Homemade (Yummy) Crescent Rolls

There you are, innocently trolling Pinterest, when a pin grabs you and won't let go. That happened to me last weekend. Supper was in the crockpot, I wouldn't have had to do anything but cook the veggies before we ate. Instead, I found myself making crescent rolls from scratch. Why? Because the picture in the pin looked so good. (And the best part is, that I had already pinned the recipe!) Like so good that we wouldn't be able to enjoy supper without them. And the results? They were delicious. You know those crescents you can buy in the can are okay. They serve their purpose of quick and easy, but if you really want a crescent, try this recipe! Head on over to Nome Made Recipes for the details!

When You Bring Home Your Newest Addition To Your Family

When you bring home the newest addition to your family . . .

Peachy looks a foot taller than before Shortcake arrived.

1) The older children will seem ten times bigger than when you left for the hospital.

2) The older children will seem as loud as a heard of elephants, with monkeys on their backs.

3) You will change so many little diapers, you may forget how to change the bigger ones.

Cream raided the play jewelry and put it ALL on.

4) Your older children may find new and not so amusing ways to entertain themselves such as, cutting their hair, playing with used printer cartridges, and emptying an entire boxes of Kleenex when they are supposed to be napping.

5) You may have to tell the older children to be gentle 100 times a day.

6) You may want to make the older children wear full hazmat suits to avoid infecting the baby with their cold germs.

7) Any item for the baby will instantly become a new toy for the older children. And the dolls and accessories will become an overnight sensation.

8) Your older children will amaze you with what they are all capable of doing on their own.

This is how Cream dressed herself one morning. Complete with buttoned cardigan on backward.

9) Your older children will amaze you as to what they can't do without you anymore.

10) You will find more love in your heart than you ever thought possible.

New Handmade Diaper Bag

It is no secret, I love bags. I may have quite the collection of handmade bags around the house. I have a hard time saying no, when I know I can make one just the way I like it with fabric I love. When I had Peachy, my mom made my diaper bag. With Cream, I used an online tutorial to make one for myself. (You can read about it here.) This time, I purchased the Watermelon Wishes Zip Top Diaper Bag pattern off of Etsy. I had fun choosing the fabric at a new modern fabric store in town. I went with my newest favorite color combination of grey and citron. (Sorry, I don't remember the names of the fabrics.)

I love how this bag turned out, with the exception of the zipper. The first time I followed the pattern directions, but wasn't thrilled with how it turned out. I redid it on my own and now am finding it a bit short. I plan on redoing it and leaving some zipper on each end of the inset.
The snaps on the sides are great for making the bag a little bigger or a bit more streamlined, depending on how much you have inside. The numerous pockets and bottle holders are also a great feature. I love a bag with lots of pockets. (Store bought bags rarely have enough!)
Also, the pattern has an awesome way of accenting the outer packets by leaving about a quarter of an inch of lining peaking out at the top. A super simple touch that ads a big impact.

Welcome to the World Little Shortcake

I can't believe that it has been over a week since our little boy joined our family. Having a baby has got to be one of the most surreal experiences a person can have. For nine months you prepare for a little person to join your family, but until the birth day actually arrives, it just doesn't really sink in. (At least that is how it works for me.) And this time, more than the other two, my mind just wasn't quite wrapped around the fact that another little blessing would be joining us. Even now that he is home with us, there are moments that I just can't believe we have three children!

I will take the time to write Shortcake's birth story soon, but for now, here are his stats.

Entrance made: Thursday, February 13th at 10:13 pm (or 02/13/2014 at 22:13)
Weighing in at: 8 pounds and 14 ounces
Measuring: 20.75 inches
Appearance: Lots of dark hair, dark blue eyes, chunky cheeks and Michelin Man rolls on his arms.
Disposition: A very mellow little guy who likes to eat, sleep, poop, and pea (At least so far.)
Big Sisters' Reactions: Filled with love and pride and happy to help momma out with diaper changes and fetching things.

