The Boy Turns Nine.

It is absolutely insane to think I am the mother of a nine year old. But regardless of my inability to feel my age, my oldest kid did turn nine yesterday.

It's both easy and hard to remember how difficult he was as an infant. By two weeks old he was diagnosed with reflux (funny how I forgot about the projectile vomiting) and treated with two different medicines once twice and the other three times a day. He slept propped up in his car seat next to our bed or in the swing so that gravity would help the acid stay put.

It was miserable and at times I swore to never have another kid again. (See, this is where the Universe laughs).

He's the kid that broke me into parenthood, spiraled me into a Brooke Shields type of PPD and single handledly amazes me each and every day. Alex is such a wonderful boy, though he has his less-fun moments at times. For his birthday this year he asked for two things; Civilization V (a pc game) and a chocolate cake with mint.

I couldn't refuse either.

The cake is my basic go-to chocolate sheet cake recipe that I have scribbled on a paper so I can't remember where it came from. I don't usually do chocolate frosting so I searched for an easy recipe and found this then added some peppermint extract -real not imitation- to the mix. The Andes got frozen and mashed up with a mortar and pestle.

For someone that doesn't like toothpaste flavored chocolate, I do really like this cake.

We almost had a serious dilemma when the sparkler candles he picked out had melted into a single lump on the kitchen windowsil. Note to self- wax in a hot window = bad. We managed to scrounge nine non-girly candles out of the junk drawer and salvage three of the sparkler candles from the hardened gob.

Now I have a whole year to get used to having a kid in the double digits. I'm so not prepared for pre-pubescence.

Four, glorious Four!

My daughter Amelia turns four today. Last year I wrote her birth story here.

I am still amazed at her. She is smart and witty and though she will laugh and be silly, she's one of the more serious of the bunch.

I think three and four are my favorite ages, even if they have their own challenges. We had a great time yesterday celebrating her birthday. The long road to the next town over is briming with wild flowers so we stopped to take some birthday photos. She had a marvelous time picking the ones that caught her eye.

Then we visisted a friend whos cat had kittens a few months ago and picked one out. It's been a long time since we have had a kitten in the house. 

I made her special request of a "flat cake with yellow frosting with strawberries, sprinkles and four candles" from Smitten Kitchen's Lemon Cake recipe.  It was a wild success.

She passed out in her bed about five minues after lights out. Being four is a lot of work.

Happy Birthday my big girl.

Gifts for a Girl

I've been keeping this project secret for four days now. I can barely contain myself. I'm actually writing this blog post earlier than I'll post it because I still want it to be secret. After lunch, we're headed to a little girl's birthday party. I've known this little one since she was still gestating in her mama's belly.


I used the pattern in the book One-Yard Wonders. The book is great for fairly simple projects with limited resources.  Unfortunately, the project I picked -the Fabric Dollhouse- wasn't at all simple.

I like to pride myself that I can figure out how to do stuff with minimal directions but this house nearly drove me insane. Though now that I know how to do it, it's actually quite simple.

The hardest part was the lack of measurements and the discrepancy between the house they show you they made and the instructions they provide. Their house has a roof and a garden. The directions have you making a house that's all the same color interior/exterior.

Everything for this I had on hand which is pretty amazing. I even stole photos off the mom's facebook page and printed them on inkjet compatible fabric.

And of course, true to my nature, I didn't add the proper number of button closures and didn't put enough batting in the thing so it's a little delapidated. Things I have learned over the past four days. 1. Don't start a handmade present that requires this much work without at least a weeks notice.  

2. Directions are for suckers.

3. I suck at hand sewing.

4. Don't make fun new projects infront of the same age/gender children you're not giving anything to.

My girls won't stop asking for one now.

I used lots of buttons for embelishments; the rose shaped ones for the rose bushes outside, the flowers in the garden, the door knob on the front door. The rest is pieces cut from wool felt and hand stitched with embroidery floss. The doll is one of my Bestest Friends that I handpainted. There is another girl but she wasn't done "getting dressed".

I hope she likes it.

It's finished.

