{four}

She's four.

Wednesday we celebrated my one and only girl. 

We had a really fun pink party with lots of friends. 

She told me she wanted strawberry pink cupcakes and pizza. 

So that is what we did.

Anything for this sweet girl.

Her Grandma, Auntie and only two cousins came into town just for her. 

They helped and helped and helped this Mama pull off a really fun little party. 

Auntie made some delish strawberry pink cupcakes...sprinkles and everything!

The kids made their own mini pizzas (this was my nephew's creation...a dog maybe?)

And did a craft. 

It was just right.

It's so funny how one day can make your child seem so much older. 

All of a sudden she is four. 

Four. 

This fall she'll start school.

It's a little much for me. But I can't keep her small. 

Or tiny as she likes to say. 

Later in the evening we had planned to go to The Spaghetti Factory for dinner. It's become sort of a tradition for little A's birthday. Auntie even made an awesome spaghetti cake for the occasion.

 And what do you know?

The restaurant is closed for renovations! 

So we had Chinese food and spaghetti cake! 

All in all a very memorable birthday!

it feels like friday

It feels like Friday to me today.

Probably because my biggest has no school tomorrow.

And my husband is getting back into town tonight - yay!

This "feeling" like Friday is giving my whole Thursday a much rosier glow!

Yesterday I finally did something I'd been wanting to do for awhile.

You know, at least a few weeks. For me...that IS waiting awhile.

I turned on Sesame Street for the kids.

Whipped out the trusty old paintbrush (and a roller but who am I kidding...? That so did not get used..)

And turned my little hanging chalkboard in the kitchen into a chalkboard wall.

Now my house is on chalkboard crack...just a little bit. 

I can't help myself though. I don't know how to stop.

And I suppose I am only contributing to my littlest one's addiction to the chalky stuff.

Seriously found him hiding behind the living room curtain last night - munching on a big orange fattie.

He's really sneaking now..that's trouble folks. 

********

On other crafting notes - 

Last night some girlfriends and i put together the cutest baby shower invitations! 

Can't reveal them now because it's still all whispered secrets and dreams but soon, soon..

Getting together more and more for my etsy shop.

Trying really hard to be brave and just do it. Feeling awfully intimidated and time crunched.

Watched my talented friend Amy create the most darling business cards for me this week...eeks! Can't wait to get them printed and actually get to give one to someone!

And laundry. It IS getting done this week. 

Can you consider that crafting? Maybe the craftiness of keeping your home clean enough to not be embarrassed by drop in visitors? There should be a book on that - I would totally buy it. 

Oh, and for as much as I love planning other people's parties...I am just plain lame at planning my own kids. 

My daughter's fourth birthday is in less than a week and have I planned a spectacular party? 

No, some weird mental block is going on there. 

Good thing my super Mom and super sister are flying into town. 

Super sister promises to make the awesomest spaghetti and meatball birthday cake.

Stop gagging...I was skeptical at first too - until I saw the picture. 

And how cute is this..we are going the the Spaghetti Factory for her birthday dinner.

Well, happy Friday, oops I mean Thursday to you!

Happy Heart Day

Happy Heart day to you ~ all my lovely friends!

I hope this day has brought you heart shaped pancakes with heart shaped butter cut by hand.

Brought to you in bed *of course*

With flowers and kisses and hugs

And all the "You are the greatest, and the best and the most fantabulously wonderful Mother/Friend/Wife in the whole wide world"!

Cause you know you deserve it!

Love and hugs and I really like you a lot!

from me...

Last minute Valentine

My first grader is having a Valentine's party tomorrow afternoon at school. 

In the past I've run to the store and let him pick out the little perforated Bob the Builder or Mickey Mouse Valentine pack. 

Not this year.

The other day I ran across this idea on Wendi's blog.

She had seen it somewhere else and that gal had gotten it from somewhere else too.

So not sure who the originator was of this super clever & oh so darling idea but since I first spotted it  I've seen the sweet version my friend Leslie did - I just realized I saw her photos on facebook but I'm sure they will soon appear on her amazing blog.. as well as this cute take on it on the Fresh & Fun blog.

So this Valentine is certainly making the rounds...don't be surprised if  your child brings a version home from school tomorrow!

As for me, I couldn't be more charmed by it.

Clever, cute and super inexpensive.

Really hard to beat that!

{Grandma's Pink Cookies}

 

 It's time for the annual making of Grandma Susie's Pink Cookies! 

Yes, that's right folks...V-day is right around the corner!

What are you doing to over sugar your children and friends?

This is a classic recipe in my family and the really funny thing about these cookies is that they are best when they have sat around a bit...like if you leave them in your car for a week after your loved one gives them to you. They are still really good to eat! 

Better with age as we say.

Grandma's Pink Cookies

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

1 tsp. red food coloring

2 cups milk

1 tsp. strawberry flavoring

2 eggs, beaten

3 tsp. baking powder

Strawberry Jam

Enough flour to make a soft dough

I invited my friend Amy over to help me make these...along with Miss A's help of course.