And just for fun, here are pictures of the big sisters on their birthdays:

Cream (August 30, 2011, 8 pounds 9 ounces, 20.5 inches)

Peachy (May 10, 2009, 8 pounds 4 ounces, 19.5 inches)

Cream at 2 Years and 6 Months

Our little spunky 2 year old, Cream, always seems to know just what she wants and has a hard time being told no. Yet, her sweetness always shines through. Such a fun combination. Thankfully she has been getting better about her picky eating and is willing to at least let us feed her what we are having. She also has grown up much in the last months. She is now 30 pounds and it is no wonder the way she has been eating as of late. Bottomless pit! She also looks more grown up in her face.

I love listening to her little voice talk. She sure does have a lot to say, especially when her sister is trying to tell us something and during church! Sometimes she just rattles on and on. She also has a very good memory and loves to sing songs she has heard.

She is very good at independent play and can focus on one toy or play for a long time. Her little imagination is very active and it is always fun to listen in to her play and play talk.
She talks about the baby in mommy's tummy, but I am pretty sure that it will be a shock when we come home with an actual crying newborn. Ha! I know that she will be a good little helper though, as she likes to talk to and look at all the babies we see while we are out and about. I will just have to watch out for smothering. :o)

It never ceases to amaze me how different our two little girls can be and yet how much I, as a parent, can love each one for their complete uniqueness.

Peachy at 4 Years and 9 Months

I know this must happen to every parent, but there are times I look at my oldest blessing and can't help but wonder how on earth she got to be so big. With so much personality of her own. And able to do so much! I really have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that she will be going to school next year. How did the time come for that already?

Peachy continues to grow in so many ways. Firstly, in height. She just keeps getting taller and taller. She wears a size 6 in most things. Do you know what that means? She is no longer in the little girl section. Yikes!

Her growth in learning is also amazing to me. She has a firm grasp on numbers and loves playing with them. Adding and subtracting. Always telling us the temperature as we drive in the van. She also is really starting to put her letter sounds together and sound words out. I bought her some level one readers for Christmas and she loves to tell people that she can read them. (Not quite on her own yet, but she does with help.) She also loves to sound words out that she sees around. I love that she is gaining confidence and well on her way to becoming a reader.

And then there is her little faith in God. She loves going to Sunday school, reading her children's Bibles, and listening to and singing Christian songs. Here is a funny story of her understanding church. We were talking about how their is our church and then there are other churches. She knows that we believe in Jesus as our Savior and she was trying to figure out what other churches believe in. She decided that there are churches that believe in Jesus and then churches that believe in Santa, since we don't in our family. Ha!

As always, she loves to create. That girl doesn't go a day without using her art supplies. And her play usually involves elaborate set ups and story lines.

She is so excited for the baby to come, too. She has been happily telling people how long it is until the baby's arrival. She will even tell them that she came one day early and that Cream came really late. (6 days, so long.) I am excited to see her in the biggest sister position.

Peachy is such a blessing to our family. She has such a pleasant personality and usually has a smile on her face. I am constantly amazed by the awesome little person that the Lord has given us in our first born.

Shortcake Its a . . .

BOY! (Ignore the pink blanket. We are making use of the existing stash from his sisters.) Shortcake made HIS big debut on Thursday night an hour and a half away from being a Valentine baby. Besides the fact that he was a boy, the other surprise was his full head of dark hair! The girls are loving being big sisters and we all enjoying getting to know our latest blessing. More information to come, but for now I'll leave you with a picture of our little man.

Tuileries Dress Pattern

While not the best for showcasing the dresses, I love this shot.

Have you ever checked out the blog Sewing In No Mans Land? Kelly is an amazingly talented woman who sews, creates, photographs, and happens to live in totally awesome places. (Can you say Paris anyone?) She recently asked for some pattern testers for her Tuileries Dress Pattern and of course I volunteered. I was able to sew a dress for both of the girls with her pattern and love how they turned out. You can read her post about it here. And if you would like to purchase the pattern, you can do it here at Craftsy.

