an hour maybe more.) Punch down and shape into 2 loaves. Grease two 9 by 5 by 3 loaf pans, place dough in pans. Let rise until double. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

Enjoy!