My Mother's daughter through and through I had to double the recipe.

A must if you are giving away and if you want to gobble some yourself.

And you will be gobbling let me assure you...these are highly addictive cookies!

Mix all of the ingredients except for the Strawberry jam.

I love how my Mother is sooo descriptive and accurate when sharing recipes. 

No flour measurements here folks, apparently my Mother forgot to tell me we are wing it sort of cooks.

So add flour until you get a nice soft dough.

Since we had to double the recipe we quickly ran out of room in the Kitchen Aid.

We transferred it to a bowl...

And then decided we should just divide it in half and finish mixing it up in the Kitchen Aid. 

Really, we just like to make more work for ourselves and dirty more dishes.

And apparently the dough isn't half bad....

Here is our pretty pink dough already to roll out.

At this point I was wishing I had added a wee bit more red food coloring.

The cookies lose a bit of their color after they bake.

 

  Roll out your dough.

Not too thin, not too thick. 

You are doubling up cookies here so if your dough is too thick they get pretty fat.

                                                         Our dough looks eerily like play-doh.

A certain almost four year old who shall remain nameless couldn't keep her cute little handprints out of it!

Cut out lots and lots of little hearts!

I think my Grandma may have made round cookies but since we always seem to make these around heart day...hearts just seems apropos.

                       
                            Now add a teeny tiny scoop of your Strawberry Jam. A little dab will do ya!

 This is the hardest part in my opinion! 

Add the second heart to your cookies and seal the edges shut.

Some of my hearts were more than happy to cooperate with this step and some just plain refused to seal!

Chemistry I guess. Or rather lack thereof.

Now bake these babies at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes!

 

Meanwhile, any littles you have around can happily play with any extra dough...

 

And you in the meantime can look upon the beautiful mess you will soon have to clean up!

     After your little hearts have cooled you will need to whip up a glaze.

You will need melted butter, milk, vanilla and powdered sugar.

Again - I have no measurements for you. 

I called my Mother on this one. 

I'm winging it again.

Basically,  you want a glaze that is not too runny, not too thick.

You want it to harden nicely.

I used all the powdered sugar I had in the house and mine was waay too runny.

Dip the cookies in the glaze and place on a cooling rack to dry. I would suggest placing paper towels

under your racks for easy cleanup. I did not and guess what I'll be doing later?

My butter got a little lumpy so you can see it on the cookies...whoops!

They still taste yummy!

The magic is in the time....give these babies some time to absorb this glaze and magic happens.

Magic.

Something about the texture changes and is just so darn good. 

I promise.

Cross my heart.

    

yummmmmm......

Are you spreading butter on the screen yet? 

I totally would except I have another loaf upstairs in my kitchen. 

I am thrilled beyond thrilled.

I've had revelations today.

You see - I am a new bread baker. 

Baking bread...anything with yeast really...has intimidated me something fierce.

Until this summer. 

I started whipping up some deeelicious pizza crust courtesy of The Pioneer Woman's recipe.

Then my sister started talking about all this fancy schmancy bread she was making left and right...everyday!

Artisan bread! Whoah is right. 

I've always drooled over the bread from my local Great Harvest bakery.

Willingly forking over a weeks salary and my youngest child to inhale their Cinnamon Chip or if the heavens opened on me...their Challah. 

Back to my sister. She had started baking bread out of a book called "Artisan Bread in five minutes a day."

I quickly booked it to the nearest local library where I didn't have late fees stacked up and checked it out.

This book has given me bread making confidence people. 

Now all you bread makers out there...the ones who have been doing it for years with their Momma's recipes stored in their heads can just chuckle to themselves. 

This is revolutionary to the amateur that I am. 

I. ME. Can make good bread! 

And today I made the best of the best (in my opinion that is). 

The kind my local bakery only makes twice a week and charges (well, you know -my youngest babe for).

********************CHALLAH ******************

And it was soooo good. 

And soooo easy. 

I've just started reading this incredibly amazing and inspiring book -

One thousand gifts

by Ann Voskamp.

She records one thousand things she is grateful for (and keeps going) in an effort to really live the full life full of joy that God has intended for us.

I think I know what my number one is:

Gratitude #1 Really delicious challah bread made with love at home

{Ramblings}

(viatotallyinspiring)

February is shaping up to be a busy, busy month!

Between a handful of friend's birthdays, V- day, my darling daughter's fourth birthday, a visit from Grandma, Auntie and the cousins, an up coming baby shower...book group, school functions and the like...I am feeling stretched a little thin.

Lists. 

Lots and lots of lists.

I think that will be the answer.

And trying to not spend much money on all of it.

Creative creativity.

Making use of what I already have.

Mantras to live by this month. 

Heck, mantras I should live by every month!