Can you see how Cream is patting Peachy?

It took me a little longer than she needed so I missed being in her post, but I am still happy that I was able to do it. I just got around to taking the girls' pictures, and let me say, those two are goofballs! My friend let me use her in home photo studio, which rocked. And I love how their personalities came through.

This is the shot I got when I said I wanted a picture of the back. I am not sure how they learned the frisk position.

I ended up mixing the fabrics that I bought, which I am happy with the results. I like the interest it adds. I also decided to add a ribbon sash for some extra pizzazz. All in all, I am very satisfied with the dresses and can't wait for the girls to wear them to Shortcake's baptism.

Peachy's latest trick is winking.

Foodie Friday: Eat and Freeze Meals

There are lots of methods for making freezer meals, but I prefer to make extra of what we are already eating and freeze it for later. With another baby joining our family, I started to make extra of our regular meals so that we could eat that day, but also freeze some for those hectic days of when you first bring home the baby.

Here are some of the recipes that we really enjoyed over the last month and will be enjoying again soon!

1) Creamy Beef Enchiladas from Over the Big Moon: These were a huge hit the first time around and we are all looking forward to enjoying them again. I cooked the roast as recommended and added some green salsa, cooked rice, sour cream, and green chilies to the shredded meat. I then assembled the enchiladas as directed, but made double the amount. One batch went in the oven for supper and one went into the freezer for later.

2) Super Food Rotini from Clean Eating Recipes: When making this recipe, I pretty much followed the recipe, except I used ground sausage and regular tomato sauce. It made enough that we could eat it for supper, have a small container of leftovers, and freeze a gallon size Ziplock for later consumption.

3) Stromboli from The Stir: I loosely followed this recipe and was planning on making enough to bake and freeze, however, we all enjoyed it so much, there wasn't enough for freezing, just left overs. I started with two loaves of frozen bread dough and after letting them thaw and rise according to the package directions, rolled them out and assembled the stromboli with ingredients to our liking. If I were to make it again, I would make all four loaves so we could have enough to eat and freeze.

4) Crockpot Lasagna Soup: While we all enjoyed this soup, I am not sure why it is called lasagna soup. I would more lean toward callings it a minestrone. When I made this, I simply doubled the ingredients and once again froze a gallon sized Ziplock with enough for round two. 

Glitter Heart Valentine's Day Shirt Tutorial

I often find myself making seasonal shirts for the girls. I can often make them for much cheaper than I can find in the stores, and I can make them so that they can be worn a bit longer than the actual holiday. And now with two girls (maybe three?) I always have one from other years to pass on.
This year, I was inspired by this shirt from Old Navy. Of course you can no longer buy it because it has long sleeves and who on earth would wear long sleeves past January??! (Okay, I am being sarcastic. When you live here, Up North, it is a bit amusing to see flip flops out when it is still in the negatives outside.)

Anyway, I used my Silhouette to cut out hearts from freezer paper to make stencils. (If you don't have a cutting machine, a punch or even free hand would work as well.) Just make sure to leave enough of a border around each heart (or other shape) so that your paint doesn't get outside of the stencil. Once the hearts were cut, I ironed them on to the shirts. (Old Navy did redeem itself when I was able to score shirts for both of the girls for this project for around $3 a piece. Go clearance!)

Once you have the stencils ironed down, you are ready to paint. I went with this Tulip fabric paint that I picked up at JoAnn Fabrics. (I ended up using a regular paint brush instead of this sponge dauber.)

I painted two coats on each heart with a dry time in between.

Once the paint was dry, I peeled off the stencils. (I think because of the glitter paint, some of my freezer paper was left around the edges. I probably could have pulled it off while the paint was still a little tacky. However, the freezer paper will come off with washing.)

February: I'm Loving It

Another month, another list of some of my current favorites.

