Saturday, March 31, 2012

Sew and Show Saturday—#4. Sweet baby quilt…

My mom makes a quilt for all of her grandkids, and this one she made for my baby girl.  I love the bright colors and how it matches in everything in her room.
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The pattern is called Little Maggie Lou by Karen Bennett.
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My mom took the leftover fabric and made a miniature quilt for my baby girl’s doll.  I love these fabrics and they go perfect in her room.
Thanks Mom!
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Easter wreath giveaway…

I’ve officially been blogging for a month now, and to celebrate I’m having a giveaway—YAY!!  This sweet pinwheel wreath can be yours!!
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The giveaway starts today and ends at midnight, Eastern time on Sunday.

There are three different ways you can enter to win this Easter wreath…
1. Become a follower by Google Connect on the right hand side and then leave me a comment that you are now following me.
2. Like my Facebook page here, then leave me a comment on Facebook that you have liked my page.
3. Update your Facebook status with a link to my blog and giveaway, and leave a comment on my Facebook page that you shared a link to my blog.
4. If you’re one of my followers already, just comment on this post, or on Facebook that you were a fan from the beginning—each comment will count for an entry!!

You can have up to three entries, and the winner will be posted on my blog and facebook on Monday.

Good luck, and thanks for the support!! 

Feel free to spread the word about my giveaway!!



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Justin’s Bobcat, and the Pinewood Derby…

Growing up with two brothers, I was well versed if not a full fledged “tag-a-long sister scout” in all the goings-on of cub scouting.  Naturally, I dreamed of one day having a boy who could cheer with the best of them at a Pinewood Derby!!  Don’t get me started about how much I loved the Rain-gutter Regattas…
Last year was our first Pinewood Derby and I think I was the most excited in our family to be there.  I thought the Pinewood Derby would be the perfect event for Justin—he loves cars and has a similar racing track (albeit on a smaller scale) at home where he loves to watch cars race.
It only took about 10 minutes for me to realize that the Pinewood Derby was not going to work for Justin.  It was held in the church gym, which is spacious and the perfect chamber for echoing noises.  Church gyms and I don’t get along to begin with, since they always send the message to kids to “RUN AROUND LIKE A MONKEY AS CARELESS AS YOU CAN BE!!”  Add to that a room full of 100 people, and a loud microphone—and poor Justin is overstimulated in about 5 minutes, and at 10 minutes starts looking for the door to escape.  He endured and got through it, with quite a bit of whining, but we still declared it a victory—because enduring is half the battle sometimes  ;)
This year we decided to go ahead and give the Derby a whirl!!  So my hubby and Justin set out to make his car.  Justin loves woodworking with hubby and has done a few projects with him in the past.  He even tolerates the noises of woodworking fairly well—like the sound of the saw and and the sander.  He plugs his ears with one hand and helps with the other.  After they got the car sanded down, I got all the paints out so Justin could get started.  I drew a basic angry bird picture and told Justin to “do this” step by step and he was able to replicate the shapes by himself on his car!! He did such a great job!!
Here’s his sweet angry birds Pinewood Derby car…
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He endured the event at the church better this year, but at about 45 minutes he was “done.”  He lasted long enough to get his award and then we made a quick exit.  I’m so proud of him!!
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Last night was the Blue and Gold banquet and we were excited to go because he had earned his Bobcat.  When I say he earned his Bobcat, I mean he really earned it.  A few months ago a friend of mine pinned a website to Pinterest that allows free printable handwriting worksheets that can be customized for kids.  You can check out the website here. My hubby and I took each of the requirements for Bobcat and printed them out so Justin could write the words.  He ended up loving these worksheets and breezed right through them!!  He’s always enjoyed writing his letters and words.  This printing program was a perfect adaptation we could use that was meaningful.
It amazes me that just a small change in the way we approached the goal with Justin opened a whole new door of growth with him.  That has been the case with Justin in so many things--he has taught us the value of being flexible and thinking outside the box to get things done.  It’s one of those powerful lessons for which I always need a reminder.
The awards part of the Blue and Gold Banquet—where my hubby had to carry our shoeless cub scout up to the front of the room to receive his award—was just another example of how the Lord has taught us to celebrate every moment and not focus on the less-than-perfect aspects of life.  Basically, count your many blessings…
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I am so grateful for a patient Father in Heaven who so gently, and sweetly teaches me the lessons I need to learn through my trials.  Even on bad days where everything seems to spiral out of control, if I pull myself away for a quiet moment I can feel the peace and know that somehow, it will all work out.
Here’s my Bobcat momma’s pin—I’ve been waiting a long time for one of these…
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An award and a couple of features…

I’m having way too much fun while my mom is in town, so I am behind in sleep and sharing the fun news that I received the Versatile Blogger Award from Michele at Apples and Peanut Butter—how fun!!
I am sharing the award with two bloggers I found this week that love redoing furniture too—they both have amazing blogs, so go check them out…
And I was featured on two more blogs for my PB inspired quilt, thanks ladies!!









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Monday, March 26, 2012

The best granola recipe…

We have three different diets going on in our house—all wheat, not all-wheat, and gluten free.  Oh, and then we have the nut allergies too, so add that to the list!!  It drives me crazy sometimes to try and find just one thing that everyone is able to eat, let alone like!!  We tried a new granola recipe from Melissa d’Arabian that you can find here.  And then we modified it so that it was Gluten Free—yet still delicious and not packed full of sugar!!
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So what do I do with this healthy granola??  I put it on ice cream:)
But the rest of my family eat it plain, on yogurt, with Sunbutter on bananas, or with milk.
Here’s our recipe:
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups whole oats
1 cup rice cereal
1/2 cup *Sunbutter
*(Sunflower butter is made of sunflower seeds and looks and smells like peanut butter, but is completely nut free)
Whisk first 7 ingredients together and then add oats, rice cereal.  Then add Sunbutter and spread out on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Cook at 300 degrees for about 20-25 minutes (don’t over bake it because it will burn quickly).  Stir once during baking time.  Allow to cool and then store in an airtight container.
When you bake this, your kids will think you are making cookies—it smells that good!!

I am linking to the following parties!
Ladybird Ln I Heart Nap Time Keeping It Simple Raising Oranges Making A Diamond in the Stuff Pincushion Creations A Crafty Soiree Fine Craft Guild mop it up mondays Creative Itch Photobucket It's OVerflowing Somewhat Simple HookingupwithHoH Sew Happy Geek The Taylor House Design Dazzle wednesday's wowzers One Artsy Mama Goings on in Texas I'm Topsy Turvy
Skip To My Lou
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