The Chick has Hatched! June 2010

Welcome to Our Family!

We are so thankful for our little girl!  One of my favorite parts of the whole weekend was soon after she was born,  Luke, with tears in his eyes thanked God for new member of our family.  It was such a tender moment.  I have spent the last 3 days looking at her in awe and amazement, so of course to me pictures can't capture how wonderful she is! 

The rest of the Blog was composed earlier this month while waiting for our little girl to arrive.

Garden

 Wow!  The growing season in TN is amazing!  This mid-western girl still cannot believe it!  We have harvested 1 jalapeno, with 2 on the way.  Our red bell pepper has 2 medium peppers.  The Roma tomatoes and the grape tomatoes have more green tomatoes then I could take the time to count!  and the flowers are going strong.  Here are my cone flowers and butterfly weed.  I started the butterfly weed from seed last year.  This year it reseeded itself and is doing amazing.  Our home came with some interesting day lilies that I had never seen before, like this one with the striped center.

Day Lilies

 

Jalapeno

 

Sewing

I took my first stab at sewing since middle school home economics (were I remember more about discussions of whether our teacher was wearing a wig than I do about sewing).  So I started with these flannel rectangles.  They are cloth reusable diaper wipes.  I am going to be using cloth diapers with our baby and so I thought I might try out cloth diaper wipes (though I am not as committed to them as I am to the cloth diapers.)  What a great first sewing project; I just sewed rectangles, and if I messed up it didn't matter because it was just going to be used on a baby's bottom!  I tried all three designs described here.

 

The next project took things up quite a few notches.  But I had Holly (Luke's mom) teaching me as we went, and so I learned a lot.   For the valance for the nursery I was originally going to make it out of the Juicy Jungle fabric by Alexander Henry.  Then I realized it might look a little busy for a valance.  So I got the idea to make a valance and applique some of the animals from the fabric onto it.  Pretty ambitious for a second project!  I was really thankful that Holly was willing to take on this adventure with me.  We used a gabardine fabric in cream for the main part of the valance.  It has a wonderful hang to it.  For the applique I used an iron on bonding agent called Heat n Bond, and then I did a small zigzag stitch around the edges of the fabric to prevent raveling.    

The Bean Game

This month's game is one that I've enjoyed for many years, it's called Bohnanza.   I'm trying out a game ranking on a strategy-social continuum.  1 to 5. 1 being a very concentrated strategy game where you want no distractions and 5 being a laid back social game.  Bohnanza would get a 3 on this scale.  It is a nice combination of some strategy but fun social time also.  It involves planting beans in fields and harvesting them.  But you only have two fields.  So deciding when to plant, when to harvest and when to trade bring in the strategy.

For those of you who have played this game before with me, you might be interested in an that I really enjoy called High Bohn Plus.  It has a western theme in which you buy different buildings that let you do certain things that other players can't.  With this expansion more strategy is added, and so it would go to a 2.5 on the scale.

What do you think of my strategy-social scale?  Is it helpful?

Nursery

Here's a short video of the nursery.

May 2010 Blog

Happy May!

We've been busy decorating our nursery and getting it ready the baby.  We are doing an animal themed nursery with animal alphabet cards, hung on the wall.  Yes, we are aware that we don't have the alphabet cards in the correct order.  We don't have room for the entire alphabet on the wall, and the baby isn't quite ready to be worrying about order anyways!


Besides still working on some physical things in the baby's room we are really ready for her to come at anytime.  We tell her this everyday, but she hasn't decided to maker her journey yet. 

 My mom, Patsy, made a beautiful crib skirt out of this fabric by Alexander Henry called "Juicy Jungle".  Luke's mom, Holly, and I are working on a valance for the window.  We are appliqueing some of the animals from the fabric onto the valance.  I'm really excited about my adventures in sewing.  It has something I've been afraid to try since middle school because of the precision involved.  But I'm relearning the whole process, and I'm excited about all the craft options.  Baby's aren't too fussy about straight stitches,  so this is a good place to start!

Does it mean you all ready for a baby when you can diaper a duck blindfolded?  At a recent baby shower this was a skill I found myself capable of!

Salad Dressing Recipe
An easy but healthy meal Luke and I like to make is taco salad.  It is easy to improvise with what we have on hand, or ingredients we desire at the time.  But we never knew what dressing to use.  Some restaurants offer a creamy dressing on taco salad, but we wanted to steer clear of that direction.  We usually end up using more salsa than we need to just to make our salad "wet".  We tried this dressing the last couple times we had taco salad, and felt like it really helped balance our salads.  It is subtle and provided that "wetness" we desired.

Taco Salad Dressing
6 servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon honey
2 Tablespoons lime juice (1 lime)
cumin to taste

Mix ingredients and serve over taco salad.  Extra will keep in the fridge.

Click Here For Printable Recipe


A Sweet Love Story

I recently watched "The Young Victoria" and I highly recommend it.  I knew nothing of Queen Victoria's early years as Queen, and so I found the history really interesting.  At the same time it is an extremely endearing and sweet love story.  If you enjoy period pieces and simple and sweet stories, then please see it, you will enjoy it.