It feels a bit like the Christmas season....cookies to make, valentine cards to create, people to come through for...not that I don't love loving my peeps or eating lots of cookies...I mean let's be real here. I can handle the cookies. 

Oh, yes and the Farm Chicks countdown. Three and a half months and closing in every second. And the etsy shop I am trying to get stocked in order to have a fabulous grand opening. 

Just stuff. All of it. 

You keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

-Isaiah 26:3

I think this will be my mantra instead.

{more work -less play}

This is what my life looks like when I play more and work less.

I'm working on working more and playing less so that I can play more.

Make sense?

This is really my husband's mantra.

He is truely a work first play later type of guy.

I am so the opposite.

Obviously.

I have so so many sewing projects that I want to start.

But who wants to be creative and sew when your sewing table looks like that?

Impossible, I know.

Plus, my sewing table resides in our basement.

Not a lot of natural light here.

I always want to drag my sewing table upstairs and work by the windows.

But that would defeat the point of the designated sewing area now wouldn't it?

Now check this out....

Do I hear the Hallelujah chorus anyone?

Stacks of beautious vintage linens just awaiting transformation...

Can you stand it?

I just barely can.

Loving, loving, loving these...

And a box full of vintage hankies....just too cute...too sweet. Whatever am I going to do with them?

I have some ideas...just you wait...

One room down, eight to go!

Have a fabulous Monday friends!

{a little sigh of relief}

So just for all of you that were still losing sleep about my poor girl's hair fiasco - 

here are some pictures from this morning where I think she looks rather darling.

And you can't tell a mullet is hiding under there at all can you?

And let's just be honest. 

Grandma requested pictures.

She was in no mood to smile.

I had just {forced} her to wear a cute matching outfit.

Boy, she threw a tizzy over that one. 

I had to get a little stern.

And just to clarify how much of a nice Mommy I usually am......

the public can attest to the fact that I regularly let my daughter leave the house in for example:

red/pink clothing combinations, stripe, polka dot, and other print ensembles. 

(Now I know stripes and polka dots can be quite charming but let me reassure you..not in clashing color combos!) Shall we go on? Dresses over skirts over pants, my favorite was the polka dot short sleeved dress (pink in nature) over the solid red long sleeve top, and the fall inspired colored striped leggings. That was a classic. 

Plus, we are seeing family today. Family we don't see on a regular basis. You know on account of that really hyped up sports things going on today somewhere in the South. 

So today I feel the need to present my children as the clean, well dressed little tykes they usually are not.

And by the way, I had her pose with her heart shaped pancakes because she was in a heart inspired outfit. Heart on her sleeve, hearts on her tights. I just couldn't resist the cuteness of it all. 

Happy Super Bowling to you and yours!

{peace}

Peace. It's a good thing. 

My embroidery toolbox did not have peace this morning.

So I did not have peace this morning.

Especially thinking about the new project I wanted to start.

For my other new project I'm starting.

Confused?

Yeah, me too.

 

 

But I'm feeling the peace.

for Nicole

So my sister said she wanted to see pictures.

You know. Of "the event".

I said, "I put pictures on my blog."

She said, "Nooo, I need pictures that will make me giggle. I need to giggle."

I showed my friend Andi picture number two today.

She said, "It looks like from when we were kids!"

Yes, indeed it does.

Memory lane anyone?

Anyone want to admit to having this style as a kid?

So are you giggling yet?

Or are you just writing me a sympathy card.

I do have to say: her hair was in a sweet little ponytail earlier in the day.

That is why she has that funny little bump out in the back.

She will not be wearing her hair down for a loooong while.

(Says her Mommy)

You can learn many things from children. 

How much patience you have, for instance.

-Franklin P. Jones

.....chopped.....

This is fresh, raw pain people. I had to walk away from the dinner table and immediately call my Mommy.

My beautiful almost four year old daughter who has the most gorgeous blond hair just chopped it. 

When?

God only knows...

I've been with her all day.

We just sat down at the dinner table, got ready to pray and I looked at her straight on.

Oh. My. ---------- 

(just fill in the blank however you would prefer)

She has never had a real haircut.

Just teeny tiny trims - in an effort to grow it long.

She was a BALD baby people. She took forever to grow her hair in...especially on the sides.

She now has a mullet.

An uneven mullet at that.

And her baby super blond hair is gone. I can't get it back.

It is already coming in a darker blond and I have been sad that the she wouldn't be keeping the really blond hair for longer. 

I don't think I can salvage the length. I think she going to have a bob. 

And guys don't understand. "It will grow back." they say.

Ugh.

And I need to deal and get over it and not pass on to my beautiful daughter that what is on the outside is the most important. We all know it's not. 

But this is sad. 

Really sad.

By the way, we found a pile of hair and kid safe scissors on her bed.

Update: I decided to try and keep the length. 










I attempted (rather poorly I might add) to blend the short sides into the long pieces. Didn't work too well. I think we might be able to get away with pulling it back EVERYDAY until it grows out!