1) The 2014 Olympic Games: I LOVE the Olympics. They are my sporting event. In our house we didn't even tune into the super bowl at all this year, but you better believe we have been tuning in to ever moment we can of Olympic coverage. Here is a fun little fact, my husband proposed to me during the 2004 Olympic opening ceremony.
2) Juice Cubes: In true Kristi fashion, I avoided jumping on the Candy Crush bandwagon. It always takes me a little time to warm up to new trends and I don't like to do something just because everyone else is. Well, a few weeks ago, I stayed home from church with a sick Peachy. While she napped on the couch I downloaded the game Juice Cubes to my Nexus. Apparently, Juice Cubes is just another version of Candy Crush, and I can say that I have a bit of an addiction. This is odd for me since I am not a gamer by any means. I figure it will give me something to do during those late night baby sessions.
3) Sherlock: I have always love the Sherlock books. I have read a few of the originals, thanks to being an English concentrate in college and I also like reading the Laurie King series. This summer we started streaming the BBC modern adaptation of Sherlock and we both loved it! We quickly made our way through the first two seasons. (Not all that hard being each season is three hour and a half episodes.) And now have been catching season three as well.
4) Resin Cheese Knife: Have you ever used one of these cheese knives? At first glance they don't seem like all that much, but once you use them and realize how nicely they cut, you will be a convert. I actually had used one at my parents' house and a friend's house, but didn't have my own until I received one at Christmas. Try it, you will like it! Here is a link on Amazon, but I know you can get it many other places.

Self-Binding Baby Blanket

While we pretty much have everything that we need for baby #3, I always like to make something special for each of our children before they are born. (You can see some of the things I made for Peachy here and Cream here, here, and here.) This time I decided on trying a self-binding baby blanket.
I went to the new local fabric store and picked out this great Daydream Girl Flannel Clouds for the backing and the binding. And a great print from Riley Blake Designs called Wheels for the front. (I can't fins a good source for this particular print online.)

I was told to check out this great tutorial on You Tube from The Missouri Quilt Company. It is very helpful especially if you are a visual learner. There are lots of other great tutorials out there, too.

I totally got the concept, except I messed up my corners and cut them and then what was I supposed to do? I ended up piecing in a square of a coordinating fabric. And it worked! And as a bonus, I now have a very unique baby blanket. I finished it with a fun stitch on my machine.

Cream decided that her friend, Norberg, should make an appearance with the quilt.

This blanket is now packed in the hospital bag awaiting its new owner!

Foodie Friday: Valentine S'more Treat Plate

This treat is the combination of two Pinterest pins. It started with the S'more bars. You can find the recipe at The Happy Baker. I then put some of the bars on a paper plate that I punched holes around and wove a ribbon through. You can see some more ideas at Make and Takes.

I tossed in a Thank You note and brought it to a friend's house who watched the girls for me while I got the important pre-baby task completed of getting a fresh hairdo!

This is a great way to bring a little treat to someone sweet without them needing to worry about returning a container. And if you are like me, you have everything you need on hand.

Paper Straw Heart Garland

When you first see this heart garland, it is hard to tell that it is simply paper straws bent into the shape of hearts. Totally simple and totally cute! One of the best combinations for a seasonal craft in my opinion.

Stop on by the blog Living Locurto to see Amy's simple tutorial!
I even had all of the supplies on hand, which is a bonus!

Some Great Matryoshka Creations

So, if you saw my post yesterday, you know that my Matryoshka obsession hasn't yet ended. There is just something so fun and whimsical about the Russian nesting dolls. Here are a few Matryoshka items that have me drooling on Etsy right now.

1) Wood Block Printed Russian Nesting Dolls from Laura Frisk
2) Babushka Nesting Doll Sterling Silver Necklace from Fingerprince
3) Personalized Wooden Nesting Doll Puzzle Set from manzanitakids
4) Modern Matryoshka Inspirational Print from moderngenes

If you love these items, you should check out the remaining items on the Matryoshka treasury on Etsy.