I blew the goal of having this done by Livi's birthday this past Tuesday but I exceeded my expectations by having this done less than a week belated.

Last night I finished the last stitching the last of the binding on Olivia's birthday quilt. This is the largest one I've ever done measuring just a bit shorter than a twin size. (Because I just winged it and should have MEASURED how big it needed to be.)

I messed up on this quilt. A lot. It's an alternating 9-patch and I used a new method of quilting I hadn't tired before called "quilt as you go". The method wasn't hard at all but I had the brilliant idea of sewing 1/4" away from each seam instead of quilting the whole thing, and then doing the same on the seams where the pieces were joined including the backing. My machine doesn't have a long enough arm for this. It ended in me swearing a lot and shoving the fabric through. The results could be better. Maybe I'll fix it if I ever get a new machine.

The border is the same stripey fabric that appears regularly in the quilt. And the back is a full size white sheet I picked up at IKEA for $7 and hand dyed bright orange. Here is another place I had a learning experience. The dye didn't take fully in my very-large-for-canning-very-small-for-dying-fabric stock pot. So I had to redo it in the galvanized tub we use to wash the dog. Still the price of the dyes and fabric came to less than $15. There are still some lighter spots on it. ::Sigh::

Being the largest and most difficult quilt I've ever made and even with all the imperfections Olivia and her tribe are still pleased as punch with the results. Which is all I can ask for, really.

Contest and a real Birthday

Just a quick note to everyone that entered the contest. Today, after Yoga, I'll write everyone's names out on slips of paper and throw them in a hat...or a bowl. I will then deploy a most scientific method of picking names out aided by various kids. If you win one drawing you're out for the rest of the prizes. Just FYI. I'll post the winners on here probably tomorrow and notify them via email.

Today, is in fact, an actual birthday in our house. Olivia, my first born daughter and second born kid, is now seven. Holy wow. I mean, I knew it was coming but...geeze.

We had her party last night. I barbequed some dogs and burgers and a huge pile of veggies. Earlier, I had made cupcakes which I let her pick from a mix. Remind me to never do that again. They were gross. They tasted like dry cherry candycanes and too sweet frosting with no flavor other than copious amounts of white sterilized sugar. I had to make it up to the Confectionary Gods and make some of my famous chocolate ones from scratch. With almond frosting. mmmm. I hope it earned me some forgiveness.

We ate and goofed off for the camera. The present pile was meager but if you don't make a big deal over it, kids don't notice. I still have her birthday quilt to finish which I haven't presented to her yet. I tried to choose things that were meaningful, worthy and inexpensive.

I bought her a long pesant dress and matching doll dress from A Lady out of Carolina after swearing profusely at the high prices looking over the American Girl doll store I found her on Etsy and fell in love. Not only are her dresses well made (with serged edges and good quality cotton), she makes them all herself, in America (which AG can't say). I only wish I could have gotten everything else like that.

I picked up a wooden nursery and birthday playset from Play Wonder* at Target. Olivia wanted this badly and it fits perfectly in the wooden doll house Cordelia got for her birthday at the begining of the year. They're simple, sturdy and not too expensive. Then she got the Toy Story 3 Leapster game. I <3 LeapFrog.

I manned the camera, which you can tell by my absentness from the photos...again. I would have gotten more photos of the toys but they snatched them up and scurried away with their prizes before I could. The day was simple and meaningful, two things that I strive to bring to our home. I feel so much has gotten away from these two values. Our souls feast on lasting gifts and memories and the whole face wide smiles of a very happy now-seven year old.

*Play Wonder is made in China. I know, I know. I try my best.

It's My Party! Birthday Giveaway!

Happy Birthday to Solidity of Rainbows!!!

It's been two years since I started this blogging adventure.

We've had lots of stuff happen; Deployment, Birth, Illness, Gardens, Birthdays, Holidays, Crafts, Recipes, Bugs, Homeschooling, Rabbits...well, you get the picture!

Today, in honor of our birthday, we're giving YOU presents!!!!!

Three prize packs are up for grabs.