Board Game

Recently I have been learning how to play Alhambra, a strategy game that my friends Matt and Betsy own. (well technically Betsy gave it to her dad for Christmas but has then has been borrowing it back!)


Some nice things about this game is that it is a strategy game, but it is not very complex to learn.  Basically you are buying and building rooms. But how you get your money, what you buy and how you build, that is what the game comes down to.    Another nice feature is that you can play it as a two player game.  Luke and I are always looking for good two player games.   But we've also played with 6 people and had fun (like any strategy game with a lot of people, everyone has to be committed to the game).  Let me know what you think of it if you try it out.


I Won Something!

With my new adventures in sewing, I have been looking at sewing blogs and websites.  The website Sew Mama Sew had a give away day with people from other blogs coming together and giving away items.  And I won this fabulous camera strap from VMJess.  Check out her Etsy shop if you are interested in a cute camera strap.  She uses lots of fun fabrics.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/vmjess

April Blog

Happy Spring!
One of the things I love about living in Tennessee is that spring comes early.  Being pregnant during the spring has been especially fun.  As everything is blooming, blossoming, and starting anew, I look forward to the amazing new start of birth.  Here are some other things I have been enjoying in April month.

5 Pound Sack of Potatoes

Last week at the doctors they estimate that the baby is already 5 pounds!  That is so big after so long of her being compared to a blueberry or an avocado.  We are working on getting the nursery ready and looking forward to meeting our little girl soon! 




The Healthiest Scone You Will Ever Like
My recipe this month is one that I have been making for some years now.  I've played with it, tweaked it, and really have been happy with the results in every stage.  You can't approach these like the scones you would get at a coffee shop.  Don't think white and flaky.  This scone marches to the beat of it's own drum.  I've found that the most successful whole grain recipes are like that.  They don't  try to make you think you are eating something white and fluffy but really it is make from barely.  Instead, whole grain recipes that are their own thing altogether are most enjoyable.  If you have any recipes like that, please share them with me.  This recipe is adapted from "The Healthy Kitchen"

Multi-Grain Scones

 1 Egg
1/2 cup sugar (I use cane sugar, but white sugar will work)
5 Tablespoons oil (either grape seed, olive, or vegetable)
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup wheat bran
1 1/2 cup flour ***see note
3 Tablespoons millet

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375
2.  Whisk egg, sugar, and oil together.
3.  Mix dry ingredients together in separate bowl.  Then slowly add dry ingredients to wet.  Then add milk and nuts.
4.  Grease a pan and scoop a couple of tablespoons of dough into mounds onto the pan.  There should be around 10 scones.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

***Note on flour:  This is where I have experimented with different combinations of whole wheat flour, white flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or white whole wheat flour.  My current favorite combination is 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour and 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour.
Click Here For Printable Copy of Recipe


What a Privilege To Love 

I've continued to enjoy dwelling on what Jesus Christ shared with his disciples right before he was going to be crucified.  I've been reading John chapters 13-16 a lot recently.  What has really stood out to me is the privilege as a Christian I have to love other people.

⁹"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. ¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  John 15:9-12 NIV

As a Christian I have "Christ-In" and I am commanded to love like Christ loved.  What a privilege!  When I try to love people on my own I often run out very easily.  But when I look at God's love for me and Jesus Christ love for me I then have so much more to give to other people.

One thing I learned this month is how there are similar topics covered in John 13-16 and in the book of 1 John.  In 1 John it also talks about what Christians are commanded to do.

^"23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us." 1 John 3:23 NIV

This is what I am endeavoring to do on a daily basis, believing in the power of the name of Jesus Christ and to love other people.  That sounds like a good life to me.
 
Gardening

My Mrs. Moon plant made the first substantial showing, and boy did she show off!  From a little sprig of a plant that my mom gave me last year she really started the season off with style!

 I was so thrilled that my Solomon's Seal blossomed.  This is a flower that grows wild in the woods.  It is great to have a little woods in my backyard.

For my birthday Luke gave me 2 double pink knockout rose bushes.  They are going to get to be 3 to 4 feet tall.  I'm very thankful.  (for those of you keeping score in the gardening department, I ended up not getting the David Austin rose this year.  I found out that in the hot South, those English type roses need partial shade.  Maybe next year I will get one).




Learning How to Cut With Scissors
After the past 7 years of working with preschool and elementary school children to develop fine motor skills, I am still fascinated by the process, and still find it interesting.  I am starting to share what I know about fine motor development with my sister-in-law Anna for her little daughter Charlotte.  For any moms of preschoolers or people that have preschoolers in their life, I thought that I would also start sharing some fine motor skill development information on this blog.  Let me know if you use it.

View "Learning How To Cut With Scissors"

Cutting with scissors is something we take for granite as adults, but it is a skill children have to learn.  I've seen too many time a child never having used scissors before and then given the shape of a dog or flower to cut out and then been unsuccessful and very frustrated.  If you would like more information please click on the link for a document about learning to cut with scissors.