first day, first week

First week of 'back to school' behind us.
what.a.whirlwind.

reminding myself to breeeeaaath!

cuz there's a whole year ahead of us yet!

but who can't love these eager faces early in the morning??

peanut butter rice krispie squares

Guess what I just whipped up?

I know.  PB is such a touchy subject these days.  I don't make these delightful treats all that often.
We love peanut butter in our house so you can imagine how quickly these disappear anyways!

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Squares

2 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
250 g (4 cups) mini marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies (but also great with Special K)

You know how to make this, you've done it a million times -- enjoy!
I love them with a vanilla latte.  yes, I do.

singin' in the rain

sometimes the busyness of our weekly and daily routines makes me forget to pause for moments like this.

...to enjoy a warm morning rain in pj's and flip flops.

it was sooooo good and refreshing to stop and breath in the sweet smell of the rain together.

check it

To-Do Lists seem to follow me, taunt me, and harass me. 

Likely, they are jealous of the time I spend on activities that are much more fun.

Managed to cross this task off my To-Do List today. 

Five knees.  No longer showing skin.

Should ease the frequency of needing to wash jeans as well. 

lovely.

a quilt for P

My lack of posts should not indicate a dislike for my readers or a lack of desire to share what this busy household has been up to.  It's probably more of an indication of my poor time management.

But somehow in the midst of all that poor time management, I managed to crank out a quick quilt for Paityn this week.  It's a project that's been on my mind for a very long time and it feels good to have it completed.  A cozy little rag quilt.  I sewed it from her baby receiving blankets and it turned out to be just the perfect size for her crib.  Just for some good memories and cozy sleeps.

I'm not going to go through a tutorial for you -- there are plenty of really good tutorials floating around and to be honest, I've read this pattern so often and thought about it so long that I created it 'from memory'.  But a little peek at my process doesn't hurt, does it?

 The fabric strips cut from flannel receiving blankets.

Pinning the batting between the front and back flannel pieces.

My best quilting advice:  once you lay out all your pieces, and like the arrangement -- take a photo!  I often have to walk away from my quilt at this point to get dinner together or pick someone up from school so the photo is a safeguard.

Yup.  A very valuable safeguard against someone deciding that your quilt pieces look like roads.  She also presented me with a handful of pins that she had removed from the roads.  nice.

The finished product: seams snipped; tumbled in the washer and dryer to fray and soften.  

lovely.

love for your kiddos

Valentine's Day is right around the corner!  I've been pondering on these super Valentine's treats since I spied them on Zakka Life on February 15th of last year.  Yeah.  One day late.  I gotcha this year.  I even remembered to buy bags of Tootsie Roll Pops at Halloween.  Yuh-huh.  It's happening this year and it's gonna be SUPAH.  (Who's project is this anyways?  mine or the boys'?  hahaha!)

Oh, but there are so many cutsie treat ideas for your kiddos to bring to school to their classmates 

floating over the web.  Here's a few I spied on Pinterest.  Follow the links for more on each idea.

 monkeys and lions from Fiskars

 'On-a-Roll Scroll' from Disney Family Fun

Amy's Free Printables from Living Locurto

(some cute owl Valentine's Day card printables here too.)

'Bear Your Heart' from Disney Family Fun

print these cute Butterfly Cards here from giver'slog and add a pretty pencil.

 

 

The boys and I have made these recycled crayons together.  

Super fun and a great little treat for classmates.

 Find all the details here.

 

 Skip to my Lou has a long list of printables to make these butterflies as well as lilies for any occasion.

 

one of my favourites!

Get the label printable here.

another fave!  Find it here on Disney Family Fun.

Enjoy prepping for Valentine's Day with your little loved ones!

back in the saddle

whew!  What a difficult time I've been having getting back into routine.  A good bout with the flu/a cold over the holidays and beyond had me in neutral for waaaay too long.  One real routine week DFO (Done, Finished, Over.  Mike's term) and it was a doozie:  home reno's to work around, field trip, early dismissal, lots of errands including a trip to the fabric store (yay!) and a hubby back to work.  I think we're riding again.

This morning I took some 'me time' -- as far as 'me time' goes with three kids at home; there were plenty of interruptions -- to sew a little number for Paityn.  I'm planning on putting girls dresses into the shop over the next month and it's time to start sewing.  Paityn gets the trial run?  guesso!  I finished it up while she was napping after lunch then waited, waited, and waited for her to wake up.  I needed the model!

 Just a peasant dress but I do love them.  This particular style was largely a tutorial from Prudent Baby with some alterations from me.  PM's pattern is for a peasant top but as you can see, Paityn's a peasant dress.  Partially because of the style and sizing but also due to the 2.5 inch ruffle I added as well as a bit of legnth to the body.  The dress came together lickety split until I started adding ruffles and pockets.  This fabric was my nursing cover for Paityn and the green dot was the lining from her car seat cover.  I couldn't bear to cut into new fabric on a trial run with an online tutorial.

And here she is modeling the dress (I couldn't part with that smile on the blurry photo) with a bulky onesie underneath but please!  It's January and we live in northern Alberta.  Pardon the socks and Robeez too.  It's quite the fashion statement, isn't it?  The lovely thing about peasant dresses is the ample fit which grows with your girlie.  So you can pretty much count on it fitting as a dress to start and a tunic a year or more later.  This dress is fitting Paityn pretty big.  So much for it being a size 2T!  But it's cute and she's growing and I can now adjust the sizing to make more.