First: a $30 Joann Fabrics Gift Card

Second: A Craft Pack filled with patterns, fabric, and notions

Third: A crafty treat I've sewed up!

Your choice of a zippy bag, crayon wallet OR 2 pack of reusable snack bags!

How to get entered in the drawing!

Follow this blog (one entry)

Twitter about it (one entry)

Blog about it (two entries)

Follow HeartSong Farms (one entry)

You must post a comment on THIS blog post to enter with links to the twitter/blog posts and tell me how many entries you qualify for!

I'll give everyone until Monday at 12 noon EST to get their entries in and do the drawing that afternoon.

Good luck!

Reversable Scrap Party Bunting (or banner) - Tutorial

I made this in the course of about 45 minutes from start to finish, including feeding kids and taking photos for the tutorial. I love these banners. They're bright, colorful, easy to make which is why I have no idea why they are so expensive on Etsy. I *heart* supporting handmade. I do not heart overpricing.

The hard part with the buntings (which I had no idea that was what they were called. I thought they were "banners") comes when you have different gendered kids. Trying to find a happy gender neutral colored party pennant can drive you batty. So, I made a reversable one. One side is girly, the other, not. Which means this will have to be hung where only the side you want shown shows but that's okay. Once you make one, you'll see how easy making another is and your house will have streamers all over the place for every holiday, birthday, event and day of the week. If you can sew a relatively straight line and cut a mostly straight line, you can make a really nice bunting.

I grabbed my two gallon ziplock bag of scraps and made a triangle template. The larger the triangles the less you need for the same size space. Mine are 6.5"w x 8.75" tall which I estimated would give about a 6"x8" finished triangle.

Cut out equal number of triangles for each side of the bunting. You can make this as short or long as you like. I found that doing a number divisible by 2 worked well so I can hang it evenly. I was able to use all scraps save for three triangles.

Pin right sides together and sew with a 1/4" seam allowance along the two long sides of the triangle.

Clip off the tip of the triangle making sure you don't clip off the stitches.

Turn right side out and use a blunt tipped point to poke out the triangle tips. Iron flat. You can also sew again around the edges of the triangle if you want to really secure them together but I chose not to do this.

I used double fold quilt bias tape to string them together. I found it on clearance a while back. It's not a color I'd ever bind a quilt in I don't think. Clearance makes me buy stuff I don't really need but in this case it worked out.

Fold in the corners to form a triangle, then fold that into itself and pin in place.

Pin each triangle inside the fold of the bias tape and pin down.

Add the next triangle. I used my cutting mat as a guide and placed each about 2" apart. 

 

Sew it down the fold on the ends then straight across the bias tape with about a 1/4" seam allowance. Make sure you have those triangles pushed all the way against the fold in the tape so you don't miss any edges. Clip your stray threads and Wah-lah (I have no idea how to spell French) you're done!

Boy side

Girl side

It's machine washable and folds down small enough to store with ease. I'd love to see the buntings you make with my directions! Party on, crafty friends, party on.

Blog Giveaway

My two year blogging birthday is coming up on the 26th of this month. I thought I'd celebrate by doing a giveaway! If my blog reaches 40 followers by the 25th (17 people in 24 days) I'll be giving away three prize packs!

First prize will be a Joann Fabrics Gift Card

Second Prize will be a sewing supply pack

Third Prize will be something crafty I've made

Go spread the word!!! Go, now! Hurry up!

Details on how to enter the giveaway will be posted on the 26th.

By the way, Joann's doesn't have anything to do with this give-away. Just so you know.

Happy Birthday, my Man.

Yesterday was the celebration of the birth of my first child. My first son. The only person on the entire planet that was responsible for making me a mother. Wow, how time changes things.

He just turned eight.

He has big boy adult teeth that are a little too big for his still little kid mouth.

He has to share his room with a baby. And doesn't complain.

He does third grade Math and fourth grade Language Arts. Even though he's supposed to be in second grade. He's my little Einstein.

Or my little Tesla. I haven't figured out which. Though he might also be a Jedi. Or a race car driver. Or an Astronaut. Or some other thing where you could build bombs and singe off eyebrows (his words, not mine).

And he's obsessed with the computer. And he loves his sisters. Even when they butt in on his photo shoot.

And years and years ago, he used to look like this.

Oh, where did my little baby go? Now, I have to say Happy Birthday, my (almost) Man.

Happy Birthday, Amelia Jane!

My fourth child, Amelia Jane -or Emmy- turns three today! The crazyness that surrounded her birth will be etched in my soul forever. At thirty-seven and a half weeks pregnant I started bleeding. A lot. It was ten at night and the three other kids were already in bed. Thankfully, Rob was home. I got dressed and drove myself at breakneck speeds to the hospital three miles away. Trying to keep myself calm enough to not speed too terribly bad. Horrible thoughts zoomed in my head. I wasn't in labor. I wasn't contracting. I hadn't felt her move in a while. She wasn't moving now. The bleeding wouldn't stop.

It's never a good sign when the doctor says "that's more blood than I'd like to see".  I didn't look but it felt bad. It seemed the nurse was changing the towel under me at an alarmingly frequent rate. The emergency c-section was being prepped and the doctors warned me that if I couldn't get her out within the hour, they'd take her out. The bleeding just wouldn't stop, it wouldn't slow. Rob was able to come up. My mom stayed with the kids. I was hysterical. Crying, sobbing, shaking with fear. I think, if she could, the nurse would have slapped me. Instead, she just firmly scolded me to get a grip. I couldn't have a baby if I couldn't focus and concentrate and I needed to have this baby. Our lives depended on it.

I alway tried to be the "good" patient. The one that doesn't scream and throw tantrums while in labor. Yelling is a waste of precious energy, I was told. I remember being in the hospital with Cordelia, I had been admitted for three days at only seven weeks pregnant because I couldn't keep anything down and was vomiting blood. I remembered hearing a woman down the hall screaming and cursing deep in the throws of labor. It lasted for hours. It scared me and I had already had two children. I hoped to never do that to another mother so I vowed to keep my moans and grunts to hopefully normal levels.

After they administered the epidural -just incase I needed the c-section- everyone left the room. I rolled onto my back and at that instant she crowned. She was coming fast and hard. I freaked. Rob freaked. We couldn't find the "nurse" button on the bed. I screamed louder that I think I ever have in my life. In a flurry of motion there was more staff in the room that I could count.

The nurse donned birthing gear as the doctor had "stepped out". They frantically tried to find him while Emmy was quickly decending. They told me not to push. There was a NICU nurse prepping an incubator unaware the condition she'd come out. The doctor walked in just in time to catch her. Almost literally.

At 1:57 a.m. May 2, 2007 we welcomed a very healthy baby girl into the world. Thankfully, without the need for a c-section. She was pink and screaming. Hearty, healthy and whole. The room took a breath. But there was still a problem; I was still bleeding.

My world tilted for long moments as the doctor not-so-gently poked and prodded in my womb trying to find the source of all the bleeding. I listened to her screaming, the best sound in the world. There was a worry that the bleeding wouldn't stop. There was a soul deep fear I wouldn't be here to see her grow. Finally, the bleeding slowed. Stopped. We were alright.

Today, we celebrate the miracle of life and cherish the days we're given.

Today, we celebrate a Happy Birth Day.

Cordelia is Five

My middle child turned Five last Friday.

That's Cordelia Anne. With an "e". Named for Anne of Green Gables (my favorite book/series/movie) and from Shakespear's King Lear. This means I have kids that are between one and eight. She's 4 years older than Max and 2.5 years younger than Alex. She was my most difficult baby.

She picked Macaroni Grill for her birthday dinner. We don't do parties. Just seems kinda avaricious calling people and inviting them to bring you gifts. We like to celebrate as a family instead.

We have a good time. And we still eat cake.

The lady on the left sang Cordi "Happy Birthday" in Italian.

Max thought it was delightful.

We all shared the cake and had ice cream too. Later on a set of Grandparents came by and gave her a gift she'd been wanting. A ballerina costume.

She's quite happy being five. Even if its bittersweet for mom and dad.